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brooklynmutt:

Andrew Breitbart gets a drink made by Rachel Maddow - White House Correspondents Dinner

It’s a visceral thing with me. You’ve ever tended bar? You sling drinks? We’re tight. I want to hear your stories. It’s a bond among legal drug dealers. Can’t explain it. Don’t want to.

On the Rocks: The Search For America’s Top Bartender was supposed to be programing for the Ed Hardy demographic. (Read: suck.)

So far it’s not bad. Granted, it airs during the post-SNL graveyard slot. But it’s actually a passable bartending version of Top Chef.

They start by testing a free pour. After a commercial break they evaluate food pairings and the show ends with personal recipies. Nothing wrong with that. Workman-like. Top Chef would actually be better if it focused on fundamentals, like knife skills.

That said, On The Rocks doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt. The Douche Advisory is still set to ‘Elevated’. I mean, Christ. But as long as there’s no flair in sight, I don’t see why the concept couldn’t migrate over to the Food Network.

Potential hosts: 1) Ted Danson 2) Hank Azaria.

UPDATE: Flair reared its ugly head in last year’s web-only version. Too bad. Had potential.

tenderlointales:

I wish it was back then and not now.

scenes-from-my-hood:

this is the hotel majestic.

I used to tend bar here.

We had to sign strict agreements not to talk to celebrity guests unless fulfilling a function of our job.

One time Nicolas Cage came into the bar and asked me about our bourbon selection. We had an hour-long talk about ryes, single-barrels, stuff like that.

It was surreal. I could bring up neither The Rock nor Leaving Las Vegas.

Probably for the best.

sexpigeon:

Double hooray for the heroic bartender, but seriously, yes, hooray for everyone here.

Does this signal the partial return of the speakeasy? Of dot-com rave-era ingenuity?

This recession isn’t fucking around, is it?

I’m always a bit startled at how much I enjoy the Bronx Cocktail. I order it, expecting to be disappointed, and yet never am. Why such low expectations?

I think it’s because I came of age in the 90’s. I see “Bronx Cocktail” but think “Gin & Juice” or “OJ & Gordon’s.” This is pure slander. Those appurtenant vermouths make a world of difference.

At $10 a cocktail, the underpour was criminal. It tasted good. Great, even. The couple next to me asks, is it really as good as it looks? I’m forced to admit it is, despite the dot-com tag.

At Elixir, they keep the faith. They offer the standards, and they do them well. And if they lowered their prices by about a buck, I might help them keep it. But not in this economy. Not in the Mission, no.

It’s a pity too, because the cocktail menu is so admirable; it honors the canon. Perhaps in flusher times I’ll frequent Elixir, without my mind on my money or my money on my mind.

They do a brisk trade in beer. I’ll not be missed.

Gin

Orange juice

Sweet vermouth

Dry vermouth

Bitters

No, it’s not.

This is why you’re amateur.

A monstrosity.

I had read of a Plum Collins before and I remembered thinking “ambitious!” if only because the idea danced so dangerously close to prune juice.

But this thing and that thing were not the same.

Take 16 oz. of concentrated pink lemonade, mix it with something which might or might not be alcohol, and you will have what you see before you now.

To be clear: there are ghetto-moments when it’s perfectly appropriate to walk into your nearest corner liquor store, buy a soft drink, pour out a third, and spike the rest with vodka — advisable, even. It’s a proud American tradition, and I’m not knocking it. But if you’re charging $7.50 and calling it cocktail, you’d best walk the talk. On a hot spring day in Emeryville, just before an afternoon screening of the latest Vatican porn, I can be pretty forgiving. But not this forgiving.

And I refuse to bash chain restaurants qua chains. Standardization is a strength. So this mistake comes from the top. You can see where they went wrong. Serving a “collins” drink in hurricane-sized glass will result in watered-down alcohol. This is not rocket science.

A shame. I hear plum vodka is muted, subtle, nuanced.

Pearl plum vodka

Lemon juice

Simple syrup

Plum wine

The Italians have this custom: an apéritif before a meal. Apéritifs are bitter drinks meant to stimulate the appetite. And they work. You wouldn’t think so, but they do, especially before those huge Italian entrees.

The largest cookware in the culinary arsenal is reserved for Italian cuisine. They cook and dine in substantial numbers. (Imagine Peter Clemenza in the Godfather, stirring that huge pot. “Mikey, why don’t you tell that nice girl you love her?”)

Enter the Negroni.

The Negroni is very much a cocktail for foodies, or at least for those who are serious about the gustatory event to follow. The Negroni drinker is the temperamental opposite of the Long Island Iced Tea drinker. You’ll never see a patron getting shitfaced on Negronis because they’re bitter. They’re meant to be bitter. If you’re one of those always bemoaning the syrupy-sweet trend in American cocktails, a Negroni will not err in this regard.

Yes, it has sweet vermouth.

Yes, I see the color.

I know, I know. It looks like a blowsy whore of a cocktail. Nothing could be further from the truth. Trust me; it’s acrid as all get out.

And that’s what made this particular effort so … astute. The usual garnish is an orange twist. That massive slice would be overly decadent anywhere else. (Save it for the Mai Tais, right?) But Negronis are so acerbic to the American palate that you require the whole wedge just to balance out the campari & gin.

Cocktails like this underscore why a bartender’s best efforts usually surface in restaurants, and not bars or clubs. They really get it. People are there to taste what they’re drinking. So bartenders intuit on some gut level that the garnish is not merely decor; it’s part of the drink.

1 part gin

1 part sweet vermouth

1 part  Campari

“An Art Nouveau fountain drips water onto a sugar cube atop absinthe. Water makes the spirit drinkable.”

File under “COVET.”

from the NYT.

The food was good. The cocktails, mediocre.

Bartenders in the bay area generally know how to stock and work with mint. And ordering a mint julep so close to Derby Day is a safe bet.

I favor the collins glass, but setting aside the issue of glassware, there’s no getting around the fact that a mint julep requires crushed ice. It’s a sweet bourbon slushie, not a muddled whiskey on the rocks.

8 to 10 mint leaves, plus 1 mint sprig, for garnish

1 teaspoon sugar

3 ounces bourbon

Crushed ice