Alcademics.com

Drinks With: Hamish Torrie of Ardbeg

This is the first installment of Drinks With, a new Alcademics category where I talk about what I talked about when having drinks with persons in the cocktails and spirits industry. Frequently I meet with brand ambassadors, bartenders, distillers, and other folks. I may learn a single bit of information or I may learn a lot. Drink With is the category in which I'll place my meeting notes.

In May I met with Hamish Torrie, Brands Director at The Glenmorangie Company. Torrie works closely with Ardbeg, which is part of Glenmo (as we call it) and LVMH. We met for drinks and dinner at Epic Roasthouse, where we had a cocktail, some wine, and of course a touch of Ardbeg.

I've not had the good fortune to visit Ardbeg yet (hint, hint) but I have briefly met Torrie before, on last summer's trip to Scotland. We stopped into Glenmorangie distillery and tasted through both ranges.

Currently in the US, Ardbeg sells the 10 year old, the Uigedail (a non-age statement whisky matured in ex-sherry casks), and Airigh Nam Beist, which I believe is a 16 year old bottling that I haven't seen out west yet.

Ardbeg gets by on its rabid fan base. They have a part of the website called The Committee, which is better than the usual loyalty clubs in that they offer members access to bottlings not available to the general public. (He said this includes the US, which is usually problematic due to different bottle sizes, but they ship to a liquor store instead of to your house which somehow makes it okay.) Last year they sold Corryvrecken to Committee members, and this year they sold Supernova, which comes in as the second most heavily peated whisky on the market.

Torrie tells me that Supernova is now on the US market in very limited distribution, despite earlier plans not to release it publicly stateside. Corryvrecken will also join the standard range of Ardbeg in Europe later this year, and in 2010 in the US.

A Recent History of Grappa

I learned stuff in Jason Wilson's Washington Post story on grappa. You should too. Read it here.

Alcohol Abstinence Education

Recently in the news, a 16 year old kid apparently died of excessive alcohol consumption at a party. (The autopsy is not complete, could have been other things in his system.) First the police locked up the party host who threw the event while his parents were away. Now they're trying to find who purchased the alcohol to prosecute that person as well.

While I agree the alcohol-purchasing person should probably be fined, chances are he or she will be charged with involuntary manslaughter or something else awful. Personal responsibility be damned, let's blame someone else.

I think that the current state of alcohol education encourages binge drinking, and is the equivalent of abstinence-only education for sex. It doesn't work because it creates an all-or-nothing model of a pleasant act. After you turn 21, or after you get married, booze and sex is awesome! Before, you are not allowed to even learn about it. It's great, but we can't tell you anything about it.

I am particularly perturbed by alcohol brand websites. All of them require you to enter your birth date or click to prove you're 21 years of age. That means in order to learn about, say, the history of a brand or person behind a brand, you need to be old enough to drink alcohol. Why? These sites already promote responsible drinking within the site- it's not like you click through and they instruct you how to drive a car with a six-pack in your lap. And how would reading drink recipes on these sites encourage underage drinking? I can read about how to drive a backhoe, but since nobody will give me a backhoe there's no danger of me scooping irresponsibly.

I understand that these age restricted sites and alcohol abstinence education in general are what everyone has to do to avoid being sued. (Websites are basically ads for the brand, and ads showing people having fun with the addition of alcohol are against the current industry advertising policy.) But I also think that these policies prevent people from learning about alcohol and its role in history and culture- things that would make it seem a lot less glamorous and exotic.

Salty Drinks

Recently my book club chose the book Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. Naturally I read it with an eye toward any reference to booze.

Items of interest:

• The Celts invented the barrel. I'd always heard that it was the Romans, but the Romans conquered the Gauls, who were a Celtic tribe. I'm going to wait for confirmation on this one.
• Before corks, the Romans salted their wine to preserve it in a mixture called defrutum.
• Peat, as we know, is still used to impart smoke flavors to whisky. In northern Holland and southern Denmark it was also used to make salt. They took wet peat indoors, and dried and burned it. Then they'd add saltwater, which would absorb the salt in the peat ashes, while leaving behind the actual ash. then they'd evaporate the brine to get peat salt. I wonder if it was smoky salt.
• Ketchup has its roots as a salt-cured fish sauce. Later in America Ketchup became tomato ketchup. The first known recipe for it was from a New Jersey resident sometime before 1782.
• Great Salt Lake (as in Salt Lake City) was chosen by the Mormons as a place to settle. Salt became a big revenue generator. Mormons are terrible drinkers; I just thought this was interesting.
• The Ohlone Indians made salt just south of San Francisco Bay. After the Comstock lode was discovered, they needed a ton of salt, lots of it taken from the Bay, to use in separating the silver ore. Chinese laborers largely worked the salt ponds then. 
• Cargill is the only salt producer left in San Francisco Bay.
  
• In some cultures (not sure if this is a modern cooking thing, as I know nothing about that art) salt and sweet are considered flavors that counterbalance each other. If food is very salty, you balance it with honey or something sweet. This makes me wonder if salt rims always go on sweet cocktails. Margaritas, yes. Bloody Mary, no. Michelada, no. Salty Dog, not really. Hmm, I don't know. Feel free to add your input on this one. Maybe I should be carrying packets of salt in my wallet in case of too-sweet cocktail emergencies.

Flavor Trends: Hot and Saucy

Starting last summer, bartenders all over the country were playing with smoke in cocktails. Currently, many are playing with the smoky flavors of Islay whisky and mescal in drinks. The savory cocktail trends has been going on for a couple years. And now a few distillers are putting spicy and saucy flavors directly into the bottle.

Hangar One's Chipotle Vodka is in its second year of (limited-release) production, and as I've said, getting some interesting use in cocktails.

Chicago's North Shore Distillery also released a spicy spirit (they're not calling it vodka but it's an infused neutral spirit) in a limited edition of 500 bottles. This one is Mole Poblano. According to the website:

"To create a spirit version of Mole Poblano, we began by selecting seven types of chili peppers. We deveined and deseeded the peppers, and cut them into chunks. Rather than using processed Mexican chocolate, we used whole cacao beans, which we carefully ground. We also added a wide range of herbs and spices to complete the mix. We infused all these ingredients into the spirit, and then distilled the mixture to infuse the flavors more fully into the spirit. We then infused the spirit with additional herbs to get to its final form."

And finally, I just discovered this range of organic liqueurs, Thatcher's Organic Liqueurs. They have two spicy ones: Tres Chiles and Chipotle. The website doesn't describe the products in any detail, but I spoke briefly with the brand owner who was sourcing organic materials from all over, so we know there are real ingredients in the product.

Time to get spicy!

 

Cocktails for the Lazy: Saratoga

My favorite cocktails to make at home have a few things in common:

- Not many ingredients. If I want a fancy complicated drink, I'll go to a bar and be served by a professional.

- Easy-to-remember proportions so I don't have to look up the recipe. When I'm pulling out books to make drinks, it feels like work. 

- No fresh ingredients. I have nothing against fresh ingredients, it's just that I tend to run out of them. Even citrus, which I can purchase on a two-minute walk from my front door. But that would mean I would have to put on pants.

Drinks that qualify in this category include the Manhattan, Martini, Negroni, and drinks with bottled beverages like tonic and soda water, as I always have those around.

Long story finishing up: I found another one to add to my repertoire: the Saratoga. I tried one for the first time last night at the SF Cocktail Week closing party. While the Saratoga normally calls for rye whiskey (and it would, being a Jerry Thomas-era recipe), last night they made it with Yamazaki 12 year old scotch and it was delicious. Versatile, too? I'm in heaven.

Saratoga Cocktail

1 ounce rye whiskey (or scotch, it seems)
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce cognac
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

What You are Doing on August 7th

On August 7th, 2009, you are attending my talk called Cocktails Get in the Mix, as part of the SF Chefs.Food.Wine extravaganza happening in Union Square on San Francisco.

The talk is at 10:30 AM. It's me and Duggan McDonnell from Cantina and Thad Vogler from Bar Agricole.

Cocktails Get in the Mix: Camper English (editor, Alcademics), Duggan McDonnell (Cantina), and Thad Vogler (Bar Agricole) discuss cocktail traditions and trends.

The idea is to talk about the styles of cocktails present in San Francisco today. It's a lot like this piece I wrote, except with slides!

San Francisco's Secret Sauces

Psst. People on Beretta's email list are now getting a drink recipe from the bar sent to them each month. This month is was the Jeepster, about which I have written.