The Aging Bartender

Citrus Season Approaches…

Just like that, a snap of the fingers, a blink of the eye, and we’re almost into 2024 which, to me, means blood oranges, tangerines, kumquats, pomelos (pummellos?), and of course, Meyer lemons. Yeah, it’s raining, dismal, and depressing out there. Grim. Foreboding. Wet. Beyond, beyond the colorful, knobby oil filled orbs we await cherries

Read more

Recent posts
Recent photos

  • Citrus Season Approaches…

    Just like that, a snap of the fingers, a blink of the eye, and we’re almost into 2024 which, to me, means blood oranges, tangerines, kumquats, pomelos (pummellos?), and of course, Meyer lemons. Yeah, it’s raining, dismal, and depressing out there. Grim. Foreboding. Wet. Beyond, beyond the colorful, knobby oil filled orbs we await cherries…

  • Notes on the Hot Toddy

    Here we go again. Some say the hot toddy originated in India in the early 1600s, other sources state it was Edinburgh, Scotland, and then some go back again to India, but with a specific, printed recipe date of 1786. In my own unpolished opinion I think people have always enjoyed themselves a warm bevvy,…

  • Movie Review: Boyz n the Hood

    Watching Boyz n the Hood as an upper middle class, middle aged white male, instead of a privileged white suburban teenager, was an entirely different experience but probably not why you think. Back when the movie was released in 1991, it provided a glimpse of life in a place most people in the U.S. and…

  • Garnishes Revisited…

    For whatever reason I decided to dig up this old saw once again. I attempted to make some headway on the subject of garnishes early in this blog’s life here. I chose not to reread my own words from March but instead offer a different take on how people dress up their cocktails. I said…

  • The Modern Dionysus?

    Thousands of years ago, the Greeks called him Dionysus, the god of wine, fertility, festivity, madness, song, frenzy, etc (they all go hand in hand), in other words, the god of self destruction and rebirth. He continues to reign in today’s day and age due to people always wanting to listen to music, get drunk,…

  • Movie Review: The Lighthouse

    There’s certain movies that are tailor made for a sick son of a bitch like myself. The Lighthouse is one of those movies. The sophomore production from the outstanding and twisted writer/director Robert Eggers, whose first movie was The Witch–a terrifying slow burn about a puritan family scraping away an existence in the woods back…

  • Restaurant Review: Community Goods

    There’s a new/old “restaurant” model going around these days. The pick up counter. No bathrooms, no waiters, nowhere to sit really. The big one to me is no waiters because they’re genuinely just awful and annoying to deal with. A necessary evil of having to own a restaurant…But the newish model is to just exclude…

  • Release the Kraken: A.K.A. What the Hell is Buddha’s Hand?

    One of the stranger “fruits” you see walking around the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market will be the Buddha’s Hand Citron. Yes, it counts as citrus even though it has no seeds or flesh to speak of. It’s a tale of mostly just oils and pith here which makes for a head scratching moment…What to do…

  • Farmer’s Market Loot: 12/13/2023 -Guava Time!

    Oh lordy lordy hallelujah. Guava is finally here. The SoCal seasons have been a little off this year…Climate is changing…Everything seemed a little pushed back and simultaneously squished together…Bah, no matter…When it comes, it comes…And there’s almost nothing that comes harder than a guava. The scent of it on the cool, crisp salt wind in…

  • Bar Hack: Pecan Beer Nuts!

    Ho ho! What else strikes such mindless craving in your regulars and ignites within their troubled souls a fiendish lust for sugar, fat, and salt? Beer nuts! Say it again! This time with gusto! Raise a toast to all that is holy and unholy and kneel to the king of bar snacks. Are you a…

  • New Cocktail: Incantation

    Incantation: A series of words said as a magic spell or charm. Sometimes you hit the bullseye with only one shot. You sweep the playoffs, you pitch a shut out. In bartending terms it’s when you nail a somewhat difficult cocktail on the first try. Yeah, believe it or not, sometimes the feces touch is…

  • New Cocktail: Bishop’s Blood

    If you can’t name a cocktail after the venerable Lance Hendrickson character from Aliens you’re simply not doing it right. Also, if you’re unaware of the reference you should probably go watch both Alien and Aliens back to back and then skip over the…Let’s see…One, two, three, four, five, six? Sequels? Well, prequels too. Jesus,…