Bibulo.us - We plead the 21st.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Echoes of Prohibition

    At an innovative and acclaimed restaurant near you there is a jar of house-made brandied cherries at a dessert chef's prep station which are used to create a delicious chocolate-cherry bread pudding. Ten feet away on the restaurant's bar is a similar container of brandy with cherries in it. That bottle is intended for the dessert's companion cocktail. Between the two stands the bar manager – but not the pastry chef – being cited for violation of California law.

    The scene is fictional, so far, but the legal discrepancy is all too real. In the state of California the health and safety of the public as it relates to booze is the charter of the department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. By their definition – as issued in a May 2008 industry advisory, which was largely ignored – the process of changing the character of an alcoholic beverage through maturation, as in the case of the cherries sitting in the brandy, or fermentation, potentially by something like adding citrus and sugar to vodka to create limoncello, is considered “rectification” and as such is not permitted without a Rectifier’s license. Here’s the catch: no one who serves these beverages is allowed to get one.

    What could this mean legally? According to the ABC, no bar would be permitted to do anything but “the simple mixing of alcoholic beverages with other ingredients for immediate consumption.” For fans of infused spirits, classic cocktails, or the current bartending renaissance in general, it’s as if all a foodie’s favorite restaurants were told they could only serve raw food. Salad and sushi are nice and all, but some of us would like a broader spectrum of choices. For once the vodka advocates and the artisanal cocktail snobs are marching arm in arm together in indignation.

    However, once you dig deeper than the ABC’s own statements the situation is clearly more complex than it has been painted. According to the statutory definition in section 23016 of the California Business and Professions Code, a “’Rectifier’ means every person who colors, flavors, or otherwise processes distilled spirits by distillation, blending, percolating, or other processes.” There is no reference to any exemption for immediate consumption. Without that exception, unless this section is understood to refer only to those who rectify for the purpose of resale not for the purpose of consumption, then all cocktail making is illegal. Without that exception and unless it only applies to rectifying for resale, anyone who blends distilled spirits is rectifying and must be therefore be licensed, but as other parts of the law clearly state (see tied house laws like sections 23368, 25500 and 25505) those who serve can’t be rectifiers. Clearly that over-reaching result was not the intent or the state would never get any revenue from cocktail bar liquor licenses. Rectification regulations must refer to the act of rectifying for resale and not to bar service, but the legal challenges to defend this position and remove the ABC’s “immediate consumption” interpretation have not yet taken place.

    For the moment we are left with the ABC’s current “loophole” of immediacy and its side effect of chilling legitimate, long-time bar practices that have not been demonstrated to pose a public health risk. From its beginnings the craft of good bartending has included knowledge of spirits, responsible hospitality, and a prodigious memory for recipes, but it has also called for a deep understanding of all the ingredients of a good drink and the ability to create variations on them. That the exercise of this knowledge results in exceptional experiences is a matter of ample evidence; just look at any recent list of not-to-be-missed intoxicating beverages in our fair city and you’ll find examples which are prohibited under the current state interpretation of the law because of their extremely local, hand-crafted ingredients. This despite the probability that those bartenders most likely to be crafting such things are also those most likely to be following the precepts of a San Francisco bartender of over 100 years ago, the honorable William “Cocktail” Boothby, whose Ten Commandments for mixologists included “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” Not bad for a guy working in the late 1800s. Combine his philosophy of care toward your bar’s patrons with modern knowledge of health and safety practices and you’ll find Bay Area bartenders producing safe ingredients to support the ‘quality over quantity’ drinking style they encourage and which in a sane world one would expect to see supported by those intending to protect the public from abuses of alcoholic beverages.

    So what to do to solve this problem? As ever, drink responsibly and speak out in favor of businesses, organizations, and laws promoting safe fun. While you can, enjoy the most creative creations of our city’s talented bartenders and brace yourself for the possibility of a stretch of simpler drinks while we wait for the legal wrangling to resolve itself into better policies.

    There is a merciful exception to all this hard liquor news; bitters – crucial ingredient of many fine drinks – from what we can see, are not subject to this prohibition. According to the state Board of Equalization, who managed alcoholic beverage matters prior to the creation of the ABC in 1955, “Angostura bitters used as flavoring is too concentrated to be fit for consumption as a beverage. As such, Angostura bitters is not ‘fit for beverage purposes’ under the definition of an alcoholic beverage.” It seems unlikely that other bitters – be they Abbott’s, orange, or chocolate-chili – would be treated any differently. So take heart, cocktailians, all those former infused vodka drinkers are going to be searching for a new taste sensation. Should we tell them that the trendy “new” recipe they’re sipping had its origins in San Francisco a century ago? Shhh, no need to rectify that mistake.

Bibulo.us Special Report: Plymouth & Beefeater spirited dinner at Absinthe

On May 21st a scientist attempting to locate gin's gravitational pull would have found many orbits drawn to the vicinity of Absinthe Brasserie & Bar due to the powerful influence of the twin suns, Beefeater Master Distiller Desmond Payne and Plymouth Master Distiller Sean Harrison.

These two gentlemen shared observations on gin in general and their specific products in particular while the small crowd enjoyed a bright little opening cocktail featuring Beefeater 24 called the Twinkle Toes (created by Jeff Hollinger and named by Jackie Patterson for its sprightly effect).

As we tasted the gins neat - with a drop of water, on our distillers' advice - Mr. Payne spoke on the non-industrialized nature of juniper farming. "It's a business of men hitting bushes with sticks". He also emphasized the importance of using botanicals wisely with traditional techniques saying "It's an exploration, not a colonization."

The food, from executive chef Jamie Lauren, was delicious and the drinks very tasty. We began with a Kampachi crudo amuse paired with a Martini Cocktail (with Beefeater) and a Marguerite Cocktail (with Plymouth). The first course - asparagus with burrata, roasted peppers, charred onion vinaigrette, wild arugula and speck - was paired with a Sensation (using the Plymouth and mixed by Steven Liles).

Our entree, a sublime slow cooked pork confit, was paired with an original drink by Jeff Hollinger, Desmond's Harlot. The drink is named for Mr. Payne's statement "Gin should be like a whore; it should go with anything" and, per Jeff, may be casually referred to as a "Dizzy's Ho" when not at a white tablecloth event. It consists of Beefeater gin, Plymouth sloe gin, cherry gastrique, Angostura bitters, Hellfire tincture, rosemary, and soda. It is unclear if one of Mr. Payne's other comments during the tasting, ostensibly about finishing flavors, might also bear on this general principle: "A good gin has to keep its tail up."

New-to-Absinthe pastry chef Luis Villavelazquez (known to Bibulo.us to be a gin fan as well as formidable force in the kitchen) showcased his skills in the form of a dessert of Japanese Kabosu Lime Parfait with green tea biscuit, tobacco foam, and grapefruit. This was paired with an original drink from Jackie Patterson using Beefeater 24 gin, lemon blossom & black pepper infused Dolin Blanc vermouth, and Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur. This exotic and wonderful mouthful was dubbed "Hey Jealousy" by Absinthe bar manager Jonny Raglin.

Jacques Bezuidenhout closed us out with a nice Pink Gin and everyone left with a smile.

We really must advise anyone in the area to get on Absinthe's mailing list to be alerted of these occasional dinners. They'd be worth it for the food alone, but the drinks are fantastic, the price reasonable, and the company top drawer, even when you aren't as lucky as we were this time to be seated across from the ever enjoyable master distiller of Beefeater.

Bibulo.us Special Report: Galliano L’Autentico San Francisco Launch

We got a sneak preview of this event from our New Year's Eve companion at Montgomery Place, Galliano brand ambassador Agostino Perrone of London. After the great tasting notes we got from him, we've been very eager for these reformulations to reach our shores.

As we and the other cocktail nerds & barfolk of San Francisco learned at Taverna Avetine earlier this month, only the Authentico - now reformulated to its original higher proof under the guiding hand of the Lucas Bols company - and the coffee-based Ristretto are available in the U.S so far. We eagerly await their Balsamico and its use in the hands of bartenders and chefs. It is created from a must concentrate of grapes, with a reduction of raspberry, cooked sugar and acetic acid to complete the flavor.

Galliano Authentico is sweetly herbal with strong vanilla notes. It's herbal & spice ingredients include green anise seed, fresh juniper berries, achilea moscata (yarrow), lavender, sage, cardamom, cloves, artemesia (wormwood), iris, cinnamon, and vanilla. As Ago put it "It's not so much a taste, more a sensory happening."

As we began tasting the liqueur alone and in cocktails mixed by some of San Francisco's finest, he walked through the key elements of staging a cocktail: simplicity & classic combinations with a twist, travel & experiencing other cultures, matching the glassware to the drink, shape, color, garnish; all these things that lead to balance and a great experience.

The key to using the new Galliano L'Authentico is balance. Too much and one is thrown back to thoughts of children's vitamins or cough syrup. A light touch and brightening things up with fizz, from sparkling wines or soda, is a good place to start with this ingredient.

Our evening began with the Italian Spritz Punch (6 oz Galliano L'Authentico, 6 oz Aperol, 2 bottles Prosecco, built up in a bowl over a large ice block and garnished with orange & lemon wheels and raspberries) and moved on to the Maggiore Collins (1/2 oz Galliano L'Authentico, 2 oz Bols Genever, 2/3 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 oz simple syrup, built in an ice-filled glass and garnished with a lemon wedge and a cherry).

 We also got to sample the Autentico Martini (1/2 oz Galliano L'Authentico, 1 1/3 oz London dry gin, 1/3 oz Tio Pepe dry sherry, 5 dashes Bitter Truth Celery Bitters, stirred and strained into a chilled glass, with a lemon peel) and the Silver Cobbler (1/2 oz fresh red apple, 4 green grapes, 1 barspoon vanilla sugar, 1/2 oz Galliano L'Authentico, 2 oz Gancia Bianco Italian fortified white wine, 1/2 oz Calvados, muddle the first three ingredients in a julep cup, fill with cracked ice, pour in other ingredients, stir and decorate with fresh fruit and mint).

Sure all those fancy new drinks are nice, but you know what? Not long after the launch, we went up to Harvey's on Castro Street and had a good old Harvey Wallbanger with the new formulation and it was just fine - a lot more interesting than an ordinary, boring Screwdriver certainly. Maybe the drinkers of the 1970s weren't completely without taste after all.

(Hot tip: if the top of that big tall bottle is purple it's a) old and b) not the restored L'Authentico formulation. Have something else.)

Support the spectrum when you host

We fans of the classic cocktail love our strong, spirit-driven drinks, but not everyone enjoys the taste of alcohol and many people don't or don't want to drink as much of it or any at all.

A good host - whether at home or in a professional setting - should be able to provide the same pleasant experience of the perfect beverage for a guest anywhere along the spectrum from "straight up, no chaser" to teetotaler.

Jeff Hollinger wrote about this beautifully in his book The Art of the Bar in the short sidebar on serving kids at events (starting on page 60).

I could have gotten away with offering the little guy a Coke or even the old standby, a Shirley Temple, but I knew he wouldn't have been anywhere near as excited as he was with his special drink. He saw me take time to balance out the ingredients, and watched as I capped a straw to taste it before passing it across the bar. He knew the drink met with my approval. I wanted him to see that I took this creation seriously. It's a helpful attitude to have when you are trying to come up with fun, alcohol-free drinks. Why should kids, designated drivers, pregnant women, and anyone else who isn't drinking for one reason or another resign themselves to water, soda, and juice as their only beverage option?

Look back at your Jerry Thomas and Harry Johnson bartenders' guides of the 19th century and remind yourself how much coverage there is of the drinking world beyond the booze. Start making yourself something special in contexts where you're thirsty and an alcohol-centric drink isn't appropriate. Build your repertoire and explore new ingredients. What juices go well with which garnishes? Sweet or spicy is easy, but what to make for that Manhattan and Martini loving friend when he's taking a break from the booze? Try building up from your mixers, garnishes and other non-alcoholic ingredients as well as working down from spiritous cocktails to create temperate versions.

You'll find there are good resources out there for non-alcoholic drinks - the best cocktail manuals always include a section on them - and helpful new books from a cocktailian's perspective such as Natalie Bovis-Nelsen's Preggatinis: Mixology for the Mom-to-Be. Just as when you first began learning cocktail standbys, teach yourself a half-dozen non-alcoholic or "virgin" drinks covering a spectrum of tastes and available ingredients which you can use to make your guests feel well cared for, regardless of their alcohol intake.

Next, push yourself to a higher skill level by filling in the middle ground with a half-dozen shims - remember the shim? - which you learn by heart, and bring these low-alcohol cocktails into play whenever a little less kick is appropriate: between rounds on a long evening, as the first round while the appetizers have only just begun to circulate and people have empty stomachs, as the designated driver's one drink before switching to non-alcoholic choices, on a second social evening in a row when the first turned into a bender, or just to keep yourself level any time extra balance is needed.

Mix it up for everyone!