Archive for the ‘Cocktails’ Category
February 7th, 2007
Today’s New York Times features a great, quote-rich article on London’s cocktail scene, The Best Town to Make an Upper Lip Stiff. I want to point to an excerpt that encapsulates the philosophy and mission of drinkboston.com:
Of course, lemon grass and ginger syrup in the hands of the wrong bartender can lead to disaster. Few people understand this better than Robbie Bargh, the creative director of the Gorgeous Group, the consulting concern behind many of London’s splashiest new joints. An ebullient, opinionated former mixologist and bar manager with 16 years’ experience, Mr. Bargh said he has no time for “egotistical demigods” behind the bar who don’t bother with the fundamentals.
“We’re going through a big backlash to over-mixology,” he said. “I think like a chef. Like a chef, you can’t deliver innovation without renovation. You can’t modernize without a basic understanding of what it takes to make a great classic drink — why a Negroni is so different made with Aperol rather than Campari.”
In short, if you go to a bar where the bartender doesn’t know how to make a Negroni but instead offers you an Earl Grey-Chocolate-Chipotle Pepper-tini, pause and ask yourself: would I spend my money at a restaurant where the chef could whip up all manner of trendy foams and sculptural appetizers but couldn’t grill a steak to save his life? If your answer’s no, then move on to the next bar.
Posted in Booze in the news, Cocktails | 1 Comment »
February 2nd, 2007
A couple of months ago, a guy named Goran Berntsson emailed me and asked, “Would you kindly answer my question on Sidecars? I wonder about the word ‘Boston’ in ‘Boston Sidecar.’ Does it just mean the drink is shaken in a Boston shaker or is there anything more, something historical, behind ‘Boston’ in this connection? I do think there should be, but if so: What?”
I had no idea. How embarrassing — drinkboston.com had never heard of a Boston Sidecar. I found the recipe in the Old Mr. Boston De Luxe Official Bartender’s Guide (1961 edition) I received for Christmas: 3/4 oz brandy, 3/4 oz rum, 3/4 oz triple sec, and the juice of half a lime shaken on ice and strained. But I didn’t know why it was called the Boston Sidecar. I asked around, but none of my bartender pals had any answers about the drink’s origins. I was only able to tell Goran that the Boston shaker likely had nothing to do with the drink’s name, since most cocktails are mixed in this apparatus. I noticed that Goran asked the same question on squidoo.com but didn’t get an answer there either.
Which brings me to the fact that I still have no background on this drink, but that this site ought to at least compile a list of drinks either with “Boston” in their name or that originated here. Here are a few:
- Boston Sidecar (recipe above)
- Boston Cocktail (from Michael Jackson’s Bar & Cocktail Companion: 1.5 oz dry gin, 1 oz apricot brandy, 1 tsp lemon juice, dash of grenadine)
- Ward Eight (probably the most famous forgotten Boston cocktail. From CocktailDB: 1.5 oz bourbon or rye, 1 oz lemon juice, 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 oz grenadine)
Of course, it being the Old Mr. Boston guide, that book has recipes for the Boston Collins and the Boston Sour, but those appear to be simply variations on the Rum Collins and the Whiskey Sour. I’ll do some cross-referencing and start a page of Boston cocktails whose recipes come from more than one source. In the meantime, if anyone knows how the Boston Sidecar, or the Boston Cocktail for the matter, got its name, chime in under Comments, will you?
Posted in Brandy, Cocktails, Gin, Rum, Whiskey | 4 Comments »
January 19th, 2007
Champagne is special. Cocktails are special. Put the two together and you get something even greater than the sum of its fabulous parts, a champagne cocktail. And I’m not talking about the drink where you drop a sugar cube and some bitters in a glass of champagne (though that is a good drink). I’m talking champagne with booze in it. I’m talking the Seelbach: bourbon, Cointreau, Peychaud’s bitters and Angostura bitters, topped with bubbly. To the uninitiated, that may sound scary, like the liquor equivalent of PCP. But one sip and you realize it’s just the opposite — oh so sophisticated. The champagne mellows the bracing effect of the bourbon and bitters, which in turn give the champagne a dangerous quality. One Seelbach makes you feel like you’re at a lawn party at San Simeon. A few Seelbachs make you feel like you’re in a nightclub balancing glassware on your boobs.
On Monday, February 12, Green Street (280 Green St., Central Square, Cambridge) and drinkboston.com will host a party featuring the Seelbach and other champagne cocktails presented by four of Boston’s best bartenders: Dylan Black of Green Street, John Gertsen of No. 9 Park, Misty Kalkofen of Green Street and the B-Side Lounge, and Ben Sandrof of Noir. Tickets are $20 and include four champagne cocktails, passed apps, and the fun of mingling with other imbibers who appreciate an expertly mixed drink and a little cocktail history in one of Boston’s best bars. This 7:00 p.m. event will likely sell out, so order your tickets in advance by calling Green Street at 617-876-1655 or emailing owner Dylan Black at dylanblack (at) verizon (dot) net.
The drinks:
Black Velvet (stout and champagne)
Dylan Black, owner of Green Street
Said to have been created at London’s Brooks Club in 1861 during mourning over Prince Albert’s death. Also called the Bismarck, as the drink was a favorite of German statesman Otto von Bismarck.
Diamond Fizz (gin, lemon juice, powdered sugar, champagne)
Ben Sandrof, bar manager at Noir
A dressed-up gin fizz (which uses seltzer instead of champagne). Similar to the French 75, only it contains less sugar and no garnish.
Bâ‚‚Câ‚‚ (brandy, Benedictine, Cointreau, champagne)
Misty Kalkofen, bartender at Green Street and B-Side Lounge
Misty says this drink was “created by American intelligence officers at the end of WWII. They had all of these wonderful goods that had been looted from the French by the Germans and then left behind during the Germans’ retreat.”
Seelbach (bourbon, Cointreau, Angostura & Peychaud’s bitters, champagne)
John Gertsen, principal bartender at No. 9 Park
Invented at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, circa 1917. The recipe was lost, probably during Prohibition, until being rediscovered by the hotel in 1995.
Posted in Champagne, Cocktails, Events | 2 Comments »
January 12th, 2007
Radius, which has been on the short list of Boston’s best restaurants since chef Michael Schlow opened it in 1999, specializes in the kind of contemporary cocktails found in most chic dining spots. That is, cocktails with up-to-the-minute ingredients that change with the seasons, much like the dishes on the menu. Example: the late-summer Family Heirloom, a chilled, straight-up mixture of heirloom tomato water (the colorless, pulpless, pure liquid from an heirloom tomato), Absolut Citron, Absolut Peppar, lemon and lime juice, a splash of simple syrup and a few drops of parsley oil, which form gem-green circles on the surface of the drink. I know: half of you are saying, “Mmmm, delicious,” and half of you are saying, “That’s preposterous.” You’re both right.
Walking into a swanky place like this, you are right to assume that there are professionals working behind the bar. But you also wonder, ‘Will they give me the time of day if I’m not carrying a Prada bag?’ Karen Olson puts those fears to rest. This barwoman has an easy, genuine laugh and readily admits to being a geek; she’s addicted to playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on her cell phone. And it doesn’t hurt that she looks like an Ivory girl. Karen moved to Boston from the Midwest several years back and developed her chops where all out-of-towners congregate when they first arrive in Boston — Legal Sea Foods. She eventually made her way to Radius as a bartender and server.
When I ordered a Pink Cashmere (Plymouth gin, Campari, Cointreau, lime, grapefruit soda and muddled black peppercorns over ice), Karen told me that she and her co-bartenders decreed that every Radius cocktail menu include a drink named after a Prince song (the Raspberry Beret preceded the Pink Cashmere, which I’m going to admit I didn’t know was a Prince song). Some of the most frou-frou-sounding drinks here have surprising backbone, like the Floating Cloud: Bacardi light and Myers dark rum, apple cider and Frangelico topped with almond-flavored whipped cream. Lurking underneath the frothy topping is a belt of rum worthy of a sailor.
The Rosemary Gimlet (pictured), an Olson creation, is my favorite drink at Radius: Hendrick’s gin, lime juice, simple syrup and muddled fresh rosemary topped with ginger beer. It’s the perfect balance of “classic” and “creative” mixology. Have one of these with the duck quesadilla, the frites with three dipping sauces … or anything on the menu, really. Radius gets its bar food right with comforting, familiar-sounding dishes that are kicked up to the level of great cuisine.
Posted in Bartenders, Boston bars, Cocktails | 1 Comment »
January 7th, 2007
Cocktails are prominently featured on lots of vinyl album covers from the ’50s and ’60s, but seldom do they inspire the album title, cover art and entire song list. Good, old Spanish-Cuban bandleader Xavier Cugat took it to the limit with “Cugi’s Cocktails.” Unfortunately, we don’t own this album — Scott found the cover on Retrolounge, and I’m sharing it with you here.
Speaking of sites that satisfy the lounge-o-phile, check out this well-stocked, well-written blog: LoungeTracks — “Rare and out of print vinyl records for your eazy listening pleasure.”
Posted in Cocktails | 1 Comment »
