Alcademics.com

A First Look at The New Easy Bar in Oakland

Last week, together with Lou Bustamonte of the SF Weekly and Virginia Miller of the SF Bay Guardian, I took a tour of four bars in the East Bay. One of those stops was to The New Easy. 

The bar was formerly known as The Easy Lounge and was recently renovated and just opened after the new year. 

The space is one long room with very high ceilings. Along one side is the copper top bar then an open kitchen space further down.

Along the other side is some seating and a set of picnic-like tables and chairs. There is also a small outdoor patio in the way back. 

The ceilings have skylights and they're having chandeliers built to hang beneath them that will hold herbs growing on the top. They'll be able to lower the chandeliers down to snip off some produce each day. Very cool idea.

The bar will open at 2PM on Saturdays as that's the local farmer's market, the Grand Lake Farmer's Market. They'll try to lure in the post-market crowds and also use market ingredients in their cocktails. 

Speaking of cocktails, we tried a bunch. The menu is split into three sections: Stirred & Spirituous, Winter Farmers Market, and Adult Soda Fountain. 

My favorite cocktails included the Mad Hatter, made with Sailor Jerry Rum, golden raisin puree, carrot juice, and ginger soda. It was garnished with rabbit ear carrots. 

I also liked the Gift horse (old Tom gin, Dolin blanc vermouth, and house made "winter bitters") and the Love Spell (bourbon, apricot liqueur, house "fruitcake bitters"). 

The kitchen was still under construction on my visit, but as of now they are also serving food. 

The New Easy facebook page is here. 

A Couple of Cocktails

On my FineCooking.com cocktail blog, I've listed two wintry cocktails over the last two weeks. The first was created by Willie Shine for 1534. It's a simple cognac-based tropical style drink using Disarrono where orgeat might normally go.  

That recipe is here. 

The second one is from David Delaney Jr. of Worcester, Massachusetts. It was a finalist in this year's Angostura cocktail challenge, and contains a bunch of things that seem like it would taste like pie: cherry, cinnamon, allspice, apple, and maple syrup.

(Photo by CJ Foeckler)

On Second Thought
By David Delaney Jr. of Still & Stir

1.5 fl. oz. Laird's Applejack 
.5 fl. oz. Benedictine Liqueur
.5 fl. oz. Cherry Heering Liqueur
.5 fl. oz. Grade "A" Maple Syrup
.75 fl. oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
5 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a dehydrated, cinnamon-dusted lemon wheel.

The full post for that drink, including the explanation of the name, is here.

 

Carbonation Science

I was lucky enough to get a sample of the Perlini cocktail carbonating system, but before I even got around to using it I was fascinated by carbonation information the instruction manual. 

Note: Yes, I read the instruction manuals.  Pretty much always. 

The Perlini is basically a cocktail shaker than you fill with carbon dioxide (CO2), then shake and pour. The manual comes with tips both for using the shaker, and also about carbonation in general. 

So here are some things I learned:

- The amount of CO2 that will go into solution is controlled by pressure and temperature. The higher the pressure, the more CO2 fits. Obviously when you release the pressure (such as opening a bottle of a carbonated beverage) the pressure equalizes and the carbon dioxide comes out of solution.

- The colder the temperature of the liquid, the more CO2 can go into solution. Thus in the case of the Perlini, you add ice to the cocktail shaker. You can also chill the liquids in advance and not use ice (though the shaker is optimized for ice). 

- To keep the carbon dioxide in solution, we want to minimize the amount of bubbles that form and carry CO2 out of solution. Bubbles form when microscopic pockets of gas are found in imperfections in a piece of glassware (note that in a champagne flute most bubbles form a stream from  certain points at the bottom and sides of the glass) or in debris (solids) in the drink. These imperfections and solids are called nucleation points. The CO2 diffuses into these tiny pockets and blows them into bubbles, which are buoyant and float to the top and release the CO2 into the air. 

- Your tongue has lots of nucleation sites for bubbles to form, and that's where we like them as it tingles. So we're trying to keep the CO2 dissolved into liquid until it hits our tongue. 

- When using the Perlini (or say if you wanted to create a bottled soda) you want top keep nucleation sites out of the container. Thus you want to avoid having solids (like bits of citrus from fresh juices- strain them instead).

- Also, the surface area of ice has lots of nucleation points. So you want to decrease the total surface area of ice, by using larger cubes rather than chipped ice. 

- The Perlini is meant to be shaken like a cocktail shaker, but when you do this bubbles form in the shaker. Thus they recommend waiting until the bubbles settle down before cracking open the shaker- otherwise it can foam over. Viscious liquids (liqueurs, milk) will hold bubbles for longer, so you need to wait longer for the shaker to settle before depressurizing. 

- You're also not supposed to strain the liquid coming out of the strainer when you pour the cocktail. There is a built-in strainer to keep the ice out of the drink, but double-straining will add more nucleation points and fizz while you're pouring it through the strainer. Instead, strain any drink before putting it in the shaker. This cuts down on nucleation points from the pulp, etc. before you shake it. Also, pouring it on new ice will increase nucleation points as well. 

- Carbonated beverages taste more tart than non-carbonated beverages. This is because CO2 dissolved into water produces carbonic acid, which itself is flavorless but somehow adds the perception of tartness. 

- To adjust for the above, you should adjust citrus cocktail recipes towards the sweeter side so they come into balance when carbonated.

- Egg white (and other high-protein) drinks are going to be problematic as they are very foamy. 

- "The acidity from the carbonic acid can interact with the tannins of wood-aged spirits in a way that emphasizes acerbic notes in their flavor profi les, requiring extra care in optimizing recipes." Weird. 

I am excited to crack this thing open and give it a try. I am especially curious to experiment on how carbonation affects the perception of tartness and tannins! 

 

How Water Freezes

This post is about how a lake freezes, but it should be more or less the same for how an insulated container freezes in a freezer. The information is from the excellent book, Ice: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance by Mariana Gosnell. 

Turnover

As temperatures lower, the water in a lake "turns over." The top layer of water is heated by the sun during the day and is therefore warmer and lighter than the layers below it. At night without the sun, the cool air above the lake cools the top layer of water, which makes it denser than the layers beneath it. The top layer of water sinks. The new top layer gets colder until it too sinks. This is repeated until the top part of the water column reaches the same cool temperature. 

This temperature is not the freezing temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but 39 degrees. That's the temperature at which water is at its densest and heaviest. This also means that water contracts at this temperature and takes up the least space. 

Latent Heat of Fusion

After the lake has reached 39 degrees throughout the top part of the water column, as the cold air above it sinks to a lower temperature than the water, the water cools off to below 39 degrees. Now, however, the water getting colder makes it lighter than the 39 degree water below it, so the water no longer turns over. It stays on top and continues to cool until freezing. 

For water at 32 degrees to convert to ice at 32 degrees, a lot of energy must be given up. Normally it takes 1 calorie of energy to change the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius, but when water is changing phases to ice, it must give up nearly nearly 80 calories of energy to change phase without changing temperature at all.

Sometimes as the water is giving up the 'latent heat' to change phases, little wisps of fog are visible above the water's surface.  

Nucleation

In most cases, ice crystals form at a nucleation point: a bit of something around which an ice crystal builds. This is often an impurity in the water, and in a lake can be dirt, snow, or even rain. 

The ice crystals that form initially can be in weird shapes across the surface of the water rather than an even grid pattern.  

Lakes tend to freeze from the outside-in, as nucleation points are on the shore and the water isn't as deep there. I assume that ice cube trays would also freeze from the outside-in as the nucleation point would be spots along the side of the tray. 

Clear Ice

Clear ice on a lake is an indication that it froze slowly. As ice crystals form, the crystal lattice is is tight and there isn't room for impurities to fit inside it. (Ironic since impurities are usually needed to start the crystallization process.) Thus slow-freezing ice rejects impurities including air, minerals, and salts, and pushes them out of the way. 

This is why the last part of the ice to freeze is where any trapped air and impurities are. Most ice cubes are cloudy in the middle because the water is freezing on all four sides of the container; outside-in. On a lake or by using an insulated cooler in the freezer at home, the only coldness is coming from the top.

In a lake the water doesn't freeze all the way to the bottom so lake ice is very clear - the impurities and air are beneath it still in the liquid. In a cooler in the freezer, the cloudy part of the ice is only on the bottom - the last place that freezes. 

 More Freezing

After the ice crystals have formed on the surface, they eventually start growing down, thickening the ice. But as the ice thickens, the water beneath it turns into ice at a slower pace. This is because ice is a poor conductor of heat, so the thicker the ice, the further the distance the latent heat of freezing has to get to the cold air above the pond. In other words, the rate of freezing slows the thicker the ice.

 Saltwater

When sea ice freezes, most of the impurities - the salt- is pushed out of the freezing ice towards the bottom of the ocean. But about one-fifth of of the salt stays in pockets between crystals, in little capillaries. 

2011: My Year in Cocktail Writing

Looking over the year (read: sending invoices) for 2011, it turns out that I managed to get a lot of work done in between all the trips.

This year I contributed to:

• FineCooking.com as the weekly cocktail blogger
• Mixology Magazine in Germany
• The LA Times Magazine
• Caviar Affair Magazine
• SilverKris (Singapore Airlines)
• Penthouse Magazine
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• 7x7 Magazine
• Tasting Panel Magazine
• TastingTable.com
• Drink Magazine (China)
• Sunset Magazine
• Every Day with Rachael Ray Magazine
• DiffordsGuide/ CLASS Magazine
• ShakeStir.com
• Drinks International
• The Bold Italic

Plus, I blogged every day here on Alcademics.com and worked on both the Solid Liquids Project and the Sugar Spirit Project. 

I spoke at several conferences this year including Vino 2011, SF Chefs, and the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association, covered cocktail competitions in France, Spain, and India, and judged them in Vegas and San Francisco. 

So, I guess that was a pretty productive year! Thanks again for reading all my blatherings. 

2011: A Year of Spirituous Travel

In 2011, I traveled to 12 foreign countries not counting repeats on 22 different trips, flying 156,000 miles to do so. I had a mere 80 nights in hotel rooms and one or two hangovers.

My trips this year were: 

• Vino 2011 in NYC
• Jameson Irish Whiskey in Ireland
• Casa Noble Tequila in Mexico
• Angostura Bitters/Rum in Trinidad
• Pioneers of Mixology in Los Angeles
• Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America in Orlando
• Bacardi Global Legacy Cocktail Competition in London and Spain
• Bombay Sapphire Botanicals in London and Italy
• Karlsson's Vodka in Sweden
• G'Vine Gin Connoisseur Competition in France
• Diageo World Class Competition in India
• Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans
• ZU Vodka in Poland
• Purity Vodka in Sweden
• Cherry Heering in Copenhagen
• Bombay Sapphire/GQ Most Inspired Bartender Competition in Las Vegas
• DonQ Rum in Puerto Rico
• Pallini Limoncello in Italy
• Cointreau in France
• Auchentoshan Switch Competition in Las Vegas
• Yamazaki Whisky in Japan
• Taste of the Times Event in Los Angeles

I am hoping for a more localized but equally awesome 2012.