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The Lebensstern Cocktail Menu

A couple of months ago I visited Berlin for the Bar Convent. On that visit I hit up Lebensstern, the bar that won World's Best Drink Selection at Tales of the Cocktail in 2010.  My quick write-up on the bar is here.

 

I asked permission to print the cocktail menu and they kindly agreed. Note that this is merely the cocktails - the spirit selection, scattered in display cases throughout the house, is also quite extraordinary.

Lebensstern Cocktail Menu

English Version (via Google Translate)

Snowflake 13.50 
Lebensstern Gin 
St. Germain Elderflower 
Fri Lemon 
Champagne Pierre Gimonnet 

Seelbach 15.00 
Noah's Mill Bourbon 57.15% 
Cointreau 
Angostura Bitters & Peychaud's 
Champagne Pierre Gimonnet 

The Horseshoe Sling 15.50 
El Tesoro Anejo Tequila 
D.O.M. Benedictine 
Merlet Crème de Mure 
Fri Pineapple, fr. Lime 
Champagne Pierre Gimonnet 

Prince of Wales 13.50 
Louis Royer Cognac Borderies 
D.O.M. Benedictine 
Cointreau 
Angostura Bitters 
Champagne Pierre Gimonnet 

Martinez 9.50 
Xoriguer Mahon Gin 
Luxardo Maraschino 
Carpano Rosso Classico 
TBT Orange Bitters 

Aprico Secco - pluck 'Me 9.50 
Blue Ribbon Gin 
Giffard Abricot du Roussillon 
Dolin Dry Vermouth 
TBT Lemon Bitters 
Mace 

Moscow Mule 9.50 
Wyborowa Vodka 
Ginger Beer 
Fri Lime pickle 
Himalayan salt 

Carthusians Martini 10.00 
Booth's Finest Dry Gin 
Chartreuse verte 
Dolin dry 
Élixir végétal 

Insomnia 9.00 
Saffron Gin 
Carpano Punt e Mes 
Maple syrup 
Fee Brothers Peach Bitters 

Viking Gimlet 9.50 
Blackwood's Vintage Gin 60% 
Roses Lime Juice 

Ranglum 9.00 
Gosling's Black Seal rum 
Wray & Nephew Rum 63% 
Taylor's Falernum 
Fri Lime 

Guyana Manhattan 10.50 
El Dorado Rum 12y 
Noilly Prat Sweet 
Angostura Bitters 
TBT Orange Bitters 

Brooklyn 9.50 
Rittenhouse Rye 50% 
Maraska maraschino 
Amer Picon 
Noilly Prat Dry 
Vintage Rye with 21y ... 16,50 

Aviation 9.50 
Plymouth Gin Navy 57% 
Luxardo Maraschino 
TBT Crème de Violette 
Fri Lemon 
Syrup 

Sea of Love 10.00 
Glenfiddich Single Malt 12y 
Giffard Abricot du Roussillon 
Giffard Vanille de Madagascar 
Fri Lemon 

The "Spirits" Bloody Mary 9.50 
Rosemary Vodka 
Tomato juice, Dijon mustard honey 
Fri Lemon 
Spices 

Blood & Sand 10.50 
Ardbeg 10y Single Malt 46% 
Carpano Rosso Classico 
Heering Cherry Liqueur 
Fri Orange 

Ginger Daiquiri 8.50 
Ron Varadero Anejo Reserva Rum 
Fri Lime 
Syrup 
Fri Ginger 

Pisco Sour 8.50 
Ocucaje Acholado Pisco 
Fri Lemon 
Syrup 
Fri Protein 
Chuncho Amargo Bitters 

Clover Club 8.50 
Tanqueray Gin 
Raspberry syrup 
Fri Lime, fr. Protein 
Syrup 

East India 10.50 
Louis Royer Cognac Borderies 
Cointreau 
Luxardo Maraschino 
homemade pineapple syrup 
Angostura Bitters 

Rattle Snake 9.50 
Rittenhouse Rye 50% 
Pernod Absinthe 
Fri Lemon, fr. Protein 
Syrup 
Peychaud's Bitters 

"Coronet" Sour 9.50 
Maker's Mark Bourbon 
Fri Lemon 
Syrup 
Red wine 

12 Monks 9.50 
Old Monk Rum 12y 
Pure Choco Distillate Choc 
Fri Lemon 
Syrup 

Our Tommy's Margarita 9.00 
Ginger-cilantro tequila 
Agave syrup 
Fri Lime 

Ti-Punch 9.00 
Domaine de Severin Rhum blanc 55% 
Fri Lime 
White cane sugar 

Bookeroni 16.00 
Booker's Bourbon 63.15% 
Aperol 
Carpano Rosso Classico 

The Gherkin 9.00 
Plymouth Navy Strength Gin 57% 
Fri Cucumber, fr. Lemon 
Syrup 
Pepper, Himalayan salt 

Henny's whorl 9.50 
Lebensstern Caribbean Rum 
Angostura Bitters 
Fri Pineapple & mint 
Soda Water 

Elderflower Fizz 9.50 
Gilbey's Gin 47.5% 
D'arbo Elderflower syrup 
Fri Lemon, cucumber, Himalayan salt 
Syrup, Ginger Beer 

Silver Fizz Sloe 9.00 
Gilbey's Gin 47.5% 
Sloe Gin Hayman's 
Fri Lemon, fr. Protein 
Syrup 
Soda Water 

47.958 14.50 ² 
Ron Zacapa 23 
Muscovado sugar 
Peychaud's Bitters 
Pure Choco Distillate Choc 
Tabu Absinth 73% 

Gin Gin Mule 9.50 
Gilbey's Gin 47.5% 
Fri Lemon 
Syrup 
Fri Ginger, mint, fr. Protein 
Ginger Beer 

Stadlwat 9.00 
Gilbey's Gin 47.5% 
Merlet Crème de Cassis 
Fri Lime 
Soda Water 

Suffering Bastard 10.50 
Maker's Mark Bourbon 
Tanqueray Gin 
Fri Lime & FR. Orange 
Angostura Bitters, Mint 
Ginger Beer 

Mai Tai 12.50 
Renegade Jamaica 5y, Tempranillo finished rum 
Cointreau, fr. Lime, Orgeat 
with Appleton 151 Proof ... 24,00 
with High Spirit Long Pond Jamaica 17y 46% ... 36,00 

 

 The original German version is below after the jump.

A Cramped Little Man with Horn-Rimmed Glasses

The German paper Zeit wrote up the Bar Convent Berlin, where I was this past week. Most of the article is about the talk I gave with Phil Duff and Elayne Duke on future trends in global mixology. 

 

Of course I can't read it, so I used Google Translate. 

The best part of the translation is the author calling Philip Duff "professionally cuddly." Another highlight is my description: 

Although most of the time talking to Duff, he is not alone on the stage. Beside him sits a little cramped, a man with horn-rimmed glasses named Camper English, who as a cocktail blogger from San Francisco to see there.

"We can see straight," says English, "that the cards in cocktail bars are getting shorter. Where once 60-80 drinks to choose from were, there are now only 6-10 cocktails. In general, the time of showing is over. At the same time the ingredients and quality become more important. " Spoke for the increasing number of so-called "boutique distilleries" and produce a little micro-distilleries, high quality and unusual spirits. More than 160 would already be in the U.S. alone, every day it would be more. Promo Two girls in tight leather pants and plunging necklines walk to coincide with a magnum bottle of whiskey through the audience. Just as they would do camper poor English with his eulogy to the growing taste for quality and claim the lie.

Read the whole story (in whatever language you want) here. 

All of the reporting on the Mixology.eu website from your favorite little cramped man who wears horn-rimmed glasses is here. 

Sipping Seminars at Bar Convent Berlin

Here are recaps of three seminars I attended while at Bar Convent Berlin 2010:

Born in Germany, Made in America: The German Faces of the American Cocktail by Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller.

Bottle- and Cask-Ageing of Cocktails- A Future Concept? By Tony Conigliaro

The Science of Shaking and Stirring- What Really Happens When you Mix Drinks? by Dave Arnold and Eben Klemm

 

Sipping Seminars at Bar Convent Berlin

Here are recaps of three seminars I attended while at Bar Convent Berlin 2010:

Born in Germany, Made in America: The German Faces of the American Cocktail by Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller.

Bottle- and Cask-Ageing of Cocktails- A Future Concept? By Tony Conigliaro

The Science of Shaking and Stirring- What Really Happens When you Mix Drinks? by Dave Arnold and Eben Klemm

 

The Bars of Berlin

As you know, I've been blogging over at Mixolody.eu for the Bar Convent Berlin show that starts tomorrow. 

At night I've been visiting bars. I visited four on Friday and just two last night, but what an amazing two bars they are!

Read about the bars of Berlin in this first blog post and this second one. I love Lebensstern so much I want to marry it. 

 

   

Berlin Cocktail Snake

I'm in Berlin, Germany blogging for the bar show Bar Convent Berlin. I had a few extra hours today, so I decided to see some of the city. I visited a remaining portion of the Berlin Wall, passed by some sausage stands, had a beer, and saw the sign for the famous cocktail snakes. 

 The cocktail snakes have a rich history dating back to Second Reich, but were largely unknown outside of the Eastern part of Berlin until after Reunification in 1957. 

Today they are some of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Germany, with signs on many street corners directing enthusiasts to the nearest snake bar, known as Snackbarleichten. (American tourists are often confused by the name, expecting to find a snack bar but receiving a poisonous bite instead. Because of the resulting lawsuits, German parliament passed a resolution in 2003 requiring all snake bars to stock plenty of antidote and have nurses on staff.)

In the traditional Snackbarleichten, the snakes are kept in a glass aquarium with an open top at the same level as the bar counter. The bartender ("snackfrau") pours cocktails in oversized glasses; typically a blend of the local schnapps with sugar and a drop of fresh mouse blood. She puts the drink on the bar and then the wait begins. 

Eventually one of the snakes will coil itself around the cocktail glass and reach its forked tongue in for a sip of the drink. The snake will take only a few slurps, becoming instantly intoxicated and passing out coiled around the stem of the glass. (Cold-blooded animals have no livers, so alcohol goes directly to the brain.) Only after the snake has fallen asleep do you get your turn to drink- with a straw so you don't wake the snake. 

Recently some modern snake bars have opened to cater to the younger generation. These venues (called "ultrasnackbarleichten") house only specially-bred albino snakes that glow in the nightclub-style black light. There, the mouse blood is replaced with Red Bull and the snakes do not sleep, but jitter in a rhythmic motion to the industrial dance music piped in over loudspeakers.

Anyway, that's what I was imagining on my walk following the cocktail snake sign to see what could possibly be at the end of it. Turns out, it's a pharmacy. 

I didn't ask if they carried anti-venom kits.

Blogging from Bar Convent Berlin

For the next week I'll be in Germany working as one of the official bloggers of Bar Convent Berlin, sponsored by Mixology Magazine. (I'm a regular contributor to Mixology these days- for some reason I find it very cool to be translated into German.) Hopefully I'll also get to visit a few of the great bars in town as well. 

I'll also be speaking at this industry convention about Future Trends in the Global Bar Scene along with the wondrous Phillip Duff. (And despite what it says on the website, we will not be speaking in German.) 

Other speakers at the convention include Dale DeGroff , Charles Schumann , Angus Winchester, Tony Conigliaro, Matthew Bax, Eben Klemm, Dave Arnold, Anistatia Miller & Jared Brown, Henry Besant, and Ian Burrel. I am in very good company. 

My posts will be on the Mixology Blog, so please check in with me over there. 

Also, see the Mixology Facebook page and the Twitter account.