Monthly Archives: February 2012

Muddling Over Muddlers - Forbes

Here’s a post from Forbes.com about some of the muddlers on the market. Continue

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Chris Milligan is a fan of the PUG! too.

PUG! Muddlers

Best of the best! Hand lathed by Chris Gallagher since 2004, Chris got curious about cocktails when he met Gary Regan and saw Gary’s tool bag. He recognized the “classic’ design of the muddler could be improved, and working with Regan created the PUG! acronym for Pick Up Gallagher’s! With a choice of a variety of hardwoods cherry, walnut, oak, just to name a few, the size and design of this muddler makes it the top in its field. The cut-away handle fits perfectly in the palm and and becomes and extension of the arms working with the body to allow maximum effiency with minimal effort. Hands down my choice!
So, take that paint cover piece of pine that your boss bought, and toss it to the curb. Drop an extra dime adn get yourself a better muddler.

Nab a PUG! from our online store.

read the whole article here Muddling Over Muddlers - Forbes.

Vegetable Cocktails at The Wayland, Parm, The Bent Brick, Husk, and Spoonbar | Top Shelf - TastingTable

More veggies making their way into cocktails. The article as a list of bars around the country that are squeezing some healthy veggies with your evening libation. Continue

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More veggies making their way into cocktails. The article as a list of bars around the country that are squeezing some healthy veggies with your evening libation.

Beets in a cocktail

Sowing Seeds Vegetables invade the cocktail bar

via Vegetable Cocktails at The Wayland, Parm, The Bent Brick, Husk, and Spoonbar | Top Shelf - TastingTable.

Cocktail Trend: More Than A Dash of Bitters | Serious Eats: Drinks

Great article, with a few great recipes, for bitters heavy cocktails. Continue

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The Dutchess Cocktail

…Lieberman also said that he’s been seeing a rise of drinks that call for more than just a dash of bitters. Cocktails with bitters so prominent they can be measured in ounces are starting to pop up around the country.

Bitters are often thought of as the salt and pepper of the cocktail world, adding just a touch of spice to focus and deepen the flavors of a drink. It makes sense to use them sparingly—a 4-ounce bottle of Angostura can sell for $9 or more, and it’s potent stuff, so a drop or two goes a long way. “But we’re living in an age of extreme ingredients,” says Lieberman, “everywhere you look, there’s pork belly.” So perhaps the time for the extreme use of bitters has come.

Please check out the whole article via Cocktail Trend: More Than A Dash of Bitters | Serious Eats: Drinks.

The craft of mixing has made a unique Boston bar culture - The Boston Globe

Excellent article about Boston’s cocktail culture. Continue

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Bartender Todd Maul makes a Bulls eye gin and tonic at Clio. - Credit Boston.com

We’re mentioned with some awesome company! Please read Devra’s whole article - it’s a great summary of Boston’s cocktail roots and scene.

Here’s a snippet.

This winter, four new establishments showcasing cocktails opened in the Boston area, all within the course of a few weeks: the Hawthorne, Brick & Mortar, Saloon, and backbar. They join the likes of Clio, Drink, Eastern Standard, the Franklin Cafe, Green Street, Rendezvous, and many other local businesses serious about cocktails. In Davis Square, you’ll find the Boston Shaker, a shop that sells nothing but cocktail paraphernalia; walk into a liquor store and you’re likely to find a dizzying array of specialty spirits.

Boston has become a hub for craft cocktails - those made with fresh, quality ingredients, often reviving recipes from decades and centuries past. It’s easy to forget that until fairly recently drinks were made with neon “sour mix’’ and a bottle of bitters was nearly impossible to come by - never mind versions made in small batches by a dozen companies, in flavors from celery to sriracha.

Check out the whole thing at The craft of mixing has made a unique Boston bar culture - The Boston Globe.

Family tree of cocktail creationists

Click the link below to check out a totally fun chart of Boston’s cocktail family tree. Continue

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Click the link below to check out a totally fun chart of Boston’s cocktail family tree.

A family tree of the bartenders who began the craft drink movement, beginning at the B-Side, Eastern Standard, No. 9 Park, and Silvertone, and ending at the bar where you sip today. Bartenders are listed with the venue with which they are most often associated. Colored stripes below the boxes represent a connection to another branch of the bartender family tree.

via Cocktail creationists.

In Defense of Hot Buttered Rum - Liquor.com

A winter rum classic revisited and perfected by Wayne Curtis Continue

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HOT BUTTERED RUM
Contributed by Wayne Curtis

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1.5 oz Rum
  • 1 tbsp Hot Buttered Rum Batter, frozen
  • Boiling water
  • Glass: Mug

PREPARATION:
Add the rum and batter to a mug. Fill with boiling water and stir.

Hot Buttered Rum Batter
INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 lb Butter, at room temperature
  • 1 lb Brown sugar
  • 1 lb Sugar
  • 1 tbsp Ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Ground cloves
  • 1 tsp Ground nutmeg
  • 1 qt Vanilla ice cream, softened slightly

PREPARATION:
Add all the ingredients except the ice cream to a bowl and stir to combine. Add the ice cream and stir again. Transfer to a container with a lid, seal and store in the freezer. Ideally, the batter is prepared at first frost and finished before the robins arrive. Bring it out for parties, or whenever the temperature drops below 25 degrees.

via In Defense of Hot Buttered Rum - Liquor.com — Liquor.com.

Colorado bars offer a few great shakes in winter cocktail mixes - The Denver Post

These libations can help navigate the long winter nights of the soul — and keep Jack Frost at bay. Continue

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Some great winter cocktail recipes from Colorado based bartenders.

The cocktails that fill the bill tend to come in amber hues, concoctions with dark, smoky notes suitable for burrowing in. These libations can help navigate the long winter nights of the soul — and keep Jack Frost at bay.

More of the story and the recipes at the link below.

via Colorado bars offer a few great shakes in winter cocktail mixes - The Denver Post.

How cocktails happen - The Washington Post

In fact, without trying to ruin the livelihoods of mixologists with well-paying corporate gigs, here’s their basic, not-so-secret formula for almost all new cocktail development. Continue

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Super article from Jason Wilson. Below is some great advice on using a classic recipe and doing some simple tweaks to come up with something different and original.

In fact, without trying to ruin the livelihoods of mixologists with well-paying corporate gigs, here’s their basic, not-so-secret formula for almost all new cocktail development: Take a classic recipe from the 20th century. Replace the base spirit with another base spirit (either whatever you have on hand or, in the case of corporate mixologists, the product of whoever is paying you). More advanced home bartenders can alter the secondary spirits, change the juices, add different bitters or bring in new mixers.

For instance, switch out bourbon for apple brandy, and simple syrup for maple syrup, and your Old-Fashioned becomes an Apple Brandy Old-Fashioned. Replace gin with aquavit, and lemon with lime, and your French 75 becomes a Swedish 60. For your Manhattan, use bianco vermouth instead of sweet vermouth, replace bitters with a strange root-tea liqueur called Root, and you have a Pennsylvania Dutch Manhattan.

The article goes on to talk about some great cognac cocktails. I definitely agree with him - a cognac based Sazerac is wonderful (Old-Fashioneds too!)

via How cocktails happen - The Washington Post.