Author Archive
August 12th, 2008
One of the first “best Boston bartender” profiles I did on this site was of Scott Holliday, who then worked at Chez Henri. In addition to being a fine bartender and an intelligent guy, Scott is a founding member of the Jack Rose Society, a mini-guild of Boston-area bar professionals serious about resurrecting vintage cocktails and superior, non-preening service. (Scott could be described as the anti-Tom Cruise.) The JRS’ research into historic recipes, ingredients and techniques, in fact, guided the creation of some Boston-area cocktail menus — those at Eastern Standard and Green Street, for example — that are considered standard-bearers of classic mixology nationwide.
After a nearly two-year sojourn in California and Montreal, Scott is once again tending bar in Cambridge. Hallelujah! He is no longer at Chez Henri, where the estimable Rob Kraemer assumed Scott’s duties on the stick, but at Rendezvous, the Western Mediterranean-inspired restaurant that chef Steve Johnson opened a few years back. Scott is weaving his knowledge and skills into the drink program there, so pay him a visit and enjoy an evening at yet another Boston-area bar out to make a name for itself.
Posted in Bartenders, Boston bars | 6 Comments »
August 8th, 2008
Photos by C. Fernsebner
Joy Richard, bartender-manager at Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel in the South End, also known as Bourbon Belle of LUPEC Boston, won the Hendricks Gin Beantown Bartender Battle at Green Street on Tuesday night with her recipe, Nobody’s Darling, and the limerick she wrote to describe it. Congrats to Joy; she gets to fly anywhere in the country on Hendricks’ dime. Her drink, which will soon be on Tremont 647’s cocktail menu, was a most unique mixture starring the flavor of celery (one of the dozen botanicals used in Hendricks).
Parked at the bar for most of the evening, I was like the misbehaved kid in the back of the classroom ignoring the lesson, so I don’t have much color commentary for you (check out C. Fernsebner’s captioned photo gallery on Bostonist for an idea of how the battle went), but I did manage to track down all five finalists’ recipes — which only the judges got to sample that evening — along with Joy’s winning limerick.
Nobody’s Darling
by Joy Richard
2 oz Hendrick’s Gin
1/2 oz yellow Chartreuse
1 oz angelica root-infused honey
3/4 oz fresh celery juice
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
Place all ingredients in iced cocktail shaker, shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
An elixir of cucumber and rose
With a scent that amuses the nose
Angelica-honey we’ll pair
Then some celery sounds fair
Yellow Chartreuse, lemon juice and there goes!
The Seersucker
by Chris O’Neil of Upstairs on the Square
2 oz Hendricks Gin
3 oz chamomile syrup (chamomile, orange peel, honey, sugar)
Dash of lemon juice
Mint sprig to garnish
Shake first three ingredients in an iced cocktail shaker, pour into a highball glass, top with mint sprig.
Hendrick’s Tea
by Claudia Mastrobuono of Highland Kitchen
1 1/2 oz Hendricks Gin
1/2 oz orange peel-infused simple syrup
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
3-4 oz chamomile iced tea (enough to top off the highball)
Shake all ingredients in an iced shaker, pour into a highball glass and garnish with a candied orange peel (the candied peel is a by-product of the simple syrup — just roll the peels in sugar and let them dry out).
Boston Tea Party
by Jeff Grdinich of White Mountain Cider Co.
2 oz Hendricks Gin
1 1/2 oz chamomile citrus tea*
1/2 oz Demerara simple syrup**
1/4 oz lemon juice***
1/2 to 1 barspoon Fernet Branca***
* Infuse 1 bag per 8 oz water for 5 minutes.
** Dilute 400g Demerara sugar in 1000 ml water.
*** Amount of lemon juice and Fernet varies based on tea infusion. Start small.
Place all ingredients in an iced cocktail shaker, shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Note: In the spirit of the competition, which required highlighting the botanicals used in Hendricks, Jeff put one hell of a garnish on his cocktail: a toasted brioche and cucumber sandwich brushed with butter that had been infused with most of the Hendricks botanicals. If you simply must have the recipe for that, email me.
Captain Kidd Cup
by Justin Falcone, freelance bartender
1 1/2 oz Hendricks Gin
1/2 oz pimento dram (St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Liqueur)
1/2 oz Pimm’s
1/2 oz lemon juice
Shake all ingredients in an iced cocktail shaker and pour into a highball glass. Top with ginger beer and garnish with lemon wedge and cucumber spear.
Tags: contests, hendricks beantown bartender battle, Recipes
Posted in Bartenders, Events, Gin | 1 Comment »
August 1st, 2008
The folks at Hendrick’s Gin have chosen five finalists to compete in the Beantown Bartender Battle at Green Street this Tuesday night, August 5. Selected on the merits of the original, Hendrick’s-based cocktails they submitted, the contestants will be mixing those cocktails for a panel of judges that includes chef Barbara Lynch, Boston Globe writer Liza Weisstuch, bartender and cocktail historian John Myers of Portland, Maine, and Hendrick’s brand ambassador Charlotte Voisey. As they’re mixing, the only way they can present and describe their potion is by reciting a limerick that they penned themselves. Oh, this is gonna be good. The finalists are:
Justin Falcone, Boston-area freelance bartender
Jeff Grdinich, bartender at the White Mountain Cider Co. restaurant in Glen, NH
Claudia Mastrobuono, bartender at Highland Kitchen in Somerville
Chris O’Neil, bartender at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge
Joy Richard, manager of Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel in Boston
From what I hear, there were a lot of kick-ass recipes submitted for this contest, so to those whose cocktails weren’t chosen: you’re in good company.
There’s still time to make reservations for this cocktail party-style event, whose $20 price gets you four Hendrick’s cocktails (separate from those competing in the Battle) and some light snacks. Call Green Street at 617-876-1655. A limited dinner menu will also be available for purchase. One of the featured cocktails is by Sierra Zimei, the winner of the San Francisco Bartender Battle:
The Secret Garden
2 1/2 oz Hendricks Gin
1/4 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 oz cilantro infused simple syrup
4 slices of cut-up cucumber
Shake and strain ingredients into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with slice of cucumber.
Hope to see you there.
Tags: mixology contests
Posted in Events, Gin | 6 Comments »
July 31st, 2008
Is anyone else shedding tears of joy right now? Mud Puddle Books, which recently published reproductions of five out-of-print cocktail books from the late 1800s and early 1900s, has plans to publish David Embury’s Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, “one of the most literate and enjoyable books written about cocktails,” notes “A Cocktail Book Renaissance, Too,” in this week’s New York Times. Embury’s book has been known to pop up on eBay now and again, attracting bids in the hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. It is spoken of with reverence by anyone who takes the craft of bartending seriously. I’ve never even seen a copy. But soon, it seems, I will be able to buy one at a reasonable price.
Mud Puddle’s first five re-prints (with introductions by modern experts such as Ted Haigh, Robert Hess and David Wondrich) are also worth a look. They are C. F. Lawlor’s The Mixicologist; Barflies and Cocktails, written in the 1920s by Harry McElhone of the famous Harry’s New York Bar in Paris; Harry Johnson’s Bartenders’ Manual and Guide for Hotels and Restaurants; O. H. Byron’s The Modern Bartender’s Guide; and Recipes of American and Other Iced Drinks, a British book published by Farrow & Jackson to promote its barware.
Tags: vintage cocktail books
Posted in Books & resources | 11 Comments »
July 31st, 2008
A shout-out to Wade Tonkin and Karen Garcia of the West Coast culinary blog UltimateFoodie.com. They are coming to Boston for a trade show in a couple of weeks and figured that the best way to get psyched up for the visit was to interview locals who know where to eat and drink. They tasked me with recommending bars near the Seaport Hotel and the World Trade Center, where the trade show’s taking place. A somewhat tough assignment, given that that neighborhood still has a ways to go before it can be described as bustling, but I did my best. I also got to recommend some great beer bars and the stellar Eastern Standard.
Posted in drinkboston in the news | 5 Comments »
