Woo! My order from Cocktail Kingdom arrived today!
Reprints of Vermeire, Ensslin, Straub, Maier, Kappelar, and home boy Boothby!
Japanese tins, some beautiful heavy mixing glasses, and even a bonus spoon!
Thanks Greg Boehm and Company, you are truly doing amazing things for the cocktail community.
PS. Ahem, the Aviation recipe in Hugo Ensslin’s book calls for Creme de Violette, not Creme Yvette!
I recently received a copy of Scott Beattie’s beautiful new book, “Artisanal Cocktails: Drinks Inspired by the Seasons from the Bar at Cyrus” in the mail.
I believe this had something to do with the tender mercies of the Mixoloseum crowd.
I’ve been interested in Mr. Beattie’s cocktails for some time now.
He has taken the seasonal, fresh bar to new extremes. Experimenting with techniques and ingredients that others don’t even dream of.
As someone who has been known to include homemade granita and scented geranium leaves in cocktails (see the Rosey Fizz), I find his experiments and cocktail creations intellectually fascinating.
While he doesn’t quite take things to the extremes of some of the East Coast Mixologists, there is a lot here of interest.
However, that is also a problem, when we’re talking about whether it is likely that any of these cocktails will get made.
I have a relatively well stocked bar at home. Well enough, anyway, to make just about any cocktail called for in the “Savoy Cocktail Book”.
Looking through Mr. Beattie’s book, I am having a real problem finding a cocktail I could make without taking a trip to Le Sanctuaire, the farmers’ market, whole foods, the liquor store, and then spending a couple hours in the kitchen doing prep.
Now, as someone who has called for homemade granita in an original cocktail, there’s definitely a bit of, “Hello Kettle, meet Pot,” going on. And, sure, I’m willing to allow a certain amount of envy or jealousy on my part.
But to dig a bit deeper, the real problem I have with Mr. Beattie’s cocktails is that they almost always seem to put other ingredients and flavors before those flavors provided by the spirits.
My favorite cocktails are the Manhattan, Sazerac, Old-Fashioned, Martini and variations thereupon. They are all about the character of the spirit in the drink.
The alcohol in most of the original cocktails in “Artisanal Cocktails” is provided by flavored vodkas or lightly flavored rums. And then whatever slight character these spirits might express are often covered up with a host of mixers, fruit juices, herbs, and spiced syrups.
It’s almost like there’s a distrust of using a spirit with too much character or having too much of the spirit’s flavor expressed in the drink.
Even the Manhattan in the book, the “Frankfort Manhattan”, is made using Bourbon infused with Vanilla and Citrus Peel!
I mean, if you wanted to make your own vermouth and mess with it by enhancing the vanilla and citrus character, that would be cool. Then use your custom Vermouth in Manhattan. I would be totally down with that. But why on earth would you want to infuse perfectly good Bourbon with Vanilla Beans and Citrus Zest? What do you do with the rest of the bottle?
I guess that makes me profoundly ambivalent.
There is a lot of interest in “Artisanal Cocktails”. It is a well written and beautifully photographed book. There’s a lot to think about in the recipes, ingredients, and techniques. Mr. Beattie is pushing the limits of what we think a mixed drink can or cannot be. And having sampled some of the drinks, I can say they are delicious.
But to channel my middle-aged curmudgeon, I’m just not sure if they are “cocktails” or if they are fruit and herb beverages which just happen to have a shot of vodka in them.
Additional Reading:
First, I want to apologize to David Wondrich for not writing up his new book “Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to “Professor” Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar” before Christmas, depriving him of whatever paltry sales a blog post here will generate. Sorry David.
In any case, the book had been covered so well by such stellar writers as Paul Clarke over at the Cocktail Chronicles, (“IMBIBE! (no, the other one)”,) and Jeff Berry over at Beachbum Berry’s Grog Blog, (“AN EDUCATED THIRST: PROFESSOR JERRY THOMAS, REMIXED”,) that I figured anyone with even a passing interest cocktails would have purchased it before Christmas. Heck, they should have pre-ordered the thing!
Plus, I didn’t want to ruin the surprise for many of my friends and family, as they were getting a copy for Christmas whether they wanted one or not.
Recently, though, it has come to my attention that some of my acquaintances (<cough>Rick<cough>) have not yet purchased a copy for themselves.
Now, I know perhaps you are thinking, “Why do I need a book about 19th Century cocktails and bar culture? I can make an Old-Fashioned as well as the next man. There’s nothing else to it, is there?”
Indeed, when I heard that Mr. Wondrich was working on this book, I wondered how he would make such things interesting to those of us already familiar with the subject matter.
The beautiful thing about Mr. Wondrich’s writing is that it is a joy to read. Indeed, I suspect if he applied himself to the subject of paint drying, he could, somehow, bring it to life.
He not only brings the culture of the 19th Century Saloon to vivid life, he provides seemingly endless amusing anecdotes about the cocktails themselves and the characters that created them. Boothby, Schmidt, and especially Thomas all get some time in the sun here.
Indeed, if I have any criticism of the book, it is that it spends too much time on cocktails, and not enough on the colorful characters and histories of the 19th Century. After reading the wonderful first chapter on the the life of Jerry Thomas, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed to get down to the business of cocktails, punches, and fancy drinks.
Sigh, I guess, ultimately, it is a cocktail recipe book, after all.
But, lest I also worry about that, Mr. Wondrich’s research and writing about those recipes is thoroughly fascinating and well worth going through. Not to mention, every recipe I have made so far has been outstanding. They may take a bit more work than modern cocktails, but the results are well worth the effort and the instructions impeccable.
Crack open your stingy wallet, mix yourself a drink, enjoy Mr. Wondrich’s prose, and smile.
Full disclosure: After I had pre-ordered a copy of “Imbibe!” the publisher sent me a copy. I didn’t cancel my pre-order, instead giving it to a friend. So, I figure we’re about even.
I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season!
I know I had a great holiday, visiting with friends and family.
Snowiest year in recent memory, however!
Haunting Midwestern bookstores turned up the following:
I couldn’t resist the suave allure of this copy of “Playboy’s Host & Bar Book” from 1971. Might have to finally get that bottle of Galliano!
1948 edition of “Bartender’s Guide…By Trader Vic”. Lots of fun recipes here and some pretty amusing insights in this early edition of Trader Vic’s Guide.
And finally, a vintage copy of Patrick Gavin Duffy’s “The Official Mixer’s Manual” from 1934. I’ve already noticed some discrepencies between this version and the 1956 James Beard edited version I had previously been relying on. For one thing, the Aviation Cocktail recipe in the older book is a verbatim copy of the Hugo Ensslin’s Aviation, calling for Creme de Violette and Maraschino. In the Beard edition it calls for Maraschino and Apricot Brandy. Certainly an odd substitution and one I’ve always wondered about. Nice to know it wasn’t Mr. Duffy’s choice.
I anticipate some fascinating reading in the coming months!
I hope Santa was as good to you, as he was to me, and wish you an exciting an eventful new year!
Cheers!
edit – typos
Over the years cocktails with a lot of drinks have been popular. Sort of compendiums of the state of the cocktail art, as it were. The first of these may have been “The Savoy Cocktail Book.” Other big ones include the various Mr. Boston Guides, Cocktail Bill Boothby’s “World Drinks and How to Mix Them,” and one of the most influential modern drink bibles, “Jones’ Complete Bar Guide.”
They tend to be long on recipes, but short on instructions, details, or information.
In his annually published DiffordsGuides to Cocktails, Simon Difford has been a bit different. He usually has a good section on methods, pictures for each cocktail, origin details for many cocktails, and little articles about featured cocktails. He also has an exceptional index of ingredients and recipes which include them. Not to mention a short list of some of the world’s best bars.
Now up to DiffordsGuide # 7, in many bars these annually released books have become the go to guides for young bartenders, especially those of the European persuasion.
In number of recipes, DiffordsGuide #7 does not let us down. Including over 2250 drink recipes, you’re not going to run dry any time soon.
One of the nicest things about Difford’s Guides is that they not only include drinks from American bartenders, but also from Europe and the world. It includes relatively recent cocktails from San Franciscans Jacques Bezuidenhout and Dominic Venegas, along with many of the leading lights of modern Europe’s bar scene.
I find it interesting that, as in all Mr. Difford’s books, there are rather a lot of very sweet sounding cocktails and many layered shots, (or “Shotails” as Mr. Difford likes to call them.)Â I’m not sure if this is a difference between West Coast and European taste, or just Mr. Difford’s preference.
Still there are enough interesting old and new classics in Difford’s Guide #7 to keep any person entertained for, well, the rest of their life. Certainly no cocktail enthusiast would complain if they found one under their Christmas, (or Valentine’s Day,) tree.
Full disclosure: When I read on the Spirits Review Blog that a new Difford’s Guide had been released, I sent a note to Christopher Carlsson asking how he had got his sweaty little hands on a copy. He suggested I contact them. I did, and they were kind enough to send a copy for review.
