Alcademics.com

Glasgow Bars: The Blind Pig

The Blind Pig is a speakeasy-themed bar in Glasgow that I visited on a recent Saturday night while in town for a Bowmore/Auchentoshan press trip. 

 

The venue is split into a restaurant and bar area. The bar was absolutely packed but I managed to squeeze my way up close to watch the action. The shakers were all metal (Alessi, I think) and they use those brushed aluminum jiggers to measure. The bartender had the old-time (white shirt and suspenders) look of American bars, but without the ironic mustache. 

The cocktail menu that doesn't appear to be online consists of mostly floral drinks, so I was having trouble finding something I wanted to order. Naturally, my first choice they were out of- the Holland House made with Bols Genever, maraschino, lemon, and vermouth. (I was amazed not only at how many bars in Glasgow carry Bols Genever, but also how many of them have it in drinks on the menu.)

I opted for the Moonshine Martini instead, made with gin, dry vermouth, maraschino, and absinthe. It was pretty good, except for the garnish of bright red maraschino cherries sitting in the bottom of the glass.   

This bar is open for brunch on Sundays and at happy hour has a special of martinis for two people at a discount, served in tea cups and coming with a tea pot for refills. 

This was just one of the ways this bar has a strong Hendrick's Gin influence on it- you could see it named in the recipes, the floral drink style, and a few product placements around the bar. 

(I like the glass lighting that doesn't look as nice in the picture as in real life- glassware hung over the bar with small lights shining on it to spray the light through the crystal designs.)

Home Bar Recommendations: One of Each

When Jonny Raglin and Jeff Hollinger were looking to open Comstock Saloon (hopefully this month), they had a big limitation to work with: the size of the back bar. It only has room for one or two types of each base spirit. This is a challenge for Raglin in particular as between his former post as Bar Manager at Absinthe and his consultant gig at Dosa on Fillmore he was working with probably 30 different types of gin alone. 

This inspired a story I wrote for the April edition of 7x7 magazine. I also spoke with Martin Cate of Forbidden Island who had the luxury of choosing over 200 rums for the bar, but that didn't leave room for much else. Before opening he sent out an email requesting advice on one of each tequila (blanco, reposado, anejo) for the bar. I also spoke with Marcovaldo Dionysos, who was very selective when choosing the bottles for Clock Bar. He said he had to balance familiar brands that consumers know with less-recognized spirits he'd prefer to work with. 

In the story I asked each of Raglin, Cate, and Dionysos to pick one of each- vodka, tequila, rum, whisky, and gin- that would work the best in the most cocktails, while also being good enough for sipping. The results should point home mixologists who may also not have room for 30 brands of gin toward the one bottle to buy.

The Ultimate Five-Bottle Bar, Perfect for Apartment Dwelling

by Camper English

What happens when the city’s top bartenders are forced to choose? Introducing the ultimate five-bottle bar, perfectly sized for apartment dwelling. 

Click the link above to read the story. In the print edition there are also recommendations for one each of sweet and dry vermouth and an orange liqueur/triple sec.

New Booze: Oxley Gin

Oxley is a new gin just launched in NYC, SF, LA, and Vegas. The interesting thing about this product is that it's made through "cold distillation." The theory is that the high temperatures used in traditional gin distillation to boil alcohol (to separate it from water and the infused botanicals in the still) can impart 'cooked' notes or lose desirable flavors in gin.

However, the press release didn't go into what cold distillation is. One option could be freeze distillation, where you put out a jug of wine outside your front door in the winter to let it freeze. You scrape off the frozen part (the water) and keep the rest (the alcohol). After a few times you get a higher-proof drink than what you began with.

The other way to achieve cold distillation is by lowering the pressure by creating a vacuum in order to lower the boiling point of liquids. It turns out that's how they produce Oxley:

The boiling point of all liquids alters with the pressure change; the lower the pressure, the lower the temperature required to achieve boiling. It is for this very reason that water boils at a lower temperature at the top of a mountain than at sea level.

 

Cold Distillation uses a vacuum to reduce the pressure in the still and as a result lowers the temperature to approximately -5C, causing the macerated spirit in the still to ‘boil’ and turn to vapour. At this point the natural flavours from the botanicals are captured, resulting in a spirit that is reminiscent of the natural ingredients used to create it.

 

The reduced pressure within the still means that the molecules in the macerated spirit are no longer forced together by pressure, and instead start to separate, reducing the kinetic energy required to boil and changing from liquid to vapour (but without the use of heat). When this was observed during the development of OXLEY, it was discovered that the natural essences from the botanicals were captured and preserved in the vapour transferring to the final distilled spirit.

 

The Cold Distillation process occurs at approximately -5C and the resulting vapour is condensed at a temperature of -100C. As a result, the botanical flavours and aromas are not altered as they often are during traditional distillation methods. During other distillation methods botanicals are exposed to temperatures of 80C or greater. Cold Distillation, by contrast leaves the structure of the botanical molecules unchanged, thus preserving their original intensity. As a result, harsh and cooked notes, tops and tails and ‘spirit safes’ become a thing of the past. All the spirit distilled for OXLEY is of such high quality that everything produced goes into the final bottle and nothing is discarded.

The first part is interesting, but the last few sentences are very interesting. During distillation usually the first vapor that comes off the still is both yucky tasting and poisonous. The last vapor off is yucky and potentially watery. Thus much of the art in distilling is choosing the center cut- the heart- while not wasting too much of the spirit from the heads or tails. (This waste alcohol is often redistilled in a new batch or recycled into industrial alcohol) The folks at Oxley are saying that they've eliminated this alcohol waste entirely through this high-pressure, high-tech distillation. Very cool.

Anyway, the stuff costs fifty bucks a bottle. How does it taste?

Largely it tastes like gin. The nose is lemon zest and juniper, and on the palate more citrus comes into play as do almond notes that the press kit says comes from meadowsweet. To my mouth, the most unique aspect of this gin is the finish- I don't get a lot of the oiliness that reminds me of dried juniper berries usually found in gin, but in its stead I get a metallic dryness, like aluminum or stainless steel. (I wonder what the still is made of...) Other palates may just identify it as just dry or non-oily. I have not tried the drink in anything beyond a G&T and a Gin Sour, in which the aftertaste is still very dry.

Oxley Gin is interesting and high-tech stuff, but ultimately you'll have to decide whether or not you like it on your own.

The Bartender's Gin Compendium Book Review

Recently cocktail writer Gary Regan rebranded himself as Gaz Regan and wrote a new book called The Bartender's Gin Compendium.

The book is a study of gin in many of its forms, with chapters on the history of gin and gin cocktails, dry gin, genever, old tom gin, plymouth gin, and gin cocktails.

The history chapters are informative but not so in-depth that you'll get bored with them. The Old Tom chapter was particularly good and more information on the subject than I've seen elsewhere. There is also some great background about a few particular cocktails including the Tom Collins and Singapore Sling. But really, the focus of this book is practical knowledge about gin, and the title is appropriate in that it is really written for bartenders and other industry folks rather than for consumers.

I quite enjoyed the breakdown of the botanicals commonly used in gin- what they are, what they taste like, and what they do for a gin. We learn that some ingredients exist not for their own flavors, but to marry other ingredients in the recipe.

Regan largely let brands describe their own products, for better or worse. He gave each brand a chance to list the botanicals used their gin and explain why the gin is different from other brands. The thing I would have liked here is a mention of whether the list of ingredients was all-inclusive or a partial list. For example, Martin Miller's gin has always talked about their secret flavors that everyone recognizes as being cucumber, yet cucumber is not listed here as an ingredient. Thus it's a partial list.

Still, knowing key flavoring agents in different brands will be useful to the taster who is trying to analyze each gin, and to the bartender who wants to know what other ingredients to pair with it in cocktails. The important thing about gin is that it helps embrace and echo other flavors in cocktails. This book lists many, many great gin recipes in the final chapter, but I think with the information about what is in each brand its best utility is as an ingredient guide to help bartenders create new cocktails going forward.

Glossy Booze: Early November Edition

Glossy Booze is a regular Alcademics round-up of booze stories in magazines.

Details (November) has a story on underappreciated red wines.

Imbibe (Nov/Dec) has recipes for homemade eggnog, drinks with figs, and party drink recipes, a comparison of witbiers, a story on Greg Boehm of CocktailKingdom.com,  one on barleywine, another on bargain sparkling wine, fancy hot chocolate, and a travel piece on drinking in Hawaii.

Malt Advocate (Fall 2009) has stories on Japanese Whisky, Australian whisky, water in whisky, GlenDronach, and drinking in Bardstown, KY.

Men's Journal (November) has stories on California blended wines and good Canadian Whisky.

Food & Wine (November) has stories on ten Thanksgiving wines, new wine books, a recipe for mulled wine (to use with leftover bottles), American ciders, and $10 holiday wines.

Delta's in-flight magazine Sky's October issue has a round-up of wine and food festivals, and a big feature on visiting the world's best wine regions. 

Sunset (November) has a round-up of spirits new spirits distilleries in the west, lists their annual Wine Awards, and lists a recipe for kumquat digestif.

Everyday With Rachael Ray (November), in addition to the story I wrote on avoiding hangovers, has a few recipes for simple cocktails.

GQ (November) has a recipe for a 2:1 Martini.

Esquire lists recommended single-malts from Scotland's islands, Highlands, and Lowlands, and adds two new bars to its best bars list: One Flew South in the Atlanta airport, and Dutch Kills in Queens.

In ReadyMade (November/December) Alex Day shares sherry knowledge and there's a project on making a rolling bar out of an old trunk.

And the winner for best booze coverage this month goes to Conde Nast Traveler (November), with its this huge round-up of 38 bars in New Orleans' French Quarter. 

Gin History and a Contest

G'Vine gin is sponsoring a big contest for bartenders here, but even non-professionals may want to do the online study part to learn more about the history and production of gin, spirits tasting, and cocktail development philosophy.

The contest was developed by Philip Duff of door74 in Amsterdam, my favorite bar I've never been to. This contest emphasizes not just G'Vine's production, but that of other brands, with the goal being to create or reward an international gin connoisseur/ambassador. (There are quizzes, and essay, and cocktail creation portions of the exams.) At a contest briefing in San Francisco, they told me that even people who aren't bartenders can take the course, so I gave it a try. (Just fill in "n/a" or something in the registration page for your bar/workplace.)

The course has modules on gin history, gin production, G'vine specifically, gin tasting, and cocktail theory. I've been to many, many events on these topics, but was delighted to see some of the information taught in a different way and to pick up many new details. For example, I learned that one of the early notables in distilling was a woman- Maria the Jewess; different flavoring methods for distilled gin (infusion, maceration, compounding, vapor infusion); some additional tasting tips; a list of the botanicals in 60% of all gins; and balancing not just sweet to sour, but also bitter to sweet and salt to umami.

If you're interested, get started here.

Gin Definitions

A few months back I attended a seminar hosted by Plymouth and Beefeater gins. This was held on the same day the new EU definition of London gin became law.

The law sets down three categories of gin by production method- not by flavor. They are:

Gin- Can be basically vodka with flavors added at bottling time.

Distilled Gin - Flavors are distilled with the neutral spirit, then additional flavors may be added after distillation.

London Gin - Flavors (must be natural, not artificial) are distilled with the neutral spirit, then nothing may be added after distillation except more neutral spirit and water and a tiny amount of sweetener. You will notice that it does not need to be distilled in London.

The full definitions are here. 

I was confused about one point after the seminar so I thought I'd clear it up here. Gins like Hendrick's and Martin Miller's are not London gins because they add flavors after distillation (so they are distilled gins). Gins like Bombay Sapphire that are made in Carterhead stills (and meeting all the other requirements) are London gins, though they are made a little differently than gins like Beefeater and Plymouth.

In the Carterhead still, botanicals can be placed in the vapor stream of the still instead of (or in addition to) putting them in the pot and infusing them in the neutral spirit. This adds a lighter touch of the botanicals to the gin. Initially I thought this disqualified gins distilled in this method from being labeled London gins. (I was thinking that if the botanicals were not in the pot, it was considered post-distillation.) But that's not true. I guess if it's all contained within the still set-up it's not considered post-distillation.

In the end, there are good and interesting gins in each category, and the categories don't account for flavor. Increasingly people are referring to gins as traditional vs. "new west" in style; boldly juniper-forward in flavor versus lighter in style with non-traditional flavorings and usually less dominated by juniper. So perhaps a gin officially labeled as a London gin can also be "new west" in flavor.

Glossy Booze: Late July Edition

Glossy Booze is a regular Alcademics feature in which I talk about the alcohol coverage in magazines.

Gourmet (July) has a ton of liquor content this month: an essay on cocktail parties, a Negroni recipe, a brief mention of big ice, a recipe for Fresh Tomato Bloody Marys in a brunch story, Fresh Mint Juleps in an American party story, a Black and Tan recipe in an afternoon meal story, and several recipes for cocktail-flavored ice pops. (More ice pop recipes here.)

Saveur (July) has six drink recipes on one page: Book Club Sangria, Kentucky Club Margarita, Michelada, Longhorn Bull Shot, Cucumber Cooler, and the Chico.

Food & Wine (August) lists light wines for hot days and big balanced reds.

Chilled Magazine, which is more of a drinking magazine for nightclub types, has several stories on vodka and stories on the Thirsty Traveler, Sam Adams, molecular mixology, and flair bartending.

GQ (August) has a quick note on lower alcohol wines for summer. In the July issue, they list recipes for the Ramos Gin Fizz, Rum Fizz, and Gin Fizz.

Entrepreneur (July) has an entirely lackluster cover story interview with John DeJoria of Patron.

 Bon Appetit (August) has a great profile of Boston bartender Misty Kalkofen, a quick recommendation of swizzle sticks, a story on fizzy drinks, and perhaps the spookiest picture of a Bellini ever taken.