"Bartender, this cocktail taste s a little fresh. Have anything that's been sitting around?"

It's a natural progression I suppose. First came the rebirth of cocktails in the 1990s. Soon to follow came the "mixologists", because obviously who would want a mere bartender mixing their drinks? Besides me, I mean. Now we have celebrity mixologists, because why should Food Network chefs have all the fun? And with celebrity, as we know all too well, comes freedom and license to create. Whether what they're creating needed to be created is debatable. Of course the same could be said for most of the consumer goods we're told we can't live without.

This all comes to mind because of this article I read in last weeks NYT. We've all heard of barrel aged bourbons. Now, taking it to its next logical step (this is where the "does it need to be created" part comes in), bartenders at trendy (read high $$) bars are now barrel aging whole cocktails. That negroni I dearly love, which I consider a perfect drink, apparently isn't good enough. The new alcohol alchemists behind the bar are throwing it and other drinks into small barrels and aging them for up to 3+ months. Supposedly this adds complexity and character as the ingredients oxidize (particularly vermouths and other botanicals). Not to be a closed minded old barfly, but please would you just give me a fresh, well-made drink. The old classics are classics for a reason. I really don't think a light will go on in some unknown darkened corner of my liver if I drink a 3 month old Manhattan. To me a classic case of just because you can do it doesn't mean you should. Thoughts?

accompanying photo of Clyde Common bartender Jeffrey Morganthaler from the NY Times

Perfection at $1.99 a pop!

This won't come as a news flash to anyone who consumes the demon alcohol at home, but I'm guessing that like me you are so freaking tired of breaking and chipping the rims on martini glasses when you wash them. I had these beautiful Spiegelau martini glasses that run about $9 a stem. That means that every time I chipped the rim or dropped it in my sink....which was basically every time I even looked at them...my money saving drink-at-home plan was costing me about ten bucks a pop. I mean, if I'm going to spend a sawbuck on a cocktail I'd rather do it in a bar and break their fucking glass! Finally, after having people over a few weeks ago and scrounging in my cabinet for non-chipped glassware that wouldn't threaten to splatter blood from their bleeding lips all over the room, I finally got off my ass to search for a new vehicle to deliver gin-laced pleasure. So a couple of days ago I find myself out at the A.D.D. wonderland that is IKEA to buy a new crib for C-boy (FYI to all parents-to-be who are tired of being bent over by the fear-mongering producers of egregiously over-priced baby gear, this highly rated bad boy is a deal for $99!), and as I wander by their glassware section I see them...EXACTLY what I was looking for. Clean lines, a perfect height and bowl shape to show off the glories to be contained within, an 8-ounce capacity for when I REALLY need a stiffy, and miraculously only $1.99 per glass!!! Two bucks a glass?? At that price I felt like breaking it on purpose after finishing the above pictured Tanq martini. So if you find yourselves running short on the appropriate cocktail ware and want to avoid the social stigma of your guests having to accompany their Negronis, Gimlets, and Manhattans with emergency room visits, then you'd best be skedaddling out to IKEA. No IKEA by you? Well, too bad for you. Move to a bigger city. Me, I've got some cocktails to shake!

Rum Manhattan Cocktail: drinking in the face of adversity!

Perhaps you heard the rumblings about the shortage of Angostura Bitters that reverberated through the cocktail world recently. To those who are partial to their perfect Manhattan Cocktail and fearing they might have to go without, this would be roughly the equivalent to learning to wean oneself off of mother's milk. The crux of the issue is that real angostura is the smallest component by far in a Manhattan, but the most important. Without its bitter tang on the finish you have a flat, flabby whisky/sweet vermouth concoction that really isn't worth the glass it's in. Among those who were trembling at the thought of being without a dash or two in their favorite libation was my friend K. K adores Manhattans. K's pursuit of the perfect Manhattan is roughly akin to the fervor with which zombies pursue raw flesh: not just something you like, but something you need to survive. That's why upon hearing about the impending, disastrous, possibly life-altering shortage, and with his own supply dipping precariously low, he set about scouring Portland for a resupply. He finally found some, all the way across town, at this obscure international grocery where he purchased both of their largest sized bottles, which was all they had on and. Seems it was almost all anyone in the city had on hand. Well being restored to his drinking world, K generously shares his bounty with others, myself included. Just don't ask for your Manhattan "extra bitter"!

I tell this story because I found out about the shortage after reading this story by Washington Post booze columnist Jason Wilson. Liking a Manhattan as much as the next right minded barfly, perhaps without K's ardency and certainly not his bloodhound like ability to sniff out the key ingredient, I of course looked for alternatives. Word to the wise: in a perfect Manhattan there is no substitute for Angostura brand bitters. The drastically different Fee Bros. doesn't even come close. So with that in mind and a bar cabinet devoid of the real thing, I took Wilson's advice and made his substitute version offered up in his column, the Rum Manhattan. Now calling anything a "Manhattan" without using whiskey & sweet vermouth is, to some (again your author included) somewhat blasphemous. I get my back up whenever I see a "Chocolate Martini", or even more wretched the "Appletini". Just call them what they are, a "gin cocktail". I felt the same way about the Rum Manhattan, but I was thirsty and really needed a drink. Besides, it's not like I'm the one who came up with the name. What I did end up with was a rather delicious, rich, full-flavored yet balanced drink that I would gladly make again. The addition of the maraschino liqueur, which is quickly becoming my favorite cocktail component, and the dash of orange bitters (thank you for that Fee Bros.) added the perfect counterpoint to the rum and Carpano Antica vermouth. Very worthy of the glass it was poured into, this was an intriguing, complex addition to my personal cocktail repertoire. Just don't call it a Manhattan in certain company!
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Rum Manhattan
from Jason Wilson/Washington Post

ingredients:
Ice
2 oz. good quality dark rum
1 oz. sweet vermouth, preferably Carpano Antica
1/2 teaspoon maraschino liqueur
Dash orange bitters
Orange peel for garnish

method:
Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice and add first four ingredients. Shake vigorously for 20-30 seconds and strain into martini glass. Garnish with an orange peel.

Carpano Antica Formula: once again I succumb.

It really is never going to end. Just when I feel I couldn't possibly have another food or drink obsession, my friend and provider of edible and liquid pleasure Nancy, owner (along with her ever gracious husband Randy) of one of w and my favorite new spots to indulge in PDX, Bar Avignon, introduces me to this oh, so good elixir which I have found to be the perfect aperitif. Carpano Antica Formula from the distiller Branca is an Italian sweet vermouth that I have noticed popping up as an ingredient on more and more cocktail lists and I had admired it's very attractive old school Euro packaging. This is far from your standard Martini & Rossi vermouth. Much more intense, rounded, with wonderfully warming flavors of vanilla, dried fruit, orange peel, and other indescribables. A couple of weeks ago Nancy asked if I had ever tried it on its own. I hadn't, she insisted I must, and since I'm a boy who can't say no I soon found myself lost in another pleasure haze while slowly sipping this down. You could mix it in a cocktail I suppose, in a Manhattan or Negroni, but for those drinks I still prefer regular sweet vermouth (at home I use Boissiere). No, for me this is the perfect recipe: a clean, clear, small cocktail glass, two large ice cubes, two or tree ounces of Carpano, a stylish twist of orange peel....and a smile on my face!

Cocktail classic: The Manhattan

Every other week (when I remember) I check out Jason Wilson's spirits column in the Washington Post website. He has an interesting takes on current drink trends, as well well as...and I find these even more in tune with my old school cocktail ethic...regular commentary on classic cocktails.

In his July 9th column, he had this to say about the drink that along with the gin martini is at the pinnacle of the cocktail pyramid, the legend that is the Manhattan. My favorite passage from this day's ramblings comes after he reports on a cocktail tasting in D.C. where various local bar talent were trying to outmix each other using, among other things "rose hips, yuzu juice, truffle oil, tarragon soda, homemade celery bitters, Sichuan pepper, tonka bean syrup and cherrywood-smoked white pepper meringue." He followed that list of unnecessary bar fluffery with this perfectly stated observation which I completely agree with: "Creativity is to be admired, and it's certainly exciting to fancy oneself a "bar chef." Maybe I'm just a classicist at heart, but a lot of contemporary cocktails bring to mind Robert Frost's assertion that writing free-verse poetry is like playing tennis without a net."

Now you all have some knowledge of my reverence for and love of a perfect gin martini. Hell, all things gin get my mind wandering off the the nearest bar stool. But being a cocktailista who embraces diversity, I also have been known to sip contentedly at a deliciously coppertoned Manhattan. I usually reserve it for the cooler fall and winter months, but after reading Jason's prose, I may have to get in touch with my rye side tonight!

You can find my house version...I think I'll call it the 1309 Manhattan since all drinks seem to need names now...which I humbly think is the best you'll ever roll across your tastebuds by clicking right here. Below is Jason's recipe for his Perfect Manhattan, and check out the column for yet another option.
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Perfect Manhattan
from Jason Wilson

ingredients:
Ice
1 1/2 to 2 ounces good-quality bourbon, such as Russell's Reserve, Woodford Reserve or Maker's Mark
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 maraschino cherry, for garnish

directions:
Fill a mixing glass two-thirds full with ice. Add the bourbon to taste, the vermouths and the bitters. Stir vigorously for 30 seconds, then strain into cocktail (martini) glass. Garnish with the cherry.

picture from the Washington Post

Late winter warmth..aka: the Manhattan Cocktail

Late winter...well, with the temp actually early spring here in PDX, so before the big switchover, there's still time. No, I'm not talking the whole "spring forward" thing from last week (imo...the only thing Bush did right in the trainwreck that is his presidency). And not the wardrobe switchover to warmer weather gear. This is a food and drink blog after all, not a fucking fashion report (although you can bet I've got some opinions on that subject!). I'm not even talking the switch from braising season to grilling season. What is happening is the seasonal change in drinking that happens at my home bar...or any bar I happen to slink in to for that matter...where winter's darker libations are slowly being put to rest for summer's lighter, more gin-y choices. So last night I thoroughly enjoyed the feelings of warmth and well-being of what may well be one of my last Manhattans for a while.

The Manhattan is one of the oldest "original" cocktails, reputedly invented in the 1870s at the Manhattan Club in NYC "where it was invented for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston's mother) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The success of the banquet made the drink fashionable, later prompting several people to request the drink by referring to the name of the club where it originated — the Manhattan cocktail." That's the story from Wikipedia (don't worry wiki-skeptics, it's also confirmed on a couple of other cocktail history sites, too).
So, in honor of Jennie Jerome and her boy-to-be Winston, might I offer you the perfect Manhattan......
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Manhattan Cocktail

ingredients:
2 oz Rye Whisky
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
Dash Angostura Bitter
Maraschino cherry (and optional orange peel for garnish)

method:
Fill cocktail shaker 1/2 full with ice cubes. Add whisky, vermouth, and bitters. Shake vigorously. Strain into martini glass and garnish with cherry and orange peel.
**Bartenders note: I know a lot of you always order the Maker's Mark Manhattan, and I certainly have a strong appreciation for that choice. But I read an article a couple of months ago from Jason Wilson in the Washington Post where he recommended using rye (with Wild Turkey being a reasonably priced option), and I have to say I'm hooked. The rye is smoother and richer that the Maker's, without any sort of "bite". But don't think I'll ever turn down the offer of a Maker's Manhattan!