Tag Archives: seminar

Dec21

BCS: Do You Speak Amari?

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lots and lots of amari

lots and lots of amari

At Boston Cocktail Summit, one of the seminars I knew I couldn’t miss was the Do You Speak Amari with Francesco LaFranconi seminar. We ended up tasting 15+ amari (and it is amari, not amaros) “early” in the morning (it was before noon). For a full description of the various amari, check out Treasure MA’s post. I’m going to go through some highlights as most of these amari are familiar in the LA Cocktails scene such as the ever wonderful Fernet-Branca.

 

Francesco LaFranconi

Francesco LaFranconi

Francesco LaFranconi representing Italia with his white jacket, red kerchief and green socks (not shown).

I have always heard the Italians learned the art of making amari based on French monks making liqueurs like Chartreuse and Benedictine. But then Francesco casually said it was the French who learned from the Italians. Now that is one turf war I don’t want to get into. I love Chartreuse and Benedictine as well as amari and the non-Italian amari-like liqueurs such as Becherovka.

sib

Amaro Sibilla

 

I had previously tasted Amaro Sibilla in L.A. at Baco Mercat. Bar Manager Allan Katz of Cana describes this as “cat piss.” At the seminar, I later learned the honey notes in this amaro sometimes is confusingly similar to urine. Hm, I guess I don’t love every amaro. I did wonder what this would be like in a hot toddy for the honey aspect.

Amaro

Amaro Dell’Erborista

For a much better honeyed amaro, try the Amaro Dell’Erborista. This one was much more pleasant and not ranging into the urine smell (thank goodness).

Braulio

Braulio

 

But my “new” favorite was the Braulio which I had actually tasted before in Seattle at Zig Zag. At the time, they just smuggled (I’m using the term loosely, of course) it in from Italy. But Braulio is now being imported to the States.

I still love Cynar, Meletti, Zucca and Averna but it was really nice to try Nardini, D’Abano and Nonino Quintessentia.

Now do you speak Amari?

 

Boston Cocktail Summit

© The Minty // LA Cocktails  2012

 

 

 

Jun22

MCC: Is There a Book Idea On Your Cocktail Menu?

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a drink from Brad Thomas Parson’s Bitters Book

One of the seminars I attended at the Industry Invitational at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic was about cocktail books. Titled “Is There a Book Idea On Your Cocktail Menu,” the seminar was sponsored by Chatham Imports and moderated by Kara Newman. Brad Thomas Parsons, author of Bitters; Jim Meehan, author of the PDT Cocktail; Lori Narlock, a PR professional and book author; and Maks Pazuniak and Kirk Estopinal, bartenders and authors of the self-published Beta Cocktails book all gave their experiences on writing cocktail books.

So you want to write a cocktails book?

(L-R) Brad Thomas Parsons, Jim Meehan, Kara Newman, Lori Narlock,  Kirk Estopinal, Maks Pazuniak

Moderator Kara Newman asked Brad Thomas Parsons to begin. He described being a writer who wrote an article about bitters and then he thought it would also make a good book. He would then spend time writing the book proposal and looking for an agent who looked for a publisher. It took about a year and half of research and writing then almost another year before it was published.

On the other hand, bartenders Kirk Estopinal and Maks Pazuniak bypassed that process by writing the book and uploading it to a self-publishing website. I had a quick glance through the book and loved the photographs and recipes. But the writer in me cringed at some of the typos. It seemed to me though the book would serve as a good guide to some of the more creative cocktails modern bartenders are coming up with.

It seemed appropriate Jim Meehan was on this panel as his PDT Cocktail Book is nominated for Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book at Tales of the Cocktail. He’s edited two editions of Mr. Boston’s Official Bartender’s Guide and frequently contributes writing to other publications and online sites. He cautioned the crowd and asked them to do their research before writing the book. He knew for his own book which was published through Sterling which is owned by Barnes and Noble, the store needed a book that was a beautiful and appropriate for display.

Jim Meehan also gave a little bit more background on being your own marketing team.You have to be good with social media- Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc. Who else is going to sell your book? Also networking is good.

Some other tips included:

The proposal should be 2 pages.

Name check – read who’s acknowledged in the books you like.

And the agent is not your mom.

Chatham Imports

The Minty’s article for Tasting Panel Magazine

Manhattan Cocktail Classic

Index of MCC articles by The Minty

© The Minty // LACocktails.com 2012

Jun22

MCC: Alcohol Health & Mercy

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Alcohol Health Seminar – (L-R) Dr. Steven Lamm, Alex Ott, Dr. Richard Firshein

 

As part of the Industry Invitational at this year’s Manhattan Cocktail Classic, I attended a seminar on Alcohol Health presented by Mercy. The talk was given by Doctors Steven Lamm, Richard Firshein and co-founder and bartender Alex Ott. First Dr. Lamm talked with us regarding what was known to be safe- one drink for women and two drinks for men a day. Given that some over indulge occasionally, the human body may not be able to process the alcohol (ethanol) quickly enough. The resulting hangover I learned is not really caused the booze itself but acetaldehyde, the chemical the body is producing to break down the alcohol. It is considered 30 times more toxic than alcohol itself. The headache, nausea and fatigue is caused by the acetaldehyde.

Mercy claims its blend of amino acids, vitamins, antioxidants, electrolytes and herbal supplements will help you detox and won’t have a hangover. You would have to drink Mercy during or after your night out to be effective. It is not an energy drink and the doctors didn’t recommend trying to drink it in the morning– that would be too late. The side benefit is apparently Mercy would also rid you of the alcohol flush also known as the Asian glow for some of those affected by it. This is because Mercy helps break down acetaldehyde which some people can’t  It was emphasized Mercy however does not rid you of intoxication.

Essentially Mercy claims its drink will help your body produce more glutathione which neutralizes and removes free radicals and toxins. When you drink, you also lose the amino acid glutamine which when your body tries to produce more of it, it wakes you up. Mercy says if you drink their product, it helps retain the glutamine and so you’ll sleep more soundly.

On their website, Mercy says their product works best chilled and recommends 1 full call for every 3-5 drinks. They don’t recommend more than 3 cans of Mercy per day (they said you should probably not have more than 9 drinks a day).

One of the main ingredients of Mercy is milk thistle which is known to help with liver function. B vitamins are also helpful to the liver and Mercy includes Thiamin (B1), Niacin (B3), B6, B12 as well as vitamin C and folic acid (B9). For the complete list of ingredients, scroll down the page here. And then check out their FAQ why each ingredient helps combat hangovers.

I tried my drink mixed with Mercy at the seminar and found it slightly watery and vaguely sweet. It tasted a bit like spa water- that is, water with cucumber. It was innocuous enough. I didn’t like the smell however. And I know they recommend for it to be drunk cold but I tasted a warm can on its own. It was not pleasant. The website says largely drinks have not been made with B1 because it doesn’t taste good. Mercy features it heavily though supposedly a version that is more pleasant. Still, I wonder what was the faintly chemical-y smell?

For a good read on the history of fighting hangovers, check out the Modern Drunkard who apparently goes for the hair of the dog method of saline solution, oxygen and Bloody Bulls (Bloody Marys with beef bouillon). I am often asked what do I do. Well, I firmly believe in being well-hydrated and fed and I do actually drink (or try) to have water between drinks. I also know my limits.

Overall I found the seminar a bit of a mixed bag, so to speak. It was good to learn the hows and whys of a hangover but I was a bit thrown off when Alex Ott spoke about bartenders probably unknowingly mixing potentially toxic drinks. He seemed to sneer a bit at the whole garden to glass movement. Yet then he said it was probably safer and more delicious to make your own drinks from ingredients from your fridge and/or spice rack. Granted, that was a bit in reference to pre-made syrups and flavored alcohols. Still, if trained mixologists shouldn’t be mixing cocktails without knowing how the ingredients interact with each other, how would you do any better as a home bartender?

Also, one of the doctors said women tend to get drunk faster which I knew but then he said people who weigh more also do. This seems to be patently against logic considering how skinny people seem to get drunk faster. Still, everyone’s bodies are slightly different. Plus, it is known you can build your tolerance.

Overall, it was a very interesting talk. It got people thinking about the effects of alcohol and how to prevent hangovers.

Mercy

The Minty’s article for Tasting Panel Magazine

Manhattan Cocktail Classic

Index of MCC articles by The Minty

© The Minty // LACocktails.com 2012

Jun21

MCC: Left of Center Beverage Programs with Tobin Ellis

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Tobin Ellis

When I spotted Tobin Ellis‘ seminar on Left of Center Beverage Programs at the Industry Invitational for Manhattan Cocktail Classic, I knew I wanted to attend. I had previously attended his Drink Engineering seminar at Nightclub & Bar back in March and found him to be an exceptional speaker.

Left of Center Beverage Programs

What is left of center? Breaking “the rules” and still run a successful bar. We went through several slides but the one that summed it all up was the best.

- Learn the science of thirst

Previously I had learned a bit from Tobin about the science of thirst. I hope he teaches a seminar on just this one topic next. It’s endlessly fascinating. Give your guest an overly sugary drink and it kills their appetite and therefore their thirst. Instead, you want to start with something more on the bitter side. Or better yet, something that’ll dry out their mouths and get them thirsty. Drinks with citrus work.

- Ignore your peers

So everyone is doing a speakeasy type bar. Forget them. What’s going to work for you in your spot?

- Forget the “fresh” rules

So it’s trending towards fresh. Tobin said you could get great drinks without becoming a gardener or a farmers market groupie (my words). He recommended a product called  Perfect Purees of Napa Valley (fair warning- they sponsored this seminar). He did caution though you want a product that is cost-effective yet still taste great. He went on to talk about Dress the Drink garnishes which he uses for his famous events.

- Kill your TV

It’s pretty obvious, yes?

- Save the baby seals

Who are some of the biggest customers at your bar? Don’t forget to cater to the 21-27 year women. The sweet drinks? Those are for them. Invert your drink recipe ratios and they’ll go for these drinks. I wanted to say something about this but thinking back to my dark days of Amaretto sours and French Martinis, I let it slide.

- Help people get laid

Hello! Bar owners should get drunk at their own bar. Is the lighting good? Too harsh? Tobin talked about the time a bar owner didn’t understand what his customers were experiencing on the other side of the bar until he drank one night and found the lighting was way too harsh.

- Be stubborn

But most of all, to run a successful “left of center” beverage program, you’re going to have to be stubborn. Tobin recounted a time he was revamping a program in Hawaii and he decided to do a deconstructed Mai Tai. He knew the bartenders there would be resistant until they tried the drink. It’s still a best seller.

The newly renamed “3 in the Pink”

 

We tasted a drink that featured Perfect Purees and a Dress the Drink dried orange wheel garnish. We had fun trying to come up with names for this drink. The tartness came exclusively from the puree. There were no fresh juices in this yet it tasted delicious. And it perfectly dried out our mouths. Time for another drink.

What did we rename it? A woman in the audience called out “3 in the Pink.”

Boom, there it is.

Tobin Ellis / Bar Magic

Drink Engineering with Tobin Ellis

Perfect Puree of Napa Valley

Dress the Drink

The Minty’s article for Tasting Panel Magazine

Manhattan Cocktail Classic

Index of MCC articles by The Minty

© The Minty // LACocktails.com 2012

Mar20

Arizona Cocktail Week: Cocktail Culture & Trends

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Cocktail Culture & Trends: The US and Beyond

 

Moderated by Angus Winchester (Tanqueray Gin), the panel on Cocktail Culture and Trends: The US and the Beyond at Arizona Cocktail Week a few weeks back included panelists Andy Seymour (BAR Founder), Danny Valdez (Ron Zacapa), Todd Richman (Sidney Frank Importing), Marcos Tello (Bols Genever), Duggan McDonnell (Encanto Pisco), Aidan Demerast (Neat Bar), Sarah Mitchell (Juniper Society) and Danny Ronen (FAIR Spirits).

Angus caught us up on cocktail history. He explained America invented the cocktail in the 1800s and there was a golden age until Prohibition. Bartenders fled and people essentially forgot how to make drinks until about the 50s. That was the silver age of bartending. He’s calling our current times the bronze age. However, with the internet, this age seems to be about trends that come and go very quickly. What he’s seeing now are:

Fresh cocktails-

Even national chain restaurants like TGIFridays are doing fresh juice programs. They’re a bit of leaders with trends, having the cornerstone of flair bartending back in the 90s.

Twisted classics -

It seems every bartender is putting their own stamp on classics.

Angus asked how could we tell if it’s a genuine trend versus fashion. For instance, is it a trend if 100 bartenders are doing it or you can go to your local bar and get that “trendy” cocktail.

Andy Seymour mentioned he thought sherry and mezcal would be trendy years ago. A cocktail with mezcal, sherry, agave and Angostura bitters is very appealing now.

Sarah Mitchell explained how her Juniper Society came about. At her bar in London, she had a weekly tasting and discounted drinks. Pretty soon other bars followed suit with their own rum and agave (tequila) clubs.

The panel started discussing how vodka is not going away any time soon. It has a specific role to play.

Someone mentioned there were probably blog posts already about cocktail trends. As it so happens, I do have a post!

This distracted the panel as they started talking about how there should be a panel on “I Hate Bloggers/ I Love Bloggers.” But it did steer them to talking about how are trends being media driven. Bone Luge comes to mind. The panel seemed to agree that trends like cocktails on tap, carbonated drinks, barrel-aged cocktails were interesting but most people don’t care. Only the writers and cocktail geeks are into the trends.

And yet, we can’t help but be fascinated by cocktails from the 1880s, Madmen style cocktails, tiki, ice, bitters, punches, agave and what Angus calls bartender voodoo- resurrected old cocktails.

Todd Richman brought everything back to perspective by talking about what should matter- hospitality and how customer service comes first. The interaction between the bartender and guests is important.

 

There were a few noteworthy questions from the audience including a woman who wanted to discuss skinny cocktails as a trend. Clearly the panel was uncomfortable with this idea. They maintained as a group that spirits alone aren’t as high in calories. She insisted that she sells a ton of “vodka and fresca” which is practically calorie-free. But where is the joy of that?

We ended with Duggan instructing us to have the juice of the lemons he brought from San Francisco, reminding us what was really important — not just fresh juice was to a bar program but that we are alive and able to discuss such things.

 

Arizona Cocktail Week

Mar19

Arizona Cocktail Week: Garden to Glass

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Panelists Adam Seger and Natalie Bovis

 

As part of Arizona Cocktail Week, there were seminars which ranged in topics such as “And Now a Word About Gin,”  “Garden to Glass,” “I Love Blenders, I Hate Blenders,” “Craft Cocktails in a Flash,” and more. I attended two including “Garden to Glass” and Cocktail Culture & Trends.”

The Garden to Glass seminar was moderated by Kim Haasarud (mixologist and cocktail book author) and the panel included Charlotte Voisey (Hendrick’s Gin, William Grant & Sons), Natalie Bovis (The Liquid Muse), Mark Tarbell (Tarbell’s Restaurant), Adam Seger (Mixologist, HUM Liqueur), Danny Ronen (Brandmaster of FAIR Spirits) and Maya Dailey (local farmer, Maya’s Farm).

Kim asked the panel about the first time the bartenders started doing “farm to glass.”

Adam Seger talked about being in Chicago and how he starting growing herbs at the bar he was working at. This required bringing in dirt up to the roof and watering every day. And discovering what grew well indoors. He probably grew seven different kinds of mint just to see what worked for his mojito. He mentioned why wouldn’t you drink like you eat- seasonally.

Natalie Bovis started out as a restaurant publicist and got involved with the other side of things when she saw chefs using rooftop gardens for herbs. She saw a cocktail trend following suit. Now she’s on her third book on culinary aspects and living New Mexico and still into mixology.

 

Charlotte Voisey

Charlotte was at the FIG restaurant at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica. She was inspired by the famous farmers market there. She wanted to make excellent drinks with the best ingredients.

 

Danny Ronen talked a bit about fair trade and how people are so into organic and no pesticides but certification costs money. He felt sourcing was equally important. Were the products made with slave labor? We tasted a drink made with quinoa vodka that was really made more like a whiskey.

 

Next we heard from Mark and Maya. They talked about their working relationship. Someone wanted to know if Mark asked Maya to grow him certain things or was it him trying to use what she gave him. It was a little of both, of course.

Mark thought the mixology movement was a bit like the food movement in the 70s/80s. And Maya talked about how important it was to cultivate relationships and build community.

The talk moved on from garden to glass to discussing spirits  more. Adam talked about his HUM Liqueur which I had for the first time at Cafe del Rey in Marina del Rey and later met Adam at a Michael’s guest bartender series. Adam talked about how he was working on the formula when Francesco Lafranconi told him it needed kaffir limes in his charming Italian accent. And he was right. Adam was asked what’s the difference between infusions and bitters. Apparently it’s time. Sometimes infusions can turn into bitters if you leave it too long (for reference, bitters take about a month).

Overall, the panel covered where the movement was coming from and mentioned some leading bars around the country. It would have been nice though to hear about local Arizona restaurants and bars that have a garden to glass program. For instance, does Tarbell’s? From their menu, it looks like they do  use fresh juices but probably could be more creative with local ingredients.

Perhaps for the next Arizona Cocktail Week, we’ll see more nods to tequila and local produce. A tequila, nopales and agave cocktail, maybe?

 

Arizona Cocktail Week

Nov15

Portland Cocktail Week: The Lost Art of Technical Free Pouring

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The Lost Art of Technical Free Pouring

I stopped a few moments at Portland Cocktail Week to check out the Lost Art of the Technical Free Pouring with industry veteran Tobin Ellis. Billed as a seminar no bartender or bar owner should miss, it was to teach pouring mechanics that would lead to making cocktails twice as fast with twice the profitability.

With enough practice, free pouring comes within 1/8 of an ounce every time or so claimed Tobin. Here are a couple of vids.

This video showed how to pour with less spilling.

Tobin also demonstrated classic cuts such as this one he named the Faucet cut. He asked the bartenders to “follow through” with the pour which smoothly stops the pour so you don’t spill. It’s like turning off the faucet.

I thought his seminar was very interesting considering how I’ve gotten so many bad, unbalanced drinks leading to my love of jiggering and measured pours. But then I think about all the times I’m impatient for a drink and I’m sure the bartender is also impatient to bang out a ton of drinks without affecting the taste of the cocktails. This leads to learning how to free pour with accuracy.

I know there’s counting involved (and truth be told, I free pour when I  make my own drinks). This article is great. I have always known that an ounce is about a 4-count. You can then go from there and think about how it’s about a second for every 1/4 ounce. By this reasoning, it’d be 2-count for 1/2 oz, 4-count for 1 oz and 6-count for 1.5 oz.

I’ve now watched enough cocktail competitions to appreciate when free pouring has its place. If you’re going for speed, free pouring is the way to go. You just have to practice, practice and practice some more to be accurate.

Portland Cocktail Week

Barmagic with Tobin Ellis

Nov14

Portland Cocktail Week: Exploring the Martini with Tony Conigliaro

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Tony Conigliaro

 

One of the Portland Cocktail Week seminars I attended was Exploring the Martini with Tony Conigliaro. I was excited to learn more about the history of the martini and to hear Tony speak. I have been to his bar 69 Colebrook Row in London. He is famed for coming up with bottle-aged cocktails (which then in turn inspired Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler to age his cocktails in wood barrels).

Tony with Erick Castro

The discussion was moderated by Plymouth and Beefeater gin ambassador Erick Castro.

martinis with different vermouths

 

Tony answered questions that had been submitted previously. Someone asked about why when drinks got warm, it tended to taste sweet. He had a technical answer for that considering he is well known as a sensory man. Basically, the taste buds that taste sweet are activated more when the substance is warm. Tony gave the example of why warm ice cream tends to taste sweeter. See this explanation.

The two martinis I tried were almost too sweet for me. The one with the slightly more golden hue was definitely on the sweet side.

stick that rock in your mouth

 

Then Tony wanted us to taste rocks. Literally. I refused to. He mentioned how it was our fear of the unknown. Probably all true. Even when told the rock was washed and clean, I still was reluctant to pop it in my mouth. And no, it had nothing to do with minerality. That’s for wine tasting.

the all important twist

Someone asked about garnishes as we got another martini to taste. Tony mentioned less is more. Too long of a citrus peel could be distracting. No horse’s neck for Tony!

Overall, I thought it was a good talk but considering the laughter I heard on the other side for the Drinking is Fun talk with Rocky Yeh and Borys Saciuk, I wonder what I missed out on.  Drinking is fun, yes? But also educational and who knew, scientific?

 

Portland Cocktail Week