(Bols +) Bitters Makes it Better, part III

...they really do (and frankly, always have) from the birth of the spirited drink called "cocktail" onward into the present day. This was the essential theme of a recent seminar; one of four being organized by the fantastic folks of Lucas Bols Genever in conjunction with Stephan Berg of The Bitter Truth. In its' pre-opening hours, Julie Reiner's beautiful Clover Club played host to several dozen of the NY/Metro area's finest spirits and cocktail professionals (so why they let me in I will never guess).

To give you some rough idea, cocktail authorities like Dale DeGroff & David Wondrich, Mud Puddle Book's Greg Boehm (with charming assistant Christina in-tow), USBG-NY President Jonathan Pogash and quality bartenders like Giuseppe Gonzalez, Jim Meehan, Joaquin Simo, Thomas Waugh, Alex Day & Don Lee rubbed shoulders and pressed palms with all manner of industry folks; including bloggers like fellow CSOWG member Erik Ellestad, Paul Zablocki, Chantal Martineau and little old me. They even invited the media!

Upon arrival, the attendees were met with a lovely spread of nibbles paired with a classic Brandy Cocktail, expertly-prepared by Brian Miller (whose presence rounded out the appearance of nearly all of Death & Co.'s barstaff) and the Clover Club staff. Throughout the event, both were hard at work; operating at an efficient, if understandably-frantic, pace from the establishment's rear bar. Bols representatives Debbie Rizzo and Tal Nadari were great sports, working the room with ease, welcoming each attendee (even me) with enthusiastic smiles and performing (in my case, much-appreciated) introductions all-around. After a bit of mingling and conversation, the presentation began, with Mr. Nadari taking the stage to introduce the topic: the influence of bitters in classic cocktails, and the eminently-qualified speaker, Stephan Berg...

The topic covered a great deal of fascinating history, beginning with a brief explanation of just what bitters are before delving into their early development and almost-universal use as cure-all's, medicines & tonics in the days where medical care was less than reliable. It turns out, thousands of regional types of bitters - often produced, as Mr. Berg stated, by 'local grannies' - abounded, with the better examples becoming gradually-popularized by apothecary shops. Amusingly, many of these establishments often purchased bitters unlabeled & then applied their own descriptors to. Such commercialized efforts, in conjunction with the 19th century spread of saloons, gave rise to proprietary brands. Names like Siegert's (what would become, following protracted litigation, Angostura), Hostetter's & Drake's Plantation bitters (among dozens, if not hundreds, of others) started becoming quite popular as a result.

As the presentation continued, it covered the growth (and eventual decline) of the saloon, and with it the advent of the cocktail - which relied on various kinds of bitters to give the spirited beverage distinction from other drinks of the period. Emphasis was placed on the work of Jerry Thomas, and the "Golden Age" of the cocktail which it ushered in. Throughout, David Wondrich graciously supplied additional tidbits of information to supliment Mr. Berg's lecture or confirm a point made by the same.

To...punctuate the discussion, every few slides or so, a fresh cocktail of classical origin would be skillfully-prepared & distributed to the audience. In total nine (!) libations were paradaded forth - a feat which made for quite a merry (if somewhat cluttered) bar. A few of the notables among these included selections culled from J. Thomas, Harry Johnson, William Boothby & William Schmidt, like these little beauties (from the last & first authors, respectivly):

While Gin was not the base for every cocktail served, several points arose in the presentation about many of the classic recipes one finds in the old guides & books. In many cases when "Gin" is specified, it is actually "Holland Gin" or the Genever style which is meant, rather than the more modernly-prefered Dry/London Dry styles. In fact, circa 1850 (right around the time of many of these recipes' creation), quantities of imported Genever gins outnumbered those of Dry styles almost 300 to 1! When sampling cocktails from such texts utilizing the later style, results (as they were for me in several cases) are disappointing, or at least a question of "what's so great about this"? However, when a Genever style is used in cocktail recipes of the era, you can really get a feel for the incredible genius many of the great bartenders of old clearly posessed.

On a similarly-spirited note, observe the presence of Curacao in so many of the earliest cocktails - always in very small quantities & paired with an aromatic bitters like Boker's. Yet this practice fades somewhat around the same time Orange bitters (such as the 1883 brand L. Jung & Wulff) began appearing in cocktail recipes. The reasoning for this is simple - prior to approximately 1880, there was no such thing as an Orange bitters to provide the citrus complexity which the combination of Curacao and aromatic bitters created!

Other points of considerable interest included the effects of the Pure Food & Drug Act of 1906 and Prohibition on bitters (& the cocktails they were constituents of). To make a short story of it, both events were catastrophic for many of the varieties which so many recipes of the time utilized. Brands like Abbott's, Boker's (so often misspelled as "Bogart's") & Stoughton's were either driven out of business immediately by the 1906 Act or crippled by weak positioning, marketing or demand following Repeal.

In closing, Mr. Berg spoke briefly about the Bitter Truth line as well as some of the characteristics and components of bitters in general. He was quite gracious in answering questions, stating that the only information he would not disclose would be the recipes for any of his bitters. Fair enough. He did however, bring a number of tincture bottles (in addition to the full line of Bitter Truth products) filled with samples of various rare extracts & an actual sample of the long-defunct Boker's bitters! They were, quite frankly, delicious.

Similarly, when questions about TBT's (limited release) of Jerry Thomas' Decanter bitters arose, a sample of Virginia Snakeroot (which would have been included in the original c. 1862 product) extract - generously supplied by David Wondrich - was passed around for (cautious) inspection! This was accompanied by a sample of the different (non-toxic) strain of Snakeroot which TBT apparently substitutes into their own version of The Professor's housemade bitters...

All in all the event was a positively-fantastic experience, full of interesting facts and interesting discussions - all over classic (& delicious) drinks!

Cheers & Thanks...

...to Stephan Berg for the terrific show, Debbie Rizzo & Tal Nadari, as well as the CSOWG for enabling me to attend. Likewise, many thanks to Erik and Paul for introducing me to so many new faces as well as to Brian Miller & the whole Clover Club gang for their spectacular work with all those drinks!


Other Folks' Reports:

• CocktailBuzz.com
• The Cocktail Guru
• Eat Me a Life
• Time Out New York

Cocktailian Kisses...

As I'm certain many of you, like myself, have some manner of Valentine's Day plans, I'll keep this one short and sweet. While I'm not a proponent of holiday-themed cocktails, I happen to think that the following libation is quite appropriate for this particular 'holiday', to say nothing for how delicious the classic, if little-known, drink is.

The deceptively-simple beverage in question hails from the pages of Tiki legend Victor "Trader" Bergeron's 1946 Book of Food & Drink. As 'Vic notes, his Hawaiian-named short hoist is a, "cute name [means "kisses" in the aforementioned language] and a dandy drink. Forget it's a cocktail. In fact, double it, put it in a larger glass [...] and you've got a pretty good around-the-clock-drink."

Indeed; though I'll interject an additional note on this one - as it relies on a harmonious combination of a small number of ingredients (passing strange for a Tiki drink, I know), it's very important for said components to be of as high a quality as possible - particularly the spirits. Be cautious with the citrus too; in my area at least, this time of year often brings an annoyingly variable (read: fickle) quality/ripeness to Lemons & Limes.

That said, if you're making this little tipple for your significant other this Valentine's (or on any odd day), there's no need to tell them this kiss came from me - I'll let you take all the credit...

Honi Honi
1 oz. white Rum (Old New Orleans)
½ oz. Apricot Brandy (Marie Brizard Apry)
½ oz. fresh Lemon juice
Combine ingredient in a mixing glass with plenty of ice & shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Doubling the recipe as per Vic's suggestion is a good plan and will likely ensure a real kiss or two...


Cheers & Happy Valentine's Day!

Why We're Here - Marketing 101

I write this blog for a variety of reasons...

When I embarked upon this blogging endeavor nearly a year ago, I reasoned this to be the best way to share my interests with the largest collection of like-minded individuals. I love cocktails, cooking, hospitality; and can wax poetic (as even a casual reader here can attest) about the virtues which so frequently manifest within these fields. More directly, I love sharing the things that I find to be tasty, interesting or useful so that others might enjoy similar experiences to my own.

As I learn something new, so too do you good reader; when I write about something I've enjoyed I'm happy, ecstatic even, if just one visitor here gives it a try or learns something new. Gaz Regan would label this as one aspect of the "Path of the Bartender", a tiny element in a system of sharing knowledge between any & all who might have an interest for the express benefit & advancement of the culinary craft as a whole...

Imagine my excitement when companies who publicize & market the products with which I often work (and write about) began to take notice, and sought to enable me to better provide you, good reader, with something cool or interesting to read, ponder, or try out. Many of these organizations have been extremely generous in working with little old me (& a number of my esteemed colleagues) in my humble efforts to advance the craft of the cocktail in my own way. More importantly, they have always been courteous and intelligent in their efforts - approaching me through respectable channels, providing samples, tangible & informative information.

They have allowed me to experience their product, and through my experience, enabled you to make a (nominally) better-informed decision about expanding yours. In good marketing there exists an understanding of a little concept called Brand Equity - which we'll cover in a moment - but first let me tell you what the aforementioned groups don't do when they interact with yours truly...

The quality organizations of which I'm speaking have never attempted to sell me a cute story, asked me to reprint a (lousy) sales-pitch which masquerades as a press release, disseminate biased or incorrect facts, communicated with all the professionalism (& spelling or grammar) of a 419 scam, or repeatedly spam my little exercise in sharing with any of the above. Furthermore, and very importantly, they have never made assumptions about you my good reader, as at least ten e-mails a week (& a plethora of already-filtered comments) from other companies so frequently do...

If the contents of my 'deleted mail' box are to be believed, then you 'o reader, surely deserve & desire nothing more than a big glass of root-beer or bubble-gum flavored vodka, perhaps with a dash of chemical sour mix or a spritz of Red Bull...? Perhaps you're looking into discovering absinthe, and you're really interested in getting the most chemically-psychoactive product allowable by law! "It's got more Thujone in it than those other guys! How does it taste? Don't worry about that - it'll get you messed-up the fastest!"

If I were you good reader, I'd be mighty offended - these folks clearly think of you (& me) as an impressionable child. Despite the massive amounts of capital their distillery-based patrons doubtlessly spend on them, do they do their homework? Do they take five seconds to run a search (it's in the top left-hand corner people) on a site like this (or many others) to see if words like "vodka", "sour mix", "hallucinate", or "garbage drinks invented by marketers" pop up? If they did, they would evince a modicum of interest in you or I, their potential consumer, and in building a meaningful relationship with us. They would also find that none of the above terms come up (except the vodka thing - I use that as a preservative with passing regularity) in discussion here. They do nothing to advance the culinary aspects of cocktails, in fact, the tone of their sales pitches undermines so much of the work the mixological community has done to advance the cocktailian arts.

As companies which do engage in such tactic doubtlessly employ folk who have assuredly never attended a basic Marketing class (sometimes not even a basic English class, it seems), allow me to briefly explain the concept of Brand Equity to them. Quite simply, this is the value inherent to a brand name (& the product behind it) in & of itself - the tangible goodwill espoused by your customers towards your product. It is engendered by selling the value of the brand in question through a good sales relationship - which requires nothing more than a professional investment of time. Key words there: "goodwill" & "professional"; the first is not engendered by the tactics decried here and the second is clearly not evinced in the same...

For those companies who understand this concept & engage in it, I salute your work. For those of you who plainly don't grasp it - your emails & comments will continue to be deleted, your ever-shifting IP addresses will be blocked and the products which you are paid so handsomely to represent will never get a word of coverage here. By-the-by, "Grey of Grey Goose Vodka", coming to my site to comment-spam me directly from an open Google Doc's page listing all the folks you plan on bothering after me, alongside snarky comments about the potential gains from such an activity? Not so bright...

Well-played folks...

As for me, I will settle back into my previously-mentioned (& greatly-enjoyed) role of sharing my highlights in matters cocktail & culinary as soon as this venom recedes from whence it came. A nice dinner should do the trick, so tune back in later this evening for more about that...

Cheers!