Here’s a loud clink of the glass to Paul Clarke, the Seattle-based cocktail writer (frequently for Imbibe) who publishes the well known blog Cocktail Chronicles. In a post called Link Love, he talks up several drink blogs, including this one and the LUPEC-Boston blog. I, for one, am excited to be part of such a vibrant nationwide community of cocktailians and barflies. Woohoo!
Posted in Books & resources, drinkboston in the news | 2 Comments »
Bartender profile
Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli is an unusually seasoned bartender for such a young man. He observes the crowd at Eastern Standard’s expansive bar in a way that’s both practical — he has to be a step ahead of his customers’ requests — and philosophical. He double-majored in anthropology and political science, and, as his friendly half-smile indicates, seems to get a kick out of the manners and rhythms of the couples, tourists, baseball fans, cocktail connoisseurs and diners-in-waiting on parade before him.
Tom’s education in food service began when he was a toddler. “I was a rugrat in my uncle’s restaurant. When I was in kindergarten, he would pick me up after school to go prep with him.” The uncle he’s talking about is Chris Schlesinger, and the restaurant was the Back Eddy in Westport and, later, the famed East Coast Grill in Cambridge. (Fun fact: Tom also grew up knowing a bit about politics; his great uncle is the late historian Arthur Schlesinger, advisor to and chronicler of President John F. Kennedy’s administration.)
At Eastern Standard, Tom has evolved into a mixologist, as evidenced by the Jaguar (1 1/2 oz blanco tequila, 3/4 oz Amer Picon, 3/4 oz green Chartreuse, 3 dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters, chilled and served straight up with flamed orange peel). This is a unique, sophisticated drink that belongs in any definitive modern text of great cocktail recipes.
Hometown
Cambridge, MA.
Past bartending jobs
The Back Eddy in Westport, MA.
First drink you ever had
It had to be a sunny summertime sip of my mother’s gin and tonic.
Favorite bar in Boston other than your own
It has to be Green Street. I love their program; both Dylan and Misty are such awesome, nice, unassuming and knowledgeable bartenders. They make everybody feel comfortable and at the same time can recant amazing stories and history of drinks you have never encountered. I get excited everytime I go over there.
The drink you most like to make
Pisco Sours or the Pink Lady. Really anything with egg.
The drink you least like to make
Dirty or, even worse, extra-dirty vodka martinis.
What you drink at the end of your shift
Cold beer and Fernet.
If you weren’t a bartender, you’d be…
An archaeologist.
A bartender’s best friend is…
A great bar back.
A bartender’s worst enemy is…
Glass broken in your ice.
People drink too much…
Bloody Marys after sunset.
People don’t drink enough…
Bitters.
Drink for a hot summer day
Tom Collins.
Drink for a cold winter night
Thomas Handy Uncut.
The best thing about drinking in Boston
The rising cocktail scene. It is in an awesome stage, really fledgling, fun to watch.
The worst thing about drinking in Boston
There just aren’t enough places to go drink a well crafted cocktail.
Posted in Bartenders | 4 Comments »
Bartender profile
Dave Cagle’s tatoo-covered forearms, reticent demeanor and loosely tied black apron may lead the newcomer to think, ‘Uh-oh, I’m not going to get any service from this guy until I go out and get my lip pierced or punch someone in the face.’ But then Dave comes over, politely takes your drink order and mixes up your cocktail without a word or gesture wasted. As you sip your excellent drink, you realize your trepidation was unwarranted. Later, you notice the way he cracks a smile only when genuinely amused, and the calm way he spots you among a crowd as you signal for “one more” — and you find yourself wanting to be a regular member of this guy’s laid-back scene.
Seven years ago, “Cousin” Dave, as he is known, came to town from North Carolina to see the Queers at T.T. the Bears. He and his cousin (the two called one another Cousin while growing up in Fayetteville, Arkansas) had drinks at the B-Side afterward. Dave liked the place — and the Boston-area music scene — so much he moved to Cambridge and started working at the neighborhood-hipster lounge. The only things he misses about the South, he says, are “fishing and people being nice. Southern boys are polite.”
On Thursday nights, Dave brings his southern hospitality to Allston during his shift at the beer and cocktail bar Deep Ellum. Besides B-Side, this is the perfect place for Dave — he likes his bourbon, and whiskey is the unofficial house spirit here.
Hometown
Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Past bartending jobs
JR’s Lightbulb Club – Fayetteville, Arkansas; The Icehouse, Charlie Browns – Wilmington, NC.
First drink you ever had
A 40 of Old English “800.”
Favorite bar in Boston other than your own
TC’s Lounge.
The drink you most like to make
Old Fashioned.
The drink you least like to make
Anything pink.
What you drink at the end of your shift
Budweiser and bourbon.
If you weren’t a bartender, you’d be…
A hitman.
A bartender’s best friend is…
The barback.
A bartender’s worst enemy is…
Fruit flies.
People drink too much…
Light beer.
People don’t drink enough…
Champagne.
Drink for a hot summer day
Mint Julep.
Drink for a cold winter night
Glass of bourbon.
The best thing about drinking in Boston
There are a good number of great bartenders in this town, so tracking down a well made drink isn’t as tough as it might be in other places.
The worst thing about drinking in Boston
The hangover.
Posted in Bartenders | 3 Comments »
The sun never sets on the British Cocktail Empire. It seems that every week there’s some redcoat cocktail consultant and/or liquor brand representative jetting into Boston and concocting drinks for a promotion party. In the past six months, I’ve met Jamie Walker, brand ambassasor for Bombay Sapphire, Angus Winchester, founder of Alconomics Ltd., and, now, Charlotte Voisey, “brand champion” for Hendrick’s Gin and company mixologist for William Grant & Sons USA. She was in town recently for a Hendrick’s party at OM in Harvard Square.
OK, I’m jealous. Charlotte is young and gorgeous, and she travels around the world promoting gin and mixing cocktails. How the hell do I get a job like that? Apparently by running cocktail bars in Barcelona, Buenos Aires and London, being named UK Bartender of the Year (2004), winning a silver medal at the World Female Bartending Championships (2006), and consulting on cocktail programs at London’s Dorchester Hotel and Manhattan’s Gramercy Park Hotel. That’s what Charlotte did before moving to New York for her current gig.
At the OM event, Charlotte struck me as someone who takes her job seriously but doesn’t take herself too seriously. She wasn’t swanning around the room talking up her brand — she was actually behind the bar mixing drinks with the stuff. Two of her Hendrick’s cocktails stood out for me: the Cucumber Collins and the Rose & Lychee Martini (see recipes below).
Afterward, Charlotte and I were part of a small group that headed downtown to check out the newly opened KO Prime (formerly Spire) in the Nine Zero hotel. We sampled a few nouveau cocktails, some of which were quite good (more on that in another post). Finally on to No. 9 Park, where John Gertsen mixed us up a tasty smorgasbord of spirits, including an elegant mixture of scotch, Lillet and Drambuie whose name escapes me. The drink was fitting, since Charlotte used to represent Glenfiddich and promote scotch-based cocktails. How does a woman represent a scotch brand? “Communicate in terms of flavour and allow for marketing that is not just about golf and celebrating bonuses,” said Charlotte in an Adams Beverage Group interview last year. Yep, she’s alright.
Cucumber Collins
1½ oz Hendrick’s Gin
3 oz cucumber puree
Shake and strain over fresh ice in a Collins glass, garnish with a long cucumber rod.
(To make a batch of cucumber puree: blend 1 cucumber with 3 oz fresh lemon juice and 3½ oz simple syrup.)
Rose & Lychee Martini
1½ oz Hendrick’s Gin
½ oz rose syrup
1½ oz lychee juice
¼ oz fresh lemon juice
Dash egg whites
Dash Angostura bitters
Shake very well and strain up into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an edible flower.
Hendrick’s, with its delicate flavor and rose and cucumber notes, naturally works well in these drinks. I have no idea where to get lychee juice and rose syrup. I’d try Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or Christina’s Spice & Specialty Foods in Inman Sq. Cambridge. Also, you might find lychee juice at Asian markets.
Posted in Boston bars, Cocktails, Gin | 4 Comments »
By Scott N. Howe
In days gone by, people drank booze because drinking pretty much anything else would kill them. This may sound scary but, believe you me, our ancestors made the best of this bad situation. They built villages around beer, formed churches on wine, raised armies with rye. Our founding fathers even wrote the U.S. Constitution in between epic sessions of whiskey, wine, and cider intake.
This all may be hard to comprehend in our modern era of $12 appletinis sipped while sending text messages to clients from a booth at the back of a theme bar. Still, understanding how we got from there to here can teach valuable lessons to today’s tippler. Fortunately, author Barbara Holland has collected these lessons in a small but tasty new tome, The Joy of Drinking.
Holland explains how booze has been part of all the world’s cultures since the world started developing cultures. Everywhere and forever, people have been picking the local fruits, vegetables, nuts, and flowers and concocting soul-soothing, mind-expanding potables. She calls drink “the social glue of the human race,” and claims that “(N)o major civilization ever arose from a land of water drinkers.” As such, she cannot abide prohibitionists or coffee achievers, and she heaps special scorn on modern health nuts with their plastic water bottles and desperate commitment to wellness. Holland also takes a few shots at know-it-all drink snobs. “(I)n the metropolitan haunts of the highly sophisticated,” she snarls, “the cocktail is no longer an instrument of friendship but a competitive fashion statement, or one-upmanship.” Ouch.
Instead, she lavishes high praise on elegantly sloshed icons like Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man movies and wistfully wonders what it might have been like to down a few tankards with Bill Shakespeare and his literary pals at the Mermaid Tavern. Holland even devotes an entire chapter to the hangover, reporting that for much of history, the morning after was nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, a bad hangover was once a sign of worldly sophistication and social cachet!
If you’ve ever felt guilty (even a little bit), about your drinking habits, then pick up The Joy of Drinking immediately. In a few short pages, you’ll realize, dear drinker, that you are part of an ancient and noble tradition, one that links you to the great leaders, the great artists, and the just-plain-folks who have made life worth living since the dawn of time. In fact, in a few short pages, your inhibitions will disappear, a warm glow will encase you, and all will be well.
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"Lauren Clark takes readers on a supremely sudsy tour of New England ales, lagers, pilsners, and porters. This is the New England the Puritans warned everybody about, but few have chronicled."
– Wayne Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails
Drink sites
For club kids
Friends
Ben Sandrof (winner of the 2008 St. Germain mixology contest)
2 oz Beefeater gin
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 oz St. Germain
3 drops orange blossom water
1 1/2 oz heavy cream
1 fresh raw egg white
1 oz soda water
Method: Shake all ingredients for 10-12 minutes and pour into a collins glass. Top with soda water. Garnish with orange oil.