Tag Archives: villains tavern

Aug14

Judging the EFFEN Art of Design Contest

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bartenders racing for ingredients

Last week, I attended EFFEN Vodka‘s Art of Design. I would have the opportunity to taste drinks and vote for my favorite. However, once I got there, I was named a judge. I’ve judged other cocktail contests before and I always find it fun. The event was held at the Marvimon House on the edge of Chinatown. Having grown up in Chinatown and just around the corner from Marvimon, I was rather surprised how beautiful the space was. They are managed by the same company that also has Smog Shoppe in Culver City. My cousin had gotten married there earlier this year and I could see the similarities between the two. I particularly loved the giant horseshoe over one of the bars.

The evening also featured art, jewelery and fashion via the many lifestyle writers in attendance. It did not feel like the typical Hollywood experience but rather more other-worldly. Guests were invited to try their hand at making a Effen Cucumber drink by selecting fresh ingredients. I opted for an Effen Cucumber, grapefruit, watermelon and thyme drink. It was delicious. They were also passing around cocktails made from recipes developed by the contestants earlier.  Amanda Gunderson from the Bazaar at the SLS Hotel won the Facebook Fan Favorite award for her drink, Sunday Funday.

The MC and fellow judge bar owner Dave Whitton explained to me the rules. There would be five teams of two bartenders. Each team was headed up by a well-known bartender and the budding mixologists worked with them to come up with a winning recipe. The bartenders raced for ingredients and then had 20 minutes to come up with the recipe. They had to batch the drink immediately for the large crowd. Watch the bartenders race here.

table of ingredients

I found it interesting the bartenders nabbed bowls of fruit and other fresh ingredients and generally ignored the other spirits. This was a good sign. They wanted to play up the vodka and not lean on other strong liqueurs or spirits.

Team Red: Stephan & Tyler

Over in the corner, Team Red had set up shop. Stephan from the 213 Group was paired with Tyler Dow. They came up with the Effen Smash.

Team Red: Effen Smash

I felt the Effen Smash (Effen, blackberries, basil, lemon) was a bit more like a cobbler. With the smashed blackberries piled on top of the drink, it was a bit difficult to get to the drink. It definitely needed a straw. I initially had tasted the drink in a smaller plastic cup and it was much better in a real glass.

Team Blue: Sonny & Jason

Lugino Bonsera (aka Sonny) from Villains Tavern and Roger Room‘s Jason Bran were busily figuring out the recipe and probably doing some math to properly batch the cocktail. Check out Jason’s bar kit.

Team Blue: Old Thymey Blue

Sonny told me about their drink, the Old Thymey Blue which was made with Effen, falernum, blueberries, peach bitters, thyme. This drink would win the people’s choice.

Team Yellow: Justin & Amanda

Team Yellow was comprised of Justin Stidham from Wood & Vine and the aforementioned Amanda Gunderson.

Team Yellow: Smooth Operator

Their Smooth Operator with Effen Black Cherry, ginger, rosemary, lime, simple syrup  was the judges’ favorite and won the contest. It was a bold move on their part to use the Effen Black Cherry.  It was very refreshing and I know at least one other judge quite in love with the simple but nice looking garnish. Piercing the rosemary through the lime is very classy.

Team Purple: Curtis & Joel

I do have to say though I was very much impressed with Team Purple’s cocktail. Leading the team was Joel Black and Curtis Harrier from the new Shore Bar. Curtis is the lead bartender there and also works with Joel.

Team Purple: Mango Tango

They came up with the Mango Tango with Effen, cilantro, yellow bell peppers, mango, lemon sour. I’m pretty much a sucker for drinks with bell pepper. The drink was very complex and multi-layered starting with a bite of cilantro and swimming towards mango and ended with a beautiful bell pepper.

Team Orange: Damian & Steven

Roger Room‘s Damian Windsor was paired with Steven Flores, a freelance bartender.

Team Orange: 99 Degrees in the Shade

Their drink, 99 Degrees in the Shade with Effen, strawberry, jalepeno, mint, cucumber, simple syrup was an absolute classic. Slightly spicy with the summery mint and strawberry. Dave Whitton wanted to rename it 99 Shags and when I asked Steven about it, he said I could call it anything I wanted. Ha, let’s keep it 99 Degrees in the Shade which seemed like a prediction of the hot weather LA has been having.

Congratulations to Justin and Amanda!

EFFEN Vodka

© The Minty // LA Cocktails 2012

May2

Welcome to the Shrubbery at Villains Tavern

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New Cocktails at Villains

Villains Tavern is most certainly a destination bar as it’s hidden away in the Arts District near the new Handsome Coffee Roasters. Now serving seasonal cocktails inspired by the garden and shrubs, there are 7 new cocktails to try (they brought back Permafrost from last summer). Bartender Rodney walked us through the cocktail list starting with the Spindle Tree and Angel’s Trumpet.

Spindle Tree

Angel’s Trumpet

The Spindle Tree from the Garden section reminded me of bar owner Dave Whitton’s Becherovka cocktail he submitted for the competition a few months back. As it turned out, I was right about the Becherovka. I liked it right away.

The rest of the table really enjoyed Angel’s Trumpet with its lighter pom-ginger-apple shrub. It was very balanced.

Spindle Tree – Russell’s Reserve Rye, Becherovka, honey, mint, bergamot bitters

Angel’s Trumpet – Maker’s 46, pomegranate-ginger-apple shrub, pineapple, mint, ginger beer, bitters

Lilium

Oleander

For the next round, everyone loved the tartness of the Lilium while I fancied the Oleander with the lavender bitters. Both were so fresh and appropriate for the spring and upcoming summer months.

Lilium – Plymouth gin, lemongrass, lime, ginger, grapefruit, bitters

Oleander – Leblon cachaca, fresh blackberry shrub, muddled lime, lavender bitters

Stan Lee

White Snakeroot

Although the Stan Lee (hibiscus gin sour)  is from the regular menu, Rodney brought it over explaining it went so well with the new cocktails. The bright magenta drink is named after the comic book illustrator, Stan Lee.

We were very excited about the White Snakeroot as it had a few things I loved- Irish whiskey and amaro. I’d like to see this cocktail up next time. While the ice didn’t melt very quickly, I did feel it diluted the cocktail faster than I would have liked which was already lightened by the shrub.

White Snakeroot – Black Bush Irish whiskey, Cardamaro, rosemary & strawberry aged shrub

Passion Flower

Autumn Crocus

The Passion Flower was quite nice for vodka drinkers. And the Autumn Crocus is Villains Tavern take on a margarita.

Passion Flower – Haute vodka, fresh kiwi-strawberry juice, lime, basil

Autumn Crocus - Sino reposado tequila, agave, house blended mango, chili, lime, salt

Venus Flytrap

Of the two tequila drinks, I preferred the Venus Flytrap. The tequila is showcased very well and I loved this particular shrub.

Venus Flytrap – Milagro reposado tequila, apricot-orange-muscat shrub, lime, sea salt, orange oils

My favorites this night were Spindle Tree, Stan Lee, Passion Flower and Venus Flytrap.

Be sure to check out the nightly events including live music and some great bar food. The Devil Dog, fries, shrimp ceviche and caramel bacon popcorn are my picks.

Villains Tavern

1356 Palmetto St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 — (213) 613-0766

© The Minty // LACocktails.com 2012

Jan20

Becherovka Competition at Villains Tavern with LA’s Best Bartenders

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Becherovka at Villains Tavern

I recently helped judge the Becherovka competition at Villains Tavern along with Dan “The Imbiber” Dunn and Zahra Bates who manages the bar at Providence. The local chapter of USBG put out a call to bartenders to mix it up. The winner got the admiration and love from fellow bartenders. It was organized by LA chapter president Marcos Tello who based the competition on previous ones he organized for Chartreuse and Bols Genever. We started out with 16 bartenders from some of the best bars in LA whittled down to 8 then 4 then the final 2. We saw LA’s best bartender Justin Pike (The Tasting Kitchen) competing along with 3 bartenders from the Varnish; Eric Alperin, Chris Bostick, Devon Tarby, plus Kate Grutman (Sotto), Cooper Gillespie (Thirsty Crow), Vincenzo Marianella (Copa d’Oro), Jason Bran (Roger Room), Garrett McKechnie (1886), Dave Kupchinsky (Eveleigh), Kenny Arbuckle from La Descarga, Dave Whitton from Villains Tavern and more.

Villains Tavern

After some great food from Villains (I’m in LOVE with the grilled cheese!), we were seated upstairs while the bartenders were shaking things up on the side bar. It was a blind taste test which was better for everyone and we (the judges) weren’t biased.

secret ingredient- oro blanco grapefruit

secret ingredient- passionfruit

The twist to the competition was incorporating ingredients from the farmers’ market. There was coconut, grapes, passionfruit, cherries, cherry tomatoes, fig jam, grapefruit soda and lots more.

secret ingredient- apple

secret ingredient- cherry tomatoes

Becherovka is a spicy liqueur that has over 30 ingredients. I first had it at Playa and have seen it at various Speed Rack competitions. To me, it taste like Christmas and so I tend to think of it as a warm cocktail- maybe punched up with whiskey. The first few drinks we tried were more tropical in flair and probably because of the secret ingredients such as mango. There was a lot of citrus going on. Zahra thought bartenders were going for sours and using the Becherovka like a pimento (all spice dram). I found them somewhat tiki like especially the drinks come with lots of packed crushed ice.

secret ingredient- sage

Being a brown, bitters, stirred girl I was really excited whenever I saw a brown drink in a coupe. It’s funny to later hear from one of the bartenders that he scraped two versions of the above sage cocktail and went with “lots of whiskey.” It would seem he agreed there was a lot of citrus in the rounds.

secret ingredients- grapes

For the most part, I agreed with Dan and Zahra on the drinks. We compromised sometimes though. There was one drink that used grapefruit soda and while I loved both, one used some sort of sherry that I just loved but then again, I’m into sherry cocktails. The other was completely and utterly wonderful but it wasn’t as thought-provoking. I described it as something I’d drink all night but if I wanted just one memorable cocktail of the evening, I had to go with the other. I think I persuaded my fellow judges on that one.

In one of the final rounds, we were torn about the grapes. The one with the ice was served without a straw. We were told to drink it but the lime pulp got in our way and no one wanted to think about what happened when we got to the end of the drink. I asked for a straw. And you know what? I didn’t like it as much! The bartender was right in this case. But ha ha on them, we smashed down the ice and then drank it from the glass. Aha, it works that way as well.

finals- secret ingredient: cherries

The last two of the cocktails arrived. The final round came down to Joe Parelli of Neat and Dave Whitton of Villains Tavern. After some deliberation, we chose Dave’s cocktail. I recently met Joe at Neat and he told me he just moved to LA. In SF, he would compete in competitions and always traded the first and second spots with one of his good friends up there. It is bittersweet that Dave, our hometown hero, won.

scoreboard

It was a great competition and it was nice to see some of LA’s best bartenders having fun.

Becherovka

USBG

Sporting Life

Check out Dan’s podcast about the event here.

For more pictures, check out my flickr set.