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Tales of the Cocktail Award Winners: The Official List

Here is the official list of the 2011 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards winners.

2011 Spirited Award Winners

• American Bartender of the Year Kenta Goto, New York City, New York (Tie) Sam Ross, New York City, New York (Tie)
• Best American Brand Ambassador Jacques Bezuidenhout, Partida Tequila
• Best American Cocktail Bar Drink, Boston, Massachusetts
• Best Bar Mentor Audrey Saunders, New York City, New York
• Best High Volume Cocktail Bar Rickhouse, San Francisco, California
• Best Cocktail Writing - Author Camper English, San Francisco, California
• Best Cocktail Writing - Non Book Imbibe
• Best International Brand Ambassador Dan Warner, Beefeater Gin
• Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book Punch by David Wondrich
• Best New Product Bank's 5 Island Rum
• Best Restaurant Bar Eleven Madison Park, New York City, New York
• International Bartender of the Year Erik Lorincz, London, England
• World’s Best Cocktail Bar Employees Only, New York City, New York
• World’s Best Cocktail Menu Artesian at The Langham, London, England
• World’s Best Drinks Selection Employees Only, New York City, New York
• World’s Best Hotel Bar The Savoy, London, England
• World’s Best New Cocktail Bar Eau de Vie, Sydney, Australia

What is Fernet?

By far the most famous type of fernet is Fernet-Branca, but there are other fernets on the market. So what is fernet, generally speaking? 

(Thanks to commenter Scott who wrote in on the "Shhh It's a Secret" seminar at Tales of the Cocktail write-up for asking the question that I never thought to ask.) 

I asked John Troia, co-founder of Tempus Fugit Spirits. They have a fernet coming out, Angelico Fernet. Here's what he says.

I’m sure there may be varying degrees of opinion, but we feel that the following is reasonably consistent with our research and that of others:

Although categorized under Italian Amari (Bitters), Fernet is its own bitter category and is most often listed underElixir/Elisir in Italian liquor manuals, when not simply called ‘Fernet’.The extremely bitter (amarissimo is an apt description) concoction has its origins most often attributed to Bernadino Branca, who commercialized it in 1845, but conflicting data conjectures its creator(s)as : a mythical doctor/collaborator of Branca from Sweden named Fernet (possibly as an off-shoot of the older and better tasting ‘Swedish Bitters’); Maria Scalia, the wife of Bernadino Branca who was a master herbalist and self-taught doctor; a monk named Frate Angelico Fernet  who may have been responsible as the origin of many herbaltonics and elixirs (Fernet being a historical French Burgundy  surname - pronounced Fair-Nay- and which underwent many spelling transformations); and a modern Italian liquorist text-book reference to it having originated somewhere in Hungary. 

Fernet was most likely created to counteract the effects of Cholera and Malaria, but went on to be used for everything from a laxative to hangover cure. Today, as in the past, there are many Fernet producers (with the largest making so much of the world’s production that some actually believe Fernet is a brand-name), but mostly made in tiny quantities for local rural Italian consumption. The various known recipes most typically share ingredients such as Aloe, Saffron, Quinquina, Gentian, Anise, Angelica, Mint and the odd Larch/White Agaric, a type of tree-bark loving mushroom (once also known as Spunk) rarely used or even found commercially outside of Italy. This latter ingredient (along with Saffron) seems to define and create the backbone of the best Fernets; Agarico mondo has an odd, bitter taste that becomes lightly mentholated on the mid-palate and was used to treat night-sweats.

According to Abruzzo’s local doctor, pharmacist, wine-maker, distiller and bitter-maker Marchese Dottore Egidio Niccolo Antonio d'Alesasndro di Trasmondi, the best Fernets have little or no sugar in them as it impairs digestion.

Thanks John - any questions? 

Cocktail Menu: 1886 Bar in Los Angeles Summer Drinks

Below is the new menu for 1886 Bar at The Raymond in Los Angeles (Pasadena, really). 

(Photo courtesy of 1886)

(If you see a link below, click it to read the menu.)

Camper English Speaking at SF Chefs Food Wine Industry Series

I'm giving a talk geared toward restaurant owners at next week's SF Chefs Food Wine next week, along with H. of Elixir and Duggan of Cantina. 

It's a little bit freaky in this day and age to walk into a notable restaurant only to find they haven't bothered to put out a cocktail menu, or the one they hand you is filled with flavored vodka drinks written by the beverage distributor rather than a bartender. 

We'll be talking about how a few simple changes to a cocktail program can make a big difference for a restaurant in terms of increasing both profit and press. 

Cocktail Clinic: The Bartender is In

Tuesday, August 2nd

3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

The Westin St. Francis

Presented by Ecolab and Liquor.com

Specialty cocktails, fresh ingredients, punches, and creating a cocktail menu can bring your bar media attention and make it more profitable. Find out how a few easy changes can create an exciting cocktail program in any restaurant overnight. This interactive session will be presented by a panel of experts led by H. Joseph Ehrmann (Elixir), Duggan McDonnell (Cantina), and Camper English (spirits journalist, San Francisco Chronicle, Alcademics.com).

Classes are free to GGRA members and are $25 for the general public.

Ticket Price: $25 
Visa Signature® cardholders receive special perks and ticket savings.

 

Alcademics Wins a Best of the Bay Award

This is turning into a pretty good month. Alcademics was just given a Best of the Bay Award in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

 

BEST LIQUOR LOWDOWN

Why is it that we like to read about food and drink so much on the Web? In no other Internet area, except maybe porn, is the meeting of the weightlessly virtual and the essentially physical so addictively fruitful. And while crackerjack local liquor expert Camper English's Alcademics site doesn't tear off your panties with glossy cocktail shots, his entertainingly detailed descriptions of the latest drool-worthy liquors will have you practically licking your screen. Over the past four years — besides visiting more than 70 distilleries, blending houses, and bodegas in 14 countries — Alcademics has helped refine the Bay Area's cocktail-blogging niche with some much-needed worldliness and a willingness to look deeper at what's in our highball. (English's degree in physics helps here.) Now you can drink to feel smarter!

www.alcademics.com

 Thanks SFBG! All the awards are here.

Top Cocktail Searches

I thought this was interesting enough to share: According to a press release I got from Yahoo! here are recent top drink searches. 

According to Yahoo!, Top Searched Summer-Inspired Alcoholic Drinks, past 30 days:

1. Mojitos
2. Margarita
3. Budweiser
4. Sangria
5. Tequila
6. Heineken
7. Blue Moon
8. Miller High Life
9. Corona
10. Pina Colada 
11. Mixed Drinks
12. Dos Equis
13. Martini
14. Skinny Girl Margarita

Who knew so many people were searching for beer? Seems like you could just go to the store and pick some up. Also:

According to Yahoo!, Top Searched Cocktails, past 30 days:

1. Vodka Cocktails
2. Champagne Cocktails
3. Manhattan Cocktails
4. Rum Cocktail
5. Low-Calorie Cocktails
6. Mojito Cocktail
7. Sazerac Cocktail
8. Cosmopolitan Cocktail
9. Sex on the Beach Cocktail
10. Beer Cocktails

A Few Drinks at Jasper's Corner Tap

On Tuesday I got a preview of the drinks at Jasper's Corner Tap, opening Wednesday in San Francisco. 

The bar is headed up by Kevin Diedrich, most recently of The Burritt Room, but drinks on the menu also come from the other bartenders Brian MacGregor, Kimpton Hotel Group consultant Jacques Bezuidenhout, and Portlad-to-SF transplant Allison Webber. 

The focus is on cocktails that contain beer, to pair with the gastropub theme and the 18 beers on tap. I had a few drinks from the menu. (Full menu is here.) 

Of the ones I tried, my favorites were: 

Shibuya Shake (Beefeater 24 Gin, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, lemon, grapefruit, house orange bitters, egg white, shiso, Squirt.) 

The drink is wonderfully refreshing all the way through. We tried it after all the ice had melted and it was almost just as good as the first sip. 

Soda Jerk (Partida Blanco, campari, lime, passion fruit, vanilla infused agave syrup, egg white, cream soda.)

The passion fruit and cream soda combo is terrific here. A really unique flavor combination.

Empress Bianca (Martini & Rossi Rosato Vermouth, Yellow Chartreuse, lemon, grapefruit bitters.)

I love the low-alcohol libations. This drink has the flavor of a boozier beverage but less of a kick. 

Grand Promenade (Templeton Rye, Laird’s Bonded Applejack, Benedictine, Yellow Chartreuse.)

I mean, seriously. Read the ingredients. It tastes like that. So, good.

End of the Affair (Dry sherry, Hennessey Cognac, Rocky’s Bitters, honey, sparkling wine.)

The menu has a typo and lists cream instead of sparkling wine, which is kind of a big difference. You know I love the sherry drinks, and I love cognac drinks, and add the rest of the stuff and you get my favorite drink of the night. 

Nice work Kevin Diedrich!

Off-topic (meaning, non-drink-related) you kind of have to try the pretzel with the ridiculously good gouda dip. The warm citrus olives are also great. 

And fashion note: All the servers wear hipster plaid shirts so don't do the same or people will start asking you for refills. 

The Wide World of Pisco

For years, the only piscos available were the single-grape quebranta and the blended acholado, often with quebranta at its core.

Now we can find all eight approved Peruvian pisco varietals and several different acholado blends. In my latest story for the San Francisco Chronicle I talk about the wide range of piscos now available and a few cocktails in which to try them. 

Pisco - so much to know, there's more to tell
Camper English, Special to The Chronicle
Sunday, July 24, 2011 

Cocktail recipes that call for pisco almost never specify details on the spirit the way that whiskey might require. But as a slew of new piscos appear, with widely divergent flavors, bartenders and their customers are going to need to be more specific.

"In Peru there are five different pisco growing regions, there are 42 valleys, there are eight approved (grape) varietals and there are 500 producers. So with that you can see the gamut of what you're going to get," says James Schenk, owner of Pisco Latin Lounge in San Francisco.

Go here to read the rest of the story.