2:24 — Martin and Jeff Berry are setting up and getting things in order. Martin has just carved through a pineapple and is now prepping lemons.

2:27 — Rick “Kaiser Penguin” Stutz: “Martin has angry knives.”

2:31 — Martin starts with The Kids in the Hall’s “Girl Drink Drunk” to introduce the garnish. He brings up the old canard of the revolutionary bar maid placing a rooster feather in a drink and naming it a “cocktail.” Nonsense, yes — but the drink was originally a garnish.

2:45 — Martin introduces the “Sidewinder’s Fang” as an example of a horses neck. This is a peel of citrus that is placed into the drink and winds its way close to the edge, just peeking out of the top. In this instance, it is an orange peel giving the appearance of a snake winding about the drink. These garnishes are meant to serve as conversation pieces. These are garnishes for excitement and discussion.

Sidewinder’s Fang
1oz El Dorado 5 Yr. Demerara Rum
1½ oz Fresh lime juice
1½ oz Fresh orange juice
3 oz Fever-Tree Soda Water
1½ oz Passion fruit syrup

2:47 — Harry Yee of Henry Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village Hotel: “I was the first person to use orchids - you know why? we used to use cane sticks. People used to chew on them and put them in the ashtray and they used to get the ashtray all sticky. I did it just to make cleaning up easier.”

2:54 — The ice cones come out. Martin displays the ingenious method of ice carving with a Snoopy Snow Cone machine. We are served Navy Grogs with miniature ice cones.

Navy Grog
1 oz Cruzan Estate Light Rum
1 oz Old New Orleans Amber Rum
1 oz El Dorado Demerara 5 yr old
1 oz Fever-Tree Preium Spring Club Soda
¾ oz Fresh lime juice
¾ oz Fresh grapefruit juice
1½ oz Honey Syrup

2:56 — Jeff Berry comes to the podium. He is demonstrating the ice cone technique. The ice needs to be small and snowy. First a waring professional ice machine crushes they ice. Next Jeff puts the ice into a cuisinart to reduce the ice to tiny little pieces. This is packed into a pilsner glass with a chopstick to make room for the straw. Freeze this for a minimum of four hours before use.

3:05 — Next ice garnish: place a cut lime flat side dowin into a cocktail shaker and pack with ice. Freeze for four hours, invert and remove the shell. Place a carved shell in the hole, fill with 151 rum and place in a bowl drink. Light on fire for a wonderful contrast of fire and ice.

3:11 — Jeff Berry: “If the drink tells a story, keep the garnish linked to it” For example, Donn Beach’s “Three dots and a dash (…-, V). Morse code for V and code for victory during world war II, the garnish consists of 3 maraschino cherries and an extended pineapple piece.

3:27 — Fresh Mint. Martin is back. Mint’s main enemy is oxygen. Heat does not cause wilting: exposure to air does. Always remember to slap the mint to release the oil before placing in the drink.

3:34 — The Peelers showed up and we each experimented making a horse’s neck. I don’t want to brag, but mine was the biggest.

3:36 — Oregon Natural Maraschino Cherries: no sulfides, no f,d&c red. Red color is due to beet juice.

3:45 — Pure lemon extract soaked croutons produce a marvelous flame. I’ve just seen a slide of the most fabulously garnished Bloody Mary. Garnishes included bacon and crab legs.

3:50 — This just in: Morgenthaler slipped in at the end to note Martin mentioning him. Slipped back out. He must be headed back to the pool.

p.s. the last drink:

For Pete’s Sake
1 ½ oz Barsol Pisco
½ oz Cherry Heering
½ oz Hibiscus Syrup
1 Dash Fee Brothers Aromatic Bitters
¾ oz Fresh lime juice
½ oz Partida Agave Nectar

I had a Vieux carré at the Carousel bar³ and met up with Rick, Jay, My compatriot in naming Craig (the Good Dr. Bamboo), Trader, Paul Clarke, Mr. Morganthaler, and Seamus. We headed off for a bit at Coop’s place. Perfect Choice, Paul. A belly full of fried seafood, gumbo and jambalaya made a good ballast.

We hit Arnaud’s French 75 Bar where we met with more who’s-who of the blog and non-blog cocktail scene. Matt came along presently and after a french 75⁴, a cigar⁵, a Negroni⁶, and Gabriel’s arrival⁷ we headed to a location not to be discussed.⁸ We bumped into Ed Hamilton on the way out which was lovely.

Going via Bourbon street to the non-disclosed location, I couldn’t help notice that the block that most smelled sewer-like happened to be the block with the live sex act clubs, Larry Flint’s Barely Legal, and other assorted gentleman’s clubs. It was such a mix of wonderful and horrible: Gaudy, tawdry neon are contrast against shuttered 300-year old windows. The moist heat of the evening was interrupted by cool breezes escaping from the open doorways of the aforementioned establishments. Garbage binge drinkers surrounded the group of cocktail snobs in the birthplace of the cocktail. It is beautiful and shocking and hideous and profane and I love every single damn thing about it.

We finished off the evening back at the Carousel bar. We closed it. Martin Cate dropped by and it was good to play catch-up with him.

Now for today’s fun. I’ve already missed the blog breakfast event (9:00am? Are you serious?). We’ll be toasting the Sazerac at 2pm. Join us, won’t you? I want to find a Rum Swizzle today.

P.S. Anyone have an SD card reader? Just realized this laptop⁹ is free of one. The USB cable is resting comfortably back on the table at home.

1. it has since been found and delivered to the hotel
2. with a perfect crazy/nice/ranting cab driver to boot
3. tasty - but as it was my first, I have no comparison
4. good but not great
5. Montecristo No.3
6. fair
7. with the lovely Joana
8. Thanks, Gabe - now we’ve lost the blackmail ability. First rule of Drink Club, man.
9. thanks, TriMet

Tomorrow morning, I leave Portland for New Orleans. For the next week or so, I will be live blogging from Tales of the Cocktail. I’ll be posting reviews of Restaurants and bars. I’ll be writing summaries and epiphanies based on the seminars I’ll be attending. I’ll be putting up interviews of bartenders, mixologists and fellow cocktail lovers who I meet and whom I’ve met that drive me in this pursuit.

I’m packed and ready to go. My liver is girded, my fingers are nimble and my senses are keen. Next stop NOLA.

At Thatch, I’ll be giving a short Tiki Mixology seminar and offering thirteen classic and new Tiki beverages on our menu. This is what is in store for our group of intrepid Tiki Adventurers:

The weather should be in the middle 90s and sunny. Our last stop will be a home bar with a pool. I think by that time, I will be just about ready to immediately jump in.

Ah, Bourbon.

Summer means bourbon in our household. When I’m not making a home-made version of Southern Comfort (recipe courtesy of Martin Cate) or Stone Fences (courtesy David Wondrich), I’m drinking it straight, in Manhattans, as an improved cocktail, or as my current favorite featured in this very MxMo.

The Live Journaling mastermind(s) at Scofflaw’s Den are hosting this round of MxMo. It’s the last MxMo before the big bash in the big easy. I can’t wait.

Now, Trader Vic had a great recipe for the Honi Honi that you can find at my good friend Blair’s site. Apricot Brandy, Lemon and Rum mixes together as a gorgeous double Kiss (honi honi is kiss kiss in Hawaiian). However, as time went on, the Honi Honi that Trader Vic served in his restaurants changed recipes to be become a Mai Tai with bourbon.

Don’t let that seemingly lazy change fool you: this concoction is a masterpiece. This is far more than a bourbon Mai Tai. I thought this a perfect occasion to open my bottle of Trader Tiki’s Vanilla Cane Orgeat and it really shines. You see, when I make my domestic SoCo, I use vanilla syrup instead of Martin’s suggested Honey. The wife has a fondness for Vanilla (and bourbon), and I thought the Orange-vanilla aspect would suit the round sweet undertones of a decent sour mash. And it does. Oh, does it. I wanted to repeat that success in this Honi Honi with Trader Tiki’s specialty Orgeat and the Orange of the Clement Creole Shrub. I personally add Regan’s Orange bitters to round out the drink. Delicious.

Honi Honi

2 oz Bourbon
1 oz fresh lime juice
½ oz orgeat (Trader Tiki’s Vanilla Cane Orgeat)
½ oz Orange Curaçao (Clement Creole Shrub)
dash Regan’s Bitters

shake with 4 oz crushed ice and pour into a double rocks glass.

I keep reading that Rum is making a comeback; rum is getting respectable. Heck, the (embarrassing) marketing for 10 cane rum purports to be its redemption. Poppycock. The Kill-Devil will never be redeemed, for it hasn’t the need for it. Redemption! Preposterous.

Rum isn’t on the way back. It never left. The faithless left it, but Rum was always there in the oak casks, waiting faithfully. So instead of welcoming back rum to the liquorati, instead I say: “Welcome back to rum.“

This Month sees a new year and new logo for Mixology Monday. We also have a new host. I have been privileged to know him and call him my closest of friends for nigh on a decade now: Blair “Trader Tiki” Reynolds who holds the stick behind Reynoles Galley. Wish the old feller a happy birthday while you’re there, it was yesterday.

Bumbo was not only a pirate drink; it became very popular in the new colonies. Founding father George Washington himself used gallons of the stuff to buy off votes for his Virginia House of Burgesses campaigns (a contemporary popular ploy). Note the side illustration from a one-shilling London 1738 leaflet of “A letter from Captain Flip to Major Bumbo.” I have a feeling James Fenimore Cooper’s Natty Bumppo was also familiar with the stuff.

Spring in Portland means fresh Rhubarb. I’ve been meaning to make a rhubarb syrup — the languid tartness of rhubarb is a perfect counterpoint flavor to exploit. So to 750ml of Cockspur Barbados rum (Barbados is the home of rum), I added Demerara sugar, allspice and nutmeg. I candidly think the roots of both falernum and pimento dram grow in the soil of Bumbo. I let mine sit for a week (and increased the spices accordingly for the short infusion time). With a more restrained spice, you can (and should) let your bumbo rest for months.Using this lovely spiced spirit, I thought I’d see how it fared with a classic, Jerry Thomas style straight Cocktail treatment. As it so happens, it fares quite well. Liquor, red vermouth, bitters, stirred. The slow sour of the rhubarb and the bitter of the Punt e Mes contrast with the spice and spirit. The Orange oil adds to the nose and brings cohesiveness to the overall character of the drink.

Rhubarb Bumbo Cocktail
1 oz Punt e Mes
2 oz Rhubarb Bumbo
2 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

Stir all with fresh cracked ice and strain into rounded small cocktail glass. Express oil from orange rind. I add mine to the drink for drama but it has already done its mixological job.

The trend I speak of is the (to me) feigned pretentiousness of the novel. Now, I am the first to admit the joy of intellectualizing my hobbies, it is the curse of the overly educated and the lingering disease of the post-modern. However, I do try to keep a healthy grip on perspective. Yes, there is artistry and craft and great deep involvement of the minutia of flavor profiles; the alchemy of taste! However, for crying out loud, It’s just food / drink.

There’s no reason it can’t be both: I’m comfortable and (candidly) revel in ambiguity and cognitive dissonance. Aristotle may be wrong; “a” can equal “not a.” And yes, below I’ll be generalizing and paint with wide strokes:

For instance, The slow food movement. While wonderful and aligned with my own tastes and political leanings, etc. As explained to my mother-in-law, she replied: “Oh, you mean food?” You know, like your grandparents used to eat before the 50’s tech marvel fads of highways, distribution, production, suburbs and supermarkets changed things?

Canning, preserving, smoking, curing, head-to-tail: What your great-grandmother used to call “Wednesday.”

etc.

I do not mean to malign the renaissance of foodcraft (or any craft, for that matter). Nor do I wish to marginalize the wonder of discovery of these lost arts. I do however have my fill of those who are so god-damned pretentious about them. I wish we could stop pretending to be so god damned expectant of external validation of our personal growth in discovery. That’s all.

I mean, I know our damn generation has to deign irony or some other handle to deal with the fact that we’re broke and our market system is imploding and so we’re drinking Pabst and making mac and cheese (with local non-hormone artisan cheese). But really? Really? You don’t get a god-damned gold star no matter how well you can use the macro setting on your new digital camera. I’ll thank you for the recipes, though. They’re super tasty.

After more than three days of infusing the prior ingredients, it was time to strain, press, and complete Falernum #4.

Falernum #4 ingredients, cont.
3 cups simple syrup
1½ cups fresh lime juice

The sunlight was intoxicatingly shining on these halved limes.

You can see the spent remains of the macerate.

I twist the cheesecloth and squeeze every last tidbit of flavorful liquid.

After combining the infused rum liquid, lime juice and simple syrup together, I shook to combine. This produced nearly one half gallon of falernum for bottling and storage. It will last me about three months.

To test and toast my newly born falernum #4, I whipped up a Corn ‘n’ Oil.

Corn ‘n’ Oil
3 oz falernum
2 oz Cockspur 12
dash Fees Bros. aromatic bitters

Shake with 5 oz crushed ice and pour into double rocks glass.

happy imbibe,

cmh

I strained the blackberries first through a metal sieve and then through cheesecloth to produce a smooth and gorgeous base. I added house-made vanilla syrup and added some additional calvados to finish a bright, flavorful blackberry brandy that I fear will not last long. Luckily, I have a few more jars put up for future use.

On recommendation from Trader Tiki, I used as a base the Roffignac from Stanley Clisby Arthur’s Famous New Orleans Drinks and how to mix em. The Roffignac paralells the Sazerac as a symbolic New Orleans cocktail, though it has not seen the contemporary success of Peychaud’s credited tipple.

Here I use the Brambleberry Brandy in place of the raspberry sirop in the original recipe. I pair the shiny flavor with the spice and grass notes of rye whiskey. I also add a dash of flavorful Herbsaint to bring the specific notes of each spirit to the fore.

Brambleberry Roffignac
1½ oz Blackberry Brandy
2 oz Rye
6 drops Herbsaint
splash Soda

Stir spirits with 5 oz crushed ice and pour into double rocks glass. Splash soda, stir and serve.

At Tiki Central I run into those who seem to be afraid to experiment in creating their own concoctions of tinctures, liqueurs and juices. There’s no need to dread or disdain working in the kitchen. If you can make an omelet, you can make falernum. There is not a time commitment needed: I spent a scant 25 minutes from start to finish below, and I was taking pictures.

Falernum #4
9 limes, zest from
¼ cup diced fresh ginger
45 cloves
2 cardamum pods
½ cup slivered almonds, dry-roasted
750ml Cruzan 120 Clipper Rum

A picture essay follows after the cut. I hope this inspires the previously kitchen-adverse to start tinkering.


I zest my limes with a microplane. I attempt to refrain from hitting the white pith of the fruit.

This is the zest of nine limes.

Ginger never lasts long in my kitchen.

I purchase these juicy ceylon cloves from Penzey’s spices.

This is the second batch to include cardamum. It’s so hot right now!

I just toss my almonds in a non-stick pan.

Stir the almonds until they show a nice tan color and you can just smell their aroma.

I toss the ingredients from which to infuse together before I add the infusing alcohol.

I have still yet to use J. Wray overproof. I’ll need to get a back stock so I can compare in my future batches.

The magic potion infuses.

After a few days, I’ll do the next batch of work: Straining, mixing, bottling!

Cheers,

cmh