Alcademics.com

A Wet Day in New York

A Slew of booze stories in the New York Times recently:

 Kim Severson says that a lot of sober people work in bars, focusing on Del Pedro of Pegu Club. Sounds a lot like this story from Edible Manhattan on Del Pedro of Pegu Club.

Eric Asimov says that for beer to be treated as seriously as wine, the menu, or the food, or the education of the staff should match the quality of the beer. Word to that.

Robert Simonson sheds some light on swizzle drinks and (real) swizzle sticks.

Florence Fabricant notes two gins.

 

Another Carrot Cocktail

For some reason I am obsessed with carrot cocktails this year, despite not having consumed any. Here's an earlier post about carrot cocktails, that refers to another post about carrot cocktails.

Here's another recipe that came in the G'Vine newsletter that sounds tasty to me. Carrots and gin, yum!

G'ZANAHORIA

Ingredients
1 part    G'Vine Floraison
1/2 part Fresh carrot juice
1/3 part Fresh lime juice
2/3 part Fresh pineapple juice
1/6 part Agave nectar
1/3 part Cointreau

Instructions
Pour all the ingredients in a shaker. Add ice, shake and strain into a cocktail glass (Martini). Garnish with an orange wheel and gooseberry.

Additional Events at SF Cocktail Week

Thursday, May 14th is Bar School Day as part of San Francisco Cocktail Week. All the classes are listed here- and some of them are selling out. Book a class today!

After class, check out one of these events:

The Peruvian Connection
Pisco Latin Lounge, 5-11PM
1817 Market Street
Free admission, $7.00 Pisco Punch and Pisco Sour all night

Meet cocktail history researcher Guillermo Toro-Lira (author of the international award winning book “Wings of Cherubs. The  Saga of the Rediscovery of Pisco Punch”) and a member of the Academia Peruana del Pisco, Peru’s elite Pisco Historical Society. Just back from the unveiling of a statue in Lima honoring the inventor of Pisco Sour, Toro-Lira will be available to discuss the history of pisco based drinks and their historical California connection. Special drawing for prizes, and everyone gets a Tapas Discount Card. All guests must be 21 & over, please.

Also:

FOR ALL THE LADIES
“GIN & GEN” AT CONDUIT
An Opportunity To Taste and Learn About Gin and Genever
Free & Open to Ladies Only—Space is Limited

Seeking to decipher floral gins and juniper laden gins from genever styles? This unique event allows guests to experience all expressions of gin in their purest form and innovative cocktails. This is also an opportunity to learn about Genever, the Dutch predecessor to Gin.

Join us for this LADIES ONLY event during San Francisco Cocktail Week, to enjoy the luster of juniper in cocktails served by some of the industry’s leading mixologists.

Meet some of San Francisco’s finest cocktail talents and special guests including:

• Kendra Scott, Distiller of Anchor Junipero gin
• Antoinette Cattani, Importer of Damrak gin and Lucas Bols genever
• Charlotte Voisey, National Brand Ambassador for Hendrick’s Gin National and award winning mixologist 

Treats:
Chef Justin Deering’s pristine American savory and sweet bites

Tipples:            
Damrak gin, Right gin, Junipero gin, Martin Miller’s gin, Beefeater 24 gin, Hendrick’s gin, Bols genever, and Genevieve genever

Time/Place:    
Thursday May 14, 2009
5:00pm-8:00pm

RSVP:             
All guests must be 21 years plus for entry
RSVPs are essential, space is limited.
RSVP to reza[AT SIGN GOES HERE]superultramega.com

Photos from the Damrak Gin Contest in SF

A couple of weeks ago I helped judge the Damrak gin cocktail competition in San Francisco. Over the course of two days we drove around to 18 bars in vintage Cadillacs and judged a drink at each. It was a heck of a lot of work, but we helped make five people very happy with trips to Amsterdam.

The winning recipes are:

• Always Sunny by Wes Bouchia of Yoshi’s   
  
• The Greenhouse by Jonny Raglin of Absinthe
  
• The Flying Dutchman by Jenn Philpot of Waterbar 
  
• The Dr. Fazi by Will Herrarra  of Cosmopolitan Café   
  
• Golden Gate Gimlet by John Solorzano of Jack Falstaff

More pictures are after the jump.

Out of the Bathtub and Into the Kitchen

Gourmet.com has a recipe for making gin out of vodka by infusing it with herbs and berries. I can't wait to try it.

I also think this would make an excellent gift for the gin lover in your life: Hand him or her a bottle of vodka to make them squirm, then in the card that comes with it have all the herbs and the recipe in the envelope. Tee hee!

Original Gins

Check out my story in today's San Francisco Chronicle about new-to-market old-style gins, including genever, old tom, and aged gin. The story is here.

New Booze: Tru 2 Organic Gin

Why it's interesting: While nearly all gins are vodka that is infused with herbs and redistilled, Tru 2 Gin stops at the infusion- and proudly advertises that. (It's a light gold color because of this.) Also, I believe it is only the second organic gin on the market.

The product is made by Modern Spirits, a company that produces a range of flavored vodkas, as well as the Tru Organic Vodka line. Like most gin (and many vodka) companies, they purchase their spirit elsewhere and blend and dilute it in-house. Here they use their creative infusion talents to turn this vodka into gin.

The mouthfeel on this gin is oilier than your average London dry, and I'd go so far as to say it has a softer "nosefeel." (Can I copyright that?) According to the website, the ingredients in the gin are juniper berries,  fresh lavender, fresh lemon zest, angelica root, orris root,  coriander seeds,  cardamom, vanilla beans, cloves, fennel, cinnamon, allspice, chamomile and star anise. To my palate (which is dumb, keep in mind), it's floral soft vanilla juniper on the nose and lingering cinnamon/allspice in the mouth.

Availability: It is supposed to be in "major markets" this fall. (This map should help you determine if it's in your state.) Retail price is $34.99.

Homemade tonic: actually easy?

(Photo of Ella's Gin and Tonic by Matt Powers of MattPowersPhotography.com)

Last week I was in Sacramento reporting on the local cocktail scene for Tasting Panel Magazine. We stumbled into Ella, a fine dining restaurant  where the signature cocktail is a gin and (homemade) tonic.

I've tried several versions of homemade tonic water and even made my own, and to be honest none of them were mind-blowing. Schweppe's Indian Tonic is better. But this one at Ella is terrific and fresh, and the secret is... not to make it into a syrup first.

Bartender Chris Dooley made the drink by adding ground cinchona bark powder - probably 1/8 teaspoon of it or less- to an empty glass, then adding the gin (209 Gin in their case), lemon and lime juice, cane sugar syrup, ice, and soda water.

Dooley said they found cinchona bark powder doesn't dissolve well into anything except the gin, which is why they put it in before the other ingredients. That said, you could still see particles of the bark powder at the bottom of the glass. Yet this drink didn't taste as barky as the syrup that I made, even though I ran it through coffee filters a couple of times. It was fresh and bitter and really good.

I haven't tried to replicate the drink at home yet, so please let me know if you've made it work (or not) this way. It would be hilarious to find out in that trying to get the tonic into syrup form people have been overthinking what could be simple homemade tonic water.