Drinking The World

For those of you who don't know, USBG stands for the US Bartenders Guild, the NY means the NY chapter, of which I have been a avid participant of for the past 18 months. Even when I was living up in Maine I attended as many of the NYC events as possible, and almost every one since I moved back here last September. I haven't written about any of them, but I think I will have to start.

Around 20 bartenders, mixologists, and one distiller, me, were treated to a day trip to visit Long Island Spirits, the distillers of LIV Vodka, and several fruit liqueurs. We were taken by luxury bus from NYC out to the east end of Long Island and treated to a day of food, beverages, a tour, a cocktail competition, and more. LIV Vodka is a very good product. I'm not a vodka fan, but this is an artisanal vodka crafted with care, from potatoes grown right outside the distillery. They also treated us very well, and gave a very instructive tour of the distillery, for many it was there first time and they learned a lot.

A new bartender friend of mine who I met yesterday posted on Facebook while we were on a bus ride to visit the distillery the following, "Long Island Distillery Tour with some crazy mixologists ohhh its gonna be a rough Monday..."

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While I was at Tales of the Cocktail I managed to miss one of the seminars I most wanted to attend, The Science of Shaking. I blame it on the extreme loss of brain cells. But thankfully one of the presenters wrote up the details. The seminar was about how ice and liquids react when being shaken in a cocktail, and the results were very different from what most of us in the industry had come to accept as fact. I won't try tore-phrase the post, instead you can read it here at Cooking Issues, the French Culinary Institutes Tech'n Stuff Blog. http://cookingissues.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/tales-of-the-cocktail-science-of-shaking-ii/

Just the other day I had a delivery I had been waiting almost a year for. My copy of Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh's latest edition, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails - Deluxe Edition. I immediately pored over the book and found it to be even better than I hoped. The book is very well done. the graphics, writing, format, information, etc.

I knew that there was one page I wanted to take a look before reading the book cover to cover. I opened to the index and went to "P", and saw Penobscot Bay Distillery pointing to page 153. There I read about what I am working on developing. A product that should be available this Fall. American style, dry, aged Peach Brandy. I thought that was pretty cool. (Although Doc, you mis-spelled my last name with two R's. That's OK, it happens.)

I've become friends with Doc over the past year or so, after he wrote me an email and gave me a call when he heard I was opening a distillery. Specifically, that I wanted to recreate, and improve upon, "Gilded Era" pre-prohibition style spirits, especially to make real, aged, Peach Brandy. After that first phone call, we would chat every now and then, as well as email, and soon we got to meet in person a few days before Tales of the Cocktail 2008.

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Drinks in the 1600’s? I saw this seminar title on the list for Tales of the Cocktail 2009 and said to myself, what the heck were they drinking back then? It sure wasn’t whiskey, when was gin invented? Rum? Brandy? More probably wine or beer was the drink of choice because this was centuries before cocktails came about. Modern stills hadn’t been invented yet and liquor was more likely medicine or tonics… than libations. Spirits were hard to make, hard to get your hands on, and much was unknown about them.

I had to know more, so I got in touch with the presenter, Darcy O’Neil, and asked him what it was all about.

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photo by Dan Peterson

JIM MEEHAN is a world-renowned, award-winning Mixologist & spirits expert. Bar manager at PDT NYC, he also edits "Food & Wine Cocktails 2007 & 2008" and the latest and best version of the best selling Mr. Boston Official Bartender’s Guide.

JMF: Do you use any North American fruit spirits in your cocktails?

JM: Yes, I've used Clear Creek Eau de Vies in at least one cocktail on every menu for the last year. We always have an Apple Brandy drink (or 3) on our menu from October till March. We carry Germain-Robin Brandy, but Cognac is our go-to brandy. If I opened a PDT in California, I would mix with G-R.

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DANIEL EUN, award winning mixologist at PDT, one of the world’s best cocktail bars located in NYC.

JMF: Do you use any North American fruit spirits in your cocktails?

DE: I have a cocktail on the PDT menu right now that uses Pear Eau-di-Vie.

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“I believe the production of these spirits is wildly important. When a distillery opens up it is very important to bottle as quickly as possible, because alas, money must be made in order to stay in business. While the standard is to create vodkas, I think the pioneers playing with fruit brandy are a wonderful alternative. I have tried a number of them, and each one shows great character. As far as I am concerned Steve McCarthy (Clear Creek Distillery) out of Oregon is the pioneer in this field, and my go to guy. I also think Lance Winters (St. George Spirits) is at the top. The average consumer does not know much about these and it will take a lot of effort, but the exciting part is that the quality is already there, so that is the most important thing.”
–Ethan Kelly, Brandy Library, NYC-

TED HAIGH, known as “Dr. Cocktail”, author and mixologist, is one of the world’s top experts on vintage cocktails and spirits from the early 1800’s to present.

JMF: What are your thoughts on artisanal fruit brandy and spirits made in North America?

TH: I think the re-invigorated American brandy distilling trends are very valuable indeed. Though I am not particularly nationalistic about the spirits I enjoy, the research and willingness of domestic craft distillers to experiment, create new things, and revive old ones I find heartening... even exciting.

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“If I was to make one comment on this subject (American fruit spirits) it would be that micro distillers need to focus on more unusual ingredients than fruit. Why is all this effort being put into making American versions of European classics? Mette in France is making asparagus and hop eaux de vie, Hans Reisetbauer is throwing carrots into the still , why aren't we ? Dave Arnold at FCI is throwing all kinds of crap into a roto-vap and coming up with some really original ideas… isn't that what America is all about?”
-Eben Freeman, Tailor, NYC-

ALEXANDER DAY is a sought after consultant and award winning mixologist at, among others, Death & Co., NYC, where his creations grace their cocktails menus.

JMF: Do you use any North American fruit spirits in your cocktails?

AD: Every night. Be it a true fruit brandy or a liqueur, fruit spirits have such a wide spectrum of flavors that they can either define a drink as a base, or augment by acting as a modifier. Some of the more pungent examples – Clear Creek Pear Brandy comes to mind – have such intense aromatics that they can easily be used in the smallest of quantities, enhancing the profile of a base spirit by picking out, and fiddling with, common flavors.

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