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Cocktail Menu: Jbird Cocktails in New York

 

The bar Jbird is opening a new location in the Upper East Side. The cocktail program, as at the original location, is done by Jason Littrell and Marshall Altier of Genuine Leather Hospitality.

 

 

Old-Fashioned Cocktails
The Original; as defined in 1806; Spirit, sweet and a dash of bitter, stirred and served over hand-cut ice

Coco Viejo Coco & Coffee Bean Aged Rum, Cane Syrup, Grapefruit Bitters $14
KSBW Bourbon, Lemongrass Acacia Honey, Aromatic Bitters $12
Thornybush Cocktail London Dry Gin, Elderflower Liquor, Kaffir Lime, Celery Bitters $14
North Garden Apple Brandy, Bourbon, Islay Scotch $12
Honey-Nut Old-Fashioned Roasted Peanut-Infused Bourbon, Honey Syrup, Aromatic Bitters $12
(Courtesy of Marcos Tello, The Varnish, Los Angeles)
Brush of the Bush Anejo Tequila, Reposado Mezcal, Sage Agave Nectar, Cherry Bark, Vanilla Bitters $14

Sours
A shaken measure of strong, sour and sweet, carefully built for balance

Lavender Lining Bianco Tequila, Lavender Petal Bianco Vermouth, Lime, Lavender Froth*, Market Herbs $14
Everyman After All Oak-Aged Caribbean Rum, Apple Brandy, Crème de Pecha, Citrus, House Peach Bitters, Green Cardamom $12
Chief’s Hunt Amber and Aged White Rums, Passion Fruit, Lime, Orange, Apricot Brandy, Coconut Liqueur $12
20th Century London Dry Gin, House-Made Crème de Cacao, Cocchi Americano Wine, Lemon $12
(From Café Royal Bar Book 1937)
Sadie Hawkin’s Sling Bourbon, Falernum, Pear Brandy, Apricot Liqueur, Lemon, Pineapple, Tiki Bitters
(Served for two) $24

Collinses, Fizzes and Effervescent
The original ‘coolers’, served tall and topped with bubbles

Manu Chao Bay Leaf Infused Cachaca, Lemon, Demerara, Green Chartreuse, Soda Water $12
Hudson Breeze Fizz London Dry Gin, Apple Brandy, Pomegranate Syrup, Lemon, Baked Apple Foam*
(Contains Egg-whites) $12
Palomito Reposado Tequila, Grapefruit Juice, Salt, Lime, Negra Modelo, Tamarind Soda $14
The Imperial March Chinese Black Tea Cognac 1st Cru, Raspberry Syrup, Lime Juice, Champagne $14
Afternoon Delight Old Tom Gin, Pear Brandy, Orange & Lemon, Cane Sugar, Soda Water $14

Aromatized Cocktails
Spirit-on-spirit cocktails served in the manner of their famous predecessors; The Martini, The Manhattan, et al.

Camomila Cocktail Rye Whiskey, Chamomile Grappa, Bianco Vermouth, Elderflower, Orange Bitters $14
Maddow Old Tom Gin, Dry Vermouth, Elderflower Liquor, Antica Vermouth, Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters14
La Rosita Anejo Tequila, Antica Vermouth, Campari $14
ICBM Vodka, French Vermouth, Celery Bitters Mist, Vermouth-Cured Onions $12
Moon on the Rain Calvados VSOP, Dubbonet Rouge, Quince-Pecan Gastrique, Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters $12
(Courtesy of Daniel Shoemaker, Teardrop Lounge, Portland, OR)

Swizzles, Juleps, and Fixes
Frosty cold mixes as old as any in the America’s…Served on crushed ice

JBird Swizzle Jasmine Flower Rum, Don’s Spices, Lime, Pineapple, Blueberry Syrup, Orgeat, Bitters $12
Satchmo Swizzle London Dry Gin, Agave Nectar, Lime Juice, Crème Yvette, Mezcal, Ginger Beer, Aromatic Bitters, Blackberry Garnish $12
(Courtesy of Chris Hannah, Arnaud’s French 75 Bar, New Orleans, LA)
Daisy de Obeah Oak-Aged Caribbean Rum, Lime, Falernum, Cane Sugar, Strega Float $12
Behind God’s Back Aged Rum, Pineapple and Lime Juice, Cane Sugar, Cinnamon Syrup, Orgeat, Aromatic Bitters $12
Prescription Julep from Harper’s Monthly 1857 Rye Whiskey, Cognac 1st Cru, Demerara, Market Mint, Jamaican Rum Float $12

Jbird Cocktails
339 East 75th Street
212-288-8033
http://jbirdny.com

Cocktail Menu: Jimmy at The James in New York City

Here is the menu from Jimmy, a bar on the 18th story of the James hotel in SOHO, NYC.

I see: pumpernickel salt, cinnamon ice block, and one drink with beer, moonshine, orgeat, and Coke. What?

It's hard to guess how these drinks taste from the menu as there are a lot of sweet flavors involved but a delicate hand can work wonders. Let me know if you've been there. 

Cocktail Menu: Le Bernardin in New York

Restaurant Le Bernardin in New York recently reopened after a renovation. They also have a new cocktail list. The cocktails mostly add gourmet touches to the classics. But the prices, ouch. 

The menu is long so I've put it after the jump.

Cocktail Menu: Prime Meats in Brooklyn, New York

Here is the cocktail menu of Prime Meats in Brooklyn.

For those of you in San Francisco, you can have a taste of a few of the drinks from bartender Damon Boelte, as he's guesting at Beretta on Tuesday, February 22 and at sister restaurant Delarosa on Wednesday, February 23. 

The Documentary$10
Aged rum lim mint & branca menta rinse

Old-Fashioned$9
Rye whiskey & house made bartlett pear bitters

Clement's Shrub$13
Bourbon, fig preserves, lemon, cinnamon, apple cider vinegar, apple cider & crackled black pepper

Applejack Sazerac$9
Applejack, absinthe, maple syrup & peychaud's bitters

The Good Word$12
Unaged wheat whiskey, lemon juice, yellow chartreuse, maraschino liqueur

Aviation Cocktail$12
Gin, maraschine liqueur, creme de violette, lemon juice

Prime Manhattan$12
Rye whiskey, sweet vermouth & housemade buddha's hand bitters

Martinez$12
Carpano antica, old tom gin, maraschine liqueur, bitters

The Long Hello$11
Apple brandy, st. germain, aromatic bitters, sparkling wine & nutmeg

The UK Sour$12
Scotch, apricot liqueur, cinnamon syrup, lemon juice & red wine

The Seelbach$10
Bourbon, cointreau, peychaud's and angostura bitters & sparkling wine

The Gibson LeGrand$12
Gin, dry vermouth, angostura bitters & pickled red pearl onion

Jamaican Rum Punch$12
Smith & cross navy strength rum, demerara sugar, allspice dram, lime & nutmeg

The Waterfront$11
Fernet branca, branca menta, & ginger beer

Remember the Maine$11
Rye, cherry herring, punt e mes & absinthe

Punch$5
Changes daily

 

Choosing Seminars for the Manhattan Cocktail Classic

For the second year of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, they are having people vote on which seminars they'd like to see.

I hope the ones I've proposed are of interest, as I'd like to come to New York this May. To vote, simply go to this page and select a minimum of 5 and not more than 30 seminars you're interested in. You get one vote per email and you must do so before February 16th.

(Shortcut: Search for "Camper" and click those three first.)

My proposed talk topics are below:

23. Tequila is the New Vodka, Tequila is the New Scotch
with Camper English

Tequila is one of the fastest-growing spirit categories in America, with a slew of new brands hitting store shelves each month. But is the tequila becoming the new vodka: over-saturated with expensive designer bottles, celebrity sponsorships and flavorless imitation brands that are all made at the same few distilleries? Or is the 100-percent agave category more like scotch whisky, showcasing innovation in ingredient sourcing and processing, barrel finishing and distillation technology while working within the rigid framework of government regulations? Join this lively debate moderated by journalist Camper English in which we discuss the rapidly-changing tequila category and all the hope and hype that comes with growth.

24. The Reluctant Blogger: Using Social Media for People Who'd Rather Not
with Camper English

This session will focus on the fastest and easiest tools and formats of blogging and other social media for people who are technically challenged or reluctantly dipping their toes into the new century: writers who want to promote their work, brands and brand ambassadors who want to share news (and not rely on expensive designers to make small site changes), PR agencies who want to share their clients' placements, bartenders who want to promote themselves, and bars who want to keep their calendars current and customers updated. In this fast-moving era, everyone should have a website and no website should be static.

In this fast-paced session, blogger/journalist Camper English will review the top blog hosts and platforms (WordPress, TypePad, SquareSpace, Tumblr, etc. and whether or not to just use Facebook for everything) to compare set-up and ease-of-use, describe effective strategies for getting content online quickly, and choosing the right platform for different content: links, scans/photos, videos, events, and text. Then we'll look at the best tools for other social media (FourSquare, Ping, TweetDeck, etc.) the best practices for using Facebook, Twitter and your blog to avoid excessive cross-posting, and discuss how to use social media with only your cell phone on the subway. Participants should leave with a clear plan of action based on their individual content needs, budgets, and goals.

25. Terroir in Spirits
with Camper English

Terroir, a.k.a. "sense of place", is a term for how the the soil, geography and climate of a particular place contribute unique qualities to the crops grown on/in it. In wine this concept is well understood. In spirits, though much more processing is done to the raw ingredients, terroir can sometimes show through to the final product. In this seminar we'll discuss terroir in spirits generally and look deeper specifically at tequila, cognac/armagnac, French and Brazilian rums, and scotch whisky with experts in each on the panel. Attendees will learn about (and taste) terroir in spirits to come away with an understanding of the concept generally and qualities of terroir specific to different spirit categories.

Book Review: Speakeasy by Jason Kosmas & Dushan Zaric

I received a review copy of Speakeasy: The Employees Only Guide to Classic Cocktails Reimagined by Jason Kosmas and Dushan Zaric, and I can't wait to try some of the recipes in it. 

I was just going to review the book here, but the folks at Fine Cooking asked me to review it for them in this week's blog post. Better yet, they got permission to include three recipes from the book:

• Fall Ginger Smash
• Hemmingway Daiquiri
•  West Side

Things that make a great cocktail book (for me):

• Not stuffed full of classics and basics that you can find everywhere.
• Not a million pages describing base spirits and techniques.
• Original recipes, but not so weird that you won't bother to try them.
• Recipes read like the authors have an understanding of cocktail format- not obviously unbalanced drinks that make you distrust the book.
• Enticing list of ingredients. Watermelon and Campari? Yes, I will try that. 
• Not a billion cocktails. Give us your best, not everything in the world. 
• Not so many homemade ingredients that you'll never make them.

Speakeasy meets most of these requirements and has plenty of pretty pictures to boot.

Most of the recipes in the book are, as the title says, variations on classic cocktails, but with really interesting variations. They list recipes for a blackberry-elderflower version of the Cosmopolitan, a French 75 with strawberry cordial, a Gin On Gin Julep, a Calvados Sidecar, and many other oh-that-sounds-good variations that you can picture in your mind's tongue. 

Unique Features

One unique feature of Speakeasy is that instead of infusing base spirits (though they have a couple), they infuse vermouth. There is one infused with herbes de Provence, on with chai, and a third with rooibos tea. The infusions are generally simple, and infusing a bottle of vermouth is a lot less financially risky than infusing a bottle of bourbon or tequila. 

They also list recipes for their lime cordial and grenadine, which they now sell as bottled products. 

So yeah, can't wait to get cracking on making these drinks. Yums. 

The book is available on Amazon.com.

Kindly leave any comments over at FineCooking.com. I've closed them here to encourage you to do so :) 

The Vandaag Cocktail Menu

I've been hearing a lot about Vandaag lately, a Northern European restaurant in New York with an emphasis on Denmark and Holland. The cocktail menu looks interesting with lots of genever and aquavit cocktails so I thought I'd post it here. 

GENEVER COCKTAILS 13

VANDAAG GIN COCKTAIL
BOLS GENEVER, GOLDEN ALE REDUCTION, BITTERS WITH A WASH OF KIRSCHWASSER & ABSINTHE

B-SIDE SLING
BOLS GENEVER, ROOBIS INFUSED VERMOUTH, LEMON, MARASCHINO & BITTERS

WEST OF 2ND
GENEVIEVE, MEZCAL, LIME, SUGAR CANE & POMEGRANATE MOLASSES

AKVAVIT COCKTAILS 12

TURF WAR
AKVAVIT, LILLET, MARASCHINO, ORANGE BITTER & ABSINTHE WITH AN OLIVE & LEMON TWIST

PACK MULE
STRAWBERRY PEPPERCORN AKVAVIT, GINGER, PIMMS, LEMON & CAMPARI

MANOLIN
AKVAVIT, WHITE RUM, YELLOW CHARTREUSE, LIME, GRAPEFRUIT SYRUP WITH ESSENCE OF KAFFIR LIME LEAF

BIER COCKTAILS 10

RADLER
PINEAPPLE INFUSED AKVAVIT, LIME & AMP; GINGER SYRUP WITH BELGIAN WITBIER

DIDLY FIZZ
FLEMISH SOUR ALE WITH BOURBON, CHERRY HEERING, PUNT E MES, LEMON & AMP; EGG WHITE

SKOOKUL PUNCH
APPLEJACK, RUM, LIME & AMP; ORGEAT WITH ABSINTHE & BITTERS TOPPED WITH PEACH LAMBIC

WINE COCKTAILS 11

CHINASKI
AKVAVIT, CYNAR, LEMON & APRICOT SYRUP WITH SPARKLING GRUNER & CELERY TWIST

BOHEMIAN SPRITZ
GRÜNER VELTINER, VERMOUTH BALNC, ST. GERMAIN, ZIRBENZ PINE W/ SPARKLING WINE & GRAPEFRUIT ZEST KOPSTOOTJE “LITTLE HEAD BUTT” 11CHILLED BOLS GENEVER SHOT WITH BEER BACK

INFUSED AKVAVITS
ONE 7   THREE 20   FIVE 30

STRAWBERRY W/ LONG PEPPER + SARAWAK PEPPERCORN
PINEAPPLE
HORSERADISH & DILL
CHAMO MILE CITRON
MUSTARD SEED & SULTANAS
SMOKED BLACK CARDAMOM

DIGESTIF COCKTAILS 13

DUTCH FLIP
BOLS GENEVER, GRAND MARNIER, PORT, CREAM AND A WHOLE EGG WITH ESPRESSO ICE

HUMDINGER
BOLS GENEVER, ANTICA VERMOUTH, BENEDICTINE, FERNET MENTA WITH BITTERS

On the Manhattan Cocktail Classic

It's about time I got around to talking about the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, as it happened a few weeks ago.

I was only able to go to New York for 2 1/2 days but in that time managed to hit Cienfuegos twice, PDT once, Death & Co. twice, and Mayahuel twice. I love that they're all walkable from each other.

The problem with having a big cocktail event in New York is that there is so much New York in New York. You spend all your time running around to catch up on the new bars and such, sometimes oversleeping and missing the seminars at the Astor Center you really wanted to attend.

But I did attend several, including the one I spoke on: Bloggers, Bartenders, and Brands. I also hit up the The Martini Family Tree given by Angus Winchester. That talk was pretty great- and this chart explains a lot.

I also went to a seminar on orange liqueurs given by David Wondrich and Steve Olsen. According to Wondrich, the original curacaos were made from Naranja oranges only grown on Curacao. Curacao was a specialty of the Dutch, and it was made with strong base liquor notes in pot stills. Later the French got into the game and it became "triple sec," with a complicated three-distillate formula but an end result emphasizing the orange and de-emphasizing the base liquor. The first reference to Curacao or triple sec in a cocktail, according to Wondrich, was in 1820-1830 or so in a punch. Hopefully in his forthcoming punch book we'll learn more. 

I also had a great time just hanging out and seeing everybody from around the country at the Astor Center bar. Like the Hotel Monteleone at Tales of the Cocktail, having a central place for people to meet (or just run into each other) is important, especially in a city as big and distracting as New York. 

From my end the first Manhattan Cocktail Classic was a success: I got information I was seeking for two different potential stories, I saw a ton of bartenders, writers, PR people, and brand ambassadors from around the country,  I saw a new bar (twice) and had plenty of excellent cocktails, and I got to spend time in New York.

Thanks again to Uber bar tools for sponsoring my trip!