drinkmemag_issue10

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS

[ALCHEMY OF ALCOHOL] This is your whiskey at 1000x

Issue drink 10 me OCT/NOV 2010 1

Ingredients

ISSUE 10

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Note from the Editor 6 Design: Decanters 8 Wine Alchemy

26 New Booze: Gran Classico

13 Profile Page: Maurice Kanbar

32 What the $%&@ is Terroir

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Tricks of the trade

by Alan Goldfarb

by Liza Gershmann

Brewing Experiments

Please attempt to try this at home

by Marie and Michael Porter

16 Eat

Your Booze

Chocolate Porter Brownies with Scotch Ale Ice Cream

By Denise Sakaki

18

Molecular Mixology

Quaffable Science

by Jeanine Barone

22 Microviews

Your drinks at 1000x

by Lester Hutt

28 Getting

The planet is talking to you through your drink

by Corey Hill

36 Wild

Old Gracefully

The science of barrel aging alcohol

by Lou Bustamante

Beers

The science behind spontaneity

by Brian Yaeger

39 Websites

to Drink to

40 Book Review: Swallow Your Words 43 Libation

Laureate

10 Featured

Recipes

LIFESTYLE BEYOND THE GLASS It’s our 10th issue coming out on the 10th month of 2010!

Editor In Chief: Daniel Yaffe TRAVEL Editor: Paul Ross Art DIrector: Lance Jackson Web Developer: Aman Ahuja Copy Editor: Sam Devine

Director of Operations: Pablo Perez

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Stephanie Henry

InTERN: Miranda Jilka

Advisory Board: Jeremy Cowan, H. Ehrmann, Cornelius Geary, Hondo Lewis, David Nepove, Debbie Rizzo, Genevieve Robertson, Carrie Steinberg, Gus Vahlkamp, Dominic Venegas

contributOrs: Jeanine Barone, Lou Bustamante, Liza Gershman, Alan Goldfarb, Corey Hill, Lance Jackson, www.lancejackson.net, Jen Karetnick, Marie and Michael Porter, Bevshots (Cover Art) www.bevshots. com, Denise Sakaki, Robert Trujillo investigateconversateillustrate. blogspot.com, Brian Yeager, Sierra Zimei

Thank you: Sangita Devaskar, Sacha Ferguson, Sonia Meyer, Reliable Distribution, Skylar Werde

Publisher: Open Content

www.opencontent.tv Eriq Wities & Daniel Yaffe

More than 50,000 people read Drink Me Interested in advertising? ads@drinkmemag.com

Because who knew that C2H5OH could taste so good?

Twitter: drinkmemagazine Check out our facebook page, too!

The entire contents of Drink Me magazine are Š 2010 and may not be reproduced or transmitted in any manner without written permission.

All rights reserved.

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Drink Me magazine is printed on 20% recycled (10% post-consumer waste) paper using only soy based inks. Our printer meets or exceeds all Federal Resource Conservation Act (RCRA) standards and is a certified member of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Please drink responsibly

Note from the Editor

A crafted with blue agave from the highland ranches of don josé pilar contreras 100%

www.donpilar.com

lcohol is as much of a science as it is an art. Beyond the science of taste, which is nothing to take blandly, alcohol itself is a product of scientific processes. But you don’t have to remember every chemical balancing equation from your high school physics class to appreciate the wonders that have led to the liquid in your glass.

Science is also now pushing the liquid envelope in new inventions and products that our great grandparents would have snubbed at.

We present to you the oddities that are sublimating in molecular mixology to the off the record activities of wineries. This issue, we’re experimenting with spontaneously fermented beer (which now you’ll all be curious to go out and try), debunking terroir, and breaking down some of the more common alcohol practices such as barrel aging and hands–on home brewing.

If any of the nomenclature in this issue seems to get your head spinning, pause for a drink and dive right in. Remember that your drink was somebody’s science experiment gone right. “Alchemy” is an Arabic word derived from practices that sought to change metal into gold. In a sense we are doing just that. Served up with a twist.

Je via sano!

Daniel Yaffe

www.drinkmemag.com gold medal spirits of mexico tasting competition

2010

Spicy. Unexpected. Full of potential.

Just like your plans tonight.

Good Luck.

®

Basil Hayden’s® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 40% Alc./Vol. ©2010 Kentucky Springs Distilling Co., Clermont, KY.

Photos by Etienne Meneau

Design: Decanters

Although decanters used to be an easier way for Roman servants to bring wine to banquets, they also help to separate sediment in your wine and aerate the liquid to bring out aroma compounds and smooth out tannic vintages.

We think that if you’re going to decant your wine, you might as well do it with artistic decadence.

Eve: This free-blown beauty is put out by the glass-masters over at Reidel. The seductive snake decanter stands just shy of 20 inches tall and must be turned around all the way to pour out the wine. It’s a great decanter to pour wine from across the table and we promise it doesn’t bite.

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More at: glassware.riedel.com

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Sculptures

by Etienne Meneau: These stunning decanters speak worlds for themselves.

They mimic nature in veins, trees and organs. They are interactive masterpieces that are sure to kick off conversations – perhaps not at the dinner table though, as they come in at over two thousand dollars each. You can, however find them featured at the SF MOMA’s Exhibit “How Wine Became Modern” which runs November 20 through April 17.

More at: the-strangedecanter.blogspot.com

Wine Alchemy

By Alan Goldfarb Director of Communications at Tudal Winery/Cerruti Cellars

Robert Mondavi and André Tchelistcheff walk into a room . . .

Sounds like the start of a joke, and it is. That’s because these two giants of California wine are deceased. But let’s suppose, for the purposes of this treatise, the following:

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t a séance, Mondavi — the man, not the winery — and Tchelistcheff (pronounced TCHEL a tcheff ) — the great viticulturist and winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyards, walk into this room.

It’s darkened, with a myriad of candles for illumination. It’s a deep, cold, wine cave in the heavens. The purpose of this netherworld meeting is to allow these vinous giants (in the real world they stood only about five foot five and five foot two, respectively) to look down at

the earth’s coil, zeroing in on California (via the most heavenly Google Earth imaginable).

And what do they see? Lo and behold, they gaze upon a world of wine that has changed and proliferated since they departed the earth (Mondavi in 2008, Tchelistcheff in 1994). They see a wine world of which they could hardly have conceived. They see wine turned into a commodity, where once it was

considered a craft or an art form. They see vineyards devolving from natural traditions into Draconian methods that some would term, Frankenwine (and we don’t mean Al Franken whining).

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hus, our two little behemoths — Tcheltischeff, the diminutive White Russian plucked out of Bordeaux to resurrect a moribund California wine industry lain barren by Prohibition in the ‘30s; and Mondavi, the barrel-chested Italian, who became California’s wine ambassador to the world — look down upon a not-so-brave new world of wine.

They seem horrified at what science has wrought upon their world that once was considered quaint, romantic, and artisanal. Now they behold a world largely usurped by multinational men in vested suits, who buy and sell wineries — mostly to each other — and turn once small, family run vineyards into factories. These wine warehouses in turn, produce wines for a growing but unaware populace that has been manipulated into

thinking that what is being made today is what wine should be.

Wine has gotten this way because those very corporations have hit upon the formula that gives the people precisely what the people think they want.

So, what the people get — in my long–held and long–studied opinion — are wines that are high in alcohol and strong on oak (two factors that contribute to sweeter wines, which people perceive as dry). This results in wines that are out of balance and which overwhelm most foods that might be served with them (But hey, who cares about wine with food? We only want wine with punch, boldness, and flavor, right?).

And as our late master vintners gaze down on all this from their ethereal wine cellar, what they spy are things like “watering back,” “de-alcoholizing,” “acidification,” “colorizing,” and the adding of something called “soup.”

Watering Back

This is a technique that is used by most winemakers today (yes, I said most) in order to curtail some of the sugars and therefore diminish higher degrees of alcohol without losing the power.

Adding water, incidentally, is legal, but only a small amount and only when fermentation stops prematurely.

De-alcoholizing

This procedure does the same thing as watering back — except by reverse osmosis (R.O.) or by the use of a spinning cone. “De-alcing,” as it’s known in the biz, lowers the alcohol without compromising the taste. Perhaps so, but more than half of the wine produced in California today utilizes this method, although very few winemakers will tell you they do it.

Wines that have been put through R.O. cannot use the term “estate bottled” on their labels. However, not all wines that do not say “estate bottled” have been de-alced. But if you know of a small producer with a tiny vineyard, whose wine doesn’t read “estate bottled,” chances are good that the wine has been “done-to.”

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Acidification or Acidulation

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Acidity is a very important component of wine. Without acidity, a wine will taste flat or “flabby” as we say. Acidity (some would characterize it as giving a “sour” taste) aids in cleansing the palate of animal or vegetable fat and gets one ready for the next bite of food.

Otherwise, the sweet fruit alone will overpower the food. Therefore, in those years which are very warm — as is often the case in California — the acid levels are too low, resulting in unbalanced wines. To remedy this, winemakers have taken to acidifying their wines by adding various types of acids.

Colorizing

Sometimes, in cold climates such as the Anderson Valley of Mendocino, the Carneros region of Napa, the Sonoma Coast, or by the Finger Lakes of upstate New York — cooler climates in which wine grapes are grown — the weather is too cold to “color-up” the grapes sufficiently. What to do? Add color! There’s a product on the market that the wine industry is loath to tell you about. It’s called “Mega Purple” or “Ultra Red” — concentrates from deeply colored grapes that are added to give a deep garnet or purple color to wine. Additionally, by adding these concentrates, unwanted green or unripe flavors are mitigated, and the wines are actually sweetened.

Soup

Some wineries have taken to adding some percentage of a mixture of juice (from other vineyards) to round out the original wine and to give it better flavors and balance. It gives a wine a boost from a flavoring agent in order “lift” a wine from perceived doldrums.

Many of these techniques are legal — or not — depending upon the degree to which they’re used. But you’ll never see a mention of them on a bottle or in notes associated with the flowery prose that wineries write in order to put their wines in the best possible light.

Do these methods detract from a wine?

To the unknowing public, who couldn’t give a fig, probably not. Do they actually make the wine better? That depends upon the drinker.

Would Mondavi and/or Tchelistcheff approve? Having had the privilege of spending time with these men, I can tell you that their bones are probably spinning in their graves faster than the cones that remove alcohol from wine.

The science of wine has always been with us, which is why most winemakers study chemistry. I suppose it’s only natural — pardon the oxymoron — that as our world evolves (devolves?) the alchemist’s hands eventually work into almost every aspect of our lives.

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ead the following excerpt from Walter Schug — a winemaker of some renown, who made wine at Joseph Phelps and for his own Schug Winery on the cold Sonoma side of the Carneros. Writing a chapter called “The Vinification of Fine Wine” in the Book of California Wine (University of California Press) Schug opined:

“Wine in America, and especially in California, started out as an ethnic and ecclesiastical product, immigrating Spaniards, Germans, Italians, French, and others produced for themselves and their countrymen. It was part of daily life, little fussed over.” The ravages from an insect and disease, two world wars, the Depression, and Prohibition writes Schug, “left the U.S. with little more than the idea that wine was a cheap source of intoxification. Consumer and producer must share the blame for wine’s downfall — they simply failed to inspire one another any longer! . . .

Grape growing and winemaking never ceased, but too often lost were intent, art, skill, and the concept of quality.”

Schug continues, writing about how the industry had evolved in the ’60s: “They tried everything. Their trials and questioning were met with both success and failure. Over-oaking and pushing processes . . . to the limits produced many unharmonious wines. But these trials also established the parameters of quality.”

Those words were published in 1984. I can only imagine our séance receiving another visitor . . . George Orwell walks into a room . . .

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Profile Page: Maurice Kanbar

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hen you think about meeting an Alcohol magnet, as largely as successful as Maurice Kanbar, (of Skyy Vodka and Blue Angel), you think of someone who is untouchable, larger than life, a jet-setting swashbuckler making his way through a world of vast parties, super models and hot Hollywood clubs.

That is what I expected at least, when I made my way through two intermediaries, prominent staffers in his empire of invention, in order to get an interview with the vodka legend. What I didn’t realize was that sitting inside of an eight-story Pacific Heights building, was a quirky, humble, gentle man. A genius among geniuses, who holds more than forty patents including everything from an incredibly sharp and indestructible knife, to a rice and grain super food formula. His contribution to the medical community has been staggering alone, (as he created the Safetyglide hypodermic needle and a cryogenic cataract remover, among others) saving thousands upon thousands of lives each and every year.

Vodka is a simple something that he came into later in life, and seems not like an after thought because everything Kanbar endeavors he does with heart and precision. Just like yet another thing that he pondered, “Now how can I do this better?”

Kanbar’s success is clearly more than simple brilliant thinking. His clear—sightedness streamlines everything that he sees and touches.

He paints now, a newish hobby in the line of stress reducers, but has taken to mixing his own oil paints, “It is simple, he says. “And sometimes there isn’t a color that I like.” His highlighter too, a clear relic from the 1980s once went dry, like they always do, so Kanbar created his own ink to use around the house (not to sell) –a beautiful house at that with elegant Asian furniture, a baby grand, and a scaling view of the Bay. Everything, for Kanbar seems to derive from practicality. “I love a Martini at lunch — one martini — but when I realized that gin gave me headaches I started to drink them with Vodka.” And as simply as that, that is how it all began. The vodka Kanbar was drinking in his one-martini lunch was only giving him a headache every forth or so time, so after a bit of research, he decided to make a more pure vodka (distilled 4 times) and now he never gets a headache – at least not from that. “Alcohol is man’s first tranquilizer.

Stress is a killer. When used in moderation it is wonderful, but overdrinking is a dangerous mistake.”

I left Kanbar with a giggle (he has an incredibly wry sense of humor from an upbringing in Brooklyn and years of inventive creativity) and very, very full hands. He gave me his newest sticky notes, a razor sharp knife, a bag of Soo Foo (his super food), and some good advice “For everything I do I want to do something good in the world too. Not enough people do that, but if they wanted to they could.”

Brewing Exp

By Marie and Michael Porter

Please attempt to try this at home.

Beer brewing is a fairly simple process. While complexity of equipment and technique can vary wildly between small, home brewers and large, commercial breweries, the concepts remain fairly similar across the spectrum.

1. Grains are covered completely with 147-153°F water, and allowed to steep for 1hour. During this hour the enzymes that are present in the grain will break down the starches into simple sugars.

Taste it! It will be sweet.

Grains: Steeping in hot water to convert starches to sugars.

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2. Once grains have completed steeping, the wort is strained off into the boiling pot, leaving the grains behind.

Additional rinsing of the grains provides additional liquid to the boil, as well as increasing the yield of starch from the grain. This results in an optimal amount of sugars in the wort.

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Hops in a seed cone format: Vine-grown seed cones which are dried and used for bittering, aroma, and flavor.

Boiling Pot: A large pot in which the wort is boiled. This sterilizes the liquid, and allows for the utilization of hops’ various properties.

3. The wort is brought to a boil, commonly for around one hour. Hops are added at various increments, to make use of its various properties. Hops boiled for a long time - such as one hour - add bitterness to the beer, while hops brewed for a shorter time add more flavor and aroma. Most formulas plan for two or three hop additions to balance the bitterness, flavor, and aroma.

Wort: The starchy “grain juice,” which is then fermented into beer.

4. Once the boiling step is completed, the wort must be cooled to under 90 degrees. This must happen quickly,

periments Mash Tun: Insulated container that holds the mash while it steeps. to prevent contamination. It is also believed that a quick cool results in a clearer finished beer. At this point, it is critical that no un-sanitized equipment comes in contact with the wort.

Contamination can lead to undesirable flavors, and potentially ruining the batch of beer.

Fermenting Bucket: A large vessel in which the wort is combined with yeast and allowed to ferment for several weeks.

Air lock: A valve attached to fermenting bucket to allow the release of carbon dioxide — a by–product of fermentation. Too much CO2 will not only impede the fermentation process, it could cause the lid to blow off. This could allow contamination to occur.

6. Yeast is introduced to the wort, either in liquid or powder form. The yeast soon begins to consume the sugars in the wort, leaving behind alcohol and carbon dioxide as by–products. The excess CO2 is expelled through an airlock fitted to the fermentation bucket lid.

The fermentation bucket is stored according to the desired style of beer.

Ale yeast is used to ferment a wort at room temperature, while lager yeast is used to ferment at cooler temperature.

The yeast will settle out over several weeks, leaving behind a clear beer.

Bottles for carbonization

7. A small amount of priming sugar is added to the finished beer immediately prior to bottling to provide carbonation.

The small amount of yeast that is left suspended in the clear beer will ferment the newly added sugar, producing carbon dioxide. The C02 is trapped in the sealed bottle, pressurizing and creating carbonization. Alternatively, the beer can be kegged and force carbonated with bottled carbon dioxide.

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5. Once the beer has been cooled to under 90 degrees, it is transferred to a sanitized fermentation bucket. The wort is

aerated, introducing oxygen and nitrogen to aid in the fermentation process.

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Eat your booze

Chocolate Porter Brownies with Scotch Ale Ice Cream

by Denise Sakaki

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eer at Oktoberfest — is there any better pairing? The process of reducing a flavorful liquid like wine for savory sauces can also be applied to beers, removing the alcohol as well as concentrating the beer’s essence. The rich, smoky bite of dark beers like Porters and Stouts, as well as the richness of a Scotch Ale are a pleasant combination in desserts.

Vanilla rounds out the ale, enhancing its malty flavor — perfect for ice cream. Dark chocolate compliments the bittersweet flavor of a dark beer, making it almost coffee— like. Combining a scoop of malty—sweet ice cream with a bittersweet, rich chocolate brownie is a new way to enjoy a beer. Topping the dish with a sprinkling of crushed pretzels adds a savory crunch to enhance the dessert and a nice nod to the natural pairing of beer and pretzels.

When developing this recipe, I used Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewery for the brownie and Second Sight Strong Scotch Ale from Black Raven Brewing Company for the ice cream, but use whatever favorite beer equivalent that you have handy.

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* Note: If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can take your beer reduction and mix with softened vanilla ice cream. When it’s fully combined, refreeze to harden and then serve.

Chocolate Porter Brownies (8-10 servings, depending on how you slice them)

Ingredients: 1 cup cake flour 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 stick of butter, cut into cubes 5 1/4 oz unsweetened chocolate 6 fluid oz porter style beer reduced by half – about 3 oz 3 large eggs at room temperature 1 tablespoon cocoa powder 1 teaspoon salt

Special tools: Parchment paper, 2 square 8 x 8 inch baking pans, medium sized saucepan, whisk

Set saucepan on medium high.

Carefully pour in the porter and bring to a low boil for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Use a measuring cup to confirm that it’s reduced by half, then lower the temperature of the burner to medium. Add the butter along with the white and brown sugar— stir until mostly melted. Lower the burner to medium low and add in the chunks of chocolate. Mix to make sure it melts and does not burn.

Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and break up the yolks with a whisk.

Temper the eggs before adding to the hot mixture, adding a small amount of the chocolate batter into the eggs and whisk lightly. This brings the egg temperature up gradually, preventing them from scrambling. Add about a teaspoon of batter at a time to warm the eggs and slowly pour the tempered mixture into the chocolate batter, stirring quickly and constantly.

Mix well.

Add the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder and salt. Do not overmix to keep the batter from becoming tough. Turn off the stove and let the batter rest for a few minutes while you preheat the oven to 340 degrees.

Prepare the baking sheets for the brownies with parchment paper (that covers the edges).

(Makes about 6-8 servings)

Ingredients: 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup sugar 1 pint of Scotch ale reduced by half – about cup worth 3 large eggs at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Special tools: Ice cream maker, medium sized saucepan, fine metal sieve, whisk For beer reduction, see first paragraph of Chocolate Porter Brownies for instructions. When the beer is properly reduced, lower the burner temperature to medium and add the cream and sugar; mix until sugar is fully melted.

Bring mixture to a low boil and use a thermometer to check that the temperature gets to 170 degrees, and then shut off the heat. Add the vanilla extract.

Temper the eggs before adding into the mixture, see second paragraph of Chocolate Porter Brownies instructions for tempering notes. Once the eggs are incorporated, take the custard and strain into a bowl to remove bits of egg and ensure a smoother texture.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for a few hours. As soon as it’s cool, follow your ice cream maker directions to make the finished, beer ice cream.

Constructing the Dessert: Ingredients: 1 Chocolate Porter Brownie 1 large scoop of Scotch Ale Ice Cream 1 tablespoon of crushed pretzels

Lay a brownie on a small plate, preferably still warm, and place a softened scoop of ice cream on top.

Sprinkle the crushed pretzels over the dessert and serve, preferably with a favorite frosty brew.

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Pour the batter equally into the pans.

Since these are meant to be part of a larger dessert, the brownies are thin, but if you’re making only brownies, use a single pan for thicker-sized ones.

When the batter is evenly distributed and leveled, place the pans into the preheated oven and let them bake for fifteen to twenty minutes, checking midway through and rotating the pans for even baking. You’ll know they’re done when you stick a toothpick into the center and it comes out lightly crumbed, but not totally dry.

Scotch Ale Ice Cream

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Molecular mixology

By Jeanine Barone Photos courtesy of Bar Chef, Toronto

I’ve never found a foam, gel or air I didn’t like. Ice cream that tastes like bacon or freeze-dried fois gras? Bring it on. And I’m no less adventurous on the cocktail front where I applaud mixologists who whip up cocktail concoctions that stand my flavor expectation on its head.

“J

ust give me a plain old gin and tonic” are words you’ll never hear me utter. To me, sipping such a pedestrian cocktail doesn’t make for a memorable drink experience — unless you factor in the company or the ambience. But a gin and tonic jelly — constructed by setting an alcohol-laden gummy bear-like cube atop a peeled lime slice — is a creative stimulant.

Welcome to the style of bartending that some term molecular mixology.

In his signature drink at BarChef, Solarik blowtorches vanilla and hickory chips, snuggles a Manhattan in the middle and covers it all with a glass

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While the tools of the trade for conventional bartenders are a shaker, sieve and shot glass, progressive mixologists may pack whipped cream ISO foamers, a bain-marie, centrifuges, cold smokers and a sous vide vacuum machine. Above Tony Conigliaro’s bar, 69 Colebrook Row in London, in a petite space that’s a cross between a kitchen and a high school chem lab, he tinkers with recipes (like orgeat, a sweet almond syrup) ten or more times until perfect. At appropriately named BarChef in Toronto, cocktail mastermind Frankie Solarik displays a

pharmacopeia of accoutrements, such as coconut and cola bitters, and cardamom and cumin syrup.

Almost like modern–day alchemists, these mixologists use a dash of science, a pinch of atypical ingredients and a dollop of inspiration from other disciplines to produce endless cocktail possibilities that display unique textures, aromas, forms, and flavors — ranging from leather to grass to lipstick. Like in molecular gastronomy, liquid nitrogen can freeze the alcohol to make a spoonable sorbetlike concoction. Calcium chloride and seaweed-derived sodium alginate, ingredients found in the kitchens of avant-garde chefs, create alcoholic or flavored gelatinous caviar-esque orbs.

Xanthan gum textures a cocktail to a consistency that allows the spheres to remain suspended like mini-planets in space (something you’d expect to be served at a sci-fi convention, perhaps).

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dome, capturing the smoke, which infuses the drink — clearly revving up the cocktail’s entertainment factor. His Mad Man calls for infusing tobacco into a glass of bourbon that’s served with a side spoonful of a tobacco and cherry jelly, producing a medley of tantalizing flavors and aromas. To create a dry martini, Conigliaro marinates tannin– laden grape seeds in pure alcohol, distills off the alcohol and pipettes the “dry essence” into a bottle of vermouth to make a concoction that dazzles your tongue. The tannins register as dry and also elicit saliva that enhances taste sensibilities. And, instead of a ho-hum gin and tonic, he uses a sous vide method to cook rhubarb or other botanicals with gin in a vacuum bag to produce an aromatic infusion. Another forward thinking mixology guru, peripatetic Eben Freeman of New York City’s Tailor Restaurant fame has infused rice krispies with Kahlua, mixed cherry woodsmoked Coke syrup with Jack Daniels, and reinvented a Ramos Ginn Fizz as a marshmallow.

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But a wow factor is not the goal of the maestro mixologist. What detractors

call simple parlor tricks can improve your cocktail experience beyond a textural transformation from a liquid to a solid or a gas. “Foam can simultaneously sweeten and aromatize a cocktail,” says Philip Duff, a globetrotting bartender and cocktail ambassador for Liquid Solutions.

He also cites air — a lighter-than-foam entity — for its playful quality.

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et, slight of hand using fire and ice and a cornucopia of chemicals doesn’t necessarily make for a great cocktail. The wrong proportions, conflicting ingredients, or poor techniques can result in a thick, tasteless drink, or one with clashing flavors. A gel might have visible particles or you could end up with unsightly fat droplets in your cocktail. It can require a lot of trial and error to create a well-constructed, molecular cocktail —and not just one that is downright weird for weirdness sake.

Let’s face it, many of us pull up to the bar with plenty of preconceptions about what we love or hate in cocktails.

“That’s because our parents, unless they were on the Jerry Springer show, didn’t teach us about drinks,” says Duff. So

molecular mixology can re-educate the conservative imbiber, providing adventure in a tumbler. “It takes them out of their comfort zone,” he adds. Back to that gin and tonic jelly: even if you don’t like a G & T, Duff believes the jelly is different enough that you’ll give it a try.

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learly, the mixology pioneers challenge how you think about a cocktail. In Solarik’s Sailor’s Mojito, the side gelatin ravioli (an alginate) explodes in your mouth with mojito flavor. Yet the cocktail itself also exudes a whiff of beach essence thanks to the coconut oil mist. The result: you’re transported far from the bar, as a sense memory kicks in. We all know that an aroma, an image or a taste sensation can pack an emotional wallop. Just think, molecular mixology is chemistry, culinary and visual arts, and psychology all rolled up into a cocktail glass.

Just as the practitioners of molecular gastronomy often contest that term, calling the creative masters behind these scintillating cocktails molecular mixologists elicits distaste. “I’m a bar chef just like a chef that practices molecular gastronomy calls themself a chef, not a molecular gastronomist,” says Solarik. Conigliaro’s style is better termed “future retro,” where he’s creating new flavor experiences and modifying the classics. “Science is a tiny segment of what we use,” says Tony, who gets his inspiration from a variety of creatives, including chefs, designers, perfumers, and flavorists. And Duff finds the molecular mixology moniker gimmicky, as if “you can make a half-assed drink that must be cool because the guy is wearing a white coat,” he says.

Wonder if we’ll see a martini with an olive spherification topped with olive brine air on Mad Men this season? Not a chance.

At Home Hi-Tech Cocktail “Don’t mess with dry ice or liquid nitrogen; it’s a good way to lose limbs,” says Solarik. Here’s a simple cocktail recipe he suggests: 2 oz coconut rum 1 oz vanilla simple syrup

white of one egg 2 oz fresh lime Mix all the ingredients. Dry shake 5 seconds. Add ice. Shake. Strain into a heat-treated glass. Dust with icing sugar. Brulee with a blowtorch. Rasp fresh lime rind on top with black pepper. Serve with a spoon for the meringue.

Other Hi-Tech Cocktail Bars • Nottingham Forest Cocktail Bar, Milan • Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sydney • M Bar at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong • Vessel, Seattle • Bar Centro at the Bazaar, Los Angeles • Stix Restaurant & Lounge, Boston • Below Zero Nitro Bar at Barton G, Miami Beach

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Whether the molecular nomenclature is here to stay isn’t clear. But mixologists agree that there’s no turning back from experimentation to produce better

drinks. And, in truth, there is quite a bit of science in what all bartenders do, with many of the much-touted molecular techniques going way back. “The first cocktail book in the late 1800s included jelly drinks,” says Duff. The technique of adding egg white to produce a froth dates to the nineteenth century. Even classics like an Angel’s Kiss (made with brandy, sloe gin, white cream de cacao and light cream) rely on the science of volume and density to pour the ingredients so they layer in the glass.

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Vodka tonic

Micro views

By Lester Hutt

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hese images are photographs of your favorite beers, wines, cocktails, liquors, and mixers after they have been crystallized on a slide and photographed under a polarized light microscope. Learn more about BevShots® at www.bevshots.com In the mid ’90s, a research scientist named Michael Davidson stumbled upon a genius idea literally right under his nose. In his 25 year career through the many facets of microscopy, he had taken photographs under the microscope of a collection of items — DNA, biochemicals and vitamins.

Looking for novel ways to fund his Florida State University lab, Davidson

decided to take his microphotographs to businesses for possible commercial opportunities. While presenting his pictures to established retail companies, one necktie manufacturer changed his creative direction with just one word – cocktails. Davidson went a step further. Along with mixed drinks, he picked out a few favorite brews and wines, took some shots of the beverages under his microscope, and the Molecular Expressions Cocktail Collection was born.

The drink-donned neckties were top shelf from 1995 to 2002, and now his buzz-worthy images are shaking up the art world with this series of photos.

Japanese Sake

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Dry Martini

Champagne “A good gulp of hot whiskey at bedtime - it’s not very scientific but it helps” — Alexander Fleming (the scientist who discovered penicillin)

Vodka

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Gran Classico

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lthough it’s not technically a “new” spirit, Gran Classico is back in a big (new) way.

Dating back to the 1800s, the spirit was originally known as “Italian Bitters of Turin.” For the last couple of hundred years the recipe remained a small batch spirit in Switzerland – until recently when Tempus Fugit Spirits (based out of Petaluma, CA) took to rebirthing Gran Classico to the spirit that we present to you today.

Housed in a bottle that could easily be featured on our design page, the liquid inside is made with twenty-five herbs and roots including rhubarb, orange peel and wormwood. It has a complex and nicely rounded bittersweet taste that can easily stand alone or easily slides into many recipes (including making a great Negroni).

Try Gran Classico the classic way: simply stirred in with glass of iced sparkling water.

For a nice authentic Spritz, replace the sparkling water with a sparking wine …

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Getting Old The Science of Barrel

By Lou Bustamante

Aging alcohol is more than just filling a barrel and forgetting about it. Growing old is easy, growing old gracefully is not.

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Type of Oak and Barrels

Since a lot of people default to the “more age is better and smoother” line of thinking, this overview of barrel aging

Oak wood has some important components that provide a lot of the flavors we associate with an aged spirit or wine. The barrels release tannins which, in small amounts, give a rich mouth-feel, but become astringent and bitter in large quantities. One such tannin, hemicellulose, provides “toasty” flavors, like, well, toast. Lignin and hemicellulose also have the advantage of breaking down over time into sugars, to help mask the harshness of higher–proof

arrel aging, in itself, is nothing more than placing alcohol into a container that allows a minimal amount of oxygen to come inside, but also permits water and alcohol to evaporate out. The loss of those liquids from the barrel concentrates the flavors inside, all the while absorbing flavors from the wooden cask itself. The timeline of the aging process depends on preference and personal style of the distiller, brewer or winemaker.

serves to illuminate the processes, the factors involved, and their effects.

Gracefully: Aging Alcohol wines or spirits.

The vast majority of wine and spirit aging occurs in oak — either French or American — with each type of wood adding its own influence to the final product.

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ompared to French oak, American white oak tends to be higher in oak lactones (they show up as “oaky,” coconut, and peach flavors, but also add fragrantaromatics) and lignin (vanillin, which tastes and smells like vanilla).

The intensity of American oak also comes from the drying process: where French oak is seasoned by drying the wood outdoors for several years, American oak is kiln-dried. Both methods draw

moisture out of the wood, and help make certain that the barrel won’t leak. But air-drying also has the added benefit of extracting tannin out of the wood.

Barrel toasting after drying complements the flavor of the oak.

By placing an open barrel over a wood or gas fire, the heat releases and caramelizes woodsugars, and concentrates the levels of vanillin, roasted flavors (aldehydes for you geeks out there), smoky and spice notes (eugenol), and also creates charcoal if roasted enough, which reduces smelly sulphur-based compounds.

Think about barrels as tea. Tea is similar to oak in that it’s roasted to different degrees according to style, contains tannin, and

the amount of flavor that’s extracted varies with time, temperature, and reuse.

Time and Temperature Just like steeping tea too long produces bitterness, alcohol can overage and become over-extracted with harsh, tannic, sawdust-like flavors.

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ll time is not equal. Imagine you start aging three identical barrels full of thesame distilled spirit at the exact same time. Each barrel gets aged for 9 years, but you age one in Kentucky, one in Martinique (Caribbean), and the last in the Isle of Skye (Scotland).

The discrepancy in temperature gives you dramatic differences in the rate of age. In Scotland, the coldest of the three locations, the spirit will age very slowly and be the lightest in color and flavor.

On the other side, the hot weather of the tropics gives the spirit aged in Martinique the most color and change in the palate. The Kentucky barrel in this example falls in the middle. For the Scottish barrel to reach the same level of age as the spirit in Martinique, it would take at least a few more years.

This means age measured in years is relative to the location where the barrel sat. Whoa.

Again like with tea, temperature affects the rate of absorption of oak properties.

The hotter the water is, the faster the extraction. A cold steeped tea can sit for a lot longer than one made with hot water.

A spirit that rested in a barrel for one hundred years might be rare, historically interesting, and expensive, but chances are that, just like over-steeped tea, it will be bitter (and taste like a lumberyard). drink me

Oxidation

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A well-coopered barrel is watertight, but allows what’s inside to breathe. Alcohol

and water escape from the barrel, concentrating the flavors as the fill level falls. This evaporation out of the barrel allows lighter, more volatile, unpleasant “hot” tasting alcohols to scram, smoothing out the alcohol. The amount of loss due to evaporation is called the “angel’s share” since it rises up to the heavens. A small amount of oxygen also makes its way in. For wine, the slow exposure to oxygen reduces astringency, helps red wine maintain its color, and develops fruit aromas. Too much oxygen in contact with any ferment leads to vinegar or outright spoilage.

St. George Spirit’s distiller Lance Winters explained the common practice of adding a larger cut of the “tails” (the heavier alcohols that come out at the end of distilling) to aged spirits. He explained that the types of alcohols found there react with oxygen and oils found in the wood to enhance the aroma of the spirit.

They also have an additional effect: “The tails are big, fat, and rich, and improve the body of the spirit, but the downside is that they have a higher level of toxicity [than ethanol, the main alcohol in all liquor] and can give you a worse hangover if ingested in large amounts.”

Proof Proof has an enormous impact on the aging process, since oak compounds are more soluble in alcohol than in water.

This means that wine will absorb less of the oak than whiskey.

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arko Karakasevic, of Charbay Distillery, produces both wine and spirits and explains it this way: “Wine at thirteen per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) will extract just that amount of oak flavors. Spirits at say seventy per cent ABV, will absorb that much more of the available flavors and colors of the barrel.”

Reuse Just like you can re-steep tea by adding more water to it, you can also reuse a barrel.

The more times you add water, the weaker the tea will be. The same is true of the barrels, as the impact of the oak flavorings

will diminish over multiple uses.

For some distilleries this is a good thing. It allows them to get all the benefits of oxidation, but a much lower influence of the oak character. This is usually true with spirits that are fruity, or where the quality of the grain wants to be showcased. Tequila and Scotch distilleries are some of the largest buyers of used bourbon barrels.

The complexity of aging stands on a foundation of well-made wine or distilled spirits and quality barrels, but surprisingly also on the environment where it rests. Even two barrels of the same newness, filled with the same alcohol at the same time and aged for the same length will taste different.

Perhaps the lesson in all of this is that there is magic in getting old, as long as it doesn’t make us bitter.

What The $%&@ is Terroir?

The Planet is Talking to You Through Your Drink

By Corey Hill

Grapes have a lot to say. They will tell you about where they live, about how well they’re being cared for, and what the weather’s like. Maybe they will even tell you about their neighbors: the eucalyptus tree living nearby, the weevils squirming in the dirt. Through wine, the grapes craft a narrative of their lives. When you put a glass to your lips, you are drinking their stories. That’s terroir.

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ike creamy food, the Statue of Liberty, and Gerard Depardieu, the concept of terroir is a gift from the French. It comes from the French word for Earth: “terre.”

Literally, it means “sense of place,” and could be used to refer to anything, though it now refers almost exclusively to wine. In the words of Steven Ashton of Ashton Vineyards, terroir is the fruit expressing itself. Its the idea that terroir shares the entire micro-biosphere of the grape with you, that everything that goes into the vine will come out in the wine.

People have long suspected that location is key. Hell, the Greeks were stamping their ceramic vases to ensure that thirsty citizens knew just where their wine originated. No proper bacchanalia dared have wine that wasn’t imported from the best provinces. Those best sources for wine in ancient Greece, in case you are curious, were Oenotria (in modern day Italy) and the Attican region (near Athens).

In it’s modern incarnation, terroir is about much more than stamping a name on the side of the vase. For the wine enthusiast, terroir is vital to appreciating wine. Further, the concept is integral to the French appellation system, and to the Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) system used around the world.

Is it all just a marketing ploy? A way to charge more for snooty French wine?

The intrepid men and women who brave the frontiers of science contend otherwise.

In 2008, a group of geologists and students from Bryn Mawr University explored the vineyards of Red Mountain.

They found that identical grapes grown in different locations exhibited distinct differences in trace metal content. Even variations as small as a few hundred yards produced dramatic changes. In essence, the chemistry of identical grapes, grown in different places, is markedly different. Plants don’t move much. And they get all of their food from the sun, water and dirt. So it makes sense that they are what they eat.

The sun is a big deal. We know it, and the plants know it. The angle and the amount of sunlight vines receive alters the photosynthetic process — changing the plant itself. Generation after generation in one place, and the grapes hardwire their genetics to match the environment. What goes for the sun goes for the dirt, too. Soils vary in

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Appellation systems are a way of guaranteeing consumers that they are

getting what they want by classifying wines based on locale. These systems, with the French version perhaps being the strictest, mandate point of origin labels for grapes that will eventually make their way into wines. Some of the big names in French terroirs? Chablis, Riesling, Bordeaux, and Pinot.

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density, moisture absorption rates, and acidity. Mixed into the ground are all sorts of ‘oligoelements’ — chemicals, like phosphorus and potassium, found in trace amounts in most living things.

These trace elements play a part in the process.

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here is even some speculation that soil microbes and fungi influence the vine. Everything they sink their roots into makes a difference, and the plant passes these genetic changes on to future generations. Mix in rainfall, fog, and air quality, and the result is a highly variable end result. It makes perfect sense. For grapes, the dirt is their home. They can’t help but adapt.

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So grapes are storytellers, sharing the tale of terroir through flavor and color.

And science has proven what discerning drinkers have known intuitively for thousands of years. But not all grapes have the same gift for sharing their stories — they can’t all be Steinbecks and Hemingways. Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, changes very little no matter where it is placed. It’s pretty much mute. Pinot Noir, on the other hand, is hypersensitive to changing conditions. Pinot Noir is the modern,

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memoir–writer of grapes. It tells you everything.

And as for blended wines? Well, there’s really no such thing as terroir for a blended wine. The grapes need to express themselves, and their voice is lost if they’re all thrown together.

If it goes for the grapes, it only makes sense that other growing things would also respond to their surroundings.

All plants rely on the same sources for energy. And all other beverages also start with plants.

European and macro-brewers will surely defend the unique terroir of their creations as strongly as any winemaker.

Lambic beers, for example, can only be produced in a swath of land surrounding the Belgian capital. The ground around Brussels is swimming with a unique blend of microorganisms, whose influences on the brew are hard to replicate elsewhere.

In Germany, Kolsch beers are available only in the vicinity of Cologne. Pilsner Urquell, they say, is best enjoyed in its native Plzen in the Czech Republic.

Guiness in Ireland. It’s not just beers, either. Appleton Rum in Jamaica claims

that the flavor of their spirits is due in part to the limestone foundation deep under the Jamaican soil in Appleton Estates.

The grapes, grains, and hops are anxious to share, to tell you the tale of the soil, the sun, the planet. Earth’s been here for over five billion years, so no doubt it’s probably got a few good stories. And unlike the one your friend keeps telling you about the time he almost made it onto Survivor, this one actually means something.

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More info at: conncreek.com/AvaRoom/ BlendingExperience

www.gearsandgrapes.com (415) 484-1238

By Brian Yaeger

The Science behind Spontaneity To say beer is simple enough to make that even a woman in medieval times could make it is true, albeit misogynistic. To say that beer is simple enough to make that even I could make it in my apartment’s small kitchen is true, but somewhat insulting to the hard work those medieval women — brewsters — applied to their craft.

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n their day, the act of making beer relied on a lot of know–how and a little magic, in that no one could say for sure exactly how the raw ingredients — grains, herbs, and water — were transformed into an effervescent, alcoholic drink.

What they did understand was that it helped if some remnants from the previous batch were added to the new one. The slurry from the brewing pots contained what brewers simply referred to as “God-is-good.” Today, thanks to the discovery by Louis Pasteur, we call it yeast. Drink a quality brew and it’s all the proof you need that even agnostics have to admit, God is great.

The discovery of yeast launched the branch of science known as zymurgy — the study of fermentation. As yeast strains evolve (most breweries that use their own yeast over and over again say it has developed a “house character”), so does the field of zymurgy.

Yes, taste. Yeast also dictates greatly the flavor of the beer. Most brewer’s yeast falls under the species of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for making ales or Saccharomyces pastorianus for lagers.

The German yeast pitched into Bavarian hefeweizens give it that tell-tale banana and clover flavor. California lager yeast is responsible for Anchor Steam’s slightly grassy notes. And Belgian Trappist yeast contributes the sweet’n’spicy taste you get from a Chimay. You can procure samples of any of these yeasts and dozens more from commercial yeast distributors such as Wyeast and White Labs.

These yeast peddlers even offer “wild” yeasts such as Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, or Pediococcus — increasingly popular for sour beers from breweries such as Russian River (Santa Rosa, California), Jolly Pumpkin (Dexter, Michigan.), and Cascade (Portland, Oregon). Allagash in the other Portland (in Maine) brews with them, too. Brewmaster Jason Perkins, in discussing various strains of “Brett” yeast and blends of the aforementioned organisms, calls “isolated wild yeast an oxymoron.”

But there are other yeasts you cannot buy. That’s because they are free and

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Illustration by Robert Trujillo

While beer is fundamentally the same beverage today that it was centuries and even millennia ago, one primary difference is that brewers — each of them zymurgists — today initiate fermentation by pitching yeast, the microorganisms that convert sugars from the malt into carbon dioxide, thus making beer bubbly and alcoholic.

It requires specific and ideal brewing conditions including temperature and sanitation. It leaves little room

for spontaneity. But what if . . . just what if there could be a spontaneously fermented beer? For one, it’d be impossible to accurately predict what it would feel, smell, and taste like.

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all around you all the time. Is the OJ in your fridge that’s two weeks passed the expiration date off and turned into hooch? Wild yeast. Are monkeys in the jungle keeling over off their branches after eating the fallen fruit rotting on the jungle floor? Wild yeast.

And then there are those wonderfully tart and complex lambic beers that the Belgians have been brewing for some five hundred years in the Pajottenland region near Brussels and at the Cantillon brewery in Brussels itself. Again, thank wild yeast and the bacteria floating around which, after fermenting in barrels, result in flavors more similar to cider and wine than standard ales and lagers.

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nter Allagash Brewing in Portland, Maine. Founded by Rob Tod in 1995, Allagash doesn’t strive to make standard beers. Which is why, a couple years ago, they decided to try and emulate traditional lambic brewers and see if they couldn’t achieve similar results. Brewmaster Jason Perkins starts by brewing a wort, essentially the tea that beer starts off as before yeast is introduced. Then, rather than pitching domesticated yeasts, the liquid is poured into a specially-built structure that houses large, open trays, not just daring but encouraging microorganisms wafting through the Portland atmosphere to come in and make themselves comfortable. The structure is a “cool ship” (koelschip) modeled after those built in Belgium. “As soon as the wort is cool enough,” reads a post on the Allagash blog, “the natural airborne yeasts and bacteria are able to survive in what will eventually be the spontaneously fermented beer.”

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As a point of record, Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa produces a beer called Beatification wherein

brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo does not pitch any type of yeast. Instead, he fills used barrels and allows the pre-existing microbes to do their thing. The difference is that instead of introducing bacteria to the wort, he introduces wort to the bacteria. It is still spontaneously fermented, yet relies less on chance than Allagash’s project.

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o what exactly is it that magically turns these experimental batches into spontaneous beer? Perkins can’t say for sure, yet. “We have a masters student at UC Davis doing some genetic testing for us on the microbes in the beer,” says Perkins.

He’s interested to find out the scientific name, but that discovery is still many months away. The release of the beers is even further down the road.

“It’ll be three years in November from the time we brewed the first batch,” says Perkins. “We hope in the next year we’ll have some to sell.” The beers have been patiently aging in French oak barrels at Allagash and will be blended for the perfect marriage of flavors, as is traditional for lambic–style beers.

Currently, three different releases are in the planning. “Cool Ship Resurgam” will be the selected blending from the best of the barrels. “Cool Ship Cerise” will be in the vein of kriek lambics with cherries added. And the third, another fruit lambic style beer, will be “Cool Ship Red,” with raspberries. All the fruit has been locally sourced.

The Belgians may have a five hundred year jump on American craft brewers, but watch out, with breweries such as Russian River and Allagash studiously, diligently, and respectfully emulating their Belgian brothers, their meticulous efforts are being heralded by beer lovers and zymurgists around the world and things are about to get spontaneous.

Websites to Drink to

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lthough there may be a science to making wine, a lot of people are trying to tell you that it’s not a science to enjoy it. At 1WineDude.com, Joe is breaking it down for us and bringing the fun back into wines. He’s doing giveaways, reviews (even 140-character twitter reviews), and starting discussions about the value of wine clubs. This is a great place for any burgeoning wine connoisseur (even if you don’t want to call yourself that) to start from.

1winedude.com

...walks into a bar A neutron walks in to a bar and asks the bartender how much for a beer, to which the bartender replies, “for you no charge.”

This is a QR code. You can scan it with your smart phone and link directly to us. Want to find out more?

Check out www.tigtags.com/getqr

40% ALC by VOL Blue Angel Spirits LLC San Francisco

Book Review: Swallow Your Words

Left Coast Libations The Art of West Coast Bartending: 100 Original Cocktails Authors: Ted Munat and Michael Lazar Subject: Bartender Profiles & Recipes

Synopsis & Review: There are two schools of thought in the cocktail world: 1) bartenders are over-glorified booze mixers and 2) bartenders are culinary masterminds. Of course, both exist depending upon the watering hole in question (much like a fry cook at Carl’s Jr. isn’t comparable to, say, Thomas Keller of the French Laundry). However, author Ted Munat is only interested in the “genius mixologist” mentality, and he pays these drink slingers proper tribute in his first book, “Left Coast Libations”. As the title suggests, Munat and self-described “mad kitchen scientist-cumbartender” Michael Lazar scour the best bars in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles for the most innovative, sophisticated cocktails around.

Then they conduct quirky, oft-illuminating interviews with the bartenders themselves and feature them alongside recipes of their creations. The result is a refreshing blend of personality and potion not often found in a cocktail recipe book.

Why We Recommend It: This isn’t “Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual”,

(one of the most classic cocktail books of all time. And that’s a good thing. The strength of “Left Coast Libations” lies in its of-the-moment relevancy. Gin and tonic?

Bish, please. The 102 recipes in this book play off the recent trend of incorporating inventive, homemade ingredients into the mix (think Thai chili tincture, kumquat marmalade and grapefruit simple syrup). But don’t be scared; an extensive ingredient appendix features easy-to-follow instructions that even the most alcohol-adept could comprehend.)

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About the Authors: Since this book is equal parts storytelling and tasting, it’s only appropriate that two authors are listed in the title. Munat is a freelance cocktail writer and blogger (LeMixeur.blogspot.com) based in Seattle, and Lazar is a prominent bartender in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both authors lend their respective talents to the final product (and we’re sure they enjoyed some beverages along the way).

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LeftCoastLibations.com

The Science of Flavor W

e've all seen the apple drink that doesn't look or smell like an apple in any way, but what about the new bacon syrup that actually tastes like bacon? Or the jelly beans that are chewy pieces of buttered popcorn?

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reating colors and flavors in a laboratory isn't new (caramel coloring has been added to some products for decades), but there are plenty of new products infiltrating the mixology world. Luckily, scientists are now realizing that fresher is better. Torani Syrups is a San Francisco company that has been listening to the mixologists and formulating new flavors for your cocktails. Domenico Milano, senior product development scientist, briefly explains the invention process.

descriptors; fresh, seedy, floral, jammy, etc. Then our flavor developing partners can create a concentrated flavor extract, and it's also where the art and science of flavor creation first occurs. Each syrup may have one to twelve different flavoring extracts comprised of character impact compounds, the one or few molecular species that define the flavor to our human palate. For example, the tastes or scents/aroma that define for us "butter"(2,3-butanedione), "banana" (isoamyl acetate), "apple" (Ethyl-2-methyl butyrate).

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“ o develop a new, fresh strawberry syrup, we get fresh strawberries, jams, etc. to decide an acceptable flavor standard.

The flavor development communicates to our key Flavor Houses the agreed flavor

ounds nerdy, but the molecular base for these flavors are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. These chemical compounds sometimes occur naturally and are sometimes condensed or combined in a laboratory. By changing the chemical element recipe, scientists can change the flavor and aroma to reach their end goal of “strawberry or “bacon flavoring. It's kind of like how your favorite bartender creates a new cocktail!

Blood Orange Negroni

The Cinnamanhattan

1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin 1 oz Noilly Pratt Sweet Vermouth 1 oz Compari 1/2 oz Torani Blood Orange Syrup

2 oz Basil Hayden 3/4 oz Carpano Antica Vermouth 1/4 oz Trader Tiki’s Cinnamon Syrup 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Build in a rocks glass with ice.

Stir gently with bar spoon three times. Garnish with fresh blood orange twist.

Stir with ice. Strain into cocktail glass.

Garnish with brandy cherries.

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Libation Laureate

Five Haikus for Ten Mixologists at the Samba School — during the World Cabana Cachaça Competition at Acadêmicos do Salgueiro

By Jen Karetnick

They have no idea What to do with hips or hands Without their shakers

No crushing of ice Or muddling of citrus In dense rocks glasses

How can they keep up Dance in syncopated time With no ledge in front

Give them two beers each A straw to clench between teeth And a transvestite

Size eleven pumps Show quick-quick, slow; raise the bar: Bellybutton bump!

Featured Recipes

Fireplace Punch

by M. Quinn Sweeney, LibationLab.com

10 clementines 1/3 cup whole cloves 1 750-ml bottle gold rum 1/3 cup sugar 4 cinnamon sticks 1/2 gallon apple cider

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Technique: Stud the clementines with cloves and bake at 350 until they get soft. In a large stock pot over the low heat, stir to combine the rum and sugar, then add the cinnamon and clementines. Set it aflame (this is not a backhanded tribute to my mother’s cooking) and very slowly pour in the cider, which will eventually put out the fire.

Garnish: Serve in a mug with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg.

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HARLEM Marmalade

by David Ruiz at Mr. Smiths

1 oz 3/4 oz 1

HARLEMÂŽ Fresh Lemon Juice bar spoon of homemade triple citrus orange marmalade (you can substitute Bonne Maman marmalade)

Technique: Add HARLEM and Fresh Lemon Juice to shaker. Add jam and ice.

Shake very hard to break down jam. Double strain and pour into a shot glass.

T H E R E ’S N OT H I N G MORE SATISFYING T H A N E F F E N® O N A PLANE.

Drink responsibly. EFFEN Vodka, 100% neutral spirits distilled wheat grain, 40% alc./vol. (80 proof). © 2010 EFFEN Import Company. Deerfield, IL.

INTRODUCING THE

WORLD’S BEST TASTING SHOT - Richard Carleton Hacker, The Tasting Panel, April 2010

pts A PERFECT SCORE - Shot Category, The Tasting Panel, April 2010

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION - F. Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal, March 2010

HARLEMSHOTS.COM HARLEM® Kruiden Liqueur. 40% Alc./Vol. © 2010 Imported by Harlem US Distribution, Aliso Viejo, CA.