I think there is nothing more civilized than sharing a Cocktail with friends. And this blog is intended to help you explore this essential social phenomenon intelligently and safely. We will be looking at both Drinks AND Drinking itself.

OPENING COMMENTS

A drink has the power to do immense destruction. But “We are still heartily of the opinion that decent libation supports as many million lives as it threatens; donates pleasure and sparkle to more lives than it shadows; inspires more brilliance in the world of art, music, letters, and common ordinary intelligent conversation, than it dims.” (Charles H. Baker, Jr.). We simply need only know how to control it. This blog is my endeavor to do just that. 

Drinking. All people from all places have drunk and will drink, and for the same reason. To make the pain go away. The pain of defeat, the pain of loss, the pain of work - the pain of life. Not just deep physical or psychological or emotional pain. Also, the day-to-day pain of nicks and bruises and jabs and slights. Pain knows no barriers - not age, not race, not sex, not class. Some manner of Pain finds us all; no matter where we are, where we go, it finds us eventually. And those who have more pain, drink more, until it too is the pain. Alcoholism is not a disease - it is too much cure.

And so, we celebrate all manner of life's situations. And drink is at the heart of those celebrations. It is the 'well made' drink that can save us. My goal over the past decades has been to rebuild, in at least the confines of my home, the spirit of classical drinking -- Civility, Intelligence, and Delight.

This small effort is not a collection of cocktails - it is about Drinking.

Drinking at home, principally. What to drink? when to drink it? how to make it? what to eat with it?

It is to help drinking be what the Classic period of the early 20th century made of it - a Grand Urban Exploration. An exploration of ourselves, of others, and of this petri bowl in which we are all aswim, called being alive.

Stayed tuned. I will be back shortly to begin presenting how it is we all can come to be better drinkers. This is the academic in me: more informed is more intelligent - more intelligent is more likely to be happier and safer. We'll see eh?

LET'S GET STARTED...

So Where Does the Upside of Drinking Begin?

It mystifies me to this day that metaphorically speaking, no one has the faintest idea how to consume a commodity that mankind has had in hand since coming down out of the  trees.

However, undauntedly, I agree with Charles H. Baker Jr. who is

“. . .  still heartily of the opinion that decent libation supports as many million lives as it threatens; donates pleasure and sparkle to more lives than it shadows; inspires more brilliance in the world of art, music, letters, and common ordinary intelligent conversation, than it dims.”

The  beginning for drinking is vocabulary.

We must define what a drink is:

     What is in it? and

          How is it structured?

 

Happiness is having a rare steak,

a bottle of whisky

and a dog to eat the rare steak.

- Johnny Carson

STEP 1

What is a Mixed Drink?

A mixed drink is a concoction of  three liquid components.

  1. A Major Distilled Spirit (whiskey, vodka, gin, rum) that is 40%, alcohol or more. This is noted on the label as ‘proof’. 40% ABV is 80 proof. Proof is double the percent. This component is generally made from one or two source materials such as corn, wheat, rye, barley.
  2. A Minor Spirit called a liqueur. Liqueurs are often much lower in alcohol percentage, from 14-15% to 30%. Though some shoot the moon. And they all are most often local recipes that include 2-3-4 to 58 different ingredients. These are rarely grains, rather they are almost entirely a combination of flowers, roots, herbs, fruits, spices. These Liqueurs can be grouped into categories, such as triple secs, vermouths, amaros. The brands are numerous, the categories aren’t. This will help us learn to drink.
  3. A Non-alcoholic Component; mostly fruit juices or waters, like tonic or soda.

STEP 2

Step 2 : Recipes vs. Formulas

So, if there are only 3 parts to a mixed drink, why are they so difficult and confusing to make or order? First, the  individual items within each component  are overwhelming in number. Second, the recipes for drinks are never the same in any two books or bars. So,  drinkers get no help in building their knowledge. In fact, it is clear that there is no real understanding in the Drink World of the difference between Recipe and Formula.

A Recipe is a list of ingredients necessary to make the drink – and a set of steps on how to proceed in mixing them together. A Formula is the math applied to the list of ingredients. Or for our purposes, the exact quantities of each ingredient.

So, taking a step back for a moment, I said above, the Recipes are never the same from book to book. That can often be the case, but more precisely the Formulas are almost never the same. An example of this is the Manhattan. Some recipes call for Bourbon, some for Rye. The Formulas for either vary even more… some are 3 to 1 rye/bourbon to red vermouth… some are 2 to 1….. some are 4 to 1. Throw in the fact that the red vermouth is never specified – French, Italian, Spanish, American – and it becomes quite clear, quite quickly why few people know how to drink:  Which of these Recipe/Formulas am I supposed to follow?

Well, the good news here is this ‘confusion’ is at the core of my approach to learning How to Drink. We are going to use this inconsistency to our advantage.

Our approach is focused on understanding your needs and providing practical solutions. From personalized consultations to hands-on assistance.

STEP 3

Step 3 – Drink Component Clarification

Again, the Basic Drink is

  1. High Alcohol Core Distilled Spirits: vodka, tequila, gin, whiskey, rum
  2. Lower Alcohol Liqueurs: hundreds such as triple sec, Chartreuse, vermouth...
  3. Non-alcoholic Extras: fruit juices, tonic, sodas, bitters

Let’s get more Specific with all these elements. Not terribly specific; that would take the Encyclopedia Britannica.  This is where, hopefully, you begin to see how it is possible to make drinks from a Recipe, rather than from a Formula. You  only need a small handful of Recipes, not the 10,000 Formulas that are out there.

We are  going to come to understand that there are consistent characteristics of the bottlings in each of the 3  Major drink components. And then we  will come to realize that these consistent characteristics will allow us to switch out one brand for another within a given drink component. In short, the commonalities between bourbon and rye, for example, and those between any of the 4 nationalities of red vermouth are going to allow us to trade out any one of them for another in that component grouping without losing the integrity of the cocktail. All I have to know as the ‘bartender’ is what are the on-hand options are for that particular component. 

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Information - White Distilled Spirits

High Alcohol Core Distilled Spirits – the Backbone

Vodka: the simplest and least interesting of the distilled spirits. Unique in that it is distilled at 190 proof – that is until it is 95% alcohol. This eliminates all particulate matter….which is what carries flavor. Hence, vodka has no flavor. The interesting question is Why would this be the case for one of the most universally made distilled spirits?  Vodka, at my last count, is currently in the market utilizing 37 different distilling sources.

The more known are potatoes, wheat,  corn, but also apples, rice, grapes, sorghum, honey, milk – anything that has the sugars to ferment into alcohol. You might ask why so many?

Early on mankind simply needed a distraction from time to time from the exhausting rigors of life. It needed to be easily available and cheap. Furthermore, it could not be made from source material needed to feed the village. So, whatever was left over or in excess production was used. And,  to get rid of odd tastes it was distilled out at high proof.

 

Tequila – moving up a step we have Tequila. All are made from the Weber blue agave plant, Agave Tequilana. A similar spirit from Oaxaca, Mezcal, is made from a sister plant of the agave family, Agave Espadin. And a third south of the border spirit Sotol, is made from Dasylirion Wheeleri. It is made in only 3 states along the US border. If Vodka has no taste then these 3 have little taste but noticeable mouth feel – a slight prickliness. Like all other distilled spirits, except Vodka, Tequila is distilled at 126 proof. Which is 63% alcohol, which is then cut with water to generally 40% alcohol. Some Tequilas are aged a bit, and so while Blancos are white, Reposados are a light amber from little barrel aging, and Anejos are darker from more extensive aging. The Tequila Commission insists that the barrels be made of oak, but they do not have to be new barrels.

 

Gin – now we are getting somewhere. Gin is a neutral grain spirit that is infused with juniper berries and coriander seeds, angelica root, orris root, citrus peels. Mostly. This is the gin we all grew up with – London Dry Gin. But this spirit tree has branched out in recent decades. There are 5 general styles of gin.

* London Dry – called such because it was nothing like the mother of all gins, the Dutch Genever Gin, which is sweet and made very differently. It’s still available. I recommend you try some at your local bar.

* Scotch gins – these  are London Dry gins made by scotch producers in Scotland. This started a few years back, I suspect, as a financial boost to their Mother category which had become increasingly costly. Gin has a much quicker turn around than Scotch which meant money in hand to weather the years of waiting to release Scotch Malts. They are basically London Dry Gins utilizing locally available field herbs and roots. Coupled with a less intense dependence upon juniper, this resulted in a softer, floral taste in these gins compared to London Dry. Imagine if you will, two kids with the same mother but different fathers. They are generally interchangeable with London Dry gins.

* European Gins – these are not unlike the Scotch gins: rooted in London Dry gin, but utilizing local roots and herbs. Also, some of them use a grape based spirit, which yields a softer feel in the mouth. This category is growing at lightning speed. Yes, France, Spain, Germany,  Ireland, the Scandinavian group, and the usual European suspects all make gin now. But we are also starting to see product arrive from quirky places like Sardinia and Croatia. And with each of these places comes a new set of flowers, roots, and herbs, like lavender, Adriatic sea rosemary, sage, rose hips, and various citrus fruits.

* American Gins – of course it had to be. There are over 700 American gins (UK has over 1700, Germany, the European leader, has right at 700 as comparisons). And like most things Americans do to copy others, they do it with no respect for tradition. Some of the older American brands hue to the London Dry model but more and more vary up to miles from the model. I mean, if you are making gin in SoCal you must acknowledge the impact of the Margarita and include lime…. and sea kelp…. And green ants!? And we wonder why people have trouble with gin.

* Genever – the original gin from Holland, going back to the 15th-16th century. Also based in juniper – but like I said earlier, check it out. It has almost no appearance in the Classic Mixed Drink oeuvre.