149 MAI TAI
USBG | SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER
WILLIAM PRESTWOOD
Voodoo Practitioner | Pagan Idol
The Mai Tai we know and love today was invented in Oakland, California, in 1944 (it’s true; naysayers, begone!) by Trader Vic. The name comes from a Tahitian phrase, mai tai roa, which loosely translates to “out of this world.” As the story goes, Trader Vic had some friends from Tahiti at his bar and named the drink after their reaction to the first sip.
1 oz Jamaican rum (like Appleton Estate 12 Year)
1 oz Denizen Merchant’s Reserve rum
¾ oz lime juice
½ oz dry curaçao
½ oz orgeat almond syrup
¼ oz simple syrup (1 part water to 1½ parts sugar)
Mint sprig
Lime wheel
Combine all ingredients except mint and lime wheel in a cocktail shaker. Add ice, shake hard 8–10 seconds, and strain into a cold glass. Garnish with the lime wheel and mint sprig.
150 MAI TAI FLOAT
USBG | SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER
DANIEL “DOC” PARKS
Beverage Director | Pagan Idol
A riff on the Mai Tai, this version is served at Pagan Idol in San Francisco and is well worth the extra effort to make.
¼ oz Fassionola Gold
1½ oz Denizen Merchant’s Reserve rum
½ oz Santa Teresa 1796
1 oz lime juice
¾ oz Combier (an aged, brandy-based citrus liqueur)
½ oz orgeat almond syrup
½ oz House Float (see note)
Healthy mint sprig
Fruit stick (two cherries and a pineapple chunk)
Paper umbrella
To make the Fassionola Gold, combine 10 ounces tropical fruit purée and 15 ounces sugar in a saucepan, and heat until the sugar dissolves. Combine rum, Santa Teresa, lime juice, Combier, and orgeat in a cocktail shaker with crushed ice. Shake hard 8–10 seconds and pour the whole thing into a large rocks or old-fashioned glass. Add House Float on top. Garnish with fruit, mint, and umbrella.
Note: The House Float is basically everything the staff at Pagan Idol finds to be delicious mixed together: Demerara rum, Oloroso/Pedro X sherry, créme de cacao, amaro, orange oil, love, and magic.
151 JAMAICAN SCORPION BOWL
USBG | SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER
DANIEL “DOC” PARKS
Beverage Director | Pagan Idol
The Scorpion is one of the few tropical cocktails with roots in the South Pacific. This riff on the classic, developed by the staff at Pagan Idol, gets a powerful boost of flavor from the Jamaican rum. Don’t forget to share—this is a king-size drink meant for at least (at least!) two people!
1½ oz overproof white rum
1½ oz aged Jamaican rum
1 oz VS cognac
4 oz orange juice
2 oz lemon juice
1½ oz orgeat
1 teaspoon demerara cinnamon syrup (see item 147)
Cinnamon stick, to grate
Gardenia flower
Combine all ingredients except the cinnamon stick and flower in a blender with crushed ice. Blend 5 seconds and pour into a scorpion bowl (wahine bowl) with a handful of ice cubes. Grate cinnamon over the bowl, garnish with gardenia, and serve with extra-long drinking straws.
152 TOMMY’S MARGARITA
USBG | SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER
JULIO BERMEJO
Beverage Manager | Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant
While the exact origins of the margarita are highly disputed, the version made famous by Julio Bermejo more than 30 years ago at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco is definitely not up for debate. The drink is simple, designed so that the lime juice and agave sweetener can best showcase the qualities of the tequila. The recipe allows you to taste the nuances of the agave spirit, rather than covering up the flavor.
To make a good margarita, start with 100 percent agave tequila. When Bermejo developed the recipe, he got rid of the mass-market tequilas that are made with 51 percent agave and 49 percent other sugars (plus 100 percent chance of hangover in every bottle). The switch raised the restaurant’s cost of making margaritas by 300 percent, and Bermejo credits the drink’s success to the fact that he was working for his parents, who couldn’t fire him. It was stupid and radical and crazy, but it makes for fantastic drinks.
Another important ingredient is the agave simple syrup, which evolved out of Bermejo’s preference for simple syrup instead of triple sec. When agave sweeteners became available, it was a no-brainer.
A final tip for the perfect margarita is to squeeze the limes as you make the drinks, and not ahead of time. As Bermejo says, “Fresh is like pregnant—either you are or you aren’t.”
2 oz 100 percent agave tequila
1 oz lime juice, fresh squeezed
1 oz agave simple syrup (1:1)
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with crushed ice. Shake hard 8–10 seconds and pour into a large rocks or old-fashioned glass.
153 KNOW YOUR HIGHLANDS AND LOWLANDS
USBG | SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER
JULIO BERMEJO
Beverage Manager | Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant
Traditionally, most people divide tequila stylistically into two styles: highland or lowland (valley). In broad terms, lowland-style tequilas tend to be earthier, more pungent, greener, and more vegetal when they’re unaged. Lowland tequilas tend to get aged in newer barrels, conditions that lend the aged tequila a quality more like whiskies and cognacs, and more reminiscent of stone fruit. Highland tequilas are spicy and citrusy when they’re young. They tend to be aged in more neutral barrels that have aged many generations of product, and those flavors develop into notes of cooked citrus and winter spice.
The problem with this simple division of tequila types is that 70 percent of all agave (for all tequila) comes from the highlands, leading to a blurring of the lines in terms of style. Even how they’re aged is more a distiller’s preference rather than a hard and fast rule. If you took two tequilas from the same region and aged them for the same amount of time—but in different barrels (one neutral and the other newer)—the contrast would be huge. The oak influence is a stylistic decision. Neither style is better nor worse, neither style tastes better nor worse—it’s all a matter of what the individual guest enjoys.
154 USE A BLENDER JAR
USBG | SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER
JULIO BERMEJO
Beverage Manager | Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant
If you make it to Tommy’s for a margarita, you’ll quickly notice something unique: rather than shaking the drinks in a Boston shaker, the staff mix and shake them in a blender jar. And no, they don’t use the blender.
It’s a practical evolution from a time when all margaritas were ordered blended, and so the blender jars were readily available. Bermejo says that no one comes in and orders just one margarita, so the blender jar allows them to mix two at a time—or a whole four-drink pitcher.
155 PISCO SOUR
USBG | SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER
ENRIQUE SANCHEZ
Bar Director | Arguello Restaurant
The origins of both pisco liquor and the pisco sour cocktail are hotly debated topics among the Chileans and Peruvians. While both may be right, we prefer this classic version from Peruvian barman Enrique Sanchez to the eggless Chilean version. Sanchez got his start bartending at family events and quickly went from making party batches to making several thousand a week working at La Mar’s San Francisco branch.
3 oz Quebranta grape pisco
1 oz simple syrup (1:1)
1 oz Peruvian lime juice (or Mexican key limes)
1 oz egg white (1 large egg’s worth)
Angostura bitters
Combine all ingredients except bitters, and use either the reverse dry-shake or blender methods (see items 157 and 158). Dot the frothy top with the bitters to garnish.
156 MARACUYÁ PISCO SOUR
USBG | SAN
FRANCISCO CHAPTER
ENRIQUE SANCHEZ
Bar Director | Arguello Restaurant
The maracuyá, or passion fruit, grows plentifully in Peru, and adding this tangy fruit gives it amazing flavor without overpowering the floral Italian grape-based pisco.
2 ½ oz Italia grape pisco
¾ oz passion fruit purée
½ oz lime juice
1 oz simple syrup (1:1)
1 oz egg white (1 large egg’s worth)
Peychaud’s bitters
Combine all ingredients except bitters, and use either the reverse dry-shake or blender methods (see items 157 and 158). Dot the frothy top with the bitters to garnish.
157 SHAKE IT HIGH AND DRY
USBG | LOS ANGELES CHAPTER
MARCOS TELLO
Bar & Spirits Consultant
When working with cocktails that contain cream or eggs for texture, using a three-part “reverse dry-shake” technique developed by Greek barman Aristotelis Papadopoulos will create a frothy and silky texture. Shaking a drink with egg whites rips apart its proteins through stress, then mixes them with the liquid and air to create a rich texture.
Combine all of your ingredients in a shaker without ice and dry-shake 10 seconds. Add ice and shake another 10 seconds. Strain the drink, dump the ice, and shake again 10 more seconds.
If you’re making a sour, strain the drink into a glass. If you’re making a fizz, use a fine strainer. Nice, tight bubbles will rise better when you add the soda water and give your fizz a perfect head.
158 BLEND YOUR PISCO
USBG | SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER
ENRIQUE SANCHEZ
Bar Director | Arguello Restaurant
You can make your pisco sours in batches (small or large) by using your blender instead of shaking each drink. Simply combine all the ingredients except bitters in a blender with a few ice cubes and bend until frothy. Strain into an old-fashioned or rocks glass.
BITTER LIQUEURS
USING ALCOHOL WITH MEDICINAL HERBS, ROOTS, SPICES, AND OTHER BOTANICALS TO CREATE A THERAPEUTIC TONIC DATES BACK TO THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C. WITH HIPPOCRATES, WHO WAS KNOWN TO CONCOCT WINE AND HERBAL REMEDIES TO BALANCE THE HUMORS AND THE BODY.
159 DRINK YOUR MEDICINE
This practice of making a Hippocratic wine was an idea that carried through with the development of distillation. When the process was first discovered, much of what was being distilled was first and foremost considered pharmaceuticals.
Fundamentally, bitter liqueurs (amaro in Italian or amer in French) are based on the curative properties of a whole host of bitter barks, herbs, and roots. Most often, bitters include gentian (for its supposed fever reduction and other benefits) and cinchona (for its antimalarial and other uses), frequently accompanied by orange peel for flavoring. On the herb side, wormwood (believed to have anti-parasitic properties) is used, as are yarrow, rhubarb, and even hops to create a bitter profile.
Curative distilled herbal liqueurs were the domain of the monks, like the Carthusians, best known for concocting chartreuse liqueur and génépi aperitif using alpine herbs. The monks started making these alchemical elixirs, thought to prolong the life of the drinker, in the 17th century in the Rhone Alps using more than a hundred different herbs. While not entirely bitter, they laid the foundation for future aperitifs and digestifs.
While there are no clinically proven medicinal benefits of bitter liqueurs, there certainly remains a social one: watching your friends’ faces when they have their first sip.
160 DON’T FERNET THE PAST
history
During Prohibition in the United States, fernet was allowed to be sold as a medicine. It’s said that upon tasting it, agents from the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau found it so repulsive that they couldn’t imagine anyone drinking it for pleasure, and therefore they allowed it to be sold. The bitter, spiced, and minty liqueur is certainly an acquired taste, but one we dare you not to like after trying it a few times.
161 GET TO KNOW THE CREATORS
One of the earliest renditions of the modern bitter was developed in the mid-19th century by Gaëtan Picon when he was serving in the French Army. With his feverish comrades suffering from waterborne and malarial infections in Algeria, Picon began experimenting with orange peel, gentian, and cinchona to fight the maladies. He was successful enough to begin commercial production upon his return home, releasing Amer Picon, one of the first French bitter aperitifs.
Meanwhile, in Milan, Gaspare Campari was working on his own aperitivo, a vibrant red concoction of cinchona, herbs, and citrus fruit that promptly took Italy by storm. The popularity of the distinctively hued Campari quickly spread to other countries, and the Americano and Negroni cocktails further promoted the bitter.
Also in Milan, Fernet Branca was devised by Bernardino Branca. Based on a recipe he obtained from a Swedish doctor, his bitter digestivo remains a blend of some 40 ingredients, including saffron, coffee, rhubarb, mint, aloe, and juniper.
These bitters all gave way to regional variations and eventually to today’s modern interpretations (based on flavors rather than medicinal qualities). Much like some modern styles of gin, which mellow out the intensity of the juniper, bitter liqueurs are finding creative ways to balance the bitterness or build around the flavor with fruit and unique regional ingredients.
162 FORMULATE YOUR REMEDY
While it varies by formula and brand, most bitters are made with some combination of cold or hot infusions, distillation, and combining extracts of botanicals. The alcohol content will vary greatly from brand to brand, as will the color, but the presence of sugar or some kind of sweetener is guaranteed. After all, a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down!
163 DRINK TO THE BITTER END
Bitter liqueurs are divided into two basic categories: before or after a meal. The botanical recipes are purported to have effects on the digestive system, either to settle or create an appetite.
APERITIVO/APERITIF Typically light or bright in color, aperitif liqueurs are usually mixed with soda water, wine, or both as a spritz (see item 068). They’re enjoyed before dinner with a snack, pairing remarkably well with nibbles like olives, nuts, and even potato chips.
DIGESTIVO/DIGESTIF Dark and often more powerfully flavored and sweetened, digestif liqueurs are traditionally drunk neat after a meal, to aid digestion by stimulating the stomach to begin its work.
COCKTAIL BITTERS While not usually consumed on their own, cocktail bitters are the concentrated, usually unsweetened or minimally sugared versions of bitter liqueurs, and they have plenty in common with their digestif cousins. Many cocktail bitters companies have started making bitter liqueurs based on the same recipes.
164 CHOOSE YOUR PATIO & POOLSIDE DRINK
Enjoy the warm weather by adding sunshine to your cocktail party.
165 MOJITO
USBG | NATIONAL PRESIDENT
DAVID NEPOVE
MR. MOJITO
While the exact origins of this cocktail are murky, we know it’s of Cuban origin. Some legends say that Francis Drake developed a rudimentary version of the cocktail in the 16th century, while others claim that slaves working the Cuban sugarcane fields in the 19th century invented the drink. One thing everyone can agree on is that on a hot day there’s nothing better.
15 mint leaves
¾ oz lime
¾ oz simple syrup (1:1)
2 oz light rum
1 oz club soda
Mint sprig and lime wheel to garnish
In a mixing glass, muddle mint, lime, and simple syrup with enough force to extract the mint oils but not so much that you rip the leaves.
Fill the glass with ice, and then add rum and soda. Stir to incorporate the flavors, and transfer into a Collins glass. Garnish with mint and lime.
166 GET MUDDLE-HEADED
Muddling ingredients may look like nothing more than pulverizing the life out of them, but doing it right is more about adding the freshness of produce to a drink without ma
king your cocktail bitter. Here are some muddling basics from David Nepove:
CHOOSE WISELY Painted or dyed muddlers are a thing of the past. Narrow muddlers mean you will be chasing the ingredients around in the bottom of your glass. I suggest a wide-base muddler.
BE SAFE When muddling ingredients, always use a mixing tin or tempered mixing glass. Not all glassware is designed to take the impact of a muddler, causing small chips of glass to break off, which can be fatal if swallowed. When in doubt, muddle in a tin.
167 CARRY A BIG STICK
Muddling requires some force, but it’s not a marathon sport. With enough pressure from your muddler you can muddle mint and berries in 3–5 passes, and for ingredients like cucumber, jalapeño, and citrus, 5–10 forceful twists should suffice. Beware of over- or under-doing it: Muddling too much can create a bitter cocktail (or simply be a waste of time), and muddling not enough can leave your drink bland.
STEP ONE Place all ingredients in a mixing tin or tempered glass with your sweetener or juice.
STEP TWO Take your muddler in hand and, with force, press down and apply a twisting motion.
STEP THREE If you are muddling a combination of herbs and fruits or vegetables, stagger the process to muddle in stages. Start with the firmest of the ingredients, giving it a couple of muddles, then adding the second-firmest ingredient, and so on, until you finish off with the most delicate items, such as herbs.
The Complete Cocktail Manual Page 10