The Mojito

by Will on October 13, 2010

I did a bartending gig this evening. It was enjoyable and interesting. The degree to which people’s behavior towards me is different depending on the role I occupy has always intrigued me. The most popular order today, after the Margarita, was the mojito. It’s a pretty good drink.

1 oz. white rum

1 oz. fresh lime juice

1 oz. sugar

fresh mint, several sprigs

Put the mint at the bottom of an old-fashioned or highball class, pour the sugar on top of it, and pour the lime on top of the sugar. Muddle these ingredients until the sugar is well dissolved, and mint well crushed. Now add the rum and some ice. Garnish with lime.

Whatever you do, do not buy the “mojito mix” that is sold at the store. That stuff is crap. Using real lime juice and real sugar makes a much better drink.

This drink seems to be a traditional beverage out of Cuba. It seems that for a very long time, it has been what field workers there drink during their breaks, to fight off the heat. And indeed, it’s good as a coolant. Today was a hot day, and I think that’s one reason so many people wanted this drink specifically. It’s interesting that what works for a thirsty Cuban field hand in 1893 also works for a thirsty middle-class party-goer in San Leandro in 2010.

Just to be tiresome, I want to note that this drink is interesting in that it is both a sour and a bittered drink. It follows the “sour” recipe (a spirit, with equal parts sweetener and citric acid) and also the “bitter” recipe (a spirit, with both a sweetener and a bitter). The mint here is playing the role of a bitter. It is interesting to taste something that interacts at once with both the sour and bitter receptors on the tongue.

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A Classic: the Gin and Tonic

by Will on October 6, 2010

1 1/2 oz. London dry gin

Add tonic water to taste

Garnish with slice of lime. Serve on ice in an old fashioned or highball glass.

Yeah, of course it’s an obvious one. The name describes the recipe. But I’m in a hotel room here, OK? Simplicity is of the essence. Also, the G&T is a great staple because it’s one of the few drinks almost impossible to screw up. That said, I’ve come across bartenders who have somehow found a way.

Like many alcoholic beverages, the gin and tonic got its start as a medicinal product. Researchers found that quinine was a silver bullet that made people insusceptible to malaria, which had been plaguing the British navy down in the tropics. But how do you get the seamen to consume quinine, a very bitter alkaloid? The best answer the British came up with was to mix it with a sweetener and some booze. It worked! The French dealt with the same issue by creating Dubonnet.

Similarly, the French liqueurs Benedictine and Chartreuse, and the Scottish liqueur Drambuie, were initially supposed to be all-purpose medicines. I believe the Chartreuse people still claim that it is health-enhancing. Whiskey was the result of Scottish monks’ years searching for a “water of life” that would make them live longer. Cognac resulted from similar efforts in France. Bitters have a calming effect on the stomach, and so were once used by navies to battle mal de mer. The Italian family of bitters, such as Campari, were supposed to be good for the liver. Vermouth was created as a vehicle with which to take wormwood, which was used to treat something or other. So many drinks we think of as simple refreshments were once marketed as medicine. It’s a rather funny irony of history.

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The Sidecar

by Will on September 23, 2010

This is a cocktail that nearly everybody likes. It is one of the more gender-neutral cocktails I’ve come across: it does not come across as particularly masculine or feminine. It seems to have been invented around the time of World War I, so it’s proven itself. This is how I like to make it:

1 1/2 oz. brandy (the real stuff, not that sweetened crap the Hiram Walker sells; I use Korbel)

1/2 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1/2 oz. Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Stir or shake with ice, serve straight up in a cocktail glass with a lemon slice as garnish

The big question, of course, is which of the grand old liqueurs to use. Both are much better than a generic triple sec. Cointreau makes more of a crisp, sweet sidecar, while Grand Marnier makes it less sweet and a bit more complex. Last night I tried making it with equal parts of the two, and I have to say I think I like that best.

I’ve heard the claim that this should be made with cognac rather than brandy. If you have more money than you know how to spend, then sure, I’ve no doubt that’s a little better. But it seems like a waste of money to me.

Incidentally, I used to live a few miles from the place where Cointreau is made. It was one of the city of Angers’s few claims to fame, along with the fact that the kings of England used to reside there back in the Plantegenet era. But there’s so much history every place in Europe that they dwell on it less than I do.

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The Tom Collins

by Will on September 15, 2010

When I was young, I recall that Tom Collins mix was something frequently in the fridge, competing for space with the orange juice and whipped cream and the like. So it was inevitable that I would try a Tom Collins at some point. I like them, and moreover they’re one of several good ways to wean people off of vodka (boring!) and on to gin (it actually has a flavor and scent — imagine that!).

In the day, by which I mean, late 2009, there was Schweppes Tom Collins mix at most stores. You just mixed it with gin and there was your Tom Collins. But then, for reasons unknown, Schweppes discontinued it’s mix. But that’s OK, because fresh ingredients make a better drink anyway.

1 1/2 oz. gin

1 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1 oz. simple syrup

Mix ingredients, serve in Tom Collins glass on ice, topped off with club soda

The name Tom Collins comes from a weird joke that was popular in New York in 1860 or so. You’d run into someone and tell them that Tom Collins had been talking a lot of smack about them. Then you’d tell them that Tom Collins was hanging out at the bar around the corner. So your victim would go looking for a non-existent person. What is supposed to be funny about that, I’m not sure. There was not a lot to do back then.

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The Rob Roy

by Will on September 7, 2010


If I could only ever have one single cocktail, it would be the Rob Roy.

1 1/2 oz. Scotch
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth
2 generous shakes of Angostura bitters
Serve on the rocks in an old-fashioned glass
This drink is the Manhattan’s mellower cousin. It was invented shortly after Dewar’s Scotch whiskey started being distributed in the US to the general public. Before that it was only rye, bourbon, and maybe Canadian whiskey. Coincidentally, there was, around the same time, a successful Broadway production of Walter Scott’s novel, Rob Roy.
As with Bonnie and Clyde and Jesse James, the historical Rob Roy was a murderous, thieving scoundrel, about whom almost nothing good can be said. For reasons having to do with literary conventions, people like to romanticize the doings of violent thieves. In 80 years, Bernie Madoff and the Sniper of several years past will somehow probably be remembered as folk heros.
Above: Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg sing “Bonny and Clyde”
You’ll notice that this drink has a taste reminiscent of coca-cola. I think that’s no coincidence. Angostura bitters were a popular product, and its not surprising the drug dealers who made Coke would want to ape their distinctive taste.
There’s a lot to be said about Angostura, actually, but I’ll save that for another time.
Some people say this is a fancy drink and calls for a high-end scotch. I think that’s totally crazy. If you have a really good scotch, drink it neat or with soda water, to really savor it! The Rob Roy tastes great with anything better than Ballentine’s. Caveat: avoid Cutty Sark, despite its cool label.
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The Benicia

by Will on August 29, 2010


This drink is on the sweet side, which I think is what most people are looking for in a drink, especially those who are just getting started.

The Benicia Cocktail:
1 1/2 oz. London dry gin
1 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. Italian blood orange soda
1 dash grenadine
Combine the gin, vermouth, and soda in a mixing glass. Stir with ice. Add the dash of grenadine to the cocktail glass. Serve straight up with a cherry garnish.
Yes, cheapskates, Gallo vermouth and Rose’s grenadine will do just fine. Don’t you dare sub vodka for the gin.
This cocktail is my variation on the Bronx cocktail, a classic cocktail created more than 100 years ago back east, and very popular in the day. The Bronx is a great drink that I often serve to people who say they don’t like gin and/or vermouth, because it tends to cure people of their irrational fear of both, in one fell swoop.
I tried to keep with the spirit of the original name by naming this drink after a peripheral city in the metropolitan region I live in. Benicia has no zoo, but boasts some very pretty sites and a community of interesting artists.
Fun Fact!: there was a time when Benicia was the capital of California.
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The Negroni

by Will on August 25, 2010

Above: the visible hand
This is a drink that’s good when it’s quite hot out.
  • 1 oz. gin
  • 1 oz. Campari
  • 1 oz. sweet vermouth
Serve on ice, with a lemon peel garnish
Supposedly the name comes from an Italian count named Negroni, who liked to order this at his local cafe. Orson Welles was a big fan. The key ingredient is the Campari, a very bitter Italian aperitif, which Jen describes as tasting “like vomit.” I disagree.
True confession: when we were camping, and didn’t have any sweet vermouth, I tried doing one of these with red Gatorade instead. It tasted just fine.
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The Santa Rosa

by Jen on July 23, 2010

To celebrate the weekend and the return of Madmen this Sunday, I would like to share Will’s most recent cocktail creation: The Santa Rosa.

The back story:

We watched Madmen as a marathon last winter, having only discovered it when my mother introduced me to it on a family trip.  For a month, we did nothing else but watch Madmen.  We were intrigued by Don’s usual drink: the Old Fashioned, and also by Betty Draper’s Gimlet and the martinis that the Fat Cats on the show have during their decadent three-martini lunches.  Also, the casseroles, but we quickly discovered that casseroles contain a lot of cheese and let that phase go by without too much hubbub.  The cocktail obsession, however, stuck with us, and Will started rapidly acquiring the sundry liquors, elixers and various bitters needed to try anything and everything, with an emphasis on the cocktails from the days of yore.

Will quickly tired of other people’s recipes and started to experiment in mixology, sometimes with disastrous results.  The Santa Rosa is his first cocktail creation that’s ready for prime time (though he also has come up with his own interesting twists on some of the classics!).

Shake or stir the following and serve on ice in an old-fashioned glass.  The garnish of a sprig of cilantro adds a wonderful complexity and tingles your taste buds.

  • 1 1/2 oz bourbon
  • 1 1/2 oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
  • 1/8 oz Benedictine
  • 1/8 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1/8 oz grenadine
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters if you have the large bottle, 2 dashes if dealing with the small bottle

The 1/8 oz is pretty hard to measure–most recipes would just call it “one dash” to avoid stressing you out. Don’t sweat it if your measure is a little off.

How Will created it:

The Santa Rosa began as a way to get rid of some quickly aging but still good grapefruit.  Bourbon was a natural choice for the liquor pairing because they both have such strong favors.  He considered adding simple syrup to sweeten it (grapefruit is very sour), but dismissed this option as obvious and boring.

Instead he added a little Benedictine–a very strong, complex liqueur. The drink tasted better, but still a little sour and astringent.  Will added Angostura bitters, comme il faut (because that’s what you do). He added grenadine, and the drink was no longer sour, and had a lovely red color.  But still there lingered the astringent bourbon finish!

He thought long and hard about what would make it smoother, and decided that sweet vermouth would be good for that.  He added a little bit, and liked the result… a lot!

Note:  In a pinch, Drambuie could be substituted for Benedictine.  They cost about the same (about $30 a bottle), but Benedictine is hard to find.
Also note:  Many of these ingredients–in fact all of these ingredients, will be consumed at a very slow pace.  You may balk at the initial investment, but we find we get a lot of joy in sharing our varied cocktail menu with guests (and our taste buds!) and you may too.

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