On vermouth

So Wednesday is my training day at work - we alternate sessions between spirits and liqueurs, and wine. It was my last seminar on spirits with one of my groups and we were doing cocktail history. I was talking about the development of the cocktail through the ages while making drinks typical of each period for the guys to try. First up, I decided to make a Martinez as an example of a pre-Prohibition cocktail. So, I start with my spiel about how drinks were different back then: for one, vermouth was way more popular than it is now.

"Vermouth?" asks one of the group. "Yup," I say, and before I can continue, she makes a face like I'd answered by saying "Yeah, so your dog? It died."

This, of course, sparks five minutes of everybody saying they don't like vermouth, only old people drink it, so on. And then I remember a conversation with my restaurant manager a couple of days ago, when he'd said that when you first start making cocktails, everything gets berries in it. Strawberries, raspberries, whatever. No recipe is complete without a berry component. And then I'd said "it's like there's an 18 month trial before you're allowed to use vermouth."

What is it about vermouth that the kids don't like? I suspect that it takes a while to get your head around the more complex flavour as an ingredient in your own recipes. But, fortunately, they liked the Martinez. Which is a start.

Perfect 10?

I am nothing if not a dedicated following of the whole drink-blogging fraternity and, over at Kaiser Penguin, they've birthed a bouncing baby meme that I am, of course going to jump right on board. So - what would I have if I could only have ten bottles of alcohol for the rest of my life? Looking around, I noticed that the choices at the Pegu Blog included six gins, so I'm going to make my life that much more awkward by limiting myself to one of each of the main spirits and approaching this from a cocktail creation point of view - what's going to let me make the widest range of drinks?

Gin - Martin Miller's Westbourne Strength has that same cool eccentricity as Hendrick's, but for me it's backed up by a really bold, flavourful juniper base that comes through well in old-school gin drinks. Vodka - Wyborowa. Now, luxury vodkas are great. No-one here's saying they're not. It's just, look...It's not you, it's me. I'm sorry, maybe I'll change in time. Let's stay friends, ok? Rum - Mount Gay XO gets it because a) I have no imagination and b) I'm a fool for big, punchy English style rums, heavy on the molasses and the vanilla. Whisky - I'm going for Monkey Shoulder because, genetically, I'm wired to pick a Scotch. Handy that it works so well in bourbon-based drinks, too. Brandy - Remy Martin VSOP. Brandy = something I need to work on.

I figure that I could probably get by without a Tequila, Cachaca or Pisco. Obviously, my desert island drinks cabinet will be of little use if any Central/Southern Americans stop by. Any Yankees would probably be pissed, too. But, still got five to play with:

Cointreau, because you'll always need a decent triple sec - actually, the same goes for bitters where Angostura Aromatic Bitters would get the nod. A bottle of Cinzano Rosso satisfies the need for vermouth as the big ednbrg Book of Truth says dry martinis are essentially pointless. I'll lob in a bottle of Tuaca for its versatility and that leaves the final spot for...

Ooh, toughie. I'd be tempted to go for Chambord, again for the versatility, but then I don't like it that much. On the other hand, I love St Germain elderflower liqueur but it's kind of limiting in what you can use it with. So, a liqueur, I guess. Oh, sod it. I'll be here all night. Stick in a bottle of Disarrono Amaretto and be done with it.

I'm now having visions of the brands I didn't pick looking disappointed and shaking their heads at me. Definitely creepy.

On mixology

I've never been a huge fan of the term mixology, and today I got around to working out why. Calling the creation of cocktails and the attendant skills mixology suggests a degree of scientific process. For me, these processes and skills are artisanal than scientific and that is, I guess, the root of my discomfort.

It is, I believe, possible to apply scientific principles to cocktail making and creation and those who do are certainly more deserving of the title mixologist than someone who can put a twist on Cosmopolitan. And me? I'm a creative bartender.

I think I threw up in my mouth a little.

Fragments: on mixology

I'm in the process of putting together a training session on cocktails and mixology. It should - hopefully - fit into our standard 2 hour session format, and it follows six weeks of spirits and liqueur product knowledge. Here's a couple of excerpts from the work in progress.

There's a difference between making cocktails and creating cocktails. The toolkit is the same - techniques, ingredients, and ingredients - but the name of the game is pattern recognition.

...

Disappointingly, it's so improbable that anyone can do anything genuinely groundbreaking outside of current toolset as to be indistinguishable from impossible. So, what then? Well, let's start playing with our tools.

On wine

I've been tasked with presenting a wine training course at work in a couple of weeks time. With that in mind, I decided that I should put some effort into discovering more about wine - y'know, expanding my knowledge so that the sessions don't seem like I've copied them from a book. Here's what I've learned so far: Wine fucks you up.