bar-log = blog

Beer Cocktails? Not always a bad idea...

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:38:13 +0400

I needed to make in my career several attempts to create beer cocktails.
But to be honest - there are very few, which are worth to make the effort.

A beer mary? Who likes that???

Truth has to be told - there are some beer mixes, which are originating in the German speaking countries, which are pretty good: Radler / Alster Wasser - internationally called shandies.
They are not really complex - but really refreshing and good to drink.
In France there is the Panaché, which is apparently the same as a shandy - and they have a Demi-Pêche a combination of light beer with some peach syrup [you would have something similar in Berlin: the Berliner Weisse mit Schuss]; also not bad.

And again in German speaking countries, it is quite common to mix wheat beer with some fruit nectars like cherry, banana or peach. I usually like this less - as the thick sweet nectars are quite covering the beer taste - it is not a very balanced drink - but yes - it is drinkable.

But there was an idea, growing in my mind: I thought about Sgroppino - and connected it with beer... why not combining some fruit sorbet with beer?

As I bought quite some time ago the “über-Weizenbock” [Bock is usually a beer, with stronger notes and usually also more alcohol] - I wanted to try and review it anyway.
Where? Beer Advocate! It is a good beer - balanced but with a pronounced wheatiness.

It is a big bottle [0.75l], so after the tasting I had still enough to experiment. Especially for these reasons [actually more for a sgroppino] I have bought a couple of weeks a package of organic pear sorbet - so this was exactly what was needed. I put a could of full table spoons into a glass and poured the beer over it...

And -> this is absolutely genius!
The sorbet is chilling down the beer and mixes up with it. It adds fruitiness but still is refreshing.

There are a couple of things to consider: don’t use Heineken or a similar beer [-flavored substance]. It has to be a quite strong full bodied beer - preferable with a fruity hint - match the beer style with the sorbet...

How would you call it? Beer Sgroppino? Sorbet Shandy? I don’t know yet. I am open for some suggestions...

And - yeah - remember, where you have heard it first...

Best restaurants also have weaknesses

Wed, 9 May 2012 20:35:49 +0400

As I am quite bored of the ever-repeating series/episodes of Food Network [why am I paying actually for this, anyway?], I found another series of Gordon Ramsay on youtube.

Gordon Ramsay’s Best Restaurant.

We can now debate, if these are really the best restaurants... I guess, the title should be more like: Gordon Ramsay’s Personal Choice Restaurants or Best Newcomer / Ascender Restaurants.

Anyway like often mentioned, I think it is good for a bar personality, to acknowledge what the restaurant business is doing. And sometimes in secrecy, I get quite humble and intimidated, if you are looking at successful restaurants; especially if you compare the professionalism between restaurants and bars.

It is rather refreshing to see, that restaurants have very similar problems as bars. This is relieving. And it also results into a challenge: we still can do better and we still can haul in restaurants.

Just have a look on this youtube video [and check out the other parts/episodes].

Sweet & creamy cocktails - revived

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:39:56 +0400

It doesn’t happen, so often, that you have an idea, which is totally novel and not used by a myriad of other bartenders and cocktail bloggers.

And then you have sometimes ideas, which brewed inside of your brain and you try to develop this ideas - however Jeffrey Morgenthaler is just faster to publish those [he might use a secret apparatus which enables him, to skim ideas, even over ten-thousands of kilometers].

Anyway - yesterday I have made some truly delectable vanilla custard. Yes - I am not only good with the shaker... you could also call me a kitchen wizard [ok - this is a bit of a stretch; I just want to say, that I am quite confident working with food].

The outcome was, that this dessert [served with sour cherry compote] was really toothsome; I barely had leftovers. The taste was beautiful vanill’y, without being eggy.

It just took until today, that I had a sudden inspiration to use custard in cocktails.

The custard was quite liquid [in between Crème Anglaise and custard I would say], I used less corn starch, to make it smoother... so why not using it instead cream in some drinks?

I run around the room and took the first things, I could think of - besides of the custard, I picked up rum [Dos Madeiras] and LBV port. Eyeballed the whole mixture [two parts rum, one part port, one part custard] and shook the whole mixture for 20 seconds. Then I strained it [ok - didn’t had a hawthorne strainer, so I used a wire whisk, which was laying around and put everything into a small wine glass [didn’t had a coupe glass around at home]. Voilà.

It tasted - not bad at all. But improvable as well. I felt it was a bit... to boozy and unbalanced.
But as first attempt, not bad...

I thought then of Brandy Alexander... would be definitely a go [however I don’t have chocolate liqueur at home]...

While I was writing this up [yes exact this post now], I had another notion. I thought about:
Bailey’s = cream liqueur - whisky - whisky liqueur - honey - ... need to try out.

Again I went around like a twister, took a bottle of Macallan cask strength, some honey [Australian clover honey] and the rest of the custard.

Shook everything - this time even 30 seconds and poured it into the hastily cleaned small wine glass. Used this time a kitchen strainer [messing up everything, because the liquid was not pouring into a thin stream into the glass as planned, but rained down over the counter].

Wow. This was amazing. If the honey would have been infused with herbs, it would be even better. But the Macallan stood against the sweet and creamy aromas. The honey lend its sweetness and honey’ish aromas [which complemented the character of the Speyside malt] and the custard gave just the right amount of creaminess and the vanilla aromas.

I think this is just the beginning of a great journey. Instead of using cream or whole egg [like a egg nogg], using custard is a fantastic thing to use. And you can also flavor your custard: think coffee custard or cocoa custard...

An important thing: make the custard yourself - using a bit less of corn starch [you want to have it more like a crème anglaise]. There is no point to use store bought custard. And off course I have used fresh real vanilla bean, to infuse the milk / cream mixture; and a small piece of cinnamon.

And one more thing: please remember, where you have read it first!

The future of bar - the food

Sun, 8 Apr 2012 20:33:57 +0400

Lets wrap up, what the future bar should be and what it shouldn’t be:

It should be:
• A serious part of the culinary arts
• Serving authentic, original and serious drinks
• Focussing on the base spirit, realizing of its responsibility in using alcohol
• Limited selection of mixed drinks, prepared in an immaculate way
• Utilizing few good quality ingredients

And it shouldn’t be:
• Flashy, sweet bonbon flavored cocktails, which don’t taste like alcohol
• Repetition from the 80’s and 90’s
• Pointless molecular mixology
• Drinks with artificial colors, flavors etc.

The challenge: to realize this concept, however still be successful.

If you are only offering Gin Fizzes and Old Fashioneds, you might end up with a quite empty bar, filled with a couple of old folks...

A contemporary bar concept incorporates a food aspect. As a adequate restaurant cannot operate without a great wine list and good other beverage options, a future of the bar cannot be successful without the serious integration of food.

A curious fact is, that I don’t know one bar, which perfectly adjusted snacks to the needs of a bar guest! The points of [nouveau] bar food are:
• Easy to eat - preferable without cutlery - not messy!
• Small portions
• Easy to share
• Small food print on the small bar tables
• Comforting and elevated and perfectly corresponding to the drinks

Lets look on popular bar snacks and lets see, why they are not matching at all the criteria:
• Buffalo chicken wings - there is nothing more messy; it is also a bit too comfy...
• Burger- it is not easy to eat, it is messy, you cannot share - the portion is more of a main course... the needs plate usually needs a lot of space [plus the condiments and sides]
• Club sandwich - very similar to burgers
• Nachos - messy and not really sophisticated
• Potato skins - usually messy... not very adequate food

And so on. Bar food is most of the time really an loveless repetitions of the standards - sometimes better done, often not that good prepared.

In my eyes, there are two important “groups” of bar food, which can meet the above criteria:

(1) A smaller number of elevated, sophisticated snacks - lets say 3 or 5 pieces. Examples would be Foie gras pralines, wagyu skewers, chicken popsicles, tuna tartare tacos, caviar stuffed quail eggs, fried mini camembert and so on... these are canapés in a more contemporary meaning.
(2) A larger number of easier snacks, more of a nibble to share. Examples are: mini bacon & cheese melts, fried pickles, fried parmesan, fried mayonnaise and so on.

Great thing is, that those groups can easily be adjusted to the respective concept of the bar: a Japanese Bar could focus more on a Japanese centric fare - a fancy bar, can go avant-garde...

There are of course some advantages and disadvantages coming with this:

Advantages are:
• Guqests stay longer in the bar
• Average spend is higher [food & beverages]
• With interesting snacks, you open up a new client base: foodies!
• Exciting promotions can be done; e.g. pairings
• Symbiosis between bar & kitchen improves quality and creativity

Disadvantages are:
• Additional investment into the kitchen
• Higher payroll due to the chefs [you need a good chef de cuisine]
• Higher cost of sales [food cost]
• Possible challenges in service

Lets face it: more people understand and are excited about food, than about drinks. Using the “halo” of cutting edge food has the potential to excite and reach many more people, than doing cutting edge drinks, which usually only thrills people in the same or close industry and some cocktail geeks.

A story of Scotch

Wed, 4 Apr 2012 19:05:20 +0400

Pals - I have tried, to explain the differences of whisky in a quite simple way - and I failed.
It is just puzzling. However I had the idea, to do some story telling. Maybe this makes it easier - but definitely it makes it better to remember. Please just understand, that these are not historical facts - but some actual facts are embedded in a fictional story.
Once more: THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL STORY OF JOHNNIE WALKER. I hope you will still enjoy it.

Lets talk now about the [fictional] family MacLeod: in the mid 18 hundreds they are living in Kilmarnock a city in the very South of Scotland.  Father Connor MacLeod [who might or might not be a cousin of the famous Highlander] and his friends, but also mother MacLeod love to have their regular dram.
Every other Thursday they visiting their wine merchant / grocery store of their neighbor John Walker to buy their necessities and some liquid treat.

Father MacLeod is not poor at all and for Scottish circumstances quite wealthy - however the fortified wines and distillates are coming from continental Europe via England hence they are quite expensive: Sherry and Spanish Brandy, Madeira, Port, Marsala and Cognac, are the favorite of the English neighbors. And even worse, due to the political enmeshments of the British crown with the other Navy strong and colonial competing countries like Spain, Portugal and France, the supply of those liquors is everything but consistent.
So usually the MacLeods ask John, the owner of a small grocery to fill up their decanters with the more regional grain distillates, which are yet so long legal. The problem is, that there is almost no consistency. Sometimes the booze is smoky, sometimes grainy and hot, sometimes full bodied... While it is better than becoming a teetotaler, the consumption is often not satisfactory.

Another Thursday and Johnnie sells father MacLeod a bottle of the newest whisky. Coming from not so far away and even much cheaper than the traditional malt whiskies, it looks very promising.
The Scot Robert Stein with the help of the Irishman Aeneas Coffey developed a new distilling apparatus and helped to build a new huge distilling factory, which makes it much easier to distill - without all the pain, the more Northern distilling colleagues have to go through.
But in the evening, when MacLeod is trying the new hooch, he is disappointed. Yes, it is not as harsh as most of his usually drams - but it is nearly flavorless. Not what a man should drink [and even mother MacLeod doesn’t like this new fashioned flavorless booze the next morning when she tries].

After work he brings the remaining bottle directly back to John to complain.

John is not happy at all! He thought it was a good idea, to buy a lot of the new whisky - it is much lighter and should have solved all problems, he had with his previous whisky.
But most customers are unhappy - some like his friend MacLeod, even brought the bottle back!
This should have not be a problem - but Johnnie bought several barrels, as the Cameron Brig distillery sold the casks for a very good price - now he is sitting on his booze.

He invites Connor MacLeod this evening to his shop and both are drinking the new and the old fashioned whisky side by side, to compare...

It becomes late - and both whisky jugs are emptied - MacLeod wants to go home - however Johnnie insists just to toast once more - but there is barely enough to drink in their two distinct glasses - so both guys are pouring the two different whiskies together to have one last proper sip.

“To Scotland and horrible Scotch whisky” they toast, down the spirit... but wait - the result taste actually much better than the original base whiskies.
John is farewelling MacLeod hastily - as he makes the plan to get up early the next day; whisky has to be mixed!

Next day, MacLeods passes by - still with a huge hangover. Johhnie gives him a bottle of his newest creation. MacLeod is trying it this evening with friends and family - this whisky is so good, that he knocks still in the late evening on Johnnies door, to buy some more bottles. The next day, MacLeods friends and the friends of the friends are coming to the small grocery - all to buy the new whisky.

Soon John needs to stop selling other stuff than liquors, because his whisky mixture, his blend is outselling every other product.
Soon even the rather unwelcome English are ordering his whisky - a legend has born.

The Alchemist Elderflower cocktail - old & new

Wed, 4 Apr 2012 12:50:15 +0400

This is today a treat for you: I give you the recipe of one of my most successful cocktail recipes.

To be honest, I am not a fan of cocktail creativity - I think that there are great recipes out there - Jerry Thomas made quite a lot and what is wrong with an Old Fashioned, a Whiskey Sour, a Sidecar.

But occasionally there is a need to become creative - there are new techniques to be tried out and used - new spirits to be tried - and from time to time, you are asked to create a recipe.

Well the Currant Nights, the cocktail we are talking about, was a recipe for a DBU [German Bartender Union] cocktail challenge. Unfortunately I was disqualified - because I used an ingredient, which was not of one of the sponsors. Well... shit happens.

The cool thing is - I have created the recipe in 2001 - long before everyone became crazy of elderflower...

Yes - there is vodka in the mix [I didn’t had clear feelings against vodka then - but most of us were not that far, then], but we will address this in the updated version.

Currant Nights 2001
4.5 cl Absolut Kurrant
1.5 cl D’Arbo elderflower syrup
2 cl freshly squeezed lemon juice
0.5 cl Crème de Cassis

Pour all ingredients except of the Cassis into a pre-chilled mixing glass - over ice cubes [discard melted water before].
Shake strong and virtuously at least for 20 seconds.
Pour into pre chilled [but empty] cocktail saucer.
Float with Crème de Cassis. Garnish as you wish.

Simple but surprisingly full of character [for a vodka drink]!
I would say, that this is not only one of the best vodka drinks, I have created - it is even one of the best vodka drinks, period. Better than a Cosmo.

Anyways - this is now quite a long time ago.
In between now and then lays a decade, which was has seen the evolvement - yes resurrection of mixology!

So how does the Currant Nights 2012 look like?
First of all, we have to get rid of the vodka. C’mon - for one cocktail it doesn’t make sense to keep a specific infused vodka - and no - vodka infusions are so 2007.
So? Gin!
We need a round and not too junipery gin - with still with enough strength - Beefeater 24 sounds good for me. I like my juniper focussed gin - however if you would like to make a rather fruity drink, the piney aromas of juniper can distract.
We swap also the D’Arbo syrup for St.Germain liqueur. D’Arbo is still a fantastic product - it is far ahead of any other elderflower syrup I have tried. But it is not available in Dubai. And I need to push a bit the alcohol content [I was never a friend of weak cocktails] - and St. Germain then was not created - now it is one of the most successful and contemporary liqueur. It is a go!

Now: the currants - it is time for contemporary techniques: roughly minced dried currants flash infused [cream charger] in the Beefeater 24 in an espuma siphon. One till one and a half minutes infusion time. That will do the trick!

So we have the elements - lemon juice stays - there is no need for using a different ingredient.

4.5 cl dried currants infused Beefeater 24 [or other non juniper focussed gin - >43% abv]
1.5 cl St. Germain Elderflower liqueur
2 cl Lemon Juice
0.5 cl Crème de Cassis

Pour all ingredients except of the Cassis into a pre-chilled mixing glass - over ice cubes [discard melted water before].
Shake strong and virtuously at least for 20 seconds.
Pour into pre chilled [but empty] cocktail saucer.
Float with Crème de Cassis. Garnish with red currants.

There are still two comments:

For the moment I hold the egg whites. Yes - previously I was a big supporter - but a fraction of consumers [inclusive me] smelling the eggy smell - even though you spray some hydrosols over the surface. Until now, nobody could give me a solution [and I was not able to solve this riddle].
And I don’t like people to complain about the smell of drinks.
There is also the possibility of using Frothee an artificial product to mimic egg white - I am also not a fan of this...

You also have to be carefully, if you are shopping the dried currants. Actually there are raisins, which are called [out of unknown reasons] currants - but there are also real dried currants. You would need the real stuff!

Whisky

Wed, 4 Apr 2012 10:43:18 +0400

In a post on facebook on the group page of the Malt Society in the UAE - there was some confusion about Single Malts: if it is legal to have different spirits / barrels in Single Malt?

Well - I take it as a motivation, to talk here about whisky. As whisky is a really vast topic, we keep it for the moment to Scotland [and Scotch - style] whiskies.

First of all it is to say, that Scotch whisky is spelled without an “e”.

There are 3 different main styles:

Blended Scotch

Scotch Malt

Grain Whisky

All of these types have to be produced in Scotland and aged in oak in Scotland for more than 3 years.

Lets begin with the grain whisky. This is a distillate, which is produced with the “youngest” technology in the whisky industry - the patent still.

Robert Stein - a Scottish [maybe a bit naïve] genius and his Irish [clever and maybe a bit snaky] Aeneas Coffey developed this still, which contains two distinctive columns which is able to separate water, ethanol, methanol and other compounds of the “wash” with the help of steam. The apparatus can distill continuously as long as there is wash [fermented grain beer] - 24/7]

This revolutionary and new development happened in the 1860’s.
 The unaged distillate coming out of these columns is very light and neutral, chemical very pure, more like raw vodka than whisky. The distillation strength is usually around 96% [usually all commercial whiskies are diluted before it comes into an oak barrel and then another time diluted before it will be bottled].
There is water, yeast and all kind of grains allowed for the mash - in Scotland and Ireland usually wheat is used as base for the mash.

Conservative opinions are, that grain whisky is inferior - however there are here and there some absolutely stunning examples, which can revel with the quality of the best whiskies.
It is then all about the oak barrel...

Before this revolutionary device, people distilled at least 500 years long with the old batch method - the pot still. There are big differences in the look and the size of pot stills nowadays - the smallest commercial pot stills contain a couple of thousand liters of wash - the biggest pot still ever produced contained well over 140,000 liters.
The function is very simple - the wash is slowly heated - and as different compounds have different boiling points, the compounds can be separated. This is not as exact as the patent still - and the distillate has to be distilled at least 2 times, to result a adequate result.

Malt whisky can only made out of a mash of 100% malted barley.

Blended whisky - is a combination of grain whiskies and malt whiskies.
It was the first commercially successful whisky - as early malt whiskies were often harsh and inconsistent and grain whisky was boring, dull and without a lot of aromas.

Single: there are single malt whisky and single grain whisky - single in this context means, that it comes from one single distillery. The distillate is however still usually blended out of different barrels to maintain the specific character of the respective product / of the distillery.

Single cask: This means, that the whisky really comes from one whisky barrel. Only the best and most unique barrels are chosen to become a single cask and the price is usually higher than the usual products in the portfolio.

Cask strength: This means, that the whiskies from the barrels are not further diluted to bottle strength [which is usually around 40% alcohol by volume]. Due to the first dilution [before the spirit comes into the barrel] and natural evaporation of the alcohol - the strength can be anywhere between >40 and <60%. Cask strength can be occasionally found with “normal” single malts and even more often with cask strength malts.

Blended Malts: These whiskies were previously called vatted malts or pure malts - however were renamed to blended malts. There are only malt whisky barrels used for those products - but contrary to single malts, they come from different distilleries.

I hope this makes sense...

Now what is the best whisky? For me, it is not about better or worse - but about the character and authenticity of the distillates:

Blended Whisky is usually quite complex. You usually can taste more or less smoky undertones [from a hint of the smoky Islay and Isle of Skye malts], a good and round body [of Speyside malts], some complexity [from the Highlands], some fragrant tones [from the Lowlands] - this all, in a good transparency [from the grain whisky].
Fact is though, that most producers are “over-egging the pudding” with too much grain whisky. The usual commercial blends are containing usually not much more than 10% malts - the malt heaviest blended though also are not exceeding 40%!

Blended Malts for me are a bit like hermaphrodites: more complex than single malts and bolder than blended whisky. Sometimes it makes sense - often it doesn’t [often blended malts are also used as bogus claim].

Single Malts are the real characters in the Scottish whisky industry. There are some tender and endearing natures, some raucous, peaty characters; everybody can find him/her favorite character and taste - this is what I really appreciate with a spirit: personality.

Grain whisky is the big question mark in this equation. Usually only used as supportive role, there are magnificent grain whiskies on the market - not even a handful. Most grain whisky you anyway cannot buy - as it is not commercially sold.

I always find out [too late] that it becomes always quite confusing, to write/talk about whisky.
We even didn’t touched the Japanese - which are basically the same style as the Scottish - but this will follow another time in another post...