The Aging Bartender

New Cocktail: Swan Song

The plum honey was ready yesterday so I decided to put this on. Not entirely happy with it quite yet but here’s something odd…Angel and I burned our taste buds out last week trying the high proof noyaux. All week the tip of my tongue has been sensitive and when I try anything with alcohol…

Read more

Recent posts
Recent photos

  • New Cocktail: Swan Song

    The plum honey was ready yesterday so I decided to put this on. Not entirely happy with it quite yet but here’s something odd…Angel and I burned our taste buds out last week trying the high proof noyaux. All week the tip of my tongue has been sensitive and when I try anything with alcohol…

  • Notes on Bukowski

    The two of us were introduced by my friend, Ryan LaRoux. It was a party on a hill overlooking the Winooski River. My friend Sean and I had this older dreadlocked dude, Island, living on our couch. Island was a wanna be reggae singer who played the melodica and he invited us to go to…

  • Bar Hack: Salted Plum Honey

    Fruit is weird. Salt with strawberries is a big no no but with plums we’re talking next level delicious. This one is cool because it’s easy and I’ve always found plums difficult to work with maybe because I’m not their biggest fan. Out in the real world, I don’t buy or eat them. I’m a…

  • Bar Hack: Sour Amazake Pistachio “Orgeat”

    Bar Hack: Sour Amazake Pistachio “Orgeat”

    I’ll preface this by saying I don’t really know what I’m doing. Yes, I read the damn book, Koji Alchemy, and yes, I understand why it’s happening, but a lot of this is just throwing a bunch of shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. Long story short, Koji is a fungi, aspergillus oryzae.…

  • The Different Styles of Bartending

    Depending on where you are, the style of bartending will differ. Why should the commoner be aware of this? Well, for one, you’re not going to get a certain drink at one place that you had at another. Make sense? The old fashioned you order at a craft cocktail establishment will certainly be different at…

  • Free Write Monday… Vermont National Country Club

    There’s some days when I have no idea what to write for this blog. There’s many things I want to write, but at this point in time, it would be very difficult to pull off. I’ve said before I have this book that’s been burning my brain for awhile. I haven’t got it all figured…

  • Bar Hack: Clarified Peach Calpico

    Peaches are coming in strong and will do so for a couple of months. Let’s make clarified peach calpico with them. Props where props are due. I’m pretty sure the original version of this came from the great Nico de Soto. He provided it for all via the instas about a year back and Angel…

  • Peach Syrup

    This one’s pretty easy. Equal parts depitted peaches and sugar, blend ’em, then pass ’em through a chinois and you’re good to go. Nope, no heat, ding dong. I try to use heat less and less with any syrups for the bar. It gives fruit that strange stewed flavor. Hey, if you like it, you…

  • New Cocktail: Peachy Keen (2.0)

    This one’s had some different iterations over the years. It’s always agave based. In the past I haven’t always been happy with it. This time around I really wanted it to not suck and I also wanted to use this stuff called Rooster Rojo, a tequila brand with this amazing pineapple infused añejo. They’ve got…

  • What the Hell is a Loquat?

    My first guess would be that it’s something weird like a date. Ok, let’s see what the Googs says: Rosacea family. Ok, well, not even close. Oh, and dates fall out of palm trees pretty much the way you see them at the store. Yeah, date palms, dummy. Anyway, rosacea encompasses a lot of stuff…

  • First Crack at Creme de Noyaux

    Get it? First crack? Anyway. Many others have attempted. I never have. For whatever reason maybe I thought it was too much of a pain in the ass. But hey, 2023 is the year of Noyaux and I hit it out of the park on the first try. For those who are oblivious to the…

  • Aliens, Cocktails

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must have noticed an increased amount of UFO sightings over the last few years. In my opinion this is due to everyone having a camera in their pocket as well as those said cameras having increasingly better lenses. It’s been happening so much, in fact, the Pentagon…