I Have no Idea What Oloroso Sherry is
I’ve been putting sherry, mostly manzanilla, in cocktails for years because it’s acidic and weird. The oloroso is different, slightly nutty, still weird, but I have little to no clue about it, or most other sherries for that matter. I know about flor and how it’s been oxidized and what it’s supposed to taste like,…
Recent photos
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New Cocktail: Dreaming of Lee
This one’s still in the realm of R&D but came out pretty good last night. Angel and I were trying to figure out how to use the pastry’s chefs dregs, this makrut lime sherbet that is just a little too powerfully aromatic and floral. It’s not the first time makrut has shown up in our…
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Quince: The Fourth Dimension
Now that it’s in season, I’ve been mulling over quince quite a bit. The days when we’d just make a syrup and plug it into a drink are over. I don’t know, it seems boring to me but there are days when I’d rather just do this. Ever since we had to raise prices at…
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Boy, I Hope Inspiration Hits Soon…
in·spi·ra·tion /ˌinspəˈrāSH(ə)n/ 1. the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. The quality of being inspired, especially when evident in something. A person or thing that inspires. A sudden brilliant, creative, or timely idea. The divine influence believed to have led to the writing of the Bible. 2. the…
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An All Hallows’ Eve Tale
For many years in a row, in my hometown of Burlington, VT, there was always HalloWEEN. Yes, the band Ween would come and play at a local venue, we would all dress up and get shitfaced and dance. Cocktails weren’t a thing back then. I may have had a classic highball every so often like…
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Sunchokes: The Power and the Glory
I know little to nothing about sunchokes except for what happens after you eat them…You know…Chamber music…Tubers are in…They always have been. Taters, ginger, galangal, horseradish…But in a cocktail? Hmmm. I mean, if you think about it, anything can be included in a cocktail. Sunchokes are creamy, nutty, a little earthy. I don’t see much…
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New Cocktail: Angel Dust
Angel was obsessed with getting this puppy out last night. Pretty cool to see. There’s this thing, at least I went through it before as a budding chef and in the past as a young bar manager, where you have the blinders on and put something on the menu at the 25th hour. These days…
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Is Quince Worth It?
An update on the Cheap Date cocktail post from yesterday…I made one during service last night for the gang (Denise, Angel) to try and it tasted pretty flat. Then Angel made a cocktail he’s been working on and it was so much better. Well ok, then. That’s the way it goes. He’s got a cool…
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New Cocktail: Cheap Date
This’ll be a quick one. Lot’s going on this morning…Haircut…An office trip to the valley because some knucklehead in my building bounced his rent check…General mayhem but nothing crazy. I’m growing more accustomed to the craziness that goes on here in the morning while I’m trying to write. A couple fo hours after I posted…
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Pumpkin Patch Review: Mr. Bones
Put a tired, disgruntled, family man from Vermont in a pumpkin patch in Culver City of all places and you have yourself a recipe for all sorts of strange feelings and grumpiness. Yeah, I didn’t attend these abominations as a kid because farms and forests were pretty normal where I grew up and well, we…
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Passionfruit Vermouth Secondary Ferment?
Yeah. What the hell? Sometimes weird things happen that aren’t supposed to. There’s deep sea animals that live not only in extreme depths but also alongside hydrothermal volcano vents. Each time a rule appears, nature breaks it in some way. Same goes for the Rustic Canyon Bar Program apparently. On my way into work this…
The Aging Bartender 