Bibulo.us - We plead the 21st.

Creating the Bibulous bibliography of cocktail books

I didn't set out to make an annotated cocktail book bibliography. I was just, as one does, digging into 19th century cocktail books trying to determine the proportion of drinks of different strengths and if that changed over time. The problem with time-based research is that you have to be pretty sure that a given set of data actually comes from a particular time. And here my troubles began.

Cocktail book authors and publishers of the 19th century weren't always particular about the accuracy of their book's publication information. There are lots of books without a publication date printed inside. Or with a date that isn't correct. Or without an author listed. Now and then there's even no publisher listed. It's enough to make you tear out your hair trying to pin this stuff down.

Fortunately, the books themselves aren't the only source of information. Sometimes a book's definite existence in a given year can be verified by more reliable sources, such as Library of Congress Copyright records, or through sources with no biased interest in claiming a particular author was first on the scene, such as through contemporary reviews or advertising. Hell, I was even able to verify the timing of one source through the publication of a Temperance rant against it.

Not being one to let a lot of good, hard library research go to waste, I've published my findings in the pages linked below and sweetened the deal by adding links to sources of the books (both free downloads and vendors) where available, plus some annotations.

I hope this resource will be of help to others researching cocktail history and welcome corrections or additions, which can be sent to Dinah at this domain. Cheers!

Section 1: 1861 and before (Gothic Age of Cocktail Drinking)

Section 2: 1862–1894 (Golden Age of Cocktail Drinking)

Section 3: 1895–1919 (Old School of Bartending)

Section 4: 1920-1933 (Prohibition)

Section 5: 1934–1951 (Years of Reform)

Section 6: 1952–1968 (Era of the Rat Pack)

Section 7: 1969–1989 (Dark Age of Cocktail Drinking)

Section 8: 1990–2004 (Revival of Cocktail Drinking)

Section 9: 2005–present (Era of Old School Innovation)

Speed Rack San Francisco 2015

Four different drinks, four of the most respected bar mentors judging them, and one of the best of your peers racing you to finish first. How fast could you make and garnish those cocktails, and would the quality of your drinks meet the judges' exacting standards? That's the challenge faced by Speed Rack competitors—and in eight U.S. cities it's the most exciting event of the cocktail year.

Speed Rack was founded in 2011 by Ivy Mix and Lynnette Marrero to celebrate female mixologists around the country and, while doing so, to raise money for breast cancer research, education, and prevention. It has been embraced by the bar community both for its charitable purpose and as an opportunity to recognize the best of the profession.

For this year's San Francisco competition, the top eight bartenders coming out of preliminary qualifications were:

• Shirley Brooks (The European)
• Karri Cormican (Comstock Saloon)
• Ashley Curren (Rickhouse)
• Jacquelyn Goldstein (ABV)
• Candice Meierdirk (Lolinda, Alchemist)
• Keli Rivers (Hardwater, Kin Khao)
• Kimberly Rosselle (Trick Dog)
• Alicia Walton (Brass Tacks, Bloodhound)

The judges were four people any bartender would be daunted trying to impress: Brooke Arthur, one of the cities most beloved and influential women bartenders; Neyah White, another old school SF mentor and scotch guru; Martin Cate, master of all matters rum and tiki; and Jennifer Colliau, the traditional ingredients sorceress behind Small Hand Foods.

Though it's all in good fun and among friends, every woman behind those bars is giving it her all and the audience knows it. The crowd, made up of San Francisco's close-knit bar community—bartenders, barbacks, brand ambassadors, spirits brands and media, and other friends and family—hangs on every pour and cheers wildly for every completed drink.

Bar patrons help the cause too, by supporting their favorite bars' tip drives. Smuggler's Cove racked up an impressive evening's donations from their fine fans and presented a check for over $1000 to add to the competition's fundraising through cover charge and raffle tickets. We add our huge thanks to all who donated, including to the great brands lending their support to this cause.

Standing by each other in good times and bad—something we all need, but especially those facing cancer—resonates strongly with this crowd. The mutual support among barfolk shows itself when, after racing furiously against each other, two contestants support each other through the nervous wait for results and cheer on their former foe in subsequent rounds.

Four tight quarterfinal rounds narrowed the field and showed everyone the toughness of the judges. Only a few drinks succeeded in passing their critique without the penalty of seconds being added to the contestant's finishing speed. Work too fast and loose and that cheetah-like result could be slowed to tortoise speed by unbalanced flavors, an undersized serving, a missing garnish, or failure to evoke the traditional character of that cocktail. The judges weren't just waiting for the finished glass to reach their table either; they watched each drink's creation and more than one bartender was caught out for a problem revealed as much by observation as by taste.

Four women entered the semi-finals: Alicia Walton, Karri Cormican, Shirley Brooks, and Jacquelyn Goldstein. The pressure was on and once again these fantastic bartenders wowed us with their skill.

Alicia and Jacquelyn advanced to the finals and the room shook to the cheers of their supporters as they faced off. We confess to being distracted and not getting any good pictures. It was a hell of a battle and we highly recommend attending future Speed Rack events.

After intense deliberation by the judges, we had a winner. Ms. #SpeedRackSF 2015 is JACQUELYN GOLDSTEIN!

 

She'll be joined in the national competition in New York City, on Sunday June 14th, by the winner of the wildcard Facebook voting round, Karri Cormican.

 

Great video coverage from LeJit:

 

Hi-rez versions of our photos above are available here with Creative Commons Attribution license.

 

 

Want to help out people with breast cancer in the San Francisco bay area? Make a donation to Bay Area Cancer Connections today! (Here's their great rating on Charity Navigator to help convince you.)

Artesian

Great bars do more than make delicious concoctions—they design experiences. Few in the world do so as consistently well as Artesian Bar at the Langham Hotel in London.

Under the leadership of Alex Kratena and with the strong influence of assistant head bartender Simone Caporale, both of them winners of the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for "International Bartender of the Year", Artesian has captured pretty much all of the best honors in the spirits world. The top shelf of their gorgeous back bar is now completely full of awards, including enough Spirited Award plates to serve a dinner party.

For sheer creative exuberance no one tops Artesian. Where other bars focus on the room and what's happening in the glass, Artesian doesn't stop there: they create an atmosphere around the glass involving all the senses and evoking emotions. They're neither afraid to get serious and abstract nor riotously silly.

Walking into the room you see everything you want a great hotel bar to have—exceptionally civilized surroundings with top-notch libations—but Artesian goes far beyond expectations and hopes to create delightful new experiences for even the most jaded of travelers.

We became fans on our first visit, but far from it being a flash in the pan, our respect and appreciation for the team's efforts has expanded with each subsequent time we've been able to return over the years. Much of that has to do with their willingness to continually push themselves to new heights.

Past menus have included drinks from the sweet to the savory, from the elegant to the whimsical, always incorporating more than the contents of the glass. On one past visit Dinah ordered the Forever Young, a 'Picture of Dorian Gray'-themed cocktail in honor of the story Oscar Wilde began while staying at the Langham. Yes, behind the mirror pierced by the straw, that is indeed a stick of incense, scented like Opium perfume. That same evening the finale was a most unusual presentation that was introduced to us with the warning, "A simple cocktail to finish the night ... Careful; that's a real machete." We're not sure how the purple telephone handset fit in thematically, but the tiki drink it connected to was delicious and perfectly balanced.

The current menu includes a cocktail with an aroma garnish presented in a clear, floating pillow, one which comes inside a giant gold pineapple, and another, adorned with larch needles and tiny pickled mushrooms, served in a curious round bowl that fills the hand with a comforting, meditative heft.

All this innovation is combined with a deep tradition of good hosting and that, too, continues to improve on each of our visits. Our latest, on what may be the most challenging night of the year: New Year's Eve, was another exceptional bar experience. We were accompanied by friends with their just-under-age daughter. To our delight, everyone was made to feel equally welcome and this courtesy extended to the menu. Non-alcoholic drinks were mixed amongst the spirited ones without distinction; no guest at Artesian need fear feeling second-class when their condition or preference dictates a zero-alcohol evening. In fact, as the evening progressed, our companion was able to confidently recommend one of her delicious choices to several of us at the table. It may seem like a small touch, but those are exactly what add up to a great night.

Best of all, the old Artesian team's whimsy remains in full force. At midnight confetti cannons fired from the bar, flanked by sparklers, and the assembled guests were joined by a giant, dancing panda bear. Now that's a New Year's Eve to remember!

We can't wait to see what happens next time we go.

Oxo Tot lidded ice trays

Sadly, it turns out that silicone trays, despite their other charms, truly do soak up freezer smells and flavors over time and there isn't much to be done about it. Thus we no longer recommend them. 

However, the good news is that once again the baby food freezing supplies industry has come to our rescue. This time it's via a brand we love, Oxo, and their amusingly appropriately named "Tot" line. Oh, they think it's about children, but we know it's really about Royal Navy rum rations.

On the recommendation of Tipple Tuesday founder Lance Arthur, we've switched over to using the Oxo Tot "Baby Blocks" 4 ounce and 2 ounce sizes of their individual freezing containers.

The containers are securely lidded—with a no-spill top, allowing these to be transported safely for bartending in locations without freezer access—and if allowed to sit for just a few moments after being removed from the freezer, the ice can be easily popped free. No more wrestling with stubborn silicone trays! 

When filling, note the interior fill line which provides room for the ice to expand as it freezes without popping the top open. Because these are separate units, you can refill each one immediately upon use rather than waiting to empty a whole tray and thus you can maintain a more constant supply of good ice. Simply rotate the base to position the least-frozen containers to the back and grab the oldest ice from the front when you next need some.

We use the larger cube (4 ounce) in our mixing glass, and the smaller ones in the glass for drinks on the rocks.

MxMo XCI roundup: Shims

Hooray! It's Mixology Monday!

Well, as we write this it's Monday in Iceland already, anyhow, and that's good enough for us. Great drinks are already coming in so chill those glasses and get ready to enjoy a couple more rounds than usual!

As we said in our invitation this time:

This month’s topic is near and dear to our hearts as it is our favorite type of lower-proof cocktails: shims! These drinks contain no more than half an ounce of strong spirits (i.e. those containing 40% ABV or above).

Heavy-hitters are fun to drink, sure, but it’s way too easy to over-consume and under-enjoy when you’re playing hardball. Let’s stretch out our evenings and get to sample a bigger variety by lowering the proof without lowering our standards. Shims don’t require giving up on flavor, complexity, or—interestingly enough—even your favorite ingredients. Get a new understanding of your favorite high-proof spirit by using just a half or quarter ounce of it along with a milder leading player. Or take a low-proof character actor that usually supplements the main show and see if it can take the lead.

This is a chance to get back in touch with the full spectrum of drink strength which defined mixed drinks in their first century or so. There’s a reason the Sherry Cobbler was insanely popular, dear friends. Or you can take this opportunity to invent new drinks in the latest style. Low-alcohol cocktails, particularly in restaurants, are still beginning their popularity climb this century. By their nature, lower alcohol drinks, especially those using wine-based main ingredients, are great choices for food pairings. If you’ve got the perfect accompaniment for your chosen cocktail, please share that with us too!

One last tip, while we’re on the topic of eating: when it comes to drinking at those big holiday gatherings through the rest of the year, keep this month’s MxMo results bookmarked as your secret to harmonious parties. We can’t guarantee that no one will knock heads in political arguments or revive old feuds, but we can say that just a little less booze could make for a lot less drama.

Everyone has risen to the challenge and deliciousness is the result. Here's what we've got so far...

First in the door was one of those wonderful shims that defies expectations. It is not in any way a delicate blushing flower, fit only for maiden aunts. Unless, perhaps, your aunt is a hockey goalie, in which case, this should keep her happy. Chris and Julia of A Bar Above bring us The Black Pear Shim, featuring the mighty Riga Balsam.

Next we get two for one from Christa and Shaun, the Booze Nerds. They created one for a chilly winter evening, the perfectly named Chalet, and another that wouldn't be out of place at a summer garden party, the Golden Bough. Very tasty sounding pair of drinks and demonstrated in beautiful glassware!

Next up, the Griotte Shim from Brenda Sharpe of 4:00 DCT (Delicious Cocktail Time). This is a simple but fantastic-looking drink which, if you can find some sour cherry juice before the rest of us cocktail nerds clean out your local middle eastern grocery store, will make holiday hosting a breeze.

Stacy Markow has the Noilly Cassis Shim for us, along with a few notes on a TEXSOM session on vermouths and aromatized wines. We firmly agree, Stacy; vermouth is also seriously delicious all by itself.

Speaking of the pleasures of vermouth, Swizzzlestick brings the literary history to the party with the Vermouth Panaché, a satisfying drink described by none other than Ernest Hemingway.

In another perfect thematic transition, from one tropical treasure to another, here's Doc Elliott's Apothecary with his Pomegranate Hibiscus Shim. That'll cure what ails us, for sure, Doc!

Getting back to the roots of MxMo and cocktails in a single post, cocktail virgin slut bring us the pure delight of the Vermouth Cocktail. Especially nice tasting notes on this one. Here's to many more drinks together, friends!

And now, with our contribution of the Pedro's Picnic, we're all caught up.

Much more to come tomorrow, as MxMo XCI continues!

 

Good morning!

Karen from Ginhound is here to help rouse us with her ToniCoffee Punch. If the espresso doesn't wake you up, the aquavit will. ;)

 

Now we're warming up. Here's Amanda at Mandible with a great holiday pleaser, the Spiced Apple Shim. Ginger and cinnamon plus apples equals yummy.

 

The Escarpment Spritzer from Whitney at Tipicular Fixin's is a great reminder of how incredibly well-suited low-proof drinks are for anyone exploring delicate flavors. Dialing down the alcohol a little is a great fit for showing off garden to glass skills. Thank you, Whitney, for the reminder to tune into terroir, wherever you are.

One other drink style note about the Escarpment Spritzer; when serving, you can use familiar shims as a bridge to newer creations. For example, many guests have at some point tried the Bellini, which uses peach puree and sparkling wine. When they know they've had something they liked that is in the same family as the unfamiliar drink you're offering, it can make them more ready to make the leap.

 

Who's that at the door? Why it's Dagreb from Nihil Utopia, and what's that we're being offered? A Trocadero? Why don't mind if we do! As we enjoy another classic vermouth cocktail, the point may begin to come home to you that those folks a century ago and more were extremely fond of vermouth cocktails. Yes, it's very like others we've discussed but it is not the same; any more than a Fourth Regiment is just a Manhattan with some extra kinds of bitters.

 

Lining himself up with the biggest challenge, Michael of DrinksBurgh set out to make a tiki shim. My friend, you're right; there are virtually no low-proof exotics. The one in The Art of the Shim—the Snow White—was found only through the purest luck, in a promo recipe booklet from 1965 that showed up tucked in a book we bought on eBay. Even the great Martin Cate couldn't come up with another for me, so Michael, fellow windmill tilter, I salute you! Your drink, the Ruby Yacht, is a fine shipshape vessel. (Depending on the peach brandy, this could end up just a hair on the robust side of the strictest of shims, but when it comes to tiki, this counts as a very low-proof drink indeed.)

 

After reading Joel of Southern Ash's contribution to the festivities, I'm feeling very appetized. Some Sangria and spicy shredded pork tacos? ¡Si! Good illustration with your quarter ounce each of Cointreau and gin of how you can make shims and still bring in those high-proof ingredient flavors.

 

Here's Alexander from Feel Like Making Shrub with the perfect accompaniment to Thanksgiving dinner, The Owl Creek. It's exactly what one wants in a shim, "a festive, ruby colored kick in the trousers; just assertive enough to goose you a touch, but not enough to knock you onto the rumpus room floor".

 

Standing ovation to Laura of Sass & Gin for putting her MxMo concoction together in a hotel room. That is dedication, people! Laura, we raise our glasses to you! And how frustrating it is not to be able to have you fill our glasses with your Beg, Borrow & Steal. Great idea having that half ounce of tequila offset the fruit flavors and provide a little backbone for the drink.

 

We end the night with Arcane Potions, courtesy of Marius. His Shim of Floral Nimbus wins best garnish and carries us away on a scented cloud of fruit and flowers. Sweet dreams, everyone!

 

Miss out on Monday? Not to worry. We'll be posting late arrivals in the morning (Pacific Time), Tuesday November 18th, and again on November 23rd and 30th.

 

But wait! At 11:59pm, overcoming technical hurdles, Tartines to Tikis is in on time with a little historical research and two variations on Craig Lane's Rhum Dandy Shim, the Rye Dandy Shim and the Rye Dandy Shim II. These just shot to the top of my (Dinah's) 'try next' cocktail list; the II, with its quinquina, is especially likely to become a favorite.

The II is just over the line from a shim, with the Cointreau bringing in an extra quarter ounce of high-proof, but still comfortably in the realm of low alcohol cocktails. I'd classify it as fitting with the 'inverted' category, still lower in proof than the 'fifty-fifty' category which for me loosely defines the bottom of the regular proof realm. It occurs to me that I may not have written about these before, so let me note my groupings here:

Regular proof and above cocktails: contain over 1.25 oz of 40%+ ABV ingredient(s)

'Inverted' cocktails (low proof): contain .75-1.25 oz of 40%+ ABV ingredient(s)

 

'Shim' cocktails (low proof): contain .5 oz or less of 40%+ ABV ingredient(s)

 

'All Low' cocktails (a subcategory of shims; low proof): contain no 40%+ ABV ingredient(s)

 

'Mocktails' (no proof): contain no alcohol.

 

(I also think there is a 'High Proof' category above regular, but haven't decided where to draw that line. 3.5 oz or more of 40%+ ABV? In other words, more than twice a regular drink?)

 

Here's one more shim, in the works from soon after the announcement and now, true to its source, fine-tuned for our enjoyment, from Rejiggered it's the Orion's Fizz. Pairing blood orange and port to dramatic effect, that's a very pretty drink!

Pedro's Picnic

The idea for this Bibulo.us original must have begun bubbling up in Dinah's brain when Sherryfest came to San Francisco this past June.

Those wonderful raisin-y flavors of Pedro Ximénez have now combined with memories of the best snack of childhood, and undergone a transformation through one of the most bizarre modern cocktail techniques: fat-washing.

Here, then, in celebration of Mixology Monday XCI, is a glorious shim that makes the work worthwhile.

 

Pedro's Picnic

3 oz peanut-butter fat-washed Lustau "San Emilio Solera Reserva" Pedro Ximénez Jerez sherry*

.5 oz celery juice**

Stir (yes, even though there's a bit of juice, this one is stirred to keep it from being over-diluted) and serve up.

Garnish with a little section of tender celery.

 

 

*Take your bottle of sherry and pour an inch of it in a large glass container. Gently add approximately one cup or so of lightly warmed, creamy peanut butter. Pour in the rest of the sherry, cork the empty bottle and put the bottle in the fridge. Cover the container with plastic wrap and secure with a rubber band to keep curious fingers and insects out. Leave it alone, on the counter, for about 48 hours—resist temptation to poke it—and then place the entire container in the freezer until the peanut butter firms up enough to be carefully lifted out in one, perhaps slightly wobbly, piece. Set aside this augmented peanut butter for other uses such as toast or cookies. Strain the sherry through a clean coffee filter back into its bottle.

 

**A blender or food processor can be used if a juicer is unavailable, but prepare for an exotic textural experience. Feed the stalks in through the opening in the lid one by one. Once it's all evenly blended, you might be able to pour off some liquid but most will remain in the pureed celery. In a large bowl, lay out some cheesecloth, put the pureed celery on it, and then wrap the ball of celery up and squeeze out the juice. We recommend running the resulting liquid through a clean coffee filter for a less cloudy appearance.

MxMo XCI: Shims

Hard to believe it’s been over six years since Bibulo.us hosted Mixology Monday XXXI, but it’s wonderful to be back. This month’s topic is near and dear to our hearts as it is our favorite type of lower-proof cocktails: shims! These drinks contain no more than half an ounce of strong spirits (i.e. those containing 40% ABV or above).

Heavy-hitters are fun to drink, sure, but it’s way too easy to over-consume and under-enjoy when you’re playing hardball. Let’s stretch out our evenings and get to sample a bigger variety by lowering the proof without lowering our standards. Shims don’t require giving up on flavor, complexity, or—interestingly enough—even your favorite ingredients. Get a new understanding of your favorite high-proof spirit by using just a half or quarter ounce of it along with a milder leading player. Or take a low-proof character actor that usually supplements the main show and see if it can take the lead.

This is a chance to get back in touch with the full spectrum of drink strength which defined mixed drinks in their first century or so. There’s a reason the Sherry Cobbler was insanely popular, dear friends. Or you can take this opportunity to invent new drinks in the latest style. Low-alcohol cocktails, particularly in restaurants, are still beginning their popularity climb this century. By their nature, lower alcohol drinks, especially those using wine-based main ingredients, are great choices for food pairings. If you’ve got the perfect accompaniment for your chosen cocktail, please share that with us too!

One last tip, while we’re on the topic of eating: when it comes to drinking at those big holiday gatherings through the rest of the year, keep this month’s MxMo results bookmarked as your secret to harmonious parties. We can’t guarantee that no one will knock heads in political arguments or revive old feuds, but we can say that just a little less booze could make for a lot less drama.

Join in the fun by, as usual, the following method:
1) Make a shim, that is a cocktail which contains no more than half an ounce of strong spirits (i.e. those containing 40% ABV or above).
2) Post a picture of the drink on your blog, website, tumblr, etc. and include:
    The lovely MxMo Logo and a link to MixologyMonday.com;
    A link back to this post so folks know what you’re up to;
    and a little bit about your approach to low-proof drinking.
3) Send us your link by commenting on this post or tweeting to us at @bibulous.
4) Do all of the above by Midnight Pacific time on November 17th and we’ll share all these shims in a big round-up post. (As before, we’ll put up early arrivals on Sunday the 16th, fill in the main group as they come in on the 17th, and add stragglers through the end of November.)

Happy cocktailing!

The Lion's Nose

In honor of Mixology Monday's theme this time of the smash, here's a variation on one of the great modern classics, the Gin Basil Smash, created in the summer of 2008 by Joerg Meyer of Le Lion, Bar de Paris, in Hamburg. (Photo right by Jay Hepburn, from his great OhGo.sh video of Joerg making the Gin Basil Smash.)

Though you may never have noticed before, basil has flavor notes which harmonize with clove and, surprisingly, chocolate. I've substituted the rich sugar syrup in the original with crème de cacao and added clove bitters and clove garnish to pull out those other flavors and scents.

The Lion's Nose

2 oz gin

3/4 oz Tempus Fugit crème de cacao (or other very high quality crème de cacao)

1/2 oz lemon juice

1/8 oz Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter Bitters (or other clove-focused bitters)

8 fresh sweet basil leaves

 

Muddle the leaves in your shaker tin along with the rind of half a juiced lemon, the creme de cacao, and the bitters. Add gin and ice and shake vigorously. Double strain over ice—crushed or cobble ice would be lovely with this—into a coupe or small Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with a sprinkle of ground clove and a fresh basil leaf pierced by a whole clove.

 

- Dinah

Boulevardier 1929 (formerly the Boulevardier 1934)

Photo by Kelly Puleio

I included this drink in The Art of the Shim: Low-Alcohol Cocktails to Keep You Level after discovering it in William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's posthumously published 1934 book World Drinks and How to Mix Them. Unfortunately, I was not able to trace its origins back from that book. Boothby expert John C. Burton noted that many of the recipes in it appear to have been added by ghostwriters, as it is much expanded from his immediately prior book, Swallows.

I called the drink the Boulevardier 1934 to distinguish it from the earlier bourbon-based drink found in Harry McElhone's 1927 book Barflies and Cocktails.

Thanks to the research of French cocktail blogger Gaylor Olivier of The Perfect Drink, we can now retitle it the Boulevardier 1929. Based on the information he discovered in a book from that year, Cocktails de Paris by "Rip" (real name Georges Gabriel Thenon), we can assign this drink to 'Robert from Viel', a now defunct Parisian bar located at the time at number 8 Boulevard de la Madeleine. M. Robert took the grand prize with it at the barmen's championship which took place at Theatre Apollo in Paris on February 2, 1929.

Illustration by Gaylor Olivier

To my delight, a full PDF download of this book is available from EUVS.org. The drink list:

• A.B.C.
• Acacias
• Agonie
• Alexandra [with gin]
• Alexandra [with brandy]
• Alligator
• Alma
• Amarosa
• Amaros-Flip
• Anti-Grippe
• Argentina
• L'Arpète
• Atlantique
• Barbaresque
• Bees' Knees
• Belle Aurore
• Belote
• Berry
• Biarritz
• Bidou
• Biribi
• Blue Cocktail
• The Blue Moon
• Boeuf Sur Le Toit
• Bogey
• Boulouris
• Bronx
• Boulevardier
• Camparinete
• Canaletto
• Ceon de Pau
• Ce Sour Ou Jamais
• C'est Vert...Mais Juste
• Chambourny
• Charlie Pie
• Chinois
• Charme de Paris
• Chateau Basque
• Un Chien Qui Rapporte
• Cigalon
• Close-Up
• Cocktail De Mon Cure
• Colorado
• Cocktail Père...Cocktail Fils
• Cote D'Emeraude
• Coup de Cafard
• Crabe
• Coup De Roulis
• Crepescule
• Croisette
• Crawl
• Cur
• Dernier Round
• Dech Gerard's
• Deux Fraises
• Diana
• Diki
• Dompteur
• La Douche Ecossaise
• L'Eau Du Nil
• Etchê-Spi
• Et Moi, Je Te Dis...Maud
• Extase Voluptueuse
• Fandango
• Faul Ce Qu'il Faut
• La Femme Du Monde
• La Fin Du Monde
• Fiesole
• Flammes De Velours
• Francis
• Flash Cocktail
• For You
• ?
• French Cocktail
• Friday Velvet
• Frisco-Shangai
• Frisson
• Gin Fizz
• El Gaucho
• Gloria
• Green
• Green Star Cocktail
• Huguette
• El Guarani
• Une Idee
• Innovation
• Isabelita
• Jean De La Lune
• Jorio
• Josette
• Jungle
• Katinka
• Kiki
• 60° Latitude
• Liliane
• Lit Nuptial
• Lucien-Gaudin
• La Madone
• Madame Lou
• Manhattan
• Martini
• Mandarin
• Mandarinette
• Michodiere
• Mon Peche
• Montigny
• Moony Cocktail
• La Negresse Blonde
• Once More
• Oronoff
• Oxygenee Cocktail
• Oyster Cocktail
• Oyster Cocktail Aux Oursins
• Pacific
• Paris
• Paris-Midi
• Pepa
• Petit Paien
• Pirate
• Poor Dear Old Thing Cocktail
• Primavera
• Primos
• Prise Directe
• Prunella
• P'tite Lily
• Les Petits Pois
• Quickly
• Raidime
• Ranett
• Rase-Mottes
• Ready?—Go!
• Regrets Infinis
• Reve D'Alsace
• Ricquebourg
• Rose [with gin]
• Rose [without gin]
• Rose-Marie
• Rose Mousse
• Rose Riviera
• Rose Du Roy
• Rose Des Vents
• Rototo
• Sans Façon
• Satyre
• Le Sim
• Six Cylindres
• Side Car
• Sourire Commercial
• Tip-Toes
• Ton Corps Est A Toi
• Transitoire
• Trois Jeunes Filles Nues
• Trou Dans Le Mur
• Tunnel
• Tito
• Tutti Frutti
• Urodonal's Cocktail
• Ursulines
• Vel D'Hiv
• Weiluc

Lighter Drinking and the Life of the Street

(This essay by Dinah first appeared in the Hayes Valley Voice.)

If you haven’t gone before 5pm on a workday, you haven’t really been to our little neighborhood bar on the green. At opening time—2pm—on a recent sunny Tuesday I stopped in at Brass Tacks to talk with co-owner Matty Conway. My plan was to spend a quiet hour discussing a topic of mutual interest: low-alcohol cocktails. Matty’s menu features a couple great ones—my favorite is the sherry-based ‘Spanish Prisoner’—and my book, The Art of the Shim: Low-Alcohol Cocktails to Keep You Level, is all about lighter drinks.  Shop talk was the plan, but the sun was shining in the open front windows and within moments of my arrival began a steady flow of interesting people joining us.

Off-duty restaurant and bar workers traded good-natured teasing with Matty and sipped wine, beers, and whiskey sours. A serious pair talked business over craft brews. People popped in long enough to say hello or waved as they passed. A trio of Giants fans combined watching the opening day game on the TV over my head with planning for one of them getting married the following weekend.

As they alternated between applauding the team and reviewing the timeline for the big day’s events, I was delighted to have Marlena herself, Garry McLain, sit down beside me to enjoy a cool beer after a long hot walk. Since his bar closed so Matty and team could move in, he’s been a big supporter of Brass Tacks and, though like me may enjoy a quiet afternoon best, is thrilled to see the bar overflowing on busy weekend nights. After all, he knows how tough running a neighborhood feature can be.

Before his legendary and lamented Marlena’s bar opened, that location was The Overpass—aptly named for its position in the shadow of the Central Freeway—and Garry was behind its bar, too. Instead of a thriving neighborhood riding the wave of being acclaimed across the country, Hayes Street west of Octavia was struggling. Storefronts were empty though they could be rented for $400 a month, Garry recalled, instead of more than $10,000 today. Still, neighbors could imagine good times ahead. They gathered, planned, and, step by step, revitalized Hayes Valley. As he confirmed for me, this rebirth wasn’t born out of centralized planning, but from local vision of a better place to live.

What role might bars like The Overpass, Marlena’s, and Brass Tacks play in shaping the life of the neighborhood?  I thought about Europeans sipping aperitifs at café tables on the public square. Beer gardens open to their surroundings. And, yes, bars with open doors and windows, inviting interaction between those imbibing and passers-by. These all support light drinking as a casual activity alongside connecting with a place and its people, as opposed to hiding away with the drab goal of getting hammered. And they all can create an informality and openness within which connections can be made.

As urban design critic, Jane Jacobs noted, “it is possible in a city street neighborhood to know all kinds of people without unwelcome entanglements, without boredom, necessity for excuses, explanations, fears of giving offense, embarrassments respecting impositions or commitments, and all such paraphernalia of obligations which can accompany less limited relationships. It is possible to be on excellent sidewalk terms with people who are very different from oneself, and even, as time passes, on familiar public terms with them.” Far from being a source of division, with their acceptance and encouragement of conversation with strangers, neighborhood drinking spots can build bridges. There’s a reason my copy of The Death and Life of Great American Cities features on the cover a picture of Jacobs in smiling interaction with others beside her at a bar.

Wonderful conversations and neighborly connections--that’s what
cheerful local bars are made for. I may have come in expecting to talk
theory with Matty, but the reality swept me up in a big hug and made
clear why wit and heart combine perfectly in a lighter drink with smiling
strangers, now friends.

Our 'Best of 2013' List

This year's categories for the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards—the cocktail world's premier honor—have been announced and the nomination form is open, reminding us to share our favorites from the last year.

Though we've been enjoying fantastic drinks and great service for years, 2013 marks a new high in the availability of a quality cocktail experience. Bartenders and—significantly—entire bar teams around the world are doing some of the best work we've ever seen. It is a second golden age of the cocktail, which we encourage you to get out and enjoy!

Pleasing as all those top-notch options are, they do make picking favorites very, very difficult. We are definitely not in 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all' mode here; omission does not imply a lack of recommendation. Even with that caveat, we throw up our hands in defeat at naming best bartenders. Bravo to all and carry on.

With regard to bars we are slightly more opinionated. In the past, there have often been clear standouts, but now so many bars are operating at such a high level (and we've been fortunate in the past year to visit so many of them), that the choice of a winner has begun to rely on a broader set of criteria. Without breaking a sweat we could name a dozen world-class bars, but to distinguish between them requires consideration of more than the quality of the drinks, the skill of the bartenders making them, and the look and feel of the space. In choosing the best this year, our deciding factor was the often unsung part of the team: the barbacks, hosts, and other service staff who quietly keep everything moving smoothly. Our two winners exemplify this, which is why they're also our nominees for the new Spirited Award (great minds think alike?) for Best Bar Team. From the moment we walk in the door and at every interaction the full team of these bars makes us feel welcome, personally appreciated, and incredibly well cared for. They embody the finest tradition of bartending in their warm hosting, leaving even the most physically beautiful of bars with gliding, silent, supermodel servers rather chilly in comparison.

Best American Cocktail Bar: Comstock Saloon, San Francisco, California
Best International Cocktail Bar: Le Lion Bar de Paris, Hamburg, Germany

It was a busy travel year, so we can report that menus and execution in hotel bars in general are improving. Likewise the options at many airports. Above this general good news, the top hotel bars are displaying glorious style, creativity, and in our international winner's case, a huge sense of fun.

Best American Hotel Bar: Lantern's Keep, Iroquois Hotel, New York, New York
Best International Hotel Bar: Artesian, Langham Hotel, London, England

This year we can commend this nominee not only for the way their publication has entertained us, but also for its usefulness as a research tool, very handy in our work on The Art of the Shim.

Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication: Imbibe Magazine

 

As we're competitors for the Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book category we are not making a nomination here, but do encourage everyone to check out the finalists for this and past years. The cocktail renaissance is on the printed page as well as in the glass!

Sipsmith

We had the pleasure of touring the Sipsmith distillery in London last month.

Actually, that’s a bit misleading. Sipsmith, you see, is a very small distillery.  A very small distillery. Here’s the front door:

And here’s a view of the beautiful copper still, Prudence, and her environs behind that door:

The Products

Our introduction to Sipsmith came on a visit to London several years back. Won over instantly—it makes a glorious Martini—we’ve sought it out ever since. It is definitely one of our favorite spirits. We returned from that trip with a couple bottles in our luggage, and again on every subsequent trip. We even had friends bring us some. We hoarded it carefully, gauging each occasion for worthiness of use of our finite supply.

Fortunately, this past fall Sipsmith launched U.S. distribution and we no longer have to weigh the strength of our friendship before making someone a Martini at our house. 

We fell in love with Sipsmith for their fine London Dry Gin, but that’s not all they have on offer. One of the great pleasures of taking their distillery tour is getting to try all the other fine things they make.

Their Barley Vodka is essentially the starting point for their gin; comparing the two is a great way to understand how botanicals create a spirit. It also shows how much of the characteristic sweet undertones come from the barley itself.

Moving the other direction, their V.J.O.P.—Very Junipery Over Proof—is a bold, intense gin. As is perhaps not surprising from the publishers of a book on low-alcohol cocktails, we admired it, but didn’t embrace it with the same passion as their regular London Dry.

Much more to our liking was their Sloe Gin. Bright, complex, and fun, it may be destined to become another favorite. It’s more bursty and berry-y than other sloe gins, to the point that it rather begs to be drizzled over something warm and chocolatey. The good news is we’ll be able to experiment with it soon; it is the second of their products for U.S. distribution, coming Spring 2014.

We also tried the Damson Vodka and, while we didn’t like it as much as the Sloe Gin, we wish we could get this at home to see how it might pleasingly alter drinks calling for Sloe Gin. As the name suggests, it is built on a base of their Barley Vodka (rather than gin), allowing the damson fruit to take the front seat.

What shines through in tasting the Sipsmith line is that these are ingredients made with love and experience, to be enjoyed on their own or in cocktails. Craft and flavor are well married in their bottles.

 

The Process

Being such a small facility, Sipsmith doesn’t take bales of barley in one end and ship cases of bottles out the other. The good stuff happens in the garage, but they smartly outsource the more mechanical bits, like the creation of the 96-proof barley-based neutral spirit that serves as the base for all of their products. For their London Dry Gin, they macerate this “canvas” with 10 botanicals in their newest copper vessel, Patience, for 15 hours prior to distillation. The mixture then is gently heated in her swan-necked sister Prudence where it further interacts with the copper. During this reaction the sulphurs and fatty acids prevalent in all forms of alcohol are extracted and the batch slowly distilled to capture the best part: the middle, or “heart”.

Unlike many gins, Sipsmith uses a ‘one-shot’ rather than ‘concentrate’ method; instead of an overly strong botanical mix that requires the addition of neutral alcohol, what comes out of Patience is a single small batch ready to have a bit of spring water added to bring it to its bottling strength of 41.6% alcohol. This approach allows accurate judging of the gin as it comes through so that exactly the right cut can be taken, leaving the inferior heads and tails behind. The difference between this and the less subtle ‘concentrate’ method is abundantly obvious in the glass.

All this magic takes place in a garage on a quiet residential street. From the outside, there’s nothing to distinguish it from the neighboring houses, but once inside the door we found a whirl of activity. Raw spirits were splashing inside Prudence and the master distiller Jared Brown, almost unrecognizably fitted out for hard work instead of press events, was in constant motion. Feeding the still, checking the results, even hefting steel drums over his head to clear more space. If you ever thought the hardest work the crafters of fine spirits did was lifting a glass, a visit to a working distillery will set you straight.

Some things are indeed worth the hard work and the wait, and Sipsmith, made with the first copper distillery license issued in London in almost 200 years, is definitely one of them.

 

Want to take a tour of your own? Plan ahead: it sells out a few months in advance, but it’s well worth the journey. Note: they've just announced a move to a larger space in Chiswick, West London, in April, where they'll have room for three stills. Thank goodness, because the world needs more of their gin!

Here's a lovely little intro to the team, produced by Sipsmith:

Low-alcohol cocktails and great drinking

Here's the introduction—or invocation—to The Art of the Shim, which incidentally reveals a good deal of our Bibulo.us philosophy.

 

Why on earth would anyone ever want less alcohol in their cocktails?
       
At first the very idea seems counter-intuitive. Doesn’t ‘less booze’ defeat the whole purpose of drinking? But that assumes that the goal of drinking is to get drunk. If it were, cocktails could be judged, at best, inefficient. In truth, they are something far better.

A great cocktail is a fleeting jewel, a sensory experience that is inherently transient, but sublime. Chosen with careful consideration of the drinker’s mood. Ordered with delicious expectation. Prepared with great attention—the observation of which is no small part of the pleasure of the drink. Presented beautifully. Small enough to remain at its proper temperature and dilution to the last drop. Containing enough alcohol to set it apart from other beverages and elevate the present moment.

If the goal of drinking were to get drunk, cocktails would never be the best route! Instead of treating ourselves to good company, pleasant surroundings, and fine ingredients, we could just stay home, buy any old cheap rotgut, drink it straight from the bottle, and achieve our aim (while accelerating our respective ends, no doubt). But that’s not why civilized people drink.

We drink to connect. The connection made is not only with our fellows—be they on our side of the bar or serving us across it—but with our senses and our sense of self. To drink a cocktail properly is to say, “We are here now, together, you and I.” Such a simple thing, but so vital when our attention is often elsewhere. Perhaps that is why cocktails are a product of the modern world. As our ability to escape our present surroundings has grown, we’ve needed a ritual to bring us back.

The Art of the Shim: Low-Alcohol Cocktails to Keep You Level is a celebration of being able to fit more drinks into an evening without getting stupid, sad, or sick. Smart drinking doesn’t require giving up cocktails or alcohol entirely, nor must we resign ourselves to a monotonous diet of simplistic, syrupy concoctions. Fans of sophisticated beverages can switch into a lower gear without giving up everything they love about cocktails.

In brief, this book advocates . . .more drink, less drunk.