Greetings cherished readers!

Due a a rash of sickness, Last night I was called in to the lone service at Thatch and rescue the place last night. Yep, That’s right - I finally got my rum slingers behind the bar and ran the place last night. We were slow, so the silver lining was that I had some breathing room to stop freaking out and show some confidence. It was exciting and terrifying. No major mistakes, and all my drinks were good (and some great - that Singapore Sling rocked). All that home practice paid off, I suppose. That and all the outstanding support and instruction from Zorn. He’s a gentleman’s gentleman.

To celebrate (when I got home) I poured myself a concoction I’ll call:

Fancy Rhum (*please* don’t call it a Maitini.)

1 oz Appleton Extra
1 oz Martinique
½ oz Cointreau
¼ oz Green Chartreuse
dash orange bitters (Regan’s)

Shake with crushed ice and strain into 4oz cocktail glass. Drink it while it is still laughing at you.

So with that behind me, I can now proclaim myself officially a (greenhorn, resident, newbie) professional bartender.

I don’t really need to sleep, right?

Cheers,

-=C

Well the free time was cutting into my rum reserves anyway.

The new house and the new (2nd) job has been cutting into my drinking time. I’ve only made Last Words and quick Donn-like long tiki drinks. I didn’t even take pictures. Heres a quick outline of what I do when I just throw something together

Quick’n'Loose ‘Donn’ Style Double Drink

• 2-3 oz citrus (e.g. 1oz each lime, orange, grapefruit)
• Up to 1.5 oz of spiced syrups and or sweetener (e.g. 1/4 pimento dram, 1/4 vanilla syrup, 1 oz honey mix)
• 2-3 oz rums in matching flavor to your modifiers above (e.g. 1 oz Jamaica Dark, 1 oz Demarara, 1 oz Virgin Islands gold)
• 6 drops Herbsaint
• Dash bitters
• Plenty of cracked ice

Add ingredients to mixing glass, top with cracked ice. Shake and pour into double rocks glass.

As my whims move me and what I see first is what drives the flavors - Cinnamon, Honey, Grapefruit. Orange, Vanilla, Pimento Dram. I’ll usually guide the rums after that.

So what kept me so busy? The new job at Thatch. I have my official schedule now. I’ll be there Wednesday and Thursday nights. But, don’t be surprised to not see me behind the bar.

I have an extended training program there - since I’m a newbie, and even though I have the knowledge and skills, I need to prove myself. The actual working group and lead ‘tenders want me to move my way up before I’m lone man behind the bar. And you know what? I totally agree with them. I’m not that young upstart who thinks he knows everything. I have knowledge that I’d love to share and use to help make Thatch a better place; But here’s the catch: I have no real experience of knowing when or where to apply it for their business. That will come in good time, and I’m patient. There’s plenty of work to do there, helping to make thatch the best thatch that it can be. I’m happy to have the opportunity to be an agent for positive change.

And you know what else? I love it. I freaking love it. When it’s hectic and I don’t know exactly what to do and when to do it, I love it. When I feel like I’m asking the 100th stupid question of my co-workers, I love it. The group at thatch are wonderful hardworking folks. It’s very much like a ship, each cog running its course for the whole. I’m just lucky I seem to have a talent for analyzing systems, recognizing how to make them more efficient, and positively affecting (to borrow some corpspeak) that change. It just takes positive attitude, patience and hard work.

Time to report some good news on the private front here in Indigo Firmament land.

I’ve just been hired as the newest bartender at Thatch, one of our local Tiki Bars in Portland. I’ll be making the transition from home hobbyist and academic mixologist to real-world slinger of the Polynesian Pop tipple. This couldn’t have been possible without the huge support of Trader Tiki, Martin Cate, and friends at the Oregon Bartenders Guild. I don’t have a set schedule yet, but I’ll let you all know when I do.

Also, the eternally fabulous Tikimama and I just became the proud new owners of a 1910 Portland 4-square house in North Portland. We currently live out in the boonies (Troutdale), so the new location will save us about 8-10 hours a week on commute time and numerous headaches. Also, perhaps we can get some better attendance at our parties.

Both endeavours have been a long time brewing with large amounts of hard work from both the tikimama and myself. Why bother you with the toil, though, when I can share instead the bounty.

Keep on keepin’ on, dear readers.

Simple Syrup Science has completed. The results are in! Noel was kind enough to be the last test subject for this round.

To summarize, I produced two 2:1 simple syrups. One was created by nothing more than shaking in a mason jar, the other was heated to boil, then removed from heat.

I did a double blind test, 2 samples of each syrup type in random order.

The main result is that while there is a perceptible difference, but not in the flavor. 66% of the test subjects could not taste a flavor difference. 66 % of the test subjects were able to tell one syrup from the other, but were wrong on which was which. What is the difference?

Viscosity. The hot method syrup was thicker than the cold method. One of the test subjects believed the thickness of the syrup affected the physicality of tasting, and so thought the hot-method syrup was less sweet than the cold-method. Results are a bit inconclusive, so I’d love to see this experiment repeated.

The next test will be tasting difference in falernum: Initial non-scientific non-blind tastings showed no difference between the two syrups in the falernum. I plan to test using the syrups in a cocktail as well.

But the take home? Don’t waste your time shaking the sugar (unless you are after a thinner mouth-feel for your syrup).

Also, I finished my initial design for the site. If you’ve never been there and only viewed via RSS feed, take a look and tell me what you think. If you’ve been to the site before, you may have to refresh your cache by force-reloading the page.

Cheers!

-=C

A few months ago, my lovely Wife found a nifty little book, Classic Liqueurs: The Art of Making & Cooking with Liqueurs by Cheryl Long and Heather Kibbey. It’s full of fun and interesting recipes on mock-creations of your favorite liqueurs.

Taken from the book, my 2 latest endeavors are below:

Orange Curaçao

1 cup dried (bitter) orange peel
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 cups cognac

¾ cups ea. sugar and water

Combine cognac, orange juice, orange peel, and coriander in aging container (mason jar works well). Shake daily and keep in cool, dark place for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, drain using sieve, cheesecloth or other fine mesh strainer. Make 1:1 simple syrup and combine with tincture when cool. Age at least 3 months.

I adjusted the recipe in book to suit my tastes: the book has you use a grain-neutral spirit. I wanted to use cognac in my first test. I just put it up a few days ago and I did test the flavor: Delicious, but incredibly bitter. I’m hoping the aging will take the edge off that bitterness (as I assume the aging will do). I’ll let you know in April how it tastes.

The next little guy I made yesterday. Blair made this last month and I was lucky enough to get a bottle for Christmas. It is an attempt to re-make the now lost Forbidden Fruits liqueur. I know Blair was disappointed with the recipe and only afterwards learned that the main fruit used was the pomelo (pumelo, pumello) or “Shaddock Grapefruit.” it is not the grapefruit we all know and see half-cut on on plate or pushed into Mae Clark’s face. Apparently, our grapefruit is a hybrid of the pomelo and an orange (much like our lime is a hybrid of a lemon and a key lime). Look at the pith on a pomelo (right)! Also that is my hand so you can see the size (it’s the size of a baby’s head). I decided to give the old recipe a try with my own changes to see if I could get it closer. Cocktail DB lists the flavour profiles as citrus, honey, brandy. I used a pomelo instead of grapefruit, and replaced the lemon rind with pomelo rind. I also replaced the sugar in the recipe with honey. I also replaced the vodka/brandy mix with a cognac/brandy mix. Because I love Donn’s Spices so much, I added one stick of Ceylon cinnamon to marry with the Vanilla. You first create a syrup of the citrus rinds, juices, spices and honey. Bring this to a boil, then simmer. This is then added to the aging container with the brandy and cognac for 3 weeks. The last week is spent straining and clarifying. The recipe I used is roughly:

Forbidden Fruits Liqueur (approximation)

2 Pomelos, rind of 2 and juice of 1
3 Oranges, rind of 1 and juice of 3
1 Lemon, rind and juice
1 Vanilla pod, split lengthwise
1 Ceylon Cinnamon stick, crushed
2 Cups honey

1 Cup Cognac
1 Cup Brandy

I think I’ll have a winner here. The pomelo and honey together were a combination that was instant alchemy. The simmering pot of syrup had such a magical, forbidden scent I wish I could explain it more. Similar to donn’s spices, yet with a character fresh and enticing. I can’t wait for February on this one.

Coming next? Results of the Simple Syrup experiment, announcement of the Falernum experiment (making falernum with the cold- and hot-method simple syrups), and the canning-processed falernum experiment. Of course, more cocktail recipes, liqueur recipes and trials, and as always the witty banter you’ve come to dread.

-=C

p.s. Falernum #3, just out of batch is the best I’ve made yet. I’ll divulge the secret ingredient if the Wife doesn’t kill me (it was her idea).