Web site redesign to began soon using CS3 master suite.
This involves a major learning curve. So it will not be
over night. BUT do
check back.
HELLO
LACEY
World Cocktail Week starts
May 8th and ends on May 13th.
It was on May 13th, 1806 that the editor of The
Balance and Columbian Repository in Hudson,
New York put forth in his paper the succinct definition
of the cocktail as being
'...spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters...'.
World Cocktail Week (WCW) is a project of The Museum of
the American Cocktail® and was established to celebrate
the rich history of the cocktail and recognize the craft
and skill of the bartenders who have been mixing them
for over 200 years.
WorldWideDrinks LLC ...
is a proud member of ...
The Museum of the American Cocktail®
When prohibition placed its stranglehold on our nation,
it doomed for more than thirteen years the real art and
etiquette of drinking. Book, articles, advertising and
broadcasting concerning liquor, and all formulas for mixing
drinks once popular in all branches of society, were placed
under Federal ban. From the hands of law-abiding experts
the liquor business passed into the hands of novices from
the underworld. Concoctions were served under titles never
before known to the drinking world. Most of these drinks
were abominable, mixed by men who did not know even the
rudiments of the art. America today still has not unlearned
all the follies she was taught in the name of prohibitionists
and must learn all over again what she has unlearned.
This site will give back that was once lost. The crafting
of great cocktails.
"Always do sober what you said
you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth
shut."
-Ernest Hemingway
"Your body is a temple, You should
keep some spirits in you."
- Bruce Tomlinson
"There can't be good living where there is not
good drinking."
- Benjamin Franklin
"Once, during Prohibition, I was forced
to live for days on nothing but food and water."
- W. C. Fields 1879-1946, American Actor
"If everybody in this town
connected with politics had to leave town because of chasing
women and drinking, you would have no government."
- Barry Goldwater
“Is the glass half full, or half empty?
It depends on whether you're pouring, or drinking.”
-Bill Cosby
"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When
they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're
going to feel all day."
-Frank Sinatra
Remember
"Lubrication
in Moderation"
Here in Indianapolis we are two hours north
of Churchill Downs and the running of the 134th Kentucky
Derby. But we can still enjoy it on TV with a Mint Julep
in hand. The Mint Julep has been around long before it
became associated with the Derby. According to Chris
McMillian {a famous New Orleans bartender}a Julep
was written about as early as the 17th century by Milton.
-- Bill Samuels Jr., president of Maker's
Mark Distillery stated that even though it is not the
first account of the drink, the Mint Julep first appeared
in print in 1803, being described as a “dram of
spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians
in the morning." in Travels of Four Years and a Half
in the United States of America by John Davis. Today the
spirit of choice is bourbon.
If we trace this drink back to its origin, it started
out as a delicate drink in Persia named gulâb. (Literally
meaning “rosewater”) Do to the fact it was
rose petals in sugar water. When it spread to the Mediterranean,
rose petals were replaced with mint leaves. Mint is indigenous
to that region. Now known as the mint julep, it soon grew
in popularity throughout Europe and eventually made its
way to the United States in the 17th century. Early versions
were made with rye whiskey, rum, and most any other spirit
available.
Mint Julep
Start with a 12oz glass or a Silver Julep
Cup
Drop in 6 to 12 mint leaves - Smaller more , Bigger less.
No stems. Muddled stems add bitterness
Add 1/2oz to 1oz of simple syrup
1/2oz is proper, but I like 1oz
Now gently muddle, just bruise, not crush. Crushing releases
chlorophyll found in the leaf and makes for an unpleasant
bitter taste.
Fill your glass with crushed ice. Use a canvas bag or
a thick towel and a mallet to crush the ice in.
Pour in 2.5oz of Makers Mark
Give it a little stir and add more crushed ice till it
is mounded over the top.
Take a good looking mint sprig with the stem and lay in
one hand. Now smack it with the other hand. This will
release the oils and that wonderful aroma. Put 2 sip sticks
in one hand and use them to make a hole in the ice for
the mint stem as a garnish. Place the 2 sip sticks in
the ice and serve.
If to serve is picking up the drink with one hand and
handing it to your other hand.
Then life is good.
If you are not watching the Derby, this is still a great
drink to sip slowly as you are sitting in a rocker on
the porch and watch the sun go down.
What ??? You don't use a julep strainer in the making
of a mint julep ???
Why is it called a Julep Strainer ???
Back in the 1800's ice became an ingredient that bartenders
used. Mr. Joe Anybody could go down to the local pub and
get a cold drink. During the summer, the mint julep was
the most famous and ask for drink.
Sadly the Dentist was not as popular and a lot harder
to find. While taking a drink , the ice would slide down
and touch the imbiber's teeth. aaaaAAAOUCH
We do not know who, but it was likely the ingenuity of
a Bartender that came up with the julep strainer to lay
over the ice in the drink to keep the ice away from the
imbibers teeth. Now a days the julep strainer is used
to strain a drink that has been stirred in a mixing glass.
This one is from the 1800's ........ This
one is old but looks like a modern one
First cocktail 5000 years old
The first cocktail ever was made in Mesopotamia 5,000
years ago, using wine, beer, apple juice and honey. Patrick
McGovern defined the mix as 'grog', an archaic drink in
the USA is sold as the 'Midas Touch'. McGovern, a University
Professor at Pennsylvania, one of the most important authorities
in chemistry applied in archaeology, presented the results
of a research on the banks of the Tigris between Iran
and Iraq.
This was said at the first day of the international convention
on the archaeological study of wine organised in Scansano
(Italy). In his report, McGovern spoke of the history
of the evolution of wine-making in the east and west,
giving analyses that prove how in some terracotta containers
found on the banks of the Tigris river there were traces
of tartaric acid (obtained during grape fermentation),
honey, apples and fermented barley (used in beer).
'Grog' was also used by Etruscans, as can be proved through
some containers found in southern Tuscany. The convention
highlighted that the sylvan grapes were present in Etruria
6,000 years ago, much before the Greeks' wine culture.
Basically the Etruscans knew wine, so its use could have
been already known before the Greeks in the Mediterranean.
Source: Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (10 September 2005)
Bruce Tomlinson & Dale Degroff
I don't remember what we were so happy about, but look
at those grins.
Dale
has been nominated
By the James Beard Foundation for the
OUTSTANDING WINE AND SPIRITS PROFESSIONAL AWARD
Presented by Southern Wine & Spirits of New York
A winemaker, brewer, or spirits professional who has
had a significant impact on the wine and spirits industry
nationwide. Candidates must have been in the profession
for at least five years.
*Nominees for Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional
are:
Dale DeGroff
Dale DeGroff Co., Inc., NYC
Merry Edwards
Merry Edwards Wines
Sebastopol, CA
David Lett
The Eyrie Vineyards
McMinnville, OR
Bobby Stuckey
Frasca Food and Wine
Boulder, CO
Terry Theise
Terry Theise Estate Selections
Silver Spring, MD
ALSO
David
has been nominated
David Wondrich
and Bruce Tomlinson
James Beard Foundation Books Awards
Presented by Green & Black's®
For books published in English in 2007.
And the books in the wine and spirits categorie are:
WINE AND SPIRITS
The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American
Wine Dynasty
by Julia Flynn Siler
(Gotham Books)
Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash,
a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor"
Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar
by David Wondrich
(Perigee)
To Cork or Not To Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science,
and the Battle for the Wine Bottle
by George M. Taber
(Scribner)
Covering all aspects of the industry—from chefs
and restaurateurs to cookbook authors and food journalists
to restaurant designers and architects and more—the
James Beard Foundation Awards are the highest honor for
food and beverage professionals working in America. Nominees
and winners are fêted at a weekend of gala events
in New York City that has become the social and gastronomic
highlight of the year.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Awards Ceremony 6:30 pm
Gala Reception immediately to follow
Event Location:
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
NYC
Tickets:
James Beard Foundation Members $400
General Public $450
Press $200
Tickets go on sale March 17.
To purchase tickets, please call 212.925.0054 or email
boxoffice@jamesbeard.org.
P.S. if you do not have Davids book .... Shame on you....
_______________________________________________________
I
Found a great Stout
What's going
on Bruce, You're a Cocktail guy ???
I also made my own
homebrew for years. Why, Because I had to!! Back then
you could count the number of decent beer's with one thumb
and a couple of fingers. Now with the plethora of Micro
Brews. I can find a good brew just about anywhere.
Now, about that
Stout
I was on my way from Indianapolis to Atlanta
GA. with a good friend Jefferson "Jeff" Floyd.
Because of a few reasons we did not start till late in
the day. Instead of driving straight through we stopped
over in Nashville TN. We decided that instead of seeing
the night life we would stop at a liquor store, so we
could get an early start the next day. When I am away
from home I make it a priority to see if I can pick something
up that I can't get at home and I can't live with out.
Plus I always have my traveling Bartending tools with
me. As I am looking in the liquor section. I hear Jeff
yell , Bruce come here. I could tell it was a happy yell.
In his hand is a bottle of Jefferson's Reserve. It is
a Bourbon Barrel Stout. I'm a big stout fan. Jeff not
so much, but he definitely liked the name. This stout
turned out better than expected. If you like stouts. Then
I could with confidence recommend this to you. It's dark
black with a creamy head and thick like I like it. It
is extremely drinkable.
It is made by the Louisville brew master David Pierce
at the Bluegrass Brewing Co. It is proud to be the largest
micro brewery located in the state of Kentucky.
Cheers
Bruce Tomlinson
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This next beer I want to recommend. I had after I returned
to Indianapolis.
Besides being a bartender. I am in the real estate game.
Me and my partner Dorn do it all. Wholesale, Flippers,
Short sale, Sub to, Rent to own, Rehab, rentals. If the
numbers work. We do it. THERE IS NO BOX…….
An old friend that I tended bar with 25 years ago Taylor
Wilson ask me for some advice about what to do about a
house he is inheriting. So Dorn and I went over and spent
2 to 3 hours giving him different options and what we
think he should do. Now for the fun part. After we were
done we went to one of Taylor’s hang outs. The Ale
Emporium. It’s one of those great pub’s that
have a gazillion different beers. Personally I like a
good full flavored beer. As I am walking along what looks
like a 50 foot long bar with a set of taps every few feet.
I spotted one that I knew I had to try. On the right side
of the tab it said Three Floyd’s . I laughed out
loud and ask the bartender Kristen for one. I don’t
know if I was extra thirsty or what? But after that first
one I looked at Dorn, Taylor had not shown up yet, and
said this beer is scary, it went down way to easy. Time
to order food, because I wanted more of that beer.
We ask for menu’s and Kristen ask me if I wanted
another “Robert the Bruce”. I said Kristen,
I’m drinking the Three Floyd’s. She said no
Bruce (she had my c-card so she knew my name) that’s
who makes it. The ale is named Robert the Bruce. Of course
I said thank you, yes I will have one. Because of my never
ending (nosey) quest for information. I had to walk down
the bar and take a second gander at that beer tap. Low
and behold on the left side of the tap it said Robert
The Bruce . I like this Ale........................
Here it is the next day. So I decided to
do a little research. I found that the Three Floyd’s
Brewery started in Hammond Indiana in 1996. Because of
growing pains it moved to Munster, Indiana. Two of my
favorite things. Entrepreneur’s and Beer. So here
is my suggestion. Do a Google search to find a micro brewery
in your area and do what you can to support them. As long
as their brew is good !!!!!!
Cheers
Bruce Tomlinson
ROBERT THE BRUCE
A full bodied Scottish-style ale with a well rounded malty
profile of roasted and caramel notes. 6.5% ABV, 35 IBUs
------------------------------------------------------------
St. Patrick's Day Mon, Mar / 17
/ 2008
On this day my name changes from
Tomlinson to O'Tomlinson. So I took my dear sweet mother.
"Ma Tomlinson" to an Irish
Pub. She
had a corned beef sandwich and a couple George Killens
Irish Red's and her first in all of her 76 years a shot
of Irish Whiskey. Woo Hoooo.
I spoke to Cheryl Charming today(Sat. March
29-2008)for about an hour. If she could be bottled. She
definitely would be on the top shelf !!!
What is she doing? Working on a new book of course. The
Cocktail Film Fest that was put on by the Tales of the
Cocktail people and hosted by Cheryl Charming was a sold
out success. If you do not know about it. The following
is the the advertisement for all three movies.
COCKTAIL FILM FEST CELEBRATES SIPPING
IN CINEMA WITH THREE SCREENINGS AT W NEW ORLEANS HOTEL
Host Cheryl Charming presents movies and themed cocktails
and food March 21 – 22.
Cheryl Charming
Cheryl Charming
That is me, Bruce Tomlinson & Cheryl
Charming
Having a few Sazerac's
Fun Facts!
What is it?
Tales of the Cocktail and the W New Orleans invite movie
buffs and libation lovers to indulge in two evenings of
celebrating cocktail in film. Cheryl Charming, cocktail
writer and founder of MissCharming.com, plays hostess
for the screenings
Your Hostess for the Weekend
Film Fest hostess Cheryl Charming has been in the food
and beverage industry since 1976, tending bar, authoring
bar and cocktail related books and teaching bar tricks
to Walt Disney World bartenders. Cheryl also writes cocktail
related articles and frequents as a celebrity cocktail
guest on various radio, television, and pod cast shows.
She is a member of The Bartenders Guild, FBA (Flair Bartenders
Association) and The Museum of the American Cocktail.
She resides in Downtown Orlando and maintains the website
MissCharming.com
The Film Fest schedule is as follows:
Friday, March 21, 8 p.m., Casablanca
Saturday, March 22, 5 p.m., The Seven Year Itch
Saturday, March 22, 8 p.m., Guys and Dolls
Seating for all films are dinner party style.
Drinks and Dishes Being Served:
Friday, March 21, 8 p.m., Casablanca.
An evening filled with Moroccan food, French 75’s,
Champagne Cocktails, Brandy, film-theme spirits, prizes,
and fun while viewing this Academy Award winning romance
film of 1942.
Saturday, March 22, 5 p.m., The Seven Year Itch
This Happy Hour is filled with prizes and all the Itch
cocktails; Martinis, Tom Collins’, Scotch, Whiskey
Sours, Gin and Tonics! There will be lots of snacky snacky
foods and retro candy to munch on during this Summer blockbuster
of 1955 too. Cameras are welcome, as you may want your
photo taken with Marilyn!
Saturday, March 22, 8 p.m., Guys and Dolls
Followed after the Happy Hour film is this dinner film
filled with Mojitos, Cuba Libres, Mexican beer, and Milk
Punch served in coconut cups. Dinner is our twist on cuisine
invented in the 1950s; The TV Dinner! Door prizes and
wedding cake also accompany this Academy Award nominated
of 1955.
Tickets
Tickets are $25 per film, per person, and include drinks,
cocktail food and snacks. A weekend package that includes
all three films is $65 per person, which saves you $10
for the weekend. For tickets, visit www.TalesoftheCocktail.com
or call 504-377-7935 beginning March 1, 2008.
Parking
The W New Orleans is featuring a special parking rate
of $12 for Cocktail Film Fest goers per night. *This does
not apply to overnight guests.
Special Room Rates:
The W New Orleans is featuring a special rate of $129
a night for Cocktail Film Fest goers. Visit www.whotels.com/wneworleans
for more information.
CONTACT: Ann Rogers: 504-343-4285; ann@talesofthecocktail.com
Bartender sets
cocktail-mixing record
LAS VEGAS (UPI) -- A bartender with nearly a quarter-century
of experience set a world record this week by mixing 253
cocktails in an hour during a trade show in Las Vegas.
Bobby "G" Gleason kept up a pace of more than
four drinks a minute. He shattered the previous record
of 179 cocktails an hour, set in 2004, before a critical
audience at the Nightclub & Bar Convention & Trade
Show.
Gleason, who got his start in the fast-paced clubs of
South Florida and then moved to Las Vegas, is now master
mixologist for Beam Global Inc., the Illinois company
that produces Jim Beam bourbon and other brands of booze.
During his speed run, he produced a series of different
margaritas based on two of his employer's brands, DeKuyper
cordials and liqueurs and Hornitos tequila.
"It's all in the balance," he said.
A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records,
a book that got its start as a means of settling barroom
arguments, was also in attendance.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 02/29/2008
2008
is a Leap Year
A holiday that only rolls around only once every four
years. So you need a special cocktail to celebrate..
This libation is out of ,,,,"The Savoy Cocktail Book
. --- By Harry Craddock ---1930"
The Leap
Year Cocktail
1.1/2 ounces gin
1/3 ounce Grand Marnier
1/3 ounce sweet vermouth
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 lemon twist, for garnish
Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail
glass. Add the garnish.
This Cocktail was created by Harry Craddock, for the Leap
Year celebrations at the Savoy Hotel, London, on February
29th, 1928. . . It is said to have been responsible for
more proposals than any other cocktail that has ever been
mixed.
TALES OF THE TIKI COCKTAIL: PELICAN CLUB HOSTS DINNER
WITH HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF TROPICAL DRINKS
Author Jeff
“Beachbum” Berry reveals
NOLA connections to birth of Tiki cocktails.
Top left Jeff "Beachbum Berry",
Center Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, Right Bruce
"Hey You" Tomlinson
DOWNLOAD
THE TIKI MENU
NEW ORLEANS – Tales of the Cocktail, the annual
culinary and cocktail festival, presents Tales of the
Tiki Cocktail, a dinner and tropical drink history and
tasting, on Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, at The Pelican
Club.
Author Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, who has written
multiple books on “tiki” and tropical drinks,
will be in New Orleans to host the dinner and tasting
with Pelican Club chef Richard Hughes. Berry will discuss
how New Orleans was the birthplace of these revolutionary
rum cocktails and the local restaurants who were most
known for this type of drink.
“Don The Beachcomber, who kicked off the national
craze of Tiki drinks was actually born in New Orleans,”
said Jeff Berry. “Chef Hughes and I are going to
take our guests on a culinary journey of exotic cuisine
and vintage tropical drink recipes.” Berry is the
author of "Beachbum Berry's Grog Log," which
has been called "the best bar guide for tropical
drinks ever published" (National Review). Jeff's
next two books, "Intoxica!" and "Taboo
Table," have made him the toast of the global tiki
bar revival. His original cocktail creations are now being
served at tiki bars around the world.
Ann Rogers, founder of Tales of the Cocktail notes that
the annual summertime event is expanding its educational
outreach. “We are now hosting events throughout
the year, such as Tales of the Tiki Cocktail, in addition
to our annual festival,” said Rogers. “Now
locals, as well as visitors to New Orleans can attend
fantastic tastings and seminars on any given weekend or
weekday on subjects from tiki drinks to holiday cocktails!”
All Tales of the Cocktail events support the New Orleans
Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society, which raise
funds to support its mission of preserving New Orleans
dining and drinking history. Reservations are required
to attend Tales of the Tiki Cocktail and tickets are $95
a person inclusive of tax and gratuity. Tickets can be
purchased online at www.talesofthecocktail.com
or by calling 504-948-0511. Tales of the Cocktail’s
host hotel, The Monteleone, is offering a special rate
of $179 on the evening of the event. Mention the promotional
code, TIKI when calling to reserve a room at 800-535-9595.
On Saturday, Feb. 23, Borders Books and Music will host
Berry at a book signing from 1 – 3 p.m. that is
sponsored by Old New Orleans Rum. Borders is located at
3131 Veterans Memorial Blvd. in Metairie.
The New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society,
a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds to
benefit hospitality industry members, produces Tales of
the Cocktail annually. Its mission it so preserve the
rich history of the restaurants and bars of New Orleans
and the unique culture of dining and drinking famous to
the city, while educating locals, visitors, and the hospitality
industry about this culinary heritage.
Bruce Tomlinson here. I decided to join in on the fun
over at "The
Spirit World"
I submitted three drinks. The rules are that the cocktail
must come from an old publication and taste good.
The first 2 drinks I did a taste test with 10 people.
The five that tasted the Apricot Cocktail first liked
it best and the 5 that tasted the Santa Barbara first
liked it best. Go Figure
Raiders of the Lost
Cocktail - Apricot Brandy
This one comes from page 23 of The Savoy Cocktail Book
APRICOT COCKTAIL
1/4 Lemon Juice
1/4 Orange Juice
1/2 Apricot Brandy
1 Dash Dry Gin
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass
This one is from page 150 of 1934 “Cocktail Bill”
Boothby’s — World Drinks and how to mix them
SANTA BARBARA
Whiskey……….. 1/2 jigger
Apricot Brandy…. 2 dashes
Grapefruit…….. 1/4 jigger
Sugar Syrup……. 2 dashes
Stir well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass
and serve
This one comes from the 1940
OFFICIAL MIXER’S MANUAL by
Patrick Gavin Duffy on page 152
Babbie’s Special Cocktail
1 Dash Gin
1/3 Sweet Cream
2/3 Apricot Brandy
Shake well and strain into glass.
Use glass number 1
———————————–
The front of the book has drawings of glassware. Glass
number 1 looks to be a sherry glass.
Regular cream is sweet cream.
The Winning cocktail hailed from the Savoy Cocktail Book
and kudo's goes out to the two winners participants —
Charlie Oat from the Connecticut
School of Bartending, and Jay from
Oh, Gosh!
—both suggested the Claridge ,,,my hat is off to
the two participants.
February 2nd 1978
February 2nd 2008
Thirty years of bartending, 30 YEARS
...."WOW "
Our Intrepid Mixologist and -"C.E.O." - Chief
Entertaining Officer - Bruce Tomlinson -- will be having
a few libations with Norman Ramsey, AKA (Stormin Norman)on
February 2, 2008. Back in the day Norman was the head
Bartender at Lycifer's in Indianapolis, IN.{don't let
the name creep you out - the place was beautiful } It
was a 4 level disco were Bruce started his lustrous career.
Also joining the festivity will be Taylor Wilson. Taylor,
Norman, and Bruce all worked at Gritzbies in the early
80's. Bruce's brother, Brian who will turn 50 this year
was a 19-20 year old barback at Lycifer's, and will be
bellying up to the bar for a few cocktails with the boy's.
Instead of fish stories. It will be bar stories... I once
served a drink this big......
We know, we know,,, Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 is also
Pisco Sour day and Groundhog day.
So if Bruce see's his shadow you will be drinking Pisco
sour's for the next 6 weeks.
To make a Pisco sour
1-1/2 oz. Pisco ( Peru rum )
3/4 oz fresh lime juice, in Peru they use limóns
(Don't confuse these with lemons. These small tart limons
are very popular and taste like key limes.)
1/2 oz simple syrup , made with 1/2 sugar,1/2 water
1 egg white
Add ingredients in to a Boston Shaker with one ice cube
and shake hard and fast for 30 seconds,,,this get's the
egg frothy,,,add more ice and shake for 15 seconds to
get this cocktail good and cold... Now using your hawthorne
strainer, strain into a chilled glass. NO ICE... Add a
few drops 3 or 4 of Angostura Bitters on top of the froth
and enjoy my friend,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, enjoy.
Repeal Day is December 5.
Repeal Day is December 5.
Repeal Day is December 5.
On December 5 1933 at 5:32pm EST the 21st amendment was
ratified.
Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the
Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. The transportation or importation into any
State, Territory, or possession of the United States for
delivery or use there in of intoxicating liquors, in violation
of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it
shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution
by conventions in the several States, as provided in the
Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Repeal Day is not widely celebrated
in this country, yet it commemorates the anniversary of
the day the United States repealed the Eighteenth Amendment
and gave Americans the constitutional ability to consume
alcohol.
Be one of the first to spread the good will and pride
of celebrating Repeal Day.
Here are a few reasons why we think Repeal Day
should be a celebrated day in the United States:
It's the perfect time of year.
Conveniently located halfway between Thanksgiving and
Christmas — at a time when most Americans are probably
not spending time with family — Repeal Day
presents a wonderful occasion to get together with friends
and pay tribute to our constitutional rights.
We have the constitutional ability to do so.
Unlike St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo, Repeal
Day is a day that all Americans have a part in
observing, because it's written in our Constitution. No
other holiday celebrates the laws that guarantee our rights,
and Repeal Day has everything to do with
our personal pleasures.
It's easy!
There are no outfits to buy, costumes to rent, rivers
to dye green. Simply celebrate the day by stopping by
your local bar, tavern, saloon, winery, distillery, or
brewhouse and having a drink. Pick up a six-pack on your
way home from work. Split a bottle of wine with a loved
one. Buy a shot for a stranger. Just do it because you
can.
Thanks for reading about what we hope will become a celebrated
day in this country. Please help spread the word about
Repeal Day, and tell a friend.
Cheers!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bartending history
NYTimes
October 31, 2007
The Bartender Who Started It All
By WILLIAM GRIMES
IN 1863, an English traveler named Edward Hingston walked
into the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco and stepped
up to the bar. There he beheld a magnificent figure wielding
two mixing glasses and “all ablaze with diamonds,”
a jewelry display that included a clustered stickpin in
his shirtfront, diamond cufflinks and an array of diamond
rings. Just as dazzling were the drinks, unheard of in
Britain: strange mixtures like crustas, smashes and daisies.
Here was something to write home about.
Hingston was looking at none other than Jerry Thomas,
“the Jupiter Olympus of the bar,” to lift
a phrase from the bartender’s own drink book, the
first ever published in the United States. In a cocktail-besotted
era, Thomas was first without equals, an inventor, showman
and codifier who, in the book known variously as “The
Bar-Tender’s Guide,” “How to Mix Drinks”
or “The Bon-Vivant’s Companion,” laid
down the principles for formulating mixed drinks of all
categories and established the image of the bartender
as a creative professional.
Like Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone and Buffalo Bill Cody,
he was the sort of self-invented, semimythic figure that
America seemed to spawn in great numbers during its rude
adolescence. More than a century after his death, he still
casts a spell, a palpable influence on Dale DeGroff, chief
animator of cocktail’s new wave, and his many progeny,
from Eben Klemm of the B. R. Guest restaurant group to
Audrey Saunders at the Pegu Club.
Thomas finally gets his due in “Imbibe!”
(Perigee Books, $23.95), a biography and annotated recipe
book by David Wondrich. Mr. Wondrich, a former classics
scholar and the drink correspondent for Esquire, was intrigued
by the often-puzzling recipes in Thomas’s book,
and frustrated by Herbert Asbury, whose fancifully embellished
version of Thomas’s life, presented in a reprint
of the 1887 edition of “The Bon-Vivant’s Companion,”
wraps sparse facts in a thick layer of myth, conjecture
and purple prose.
Mr. Wondrich puts the drinks in context, with their ingredients
explained, their measurements accurately indicated, and
their place in the overall cocktail scheme clearly mapped
out. At the same time, Thomas himself appears, for the
first time, as a living presence: a devotee of bare-knuckle
prize fights, a flashy dresser fond of kid gloves, an
art collector, a restless traveler usually carrying a
fat wad of bank notes and a gold Parisian watch. A player,
in short.
“Before, especially coming from Asbury, I had a
sense of Thomas as a magisterial, godlike creature,”
Mr. Wondrich said in a telephone interview. “Now
I see him as a sporty, Damon Runyon type.”
The sporty types can be hard to pin down. “Bartenders,
then as now, were itinerant, and the sporting life was
not big on documentation,” Mr. Wondrich said. “There’s
only one bartender’s diary for all of the 19th century,
and most of that consists of the author drinking a lot
and being sick the next day.”
Mr. Wondrich tracked Thomas from his birthplace in Sackets
Harbor, N.Y., to California, where he worked as a bartender,
gold prospector and minstrel-show impresario, and back
to New York, where he presided over a series of bars before
going broke — probably, Mr. Wondrich theorizes,
after buying bad stocks on margin. Along the way, Thomas
plied his trade, by his own account, in towns as various
as St. Louis, New Orleans, Chicago and Charleston, S.C.
One newspaper obituary placed him, improbably, in Keokuk,
Iowa.
As he wandered, he picked up on the latest developments
in the art, inventing new cocktails and building a serious
following for his particular blend of craftsmanship and
showmanship, epitomized in his signature drink, the Blue
Blazer, a pyrotechnic showpiece in which an arc of flame
passed back and forth between two mixing glasses. At the
Occidental, Thomas was earning $100 a week, more than
the vice president of the United States. When he died,
in 1885, newspapers all over the country observed his
passing in substantial obituaries.
Thomas’s most celebrated bar was at Broadway and
22nd Street, occupying the basement and one bay of what
is now Restoration Hardware. “They really ought
to put some sort of plaque there,” Mr. Wondrich
said.
On the walls of Thomas’s saloon hung caricatures
of the political and theatrical figures of the day, many
of them executed by Thomas Nast, including one, now lost,
depicting Thomas “in nine tippling postures colossally,”
as a newspaper reporter described it. Customers could
look at themselves in fun-house mirrors that made them
look fat or thin. By this time Thomas was middle-aged,
with a wife and two daughters, and at 205 pounds one of
the lighter members of the Fat Men’s Association,
but still, undeniably, a sport.
Thomas’s life spanned the three great ages of the
cocktail, the archaic, the baroque and the classic, a
helpful chronology proposed by Mr. Wondrich.
In 1830, the probable year of his birth, the main American
mixed drinks were punches, toddies and slings —
nothing more than brandy, gin or whiskey sweetened with
a little sugar. Thomas found his professional footing
in an age of flamboyant creativity, when bartenders experimented
with a bewildering array of ingredients and styles, and
by the time of his death in 1885 he had seen the birth
of the more streamlined modern cocktail typified by the
manhattan and the martini.
It is the baroque cocktail that occupied most of Mr.
Wondrich’s attention. Thomas, however, could be
maddeningly vague in his recipes. Mr. Wondrich was able
to determine that a wineglass, as a unit of measure, equaled
two ounces. He also discovered that most of the gin recipes
envisioned the strongly flavored, malty Dutch gin, not
the style known as London dry, which did not take off
until the 1890s. Sugar, in Thomas’s age, came in
a dense loaf and was less refined than modern white sugar
but not as raw as raw sugar (Mr. Wondrich compromises
by using Demerara or turbinado sugar, pulverized in a
food processor.)
Ice was an art. Bartenders, working deftly with a pick
or shaver, went to work on a solid frozen block and, depending
on the drink, extracted fine shards or large lumps or
any size of piece in between.
Bartenders did not use cocktail shakers. Instead, they
tossed their ingredients back and forth between two mixing
glasses. They also used gum Arabic, an emulsifier, in
their simple syrup, which added a velvety mouth-feel to
certain cocktails. “It really smooths off the edges
in all-liquor drinks,” Mr. Wondrich said. “They
just slide right down.”
The universe of drinks, in the middle of the 19th century,
did conform to certain patterns, reflected in the organization
of Thomas’s bar book. The old-fashioned punches,
often hot and mixed in large quantities for communal consumption,
gave way to a variety of individual drinks, all of them
iced, and all involving fruit: the Collins, the fizz,
the daisy, the sour, the cooler and the cobbler. The punch,
too, began appearing as an individual drink. The daisy,
a sour sweetened with orange cordial or grenadine, merits
special attention because in Mexico it encountered tequila.
The Spanish for daisy? Margarita.
The sling developed complications, incorporating ice
and bitters, and became the cocktail, which Thomas made
in three styles, plain, fancy and improved.
To make an improved brandy cocktail, for example, you
strained the plain version (brandy, bitters and gum syrup,
plus one or two dashes of Curaçao) into a fancy
wine glass, moistened the rim of the glass with lemon
and added a twist of lemon to the drink. (Thomas’s
book was the first to mention the twist, which replaced
grated nutmeg as the final flourish to a drink.) In the
improved cocktail, maraschino liqueur was substituted
for Curaçao. Add fruit juice and the cocktail became
a crusta.
From the basic cocktail repertory of Thomas’s youth
developed the myriad mixtures that Mr. Wondrich calls
evolved cocktails. Their name is legion, and most of them,
in the inspired early decades of the baroque age, came
from the West Coast, source of the zany drinks that astounded
so many foreign visitors — cocktails like the fiscal
agent and the vox populi. Thomas, a young man on the scene,
picked up the new recipes and carried them back East.
Toward the end of Thomas’s glorious reign as king
of the bar, a new kind of cocktail was emerging —
lighter, less alcoholic and usually involving vermouth,
a key ingredient in the manhattan and the martini.
The final, expanded edition of “The Bon-Vivant’s
Companion,” published two years after Thomas’s
death, trembles at the dawn of the cocktail’s modern
age. The manhattan makes its appearance, as well as a
cocktail called the Martinez, which has caused no end
of confusion, since it looks like “martini”
but calls for maraschino, sweet vermouth and the sweetened
gin known as Old Tom. On the other hand, the original
martini, often made with gin and vermouth in a 50-50 ratio,
and almost always with orange bitters, does not look very
much like the mercilessly dry vodka martini of the present
day. But here we step into a world that Thomas never lived
to see, even if he built its foundations. As Mr. Wondrich
justly observes, Thomas, by departing from the code of
the bartending fraternity and sharing his secrets, earned
his place as “the father of mixology, of the rational
study of the mixed drink.”
Dale DeGroff, who has done more than anyone to bring
baroque standards back to the bar, encountered Thomas
for the first time in the early 1980s, when Joe Baum,
who wanted a different kind of bar for his new restaurant
Aurora, directed him to “The Bon-Vivant’s
Companion.”
It was a revelation. At a time when bartenders relied
on powdered mixes, canned fruit juices and a narrow repertory
of perhaps a dozen drinks, Thomas imparted a lofty sense
of the bartender’s vocation. The recipes, embracing
categories of mixed drinks and exotic ingredients not
seen since Prohibition, opened up a dizzying range of
possibilities that Mr. DeGroff explored at Aurora and,
most influentially, at the Rainbow Room.
Mr. DeGroff, now a consultant, no longer tends bar, but
the little revolution sparked by Thomas’s book continues
to shake things up, carried forward by a new generation
of bartenders inspired by his example and by a book written
when Abraham Lincoln was president. Out of the remote
past, Thomas’s finger still points the way to the
future.
Buy
the Book
WorldWideDrinks promotes the Beverage Arts.
Starting from the glamorous classics to the new exciting
drinks that make you thirsty just thinking about them.
Using the best part of the past to the cutting edge of
the future. This is the place to keep you informed about
the cocktail culture by our Master Bartender of 29 years
Bruce Tomlinson and other Master Bartenders
who take pride in their craft.
I insist on only using fresh, seasonal ingredients. “A
Cocktail should be a culinary experience. An experience
in which you use all five senses. Seeing, feeling, smelling,
tasting and hearing.”
We will also have videos of bartenders and bartending
events for you to view. Many of these videos will feature
the elite of the industry showing the proper techniques
in the art of creating a cocktail.
WorldWideDrinks takes its Social Responsibility seriously
and ask you to drink in moderation. Do NOT drink and drive.
We also feel that the drinks you have should be extraordinary.
"Hurricanes are for tourists. Sazerac's are for
natives."
I borrowed this line from the gumbopages.com
I don't think Chuck Taggart will mind. I met him and he
is a good chap We were at the Tales of the Cocktail......
THE event of the year. It does not matter if you are in
this business or not. If you are passionate about good
cocktails. TOTC is for you.
For information about this event go to www.talesofthecocktail.com
Try to make this one next year. Start planning now.....if
you can. It is THE
major event of the year for the Beverage Arts.
JULY 16 - 20, 2008
Make sure you check out The Museum of the American
Cocktail exhibit and become a member !!!
You can also go to their website to join. MOTAC http://www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org
Lubrication in
Moderation
%20of%20IMG_1183.JPG){kind=small}
