Bibulo.us - We plead the 21st.

A Tale of Four Smashes

In 1862, Jerry Thomas would have been happy to make you a Whiskey Smash and it would have gone something like this:

2 ounces of whiskey
1 TBSP water
1/2 TBSP sugar

Stirred to mix, poured into a small bar glass two-thirds full of shaved ice, garnished with two sprigs of mint ("same as in the recipe for a mint julep").

Twenty-nine years later, William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby would have served you something similar. In fact, the recipe in his 1891 book American Bar-Tender consists entirely of "A small Whiskey Julep, with the rum flavor omitted. (See Juleps.)" In other words:

"Fill a large goblet with fine ice and pour a jigger of whiskey over it; then take several sprigs of young, tender mint and place them in a medium-size mixing-glass with a dessertspoonful of bar sugar and just enough water to nearly fill the goblet, in which you have already placed the fine ice and whiskey. Press the mint with a muddler until the sugar is all dissolved and the water is well-flavored with mint, strain into the goblet of ice and whiskey, ornament with fruits and a few sprigs of mint which have been moistened and dipped in sugar, and serve with straws.

Jump forward half a century, to W.C. Whitfield's 1941 book Here's How and little has changed.

"Use Old Fashioned cocktail glass. Dissolve 1 lump of sugar in a few dashes of carbonated water. Add four sprigs of fresh mint and crush slightly. Fill glass with cracked ice. Add 1 jigger of rye or bourbon. Decorate with lemon peel and slice of orange.

Another leap, to 2002, and Dale DeGroff's take on the drink, and we've only gotten a little juicier:

With the same basic recipe Jerry Thomas used 140 years earlier, include two lemon pieces in your muddling and, unlike Whitfield, let the mint serve as the entire garnish.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Request for comments on the Bibulo.us Cocktail Taxonomy (boozeRFC)

This is a preliminary version of the Bibulo.us Cocktail Taxonomy and a request for comments on it from the bar community.

During the writing of the first Bibulo.us cocktail book it has become apparent that existing methods of categorizing cocktail recipes do not handle wine-, beer-, champagne-, and other low-alcohol-based drinks in a consistent fashion with other drinks.

The goals of this taxonomy are thus to create a consistent, regular, and objective method for organizing cocktail recipes by type.

• Consistent such that the approach does not vary by type of drink.
• Regular such that it can be quickly applied and the method easily remembered.
• Objective such that it does not require subjective judgments such as whether a drink is best described as "dry" or "sweet".

By their nature, regular taxonomies often contain groups of things which are distinct from each other. For example, among fruit we can see that citrus are an obvious grouping, but must concede the very distinct character of orange vs. lime. The goal of this taxonomy is not to create groups in which every group is without internal distinctions, but to create an easy way to refer to cocktails which share significant common qualities.

This point is well-illustrated by William Grimes' caveat regarding classification efforts by David A. Embury:

Occasionally Mr. Embury could get carried away. He explained, offhandedly and unhelpfully, that ''essentially the sidecar is nothing but a daiquiri with brandy in the place of rum and Cointreau in the place of sugar syrup or orgeat.'' Well, all right. And ''Romeo and Juliet'' is the same as ''Two Gentlemen of Verona,'' if you delete the tragic ending and make Juliet a man.
[New York Times, December 24, 2003]

As you will see below, the Daiquiri and the Sidecar are indeed within the same group, but that is by no means meant to suggest that they are the same drink. What it does imply, though, is that someone who loves Sidecars should definitely try a traditional Daiquiri sometime.

 

The Bibulous Taxonomy of Cocktails allows the placement of any drink within its logical group based on the results of no more than five questions.

QUESTION 1: Does the drink contain juice (or vinegar)?
Note: Drinks in which a piece or pieces of fruit (not just peel) is muddled—for example, the Mojito—contain juice.

If yes, the drink is considered CITRUSY JUICY. If no, it is SPIRITUOUS.

QUESTION 2: Does the drink contain dairy?
Note: This is dairy in its most traditional sense, encompassing not only milk and cream but also eggs.

If yes, the drink is in either the CITRUSY JUICY DAIRY or SPIRITUOUS DAIRY family, based on the answer to the first question. If no, continue to the next question.

QUESTION 3: Does the drink contain bubbles?
Note: Bubbles encompasses all fizzy ingredients such as champagne, soda water, cola, ginger ale, tonic, cider, and beer.

If yes, the drink is in either the CITRUSY JUICY BUBBLES or SPIRITUOUS BUBBLES family, based on the answer to the first question. If no, continue to the next question.

QUESTION 4: Does the drink contain sweetener(s)?
Note: This does not refer to naturally sweet ingredients such as "sweet vermouth" but to sugar, simple syrup, other syrups, cordials, and non-bitter liqueurs.

If yes, the drink is in either the CITRUSY JUICY SWEETENED or SPIRITUOUS SWEETENED family, based on the answer to the first question.

If no, then the drink is in either the CITRUSY JUICY DRY or SPIRITUOUS DRY family, based on the answer to the first question.

The last question is used to identify the cocktail group within the designated family to which this drink belongs.

QUESTION 5: How is temperature incorporated into the served drink?
There are four possible groupings within each family:

• no ice is included and the drink is served cold (i.e., "up");
• rock ice is included and the drink is served cold;
• cobble or crushed ice is included and the drink is served cold;
• the drink is served hot.

 

EXAMPLES AND GROUP NAMES

Citrusy Juicy Dairy family:

The Fizz Group, e.g., a Ramos Gin Fizz contains juice and egg, and is served up.

 

Spirituous Dairy family:

The Grasshopper Group, e.g., a Grasshopper does not contain juice, does contain cream, and is served up.

The Milk Punch Group, e.g., a Milk Punch does not contain juice, does contain milk, and is served with rock ice.

The Irish Coffee Group, e.g., an Irish Coffee does not contain juice, does contain cream (the whipped cream despite being on top like a garnish is a key ingredient), and is served hot.

 

Citrusy Juicy Bubbles family:

The Bellini Group, e.g., a Bellini contains juice, but no dairy, has champagne, and is served up.

The Collins Group, e.g., a Tom Collins contains juice, but no dairy, has soda water, and is served with rock ice.

 

Spirituous Bubbles family:

Kir Royale Group, e.g., a Kir Royale does not contain juice or dairy, has champagne, and is served up.

Americano Group, e.g., an Americano does not contain juice or dairy, has soda water, and is served with rock ice.

 

Citrusy Juicy Sweetened family:

Daiquiri Group, e.g., a Daiquiri contains juice, but no dairy or bubbles, has sugar, and is served up.

Margarita Group, e.g., a Margarita contains juice, but no dairy or bubbles, has Cointreau, and is served with rock ice.

Zombie Group, e.g., a Zombie contains juice, but no dairy or bubbles, has sugar, and is served with cobble or crushed ice.

Hot Toddy Group, e.g., a Hot Toddy contains juice, but no dairy or bubbles, has sugar or honey, and is served hot.

 

Spirituous Sweetened family:

Martinez Group, e.g., a Martinez contains no juice, dairy or bubbles, has maraschino liqueur, and is served up.

Old Fashioned Group, e.g., an Old Fashioned contains no juice, dairy or bubbles, has sugar, and is served with rock ice.
[Note: The "fruit salad" style of this drink, in which an orange slice and cherry are muddled, contains juice and is therefore a member of the Margarita Group.]

Julep Group, e.g., a Mint Julep contains no juice, dairy or bubbles, has sugar, and is served with cobble or crushed ice.

Whiskey Skin Group, e.g., a Whiskey Skin contains no juice, dairy or bubbles, has sugar, and is served hot.

 

Citrusy Juicy Dry family:

Bronx Group, e.g., a Bronx contains juice, but no dairy, bubbles or sweetener, and is served up.

Bloody Mary Group, e.g., a Bloody Mary contains juice, but no dairy, bubbles or sweetener, and is served with rock ice.

 

Spirituous Dry family:

Manhattan Group, e.g., a Manhattan contains no juice, dairy, bubbles or sweetener, and is served up.

 

Comments?

• Are these the right questions, in the right order? (Dairy currently comes before Bubbles so that the Ramos Gin Fizz ends up with its pals like the Pisco Sour.)
• Are these the right terms for the families? [NOTE: Updated name from Citrusy to Juicy January 27, 2013.
• Are these the right names for the groups? (The Manhattan Group could also be called the Martini Group, but that seems destined to create confusion with the Martinez Group.)
• Are any groups missing?
• Were you able to come up with any drinks that create classification problems or which clash so wildly with the other drinks in their group that further subdivision seems necessary?

Thank you for your assistance in improving this taxonomy before the book comes out!

April 14, 2013: Caught up with a change made earlier but not listed and clarified sweeteners to note "non-bitter liqueurs". Thus for example, a drink with Benedictine, an herbal liqueur, is sweetened, and one with amaro or one of the more syrupy quinquinas is not (unless it has other sweeteners in it, of course).

Sweet William

Inspired by William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby and his Ruby Cocktail, here's a new drink which pertly rules the center of the bitter/sweet/tart Venn diagram.

This rich burgundy-colored cocktail, in its royal form, is ideal for holiday parties. You can make it in batch in advance, then simply serve from the chilled bottles, garnish, and brighten with a pour of champagne on top.

Sweet William

3 oz Bitter Truth sloe gin*
3 oz regular ol' sweet vermouth (e.g., Martini & Rossi, Cinzano)
1/16 oz Cherry Heering
scant 1/16 oz Parfait Amour**
3 dashes orange bitters

Chill and serve to a few friends, garnishing with an orange twist.
With a champagne float, it's a Sweet King William, and delicious.

*If using another, sweeter brand, use less of the two liqueurs.
** If you don't have this, do not buy a bottle—you will never ever use it up—just put in a little more Cherry Heering.

Remember: if making it for a party and then chilling the bottles (rather than stirring with ice and adding dilution that way as you would when mixing on demand), add water before bottling; 3 parts ingredients to 1 part water. Yep, good cocktails really are 25% dilution.

Tosca Gets Counsel

One of our favorite bars in San Francisco is Tosca Cafe.  It feels more right, somehow, than any other bar in the city.

Well, it seems Tosca is in a bit of a rent dispute with their landlord (owner of chain strip joint Deja Vu, on the other side of the building), and they've called in bigger guns than perhaps have ever been deployed over a $500/month rent increase: John Keker of Keker & Van Nest.  Keker (for whom Joe used to work) is generally regarded as the best lawyer in San Francisco.  Given that John's time quite rightly doesn't come cheap, he's certain to be working without fee, pro bono publico -- or, in this case, we guess, pro bono biberarius. 

The man gives good quote:

"What's interesting to me is why this girlie club guy is going to try to take away a San Francisco institution," Keker said. "This stands for a lot of what's wrong with North Beach in general."

C.W. Nevius at the San Francisco Chronicle has the story.

San Francisco's wide-ranging drinking palate

Lest you think that this whole cocktail revolution and embracing of unusual ingredients in San Francisco is something new, may we draw your attention to page 7 of The Morning Call news-paper of July 11th, 1894?

Among the awards given at the California Midwinter International Exposition, the world's fair to which we owe Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden, were the following:

American section:

• A. Rapsold & Co, first, Rapsold cognac
• California Bottling Company, second, Manitou table water, ginger champagne, sarsaparilla
• Wilmerding & Co., second, Peruvian bitters
• W & A. Gllboy. first, Castle Grand Scotch whisky, Glen Scotch whisky, Castle Grand Irish whisky, Castle Old Tom gin, etc.
• S.B. Rothenberg, first, Berliner Magen bitters
• E. G. Lyons Company, first, general line liquors, fruit brandies, cordials, bitters
• Crown Distillery Company, first, rye; special, bourbon
• California Malt Whisky Distilling Company, first, Seal brand California malt whisky
• Sherwood & Sherwood, first, Keystone Monogram whisky
• Merchants' Ice Cold Storage Company, special, ice
• Ludwig Wagner, second, soda water apparatus

 

French section:

• G. Picon & Co., first, bitters (Amer Picon)
• Bisquit, Dubouche, & Co., first, brandies (cognac)
• Marie Brizard & Roger, first, liquors
• Marie Brizard & Roger, special, cognac
• Louis Maumont, first, bonificator for cognac
• R. Schoutecton, first, curacoa, kummel
• G.R. Durand & Co., third, shaded rum, brandy
• J.B. Lorquin, second, Lorquin bitters
• J. Desromaux, third, Malaga au quinquima
• H. Cuvillier & frere, first, red and white French wines, old cognacs

 

Italian section:

• Freund, Ballor & Co., first, vermouth

 

Spanish section:

• A. de Borja, third, liquor
• Ant. Rinz, second, liquor
• A. Tolos, third, quino morno
• T. Gimenez, third, wines and liquors
• Fausto Macua, third, anis

 

Austrian section:

• Moritz Reich Nachfolger, first, collection of genuine Galizian liquors
• E. Lichnits, second, liquors
• La Ferme Company, second, liquors
• G. Luxardo, second, liquors (Maraschino)
• Ludwig Vantoch, second, liquors; recommended by medical authorities—cognac
• Romano Vianov, third, Maraschino liquors

 

British section:

• Coates & Co., third, original Plymouth gin
• H. Walker & Sons, first, "Canadian Club" whisky

 

Swiss section:

• Edouard Pernod, first, absinthe green and white kirschwasser, gentlance

 

Belgian section:

• E. Masquelier, first, Boonekamp bitters

 

Peruvian section:

• Peruvian government, special, wines, alcohols, bitters, liquors, whisky, etc.

 

Oh for a time machine!

Creativity needs space

Delicious drinks and a deeper understanding of ingredients are among the happy benefits of becoming a cocktail nerd. One sorry side effect, though, is a profusion of bottles, some of which one has no intention of ever sampling again. While we are strong advocates of having a wide collection of ingredients, enabling experimentation and the pleasure of introducing guests to new flavors, there's a limit to how many and, more importantly, how long bottles should reside in anyone's house.

Now we aren't talking about the fine furniture of a bar, those lovely bottles of good whiskey or rum which you can enjoy an ounce or two at a time for years; we've got our eye on the perishables: the flowers, not the dining table. There are also some other categories deserving of a bit of Discardia, so let's get specific about all of them and their recommended fate.

1. Nasties
Let's face it. Not everything tastes good. This is the first category to move out of your life. Sometimes you hear about a weird new spirit or liqueur (more often the latter) with which you want to experiment, but you discover when you try it that you never want it to pass your lips again.
If you won't drink it or serve it soon and frequently to guests, send it on to someone else. If it goes beyond 'not to my taste' into the realm of 'purely dreadful', pour it down the drain and spare the world from its horribleness.

2. Frail flowers
Anything under 25% ABV is only going to last so long. You should be keeping it in the fridge. If it hasn't already gone off, start using it up at a faster pace and clear that space for a fresh bottle. Good vermouth is delicious on the rocks and often responds nicely to an orange twist. Liqueurs can be used to make Italian sodas. Try an ounce in a pint glass, topped with soda water and stirred. While you're at it, mark today's date in permanent marker on the label of each of those bottles and make a note in your calendar three months hence to purge anything still lurking weakly around.

3. Bits and bobs
There are ingredients which are fine, but not your favorites. The ones which you're always reaching past to get that beloved bottle. Consider using some of these up in making a punch for your next gathering of friends. Even a delicate one like Limmer's Gin Punch can often tolerate some careful mixing of compatible different brands. Get David Wondrich's wonderful book on punch and start being a fabulous (albeit deviously backbar clearing) host.

4. Too Good to Drink
Yes, it's good to extend your enjoyment of truly excellent spirits, but when you're down to the final few servings of something it's time to enjoy more not less. Life is uncertain and the survival of things contained in glass even less so; go ahead and have the good stuff. Figure out some unfulfilling expense you can cut (Do you really watch Netflix or cable enough to be worth that money?) and divert those funds toward replacing it with another spectacular bottle.

For more on this theme, check out these ideas from Jacques Bezuidenhout: Taming Your Liquor Cabinet and Throw a Clean-Up Party.

Chandelier

Once upon a time in a magical land, those famous princesses known from many a backpack and lunchbox were gathered together, relaxing with champagne and back issues of Imbibe Magazine while enchanted bluebirds and mice did their pedicures. A typical Friday lunchtime.

Cindy sighed and set down an article on the early history of cocktail shakers. "I want to go somewhere fun; somewhere we've never been. I want to see something out of a dream."

"That sounds great," said Beaut. "Imagine a magical place, audacious but still classy—and sparkling like diamonds everywhere you look."

Barely looking up from a Paul Clarke piece she'd not seen before, S.W. said, "As long as I can get a proper Daiquiri, count me in."


A moment later, in Las Vegas, a raccoon in white periwig and a blue and silver vest hopped up spiraling glass steps. At the top, it waddled over to rest a clawed hand gently on the high-heeled foot of the shortest of three older women at the glowing, curved bar. She leaned down to hear its whispered message, then turned to her companions. "Incoming. But there's time for one more round first." Instantly, with no help necessary from the wands resting beside the almost empty glasses of the prior round, their blue-mohawked bartender stepped over to them with a grin. Eyes twinkling back at him, the ladies intoned their incantation.

"Sazerac."

"Fernet, ginger back."

"And give me a good sipping rum."


***

Yes. That's our review. It's a three-story, five-bar, giant chandelier with a very solid selection and a bartender wearing a U.S. Bartenders' Guild pin.

What more do you need to know?

First Floor

It’s New Year’s Eve in Vienna. You’ve walked among the crowds, spied whirling waltzers in tails through fourth-story windows, and watched midnight fireworks erupt all over town from a balcony overlooking the opera house. What’s next?

First Floor, we bid you, is next.

As you come in through an unobtrusive entrance on Seitenstettengasse and head up the stairs, you can hear clinking glasses, the murmur of conversation, and a familiar drum rhythm. You step inside and sit down at the bar.

The drinks are good -- more than competent.  But the real cocktail is the mix of the drinks, the music, and the crowd.  It’s bright young things stopping in after New Year’s parties, black ties untied, jackets slipped off.  They have their arms around sheath-gowned grinning girls.  And they’re dancing to deep cuts of 60s soul -- Shorty Long, Screamin Jay Hawkins, Little Willie John.

You stay.

Lebensstern

We just know you’re in Berlin, hanging around Nollendorfplatz, looking for an extremely cozy place to take a few friends for perfectly crafted drinks.

We’ve got the place for you.

Lebensstern.

Up on the second floor of an old mansion that belonged to silent film star Henny Porten, Lebensstern (“Star of Life”) is all soft lights, glass cabinets filled with exotic bottles, leather chairs, and warm hospitality.  

And what else to do in such a setting but have a cocktail named for a hotel in Louisville, Kentucky? Their Seelbach (Noah’s Mill, Cointreau, Angostura, Peychaud’s, champagne float) was ideal on our visit, with the sweetness of the bourbon and cointreau sliding smoothly into the soft bite of the champagne.  And on the subject of drinks named for American establishments, it was a bit of a shock to have come over continent and ocean to find a Tommy’s Margarita on the menu.  (Truth be told, it was better than the Margaritas at Tommy’s.)  Also notable was the presence of gins we’d never heard of -- Lebensstern’s house brand, as well as Xoriguer (from Menorca), Blue Ribbon (a London Dry from Bordeaux), and Blackwood (from the Shetlands).

Camper English has the whole Lebensstern menu. (We mean on his blog, but wouldn’t that make a great reality show?)

So walk on over, settle in, and enjoy the best cocktails in Berlin.

Fox Liquor Bar

A short note about a quick trip.

We recently spent a weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina. It turned out to be one of the more pleasurable 48 hours’ worth of civilized drinking we’ve enjoyed in a while. This was mostly, of course, because of our hosts, Steve and Heather (see St. George gins). But our visit to one cocktail bar in particular really impressed us.

Fox Liquor Bar had been open for less than a week when we visited on a Saturday night. Fox is subterranean, but not overtly speakeasyish; candlelit, but not uncomfortably romantic; drinks-focused, but not self-important.

Particularly enjoyable was watching a whole new crowd open up to really good drinks.  Steve and Heather have been cocktail-nerding in Raleigh for a decade, but the rest of the city mostly hasn’t. The bar was lively not just with (fairly loud) convivial conversation, but with the joy of discovery.

The cocktail program is run (largely by remote control) by Karin Stanley of Dutch Kills and Little Branch.  The list is East Coast classic -- Greenpoint, Turf, Pan American Clipper -- plus some highlights we hadn’t seen before (probably because we don’t get to Dutch Kills nearly enough).  One standout was the Late Night Reviver (Beefeater, Fernet, ginger, lime, soda water), which was effective in taming the Fernet.

Next time you’re in Raleigh, don’t miss Fox.

(Incidentally, we also had really outstanding fried chicken at Beasley’s and burgers at Chuck’s -- both, like Fox, owned by Ashley Christensen -- and unreasonably good Mexican/Colombian food at Dos Taquitos. All recommended. None so highly as Bols Barrel Aged Genever juleps on Steve and Heather’s porch, but that’s a rather more exclusive offering.)

St. George gins

When we heard St. George Spirits would be coming out with three new gins, we immediately called our trusty supplier of delicious boozes, Cask on 3rd St in San Francisco, and got on the waiting list. Conveniently, in addition to the usual 750ml size, these also came out in a 200ml tasting size, ideal for our upcoming trip to visit beloved fellow cocktail nerds Steve and Heather on the other side of the country.

While Raleigh graced us with a delightful bit of actual weather (as opposed to the general pleasantness we endure in San Francisco to the scorn of those with “real” seasons), we broke out tasting glasses and attentively evaluated these newcomers to the gin scene. Thunder rumbling above, we nosed our glasses of the gin by itself, debated flavor profiles, and brainstormed ideal cocktails to test each of the three varieties.

We began, perhaps unadvisedly, with the Dry Rye. St. George describes it thusly:

Dry Rye Gin has twice as much juniper in its recipe as either of the other two St. George gins, and a base of pot-distilled rye that provides structure and spice. Warm bass notes of pepper and caraway give Dry Rye Gin an intriguing depth of flavor, while the rye provides a sweet maltiness reminiscent of a genever. Try our Dry Rye Gin in your favorite cocktails that call for either gin or rye—or sip it straight for a gin experience like no other.

We found to our surprise that this has a sweeter nose than the other two, despite the less sweet grain base. The caraway notes were strong—leading us to taste some aquavit later for comparison—and it was drier on the tongue. Perhaps it’s the reduced sweetness, but you really feel the alcohol in this one. This gin definitely provides a great education in the tempering power of corn in the grain bill of a spirit.

We tried two drinks with the Dry Rye, but to our disappointment neither the Pegu Club nor the Mondays With Aalto (a great drink by Adam Bryan of Austin’s East Side Show Room) worked. In the former, it didn’t hold up to the lime and in the latter the botanicals just didn’t meld well with the other drink ingredients. Our next idea was to try it in a Ramos Gin Fizz, but dinner called and we have yet to make the experiment.

The second gin in the lineup was the Botanivore.

Botanivore Gin (our "botanical eater") earned its name because it's loaded with botanical ingredients. We distilled 19 different botanicals to compose this spirit (no small feat!) and the resulting gin is beautifully balanced and vibrant. Lance compares this gin to an orchestra where all the components are working in harmony. Deliciously herbacious and bright, Botanivore is a versatile addition to any gin cocktail.

This one seemed to call out immediately for a Martini to keep the focus on the flavors within the gin. It’s a very nice gin, a little sharp, and perhaps one note, but we like the note. It seemed to water out a bit in the drink and we thought it might work better in a dirty martini. We also tried it in a Pink Gin, which was okay, not extraordinary. Once again we did not feel we’d found a drink that really showed this one off to its best effect.

The third taste was of the Terroir and it was here that things got really exciting. Dinah, a Bay Area native and quite familiar with the environment which inspired this gin, was very impressed. St. George has absolutely hit the bullseye with this local flavor, saying “It tastes like the New Year’s Day walk in the Franklin Hills when I was a kid.”

Terroir Gin is our ode to the wild beauty of the Golden State. Distiller Lance Winters has a passion for exploring place and memory through distillation, and the aromas of the coastal forests on California's Mount Tam were what inspired him to start making gin in the first place. Terroir Gin has an intense earthy, woodsy nose and flavor derived from Douglas fir, California bay laurel, and California coastal sage—complemented by bright, citrusy top notes. This is a unique and proudly Californian gin with a sense of place and poetry.

The other three agreed that it’s “verrrry nice” and “damned nice.” We tried this in an Aviation and it worked very well indeed. Recommended!

Becketts Kopf

Their only sign is an illuminated painting of that which the bar is named for: Samuel Beckett’s head.

Our kind of place.


Small, friendly; the menus are embedded in thick hardback German biographies of Beckett, and divided into categories:

• Clear & Classic
• Fine & Fresh
• Fresh & Funky
• Herb & Floral
• Creamy & Candy
• Light & Low
• Drink & Drive

We would say more, but the night was a bit of a blur. We remember a string of very good drinks and the company of a pleasantly garrulous Irishman and some fellow San Franciscans; tramping through the snow to find the U-Bahn closed; then wisely locating and consuming Doner Kebap.

We recognize that all of this is singularly unhelpful in evaluating Becketts Kopf. But it’s what we’ve got to work with.

How to become a better drinker (guest post from Lance Arthur)

[We are delighted to welcome Lance for a guest post, the advice in which we heartily endorse.]

Here's the best way I know of to expand your repertoire of drink. Sure, there will be some regrets in there, but you'll also end up exploring new vistas and make new friends along the way.

1. Find a 'favorite' bar. This can be one you just wander into, or one attached to a restaurant. What's important is that it's not too busy, but it's not empty, either. You'll know it when you see it. It should have a wide, vast, unruly, impossible collection of liquor easily visible. Hundreds of beers on tap? Only if you want to learn more about beer. Avoid "themes" unless, again, you want to explore that theme (e.g. tequila bars, tiki bars, sake bars and the like).

2. Sit at the bar. At the bar. Not near it. Not standing. Sit on a stool at the bar.

3. When asked "what'll you have?" answer, "I'm in the mood to explore, if that's okay." If the bartender is a good bartender - meaning this is his or her only job and they love it, they should immediately smile. This is an opportunity to show off, or provide something special, or introduce someone else to something they love. If that doesn't happen, and they frown or sigh or look put out, this isn't the bar you're looking for.

4. They should respond with, "What do you like?" What that means is "Based on what liquor?" So you answer "gin" or "vodka" (boooooring) or "whiskey" or "tequila" or whatever. You could also say, "Surprise me," and they should be okay with that. If that doesn't happen, and you end up with a Martini, this isn't the bar you're looking for.

5. At some point, share your name and ask theirs. Who knows, you may become a regular here. Names are nice to know, and also nice to share with visitors, as in "Go to this bar and ask for Janet. She'll do you right."

6. Having settled on a liquor, what else do you like? Sweet? Bitter? Herbal? Fruity? Something like this drink, but nothing like that drink? Are you allergic to anything? Like, what about egg whites? Basil? anything that should be ruled out, rule it out. You're not offending anyone, the bartender wants to make you happy.

7. Then sit back and leave yourself in their hands. Tip well. If you like it, say so. If you don't, say so. Ask to see the bottle(s). Ask for a straight taste. Watch as they make the drink so you can make it yourself if you want to.

This isn't something you're likely to do while awaiting a table or if you're in a hurry. This is a drop-in and hang-out thing. Shoot the shit with the bartender. Introduce your friends. Relax. Sip. Enjoy.