DC dry spell over

Alcohol is officially back in the White House - who better to break the news than home mixologist Rachel Maddow? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-pAcN7Q0CU]

"Everything ends badly. Otherwise it would never end."

Just over twenty years ago, a little film called Cocktail opened in Britain. Two decades later, people still ask if we do any of "that fancy Tom Cruise stuff" behind the bar.

I usually tell them I'm taller than Tom Cruise.

Newsdesk: Back to basics

(Alphabet blocks by dklimke, licensed under Creative Commons.) This week's news links are brought to by the Martini - alleviating middle-class stress through gin and vermouth since 1867!

• The release of Revolutionary Road and the return of Mad Men for a second season has reminded the world of the  official cocktail of business lunches and the 1950's. You can't knock its place in popular culture or its heritage (or can you?), but the important question remains: how much vermouth?
• Stocking your home bar? No need to go crazy.
• The global economic downturn claims its first casualty in the spirit world, with the news that beer has replaced raki as Turkey's drink of choice.
• The minds at eGullet turn their attention to the difficult task of naming drinks.
• Also at eGullet: taking his cue from Underhill-Lounge's trip through the Savoy Cocktail Book, forum user evo-lution is planning to work his way through Jerry Thomas' The Bar Tender's Guide.
• Topical this one, given the recent focus on responsible drinking among adults and children, Paul Clarke's latest contribution to Proof looks at why he drinks the way he does.
• From California, the nascent trend in beer cocktails - no margaveza?
• From NYC, an interview with Belvedere brand ambassador Claire Smith.
• If you live in Britain, you'll be familiar with the Government asking you to drink responsibly. It seems they might even try asking nicely.

Meme: thinking to get drunk

There is a thing going round Facebook. It's a lot like ebola, I think, because it seems that when you contract it, it kinda percolates for a little while before forcing things out that probably should have stay inside. That's right, it's the 25 things meme, as seen in proper magazines and forums, not to mention Facebook. I am, of course, going to play. But I'm setting some rules. My list is going to be mainly about drinking. It just seems more appropriate.

1. I don't like whisky as much as I feel I should.
2. A classic strawberry daiquiri - shaken with fresh fruit, served straight up - is an utter pain to make.
3. A frozen strawberry daiquiri is at least a thousand times easier to make.
4. I have refused to serve a drink to a customer because it was too tasty.
5. I have shown someone how to make a Cheeky Vimto* at a "Cocktail Masterclass".
6. I have only truly regretted making out with one person when completely wasted.**
7. I don't know why, but I do actually like vodka.
8. Whenever I try to brainstorm new drink ideas, I'll come up with at least three drinks that are basically Cosmopolitans.
9. You shouldn't refer to yourself as a mixologist. If that's what people want to call you, fair enough - but don't put it on your business cards.
10. You should be able to barback before you bartend.
11. Getting 33 Seabreezes out of one 70cl bottle of vodka shouldn't be encouraged, but I'm still proud of it.
12. Twelve mojitos in six minutes, but I probably couldn't do it again.
13. I have more fun at work than it looks like.
14. Good music makes a bar. Bad music, or bad DJs, bring everyone down.
15. By good, I don't mean scoring well on Pitchfork or in the NME. It means whatever plays well, whatever lifts the crowd.
16. I thought Bombay Sapphire was blue for a good three or four years.
17. Blue Curacao on ice cream is just flat out awesome.
18. Bartenders are not as important as doctors, teachers, emergency services, soldiers.
19. But we come damn close at Christmas.
20. The customer is not always right.
21. But they're allowed to be wrong.
22. I don't like being drunk.
23. Apparently, I get more sarcastic the drunker I get, which makes 22 seem weird.
24. I'll cut you off before you start falling over. It's not personal.
25. A good drink can totally make someone's night. If I can make it, it's an honour.

* Don't ask. If you don't know what it is, you're probably better off. ** To date.

Hmm, oddly cathartic as an experience. Right, who's next?

Five: Tokyo Blossom

There are some products that get a hard time from bartenders. Whenever they're mentioned in conversation, we wrinkle our noses and shake our heads for whatever reason, if we've given it enough thought to come up with a reason. Take - for example - Midori. The fact that it was launched in Studio 54 at the Saturday Night Fever wrap party in 1978 has left the liqueur with a cheesy disco tag it may never shake off, and its popularity among young girls with a sweet tooth and drinkers of the saccharine, unbalanced, fruit concoctions the 80's were famed for are not helping its reputation with old-school cocktail revivalists. Midori does a couple of things very well. It brings an instant hit of fruit to a drink, along with a stand-out colour and a good degree of sweetness. These can all be helpful characteristics, so long as they're not allowed to overpower the whole drink. It might have an image problem, but Midori can be a useful ingredient when it comes to start thinking about summer cocktails.

Tokyo Blossom

30ml Absolut Citron
15ml Midori
5ml Kwai Feh lychee liqueur
30ml White Grape juice

Stir all ingredients with ice. Snap an orange zest over the top, but don't drop it in. Garnish with a cherry.