 5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe. Cocktail menus aren’t what they used to be: branded ingredient lists with suffixes like "tini" and "rita" to give you a sense of how a drink might be presented, not how it would taste. Don’t be afraid though, it is an absolutely great time to be alive if you love good drinks. The cocktail menu can still be your guide; even if you don’t understand 50 percent of what the heck is printed on it, you can gain a pretty good sense of what a cocktail is going to be like with the other 50 percent. Here are a few tips from Jackson Cannon, owner of The Hawthorne and bar director of Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Bar, to help you along the way. Be brave, and remember after you’ve done a bit of reading and deciphering, it is always OK to ask for some guidance. Five Tips on Reading a Craft Cocktail Menu: Jackson Cannon Decide what to drink based on your mood. Celebrating? Go to the Champagne cocktails probably marked 'sparklers,' 'bubbles' or 'celebrations.' Feeling adventurous? Pick something from the section titled 'advanced' or find a section like the one we put on the menu at Eastern Standard simply as 'OEUF' (French for egg) where we collected our flips and fizzes with whole egg or just the whites added." 2. On the house If you see a house drink called something like, 'Woodsman’s Old Fashioned – barrel aged genever with house made maple bitters,' be advised, your drink might take a few minutes but it should be packed with flavor and love." 3. The bitter truth The major brands of Angostura, Peychaud’s and Regan’s are commonplace and it is not unusual for a cocktail bar to have more than two dozen commercial and house made flavorings of this type. Grapefruit, rhubarb, chocolate mole, cranberry, celery, etc. - DON’T THINK THAT BECAUSE AN INGREDIENT IS A BITTER THAT YOUR DRINK WILL BE BITTER TOO! In fact aromatic bitters often tame and meld other flavors and are used in the vast majority of crafted cocktails." 4. Ask for help 5. Cocktail terms and truisms to keep in mind Is there someone you'd like to see in the hot seat? Let us know in the comments below and if we agree, we'll do our best to chase 'em down. |
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Small correction to the last paragraph: "Fizz" doesn't mean "egg white", it generally means soda water and lemon juice (or another acid) are present. The basic drink of this type is probably the "Gin Fizz" (gin, sugar, lemon, soda water; very similar to a Tom Collins). The author may have confused this with one of the following:
"Silver Fizz" – Gin Fizz with egg white
"Golden Fizz" – Gin Fizz with egg yolk
"Royal Fizz" – Gin Fizz with whole egg
"Ramos Gin Fizz" – Silver Fizz with added lime, cream, orange flower water
Generally "silver", "golden", and "royal" denote adding whites, yolks, or the whole egg.
Has annoye suggested that you might enjoy gin a bit too much if using it to brush your teeth?
If you're a man, and you're considering ordering "Champagne co cktails probably marked 'sparklers,' 'bubbles' or 'celebrations'" or some day-glo drink made with fruity liqueur, you should begin by punching yourself in the face repeatedly and then ordering a scotch, a beer, or a gin martini so you don't look like a sorority girl.
Soon, guys like you will be all dead and the next generation can restart the evolutionary process.
I got Dubs on yo' Momma-at least the Baby will have intelligence.
If you're a man, and you're considering ordering "Champagne cocktails probably marked 'sparklers,' 'bubbles' or 'celebrations'" or some day-glo drink made with fruity liqueur, you should begin by punching yourself in the face repeatedly and then ordering a scotch, a beer, or a gin martini so you don't look like a sorority girl.
Johnny Walker Blue Label.....smooth without any frills
Try a "Secret Soviet." Basically a vodka martini but with Absolut Peppar and a dash of vermouth. Stuff the olive with an anchovy.
A Martini made with gin and vermouth A Vodka Martini is made with vodka and vermouth. All the other "-tinis" are "stuff" in a cocktail glass.
By definition, a martini, regardless of what you put in it, is a co cktail.
You are incorrect. A martini is vodka or gin, and vermouth...period.
A co cktail is defined as "Any of various mixed alcoholic drinks consisting usually of brandy, whiskey, vodka, or gin combined with fruit juices or other liquors and often served chilled."
@RealityCheque – A martini is a cocktail but a cocktail is not necessarily a martini. And I agree a martini not made with either Gin or Vodka does not deserve the use of the -ini suffix
@Jim, I agree with you that a martini is always a co cktail, but a co cktail isn't always a martini. However, what defines a martini is extremely debatable and I leave that argument to other folks.
Most precisely.
If you like V-n-T or Screwdrivers, you should try an "Afterglow"....vodka with 1/2 OJ and 1/2 tonic....Yummy!!
That's the
That's the dumbest thing i've heard so far...
Johnny Walker Black. Done.
I love an Old Fashioned made with Diep 9 barrel aged genever from Belgium!
Regency Liquor Store Vodka and Grape Kool Aid. Yum!
He didn't even mention craft cocktails. Gotta keep up with the latest nauseating trend.
Bombay + Martinelles AJ = Colorado Special. Bombay shooter chased with the apple juice. I got my mind on my money, and my money on my mind.
If the bar, or restaurant, in question has some of these elaborate cocktails available, you're not really wasting the bartender's time as most of these drinks are crafted by the same bartenders.
My go to drinks are either bourbon neat, or a good sipping tequila neat.
That being said, there are some great cocktails out there at these places, and some old cocktails seeing new popularity (Sazerac), twists on the Old Fashioned or Manhattan, etc. And I've never ordered a single one to come across as "hip" but rather because I enjoy a good cocktail, and I'd like to try something I'm never going to make at home.
Where is Angostura bitters made and how is it made?
It's made in trinidad, which is significant because during prohibition it was one of the few bitters to survive being from another country. It's basically a fancy infusion. Herbs, roots, spices, and many other things are macerated in high proof alcohol, which concentrates the flavors. A couple dashes go a long way.
I was thinking of a flaming rum punch!
Scotch, Laphroaig, neat.
No frakin' sugar. No frakin' fruit juice. No frakin' soda. No frakin' froo-froo anything. Just the Water of Life, pure and unpolluted, the way it's supposed to be.
if you like laphroig try ardbeg 10 year. one of the finest whiskeys on the planet, and certainly in the same vein as laphroig.
If you like Laphroaig, why not just order a shot of Listerine? It's cheaper and it tastes the same.
I'll have a spiced wine, heavy on the cinnamon, light on the cloves.
It is indeed a wonderful life
I like mine shaken not stirred
I like beer
I agree, but only good beer. None of that bud/coors/miller tripe.
Living in San Diego has me spoiled. We've got a dozen different microbreweries in the area with an amazing assortment of real beer with real flavor. And I like it.
You could listen to all that garbage, or you could just order bourbon neat and stop wasting the bartenders time. Especially during Happy Hour.
If the bar is busy, you don't need an upside-down-elderberry-grasshopper with flaming nonfat whipped cream. Keep the drinks straight, and save the experimentation for your bedroom.
Exactly. Most of the time people order these foofy drinks in public do so to be seen as "hip".
I like Bourbon, but you should also try expanding a bit. These bartenders get paid to make drinks, which is a big reason for going to a bartender in the first place.
Are you really going to a bartender, or a bar? I like a nice bar. The bartender? Not the big draw. I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but, it's not why I go there.
I'm with Joe. I love my G-n-T, which I can make at home. If i go to a bar I want the specialty drinks made by the paid professional AND I expect to pay for their services.
@Jim in big cities where the cocktail craze has been going for about 10 years, NYC, L.A., San Francisco, bartenders are celebrities. When they interview for a job, they are asked if they have a following and how many clients they can guarantee. This is a very small part of the market. there are still tons of "regular" bars all over the city.
@descole, "... in big cities where the cocktail craze has been going for about 10 years ..."
Honey, you need to broaden your horizons. Cocktail aren't a craze. They've been around longer than the 30+ years I've been drinking. In fact, a cocktail is any alcoholic drink "consisting of a spirit or several spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as fruit juice, lemonade, or cream." People have been mixing drinks this way for centuries.
As far as bartenders being celebrities, that's been going on longer than 10 years, too. Just using Tom Cruise's movie "Cocktail" as an example of bringing national attention to the bartenders' talents, that movie was released 24 years ago.
@descole, "... in big cities where the co cktail craze has been going for about 10 years ..."
Honey, you need to broaden your horizons. Co cktails aren't a craze. They've been around longer than the 30+ years I've been drinking in those and other big cities. A co cktail is defined as "Any of various mixed alcoholic drinks consisting usually of brandy, whiskey, vodka, or gin combined with fruit juices or other liquors and often served chilled." People have been mixing drinks this way for much longer than your proposed "10 year craze."
As far as bartenders and their celebrity, that's been going on longer than 10 years, too. Shooting even more holes in your statement, Tom Cruise's movie "Co cktail" helped to bring a level of celebrity & national attention to the bartenders' popularity. That movie was released 24 years ago. Soooo your statement is holding water like a sieve.
I branch out occasionally. I dig scotch, tanq and tonic, whiskey sour, gin martini or a few others. But generally keep it classic.
I'm not there to see Bob the bartender twirl bottles or make smiley faces in whipped cream. Then again, I don't live in any of the cities mentioned (LA, NY, SF) so maybe I'm not just hip to that jive, or whatever.
If the bar, or restaurant, in question has some of these elaborate cocktails available, you're not really wasting the bartender's time as most of these drinks are crafted by the same bartenders.
My go to drinks are either bourbon neat, or a good sipping tequila neat.
That being said, there are some great cocktails out there at these places, and some old cocktails seeing new popularity (Sazerac), twists on the Old Fashioned or Manhattan, etc. And I've never ordered a single one to come across as "hip" but rather because I enjoy a good cocktail, and I'd like to try something I'm never going to make at home.
At your average neighborhood pub, you're probably right. But if a bar has a menu like this guy is describing then fancy cocktails are their specialty and so it's probably worth ordering one.
Amen. Look, if it's on the menu obviously you're free to order it, but I have bartender friends and during the crush they will often lie and say they don't have ingredient X, Y, or Z to make some ridiculous cocktail that takes ten minutes to make, in order to steer people towards something doable. Stop trying to make the bar into another "cafe" where you can't get black coffee anymore, and everything has to come with fifteen different add ons.
Bacardi gold with orange juice on the rocks, good stuff.
Hey, it's some dude in hipster glasses hyping up hipster cocktails. They should have just had the bartender character Andy Samberg played on Portlandia write this.
I second, third, and fourth St. Germain's Elderflower liqueur. It's sweet, subtle, and not overpoweringly flowery even though it's made with flowers. I love the aftertaste; it lingers, yet isn't strong. I love to just drink it by the shot, although it does do well as a base for cocktails.
Spoken by a lifelong vegetarian indeed.
Elderflower liqueur just sounds like heaven in a bottle, doesn't it? I've got to try that !
Heaven in a bottle is about as accurate as it gets. *grin*
How does it go with gin? I love gin, especially nice wih tonic or syrup like in a tom collins. I like the juniper flavor. It sounds like the mix of the two would be incredibly good...
I too have tried this drink , not even sure I would call it beer . Like yusroelf I managed about half the bottle , so much smoke and also I thought a hint of tarmac on the nose !Rest went down the sink I'm afraid.
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St Germains, quality gin, sweet and sour and a splash of seven up as a Martini is incredible! My favorite new martini.
Also His personal website @ http://www.neillemons.com