The Aging Bartender

Category: bar hacks

  • Bar Hack: Salted Persimmon Honey… Notes on Persimmon Cocktails Over the Years

    “How much honey?” Angel said. “It’s 1:1,” I said. “How much salt?” Angel said. “Just a pinch,” I said. That’s about it. This works with several different fruits, not just persimmon. Plums come to mind which is where the idea originated. I haven’t tried it with anything else that I can remember off the top…

  • Quey?

    After another year of reflection, yes quince is worth it. Nothing really tastes like it and these weird trials make us better. there’s an old saying about it that slips my mind at the moment. Anyway, when you’re forced to take your time with an ingredient, you respect it more for some reason. Quince and…

  • Bar Hack: Rico Pop Bitters

    When Jimmy Nardello comes a knockin’, it means it’s the time of year to make yourself some Rico Pop bitters. You know the ones, the 22 flavors that may or may not be part of a popular soda. I’m gong to try and rattle them all off the top of my head, then I’ll go…

  • Bar Hack: Coquito

    It’s that time of the year, or close anyway, where the warm spices come out and people want to sit by the fire in their slippers and sip muddled wine and munch on cookies. It’s a bit of a problem here in SoCal, though, because it stays pretty warm in comparison to the rest of…

  • Bar Hack: “Solera” Nog

    In the above picture, you see the Nog Brothers. Antônio Rogério Nogueira A.K.A. “Minotouro” and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, A.K.A. “Minotauro.” Twins from Brasil known as Little and Big Nog for their respective MMA weight classes, heavyweight and light heavyweight. Apparently, it is not uncommon for Brazilian twins to share the same name. Oh wait, wrong…

  • Bar Hack: Dragonfruit Peel Tea Whey Syrup

    Ever think to yourself, what should I do with all those dragonfruit peels? I’m sure you have at some point in your fun filled, fine feathered life. Well, now, yessir, yessir, you too can find some use for refuse. Great tagline right? Well, it’s as easy as putting those dragonfruit peels in the trusty dehydrator…

  • Creme de Noyaux Revisited

    We saved a lot of pits over the last few months. My lord. There’s a lot of noyaux over here. I’m not exaggerating. We’ve got a couple gallons and we have three different types–cherry, peach, and plum. The verdict here is that the result of doing something so mind blowingly simple and having it produce…

  • Bar Hack: Homemade Passionfruit Hootch

    Ever wonder what to do with your passionfruit scraps? I’m here for you. Follow the procedure laid out in this blog post and you’ll impress your friends, stoke the fires of your haters, yes, yes, make your enemies even more jealous, and while you’re at it, be the envy of all onlookers. Yes, listen to…

  • Bar Hack: Passionfruit Husk Vermouth

    So, you’ve made your passionfruit syrup with your nice, local, organic passionfruit you bought at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market, or in my case, the Larchmont Farmer’s Market, anywho, you’ve got a big pile of all those weird husks leftover. Now what do you do? Well, it’s a good thing I got up this morning…

  • What to do with Ten Pounds of Habaneros: Part Two

    At this point, I’m not even sure what the hell I was thnking. I severely overestimated the amount of habaneros I would need for the entire year and ended up with a conservative three to four year supply, maybe more. Expect habanero drinks on the menu permanently for the foreseeable future. That’s not a bad…

  • What to do with Ten Pounds of Habaneros: Part One

    Strap on your gas masks and hazmat suits, everybody, habaneros are finally in season here in old SoCal. What does this mean? For most, nothing. For the humble Rustic Canyon Bar Program, however, we like to get to work and make two types of our own bitters out of all this nonsense. We do one…

  • Sunflower Amazake

    If you don’t hear the word “sunflower” and start unconsciously singing the Post Malone/Swae Lee song from Spiderverse in your head, there may be something wrong with you. For a long time, humming the song was the only thing that put my son to sleep. It’s in my goddam DNA. It’s a catchy one…and in…