Well everyone, here we go. 2023 was an interesting year for many reasons. Produce wise it was a bit challenging due to the intense amount of rain and the uncharacteristic cold we had here in Southern California which delayed stonefruit until almost the end of May whereas we usually see some cherries trickling in sometime in April. Citrus season, once my favorite, was a long, boring, and brutal five months. I also moved to Hancock Park in August and so went to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market less than in previous years.

We lost a ton of regulars due to unforeseen events such as divorce and relocation (them not us). Yeah, this was also our slowest year ever. Weird weather, bullshit fucking inflation, and other acts of the devil. But, now looking over our cocktails I can say it was the most innovative and delicious bunch we’ve ever had by far and it will be hard to top. Yeesh. I owe it all to Angel and Denise because they’re young and full of life and I’m old and feeble minded. Seriously though, without those two none of this would ever be very good at all.

I posted 41 new seasonal cocktails on the grams this year. Goddam. There’s probably a few I missed as well. I have yet to post one of my personal favorites from a couple of weeks ago: Incantation. Maybe I’ll squeeze it off today before the ball drops.

Prettiest Cocktail: Oaxacan Love Triangle

1.5 oz. Mezcal

1 oz. Manzanilla Sherry

.5 oz. Lime Sherbet

.5 oz. Fresh Orange Juice

.5 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.25 oz. Whey Syrup

1 tsp. Kumqat Fresno Kosho

Serve with a pickled Fresno chili slice.

Bright yellow with a little old circle of bright red. Pretty cool.

First Cocktail of the Year: Shrinking Violet. I barely remember this. Actually, I totally forgot it until I checked instagram.

1.5 oz. London Dry Gin

.75 oz. Yuzu Calpico

.5 oz. Dry Vermouth

.25 oz.Fresh Lemon Juice

.25 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.25 oz. Lacto Blueberry Syrup

.25 oz. Creme de Violette

2 Dashes Yuzu Bitters

I think I didn’t like this but just needed something but of course people raved about it. It’s interesting how the cocktails at the beginning of the year are sort of just ok and then by summer they get really good. I think it’s seasonal depression syndrome…

Favorite Cocktail of the Year: Cholo Shogun.

2 oz. Cholo Shogun Blend

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Binge Syrup

.25 oz. Macadamia Orgeat

.25 oz. Fresh Dragonfruit

2 Dashes Sichuan Bitters

This one was a serious amalgam of a bunch of “trash” we had hanging around in jars. Ah yes, one of the great characteristics of booze is that it doesn’t go bad and in some cases just gets better with age. Also, what has a cooler name? Yeah, I’m waiting…

Craziest, Most Prep Heavy Cocktail: Nobody’s Fool.

1.5 oz. Guava Strawberry Scrap Infused White Rum

1 oz. Strawberry Punch

.5 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.5 oz. Macadamia Koji Orgeat (Mac Daddy)

.5 oz. Strawperol

.25 oz. Strawberry Lactic Acid Syrup

One Dash Shio Koji

Shake, strain over a BFR, dash dehydrated strawperol powder over the top.

Hey, this year Daddy made it onto Punch with this banger. I’ve been tagging those guys forever. The behind the scenes work for this cocktail was so complicated and intense, it’s still one of the only cocktails that Punch didn’t put the specs up for. Ha. Also, one of the ingredients came about by sheer accident which makes it an act of god cocktail.

Favorite Tiki Cocktail of the year: This one is a toss up between Tooger’s Revenge and Angel’s most recent creation: Bishop’s Blood. They’re both similar in appearance and ingredients, but vastly different in how they taste.

Bishop’s Blood

1.5 oz. Milk Washed Tequila (with a touch of rhum agricole added)

.5 oz. Cachaca

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.25 oz. Makrut Lime Sherbet

.25 oz. Guava Syrup

25 oz. Coconut Syrup

1 Dash Aged Celery Shrub

Angel knocked this one out of the park. Like grand slam.

Tooger’s Revenge

1 oz. White Rum

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.75 oz. Cachaca

.5 oz. Green Almond Orgeat

.5 oz. Leche de Tigre

.25 oz. Green Chartreuse

.25 oz. Rhum Agricole

Half a makrut lime leaf

Once again, some ingredients I’m a little fuzzy on. I’d have to go back and check the post on this if there is one to see what the hell leche de tigre means in this instance. Ah, ok, here it is. Sometimes you hit the nail on the head. A blind pig finds a truffle every once in a while. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Personal Favorites: Hummingbird and Incantation.

Hummingbird

1 oz. Demerara Rum

1 oz. Blackstrap Rum

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

1 oz. Grapefruit Juice

3/4 oz. Cara Cara Sherbet

1/2 oz. Brovo Apertivo

Incantation

1 oz. Demerara Rum

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.75 oz. RC Passionfruit Liquor

.5 oz. Bananum

.5 oz. Grapefruit

.5 oz. Braulio

Same but different. Anytime I can squeeze some amaro into a tiki cocktail I will do so, but shit, it ain’t as easy as it sounds.

Favorite Cocktail that Nobody Ordered: Voodoo Economics.

1 oz. Dark Rum

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Almond Amazake Syrup

.5 oz. White Rum

.5 oz. Necto Wray (nectarine infused Wray and Nephew)

.5 oz. Fresh Grapefruit Juice

.25 o. Rhum Agricole

.25 oz. Cinnamon Syrup

Shake, strain, top with Ango.

Garnished with an agrodolce nectarine.

This was on the menu for a couple of weeks and we sold maybe 15 of them. Hey, that’s how it goes. Any tiki drink is going to be a tough sell as is. The punters have an odd view of rum these days but will drink vodka on the rocks. That’s just how it is.

Cocktail with Most Utilization of an Ingredient: Corn Identity.

Corn Identity

1.5 oz. Mezcal

1 oz. Cornpico

.5 oz. Corngeat

.5 oz. Bananum

.25 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

Blackstrap Floater

Corn salt and pickled fresno tajin rimmer.

Man, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do another like this one. I even pulled the old leftover pickled fresnos from the Oaxacan Love Triangle out of the cooler and dehydrated them. This worst part about making something awesome is that you’ll have to one up yourself at some point. I really don’t know how to replicate this.

Cocktail that Tasted Good During R&D but Tasted Horrible the Next Day: Outer Dark.

1 oz. RC Rum Blend

1 oz. House Spiced Rum

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Figlernum

.25 oz. Macadamia Amazake

.25 oz. Salted Fig Honey

Yeah, this will happen from time to time. If you know, you know.

Weirdest Cocktail that Tasted Good: Black Hole Sun.

1 oz. Living the Dream Blend

1 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.5 oz. Creme de Noyaux (nectarine)

.5 oz. Sunchoke Orgeat

.25 oz. Lemon Sherbet

2 Dashes Rico Pop Bitters

4 oz. Double Bock

Yeah, you read that right. I made sunchoke amazake and then made syrup with it. Pretty fucking out to lunch. We like the weird ones over here.

Weirdest Cocktail that Tasted Good Runner Up: Guardian Angel.

1.5 oz. Mezcal

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Rhum Agricole

.5 oz. Passionfruit Syrup

.25 oz. Juniper Syrup

.25 oz. Aperol

Who knows how some of these work, but they do. Juniper and mezcal help each other in some way that is unbeknownst to all of us.

Favorite Drink at Another Bar: Candy Paint at Thunderbolt.

Not only is it a catchy tune from Post Malone, it’s also one of the best drinks I’ve ever had. Thunderbolt is the exact opposite of the Rustic Bar Program which is pretty cool to see. They’ve got cool toys, technology, great ice, and a non-seasonal, non-organic program but the drinks are light years ahead of ours. I don’t get out much but when I do, I like to go to the ends of the earth over at Thunderbolt.

Most Pain the Ass Cocktail: Angel Dust.

1 oz. London Dry Gin

.5 oz. Razzmatazz

.5 oz. Cochi Rosa

.5 oz. Raspberry Syrup

.5 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.25 oz. Lemon Sherbet

1 Dash Shio Koji

2 Dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Top with apple curd and a sprinkle of dehydrated lacto blueberry powder.

A nine ingredient drink with multiple garnishes that also had a tremendous effect on the punter populace. I still have nightmares about this one. Thanks Angel.

New Cool Technique 2023: Homemade liqueurs, especially passionfruit.

I mean, we’ve been doing this in some form for years, but really hit the nail on the head once we found 192 proof booze. Yes, you read that right. We were aware of Spirytus Wesoly for quite awhile, but finally found the distributor after asking the guys down at Santa Monica Liquor who were nice enough to tell us. The basic formula is to take your scraps, add the Spirytus, and wait, then add equal parts simple syrup to make a 96 proof concoction with insane flavor.

Favorite New Way to Utilize Trim/Scraps: Creme de Noyaux

Yeah, this year we made a slew of Noyaux. I had the kitchen save every single stone fruit pit and we made gallons of creme de noyaux. The most surprising and delicious was the one with cherry pits. Man oh man. Very excited for more of this.

Favorite Technique from 2022: Amazake orgeats. It’s hard to believe more people aren’t doing this. Whatever. Got umami?

What does the future bring for the bar program? Time will tell. Maybe we’ll finally start figuring out how to carbonate stuff. That seems like the next technique to learn. It seems like a tough one for service in our little bar but hey, challenges are good.

Happy New Year! and thank you everyone for reading this blog. Hard to believe, but I hit 351 posts this year. I shot for 365 but hey, 351 is pretty good. In my defense, I did start on January 4. So I only missed 10 all year. Not too shabby. Read the first post ever, Space Chef right here to see how far it’s all come.