Bring the Party With You via Cocktails on the Go

Cocktails on the Go.
Photo in Kara Newman’s, Road Soda..

Over Labor Day weekend, most of us will be united (for once!) in our mission to squeeze the last fun out of summer before its unofficial end on Tuesday. This may mean a barbecue or a long pool session or a trip to the beach or a picnic or a baseball game--really, anything outdoors under the final gasps of the summer sun. And if you’re like us, it definitely means adult beverages, especially cocktails.

Pros at cocktails on the go (its our raison d’etre, after all!), we’ve got some tips on how to bring the party--and cocktails--with you. But maybe our advice is unnecessary, given that you yourselves may have become pros now, too, having had to adapt to the reality of limited bar options during this summer of COVID-19.

Nevertheless, we’ll proceed with our tips.

An easy option for procuring cocktails for your outdoor Labor Day gathering is ordering takeout cocktails from your favorite watering hole. This approach is not only easy, but also vital, as many restaurants and bars are really struggling due to the ongoing restrictions on indoor dining. Many are not going to make it. In fact, a survey by the New York Restaurant Association grimly indicates that over 60 percent of restaurants in the state could close by year’s end. Supporting your local establishments can help those in your own state avoid this sad fate. 

If your state or favorite spot doesn’t allow for takeaway drinks or if you have made a commitment to reducing all that waste associated with takeout, it will be up to you to make and bring the cocktails. 

Here’s what I do. I certainly have had practice this summer!

1. Opt for premade cocktails: Since you really can’t bring your bar with you, the one that you’ve been building up during COVID-19, to the park or wherever to shake or stir cocktails to order, select a seasonal concoction or two to make at home and take with you. For recipe ideas, consult Kara Newman’s, Road Soda: Recipes and Techniques for Making Great Drinks Anywhere.” Another source for summer tipples is a New York Times article from 2011, “Summer Cocktails Made Simpler.” Every year, I return to these innovative and refreshing drinks.

2. Prebatch the cocktails at home: Now that you have selected a recipe or two, multiply the quantities by the number of people who will be sipping what you’ve created. For instance, if a spec calls for 2 oz of gin and you plan to serve your drink to five people, measure 10 oz of gin. This is what folks in the bar industry call prebatching. Just don’t mix in the garnish yet. Carry it separately, and wait to add it to each drink at the party. For tips on prebatching, check out another of Kara’s books, Cocktails for a Crowd: More Than 40 Recipes for Making Popular Drinks in Party-Pleasing Batches.

3. Ignore the cocktail shaker, but not the water: If your chosen drink is a shaken one, you don’t need to go through the trouble of shaking five (or more) portions. You can simply combine the ingredients in a pitcher or another vessel and give a good stir. What you do need to do is replicate the dilution created by shaking the ingredients with ice, as the ice not only chills the liquid but also desirably weakens it. Here’s an easy way to accomplish this, as explained by bartender Jason Asher in Kara’s book, Cocktails for a Crowd: “Count up all the ounces in the drink, and add 25 percent water.”

4. Keep things cold: Cocktail by definition should be icy. If they’re not, they are just a sad, desperate combination of lukewarm ingredients, not at all suitable for a festive party. You definitely don’t want that. What you do want to do is make sure your prebatched cocktail is icy cold. This means storing it in the fridge or even in the freeze before transporting it to your gathering. This also means securing ice for the party site to add to guests’ glasses.

5.  Ensure the prebatched drink arrives safe and cold at the party: A pitcher or a punch bowl is a lovely way to serve cocktails for a crowd, but they are not so good for transportation if you want all portions of your drink to arrive without spilling. You’ll need something that’s sealed well and if possible, that keeps the drink cold. A big thermos works. Or a beer growler placed in a cooler. My party trick is to carry my drink in a 40 oz stainless steel flask. It makes quite the impression!

6. Drink from unbreakable, reusable cups: Broken glass is dangerous (summertime bare feet!), and plastic pollution harmful to the environment, so provide reusable cups or ask guests to bring their own. Same goes for straws.

7. Make a toast and enjoy!: These are certainly odd, worrying, and heartbreaking times, but there is still much to be thankful for, especially the friends and family with whom we are gathering at this final fling of summer. Make a toast and bid summer adieu. 

Stay safe and healthy and enjoy these final days of summer!

Take Me Away, Spritz!

Spritz-y cocktails.
Photo by Talia Baiocchi, author of Spritz.

We’re not going anywhere fast these days. And we shouldn’t, for the sake of our health and of others. 

But it sure would be nice to get away, especially now, during the summer--the season of long vacations and prioritized relaxation. In addition, we’ve all been so cooped up at home for months on end now that a trip to elsewhere is not only desirable but almost pressing. 

As someone who counts travel as one of her main hobbies, it’s felt strange not to be able to jump on a plane and explore a new country or to pay a visit to friends and family abroad. Since this kind of long-haul travel isn’t an option, what am I doing instead? I’m drinking to escape. No, not in that potentially harmful way that numbs the brain to one’s reality, but in the way that's similar to the nature of travel itself--a transportive break from one’s daily routine.

How can drinking do this? The trick is to pour yourself something that reflects another country's distinctive imbibing rituals. By doing so, on your home turf, you can experience, in a similar way to traveling, that transportive escape to somewhere new. 

I am going to champion the spritz as a drink that can whisk you away, at least mentally. 

A wine-based cocktail consisting of a bitter orange liqueur, prosecco, and soda water, a spritz, is so distinctly Italian that when you’re sipping one, it’s hard not to  imagine yourself sitting at an outdoor table  in a sunny piazza or inside a 19th-century gilded cafe in northern Italy, being served by polite and polished waiters in white blazers. The lively drink’s orange hue from Aperol, Campari, or Appertivo Select may even awaken your memories of actual trips you’ve taken to the Italian peninsula, allowing your mind to wander away from the confines of your too familiar home. 

Sip a spritz slowly, following the example of how Italians do aperitivo hour in the peninsula’s Northern cities, when all its residents seem to be outside at cafe bars at a universally agreed-upon time. This shouldn’t be so hard for us to do, as life has slowed down considerably in usually hectic North America. So, embrace this quieter (though very strange and worrying) period and take your time with your spritz. Once you do, you’ve taken on the Italian way of life--spritz life.

It isn’t just the relaxed and social manner in which a spritz is consumed that is evocative of la dolce vita, it’s also its flavor profile, chiefly the bitter notes that comes from whichever sunset-colored aperitif you’ve chosen. (In Italy, the selection is regionally based: Aperol in Padua; Campari in Milan; and Apertivo Select in Venice.) Bitter isn’t yet in the American wheelhouse of flavors. We tend to favor sweet and salty. Even though bitter food and drinks are now more widely enjoyed in the U.S. (think fair trade dark chocolate, kale salads, single origin coffee beans, and hazy IPAs), the astringent finish of a spritz is decidedly foreign. And grown-up. 

If bitter is not your thing and you still want to be transported elsewhere, there are plenty of other international drinking customs you could embrace. You could drink single malt scotch and eat oatcakes with cheddar cheese and imagine yourself looking out on the heather-covered hills of Scotland. Prefer anise or licorice? You’ve got a lot of mental travel destinations to choose from: ouzo for Greece, arak for Turkey, and pasits for the south of France. Always wanted to tour Spain? Sip sherry or vermouth along with marcona almonds and olives. Pick your destination and go there...by sipping.

Italian Spritz
With its lower alcohol content and easy-to-remember formula of three parts bubbly, two parts bitter, and one part soda water, a spritz is much safer and easier than flying abroad.
3 oz Prosecco
2 oz Italian orange-colored aperitif (e.g., Aperol, Campari, Cappelletti, Contratto Bitter, Brutto Americano)
1 oz Soda water
Garnish: Orange slice
——
Pour all ingredients into a large, ice-filled wine glass and stir. Add garnish. Pretend you are in Italy.

Tiki: A Pathway to Fun

Diana pouring drinks at a tiki party.
Photo by Julie Hartigan.

With normal life still on hold and anxiety still holding on, fun has been in short supply this summer of COVID-19. 

To strike out on a path toward some fun, take a tip from mid-century Americans who embraced tiki culture as a way to escape the demands and worries of normal life (we, in contrast, want to get back to normal life!). Just as for the suburbanites of the 1950s and 60s, you too will find it hard not to cast cares aside when drinking multi-layered rum drinks evocative of faraway tropical islands. 

Tiki has its genesis in California in the 1930s, soon after the repeal of Prohibition, and faded away as its kitsch-filled bars became tatty and tacky in the 1980s. Fortunately, not all is lost, like pirates treasure. Tiki culture and its surprisingly complex drinks are enjoying a comeback in the United States. 

Even though the fantastical creation of tiki culture, with its loose connection to the South Pacific, can seem frivolous and even culturally insensitive, tiki drinks are some of the most complex and tasty to ever be graced with abundant sprigs of mint and flaming lime shells. Whenever I order one from an accomplished bartender, its layers of flavors and the precarious and perfect balance of up to a dozen competing ingredients astonish me. No frivolous thing, they are the accomplished work of a master mixologist. 

You won’t experience that amazement and deliciousness if your tropically inspired cocktail has gushed out of a slushie machine. And that’s unfortunate. But you're not to blame since this is how most tiki drinks, such as the hurricane, pina colada, and daiquiri, are still prepared, despite the tiki renaissance that is currently happening, (Don’t be wary of all drinks that come out slushie machines. Accomplished bartenders are reworking frozen drinks with fresh and balanced ingredients instead of commercially made mixes, with extraordinarily tasty and refreshing results)

Despite the seriousness with which proper tiki drinks are shaken, blended, and occasionally stirred, they’re still all about bringing on the fun. How could they not be, when Polynesian-esque kitsch and Hawaian shirts are involved? In the tiki world, there are plenty of winks and nods and smiles. 

In normal times, I would say, Get thee to a good tiki bar! But that’s not really possible right now. As such, it is going to be up to you to recreate the tiki vibe at home. There are excellent books out there to guide you. I myself turn to Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki by Martin Cate and Rebecca Cate and Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails by Shannon Mustipher. In addition to trusted recipes, you’ll also need a decent liquor store that stocks a wide variety of rums, the funky backbone of many tiki drinks.

The next step, if you feel comfortable and safe doing so, is hosting a tiki party outside. That’s what I did with some friends on a sticky summer’s night earlier in July. Lasting well past sunset, it may have been the highlight of summer. Everyone contributed at least one tiki drink to serve six people, and a Polynesian-inspired food dish (e.g., crab rangoon, plantains, anything with pineapple). We served each person’s drink one at a time, to control the pace of consumption and to highlight each person’s contribution. Quite potent, the drinks brought smiles very quickly (hence the need for pacing!). And that’s a blessing, thanks to tiki, in these trying times.

Here are the two tiki drinks that I made for our lakeside luau, both based on Smuggler's Cove:

Fog Cutter

1.5 oz fresh lemon juice
1.5 oz fresh orange juice
.5 oz orgeat
1 oz pisco or aged brandy
.5 oz gin
2 oz lightly aged rum
.5 oz oloroso or amontillado sherry
Garnish: Mint sprig

Combine all ingredients except the sherry and garnish in a blender with 12oz of crushed ice. Flash blend and pour into a Zombie glass. Float sherry on top and garnish with mint.

Three Dots and a Dash
.5oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz fresh orange juice
.5oz honey syrup
.25 oz Velvet Falernum
.25 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
1.5oz rhum agricole vieux
.5 oz aged rum
1 dash Angostura bitters
Garnish: Three maraschino cherries (the three dots) and a pineapple chunk (the dash) on a cocktail pick*

Add all ingredients except the garnish to a blender with 12oz of crushed ice. Flash blend and pour into a footed pilsner glass. Add garnish. 
*Three dots and a dash is Morse code for victory. 

Rum: America's First Spirit

Harlem Glory, a rum drink by Tonya Hopkins

Quick! What was America’s first spirit?

Of course, you already know the answer, as it’s right there in the title of this blog, but you still probably came close to responding, whiskey. 

 For sure, whiskey, specifically moonshine, bourbon, and rye, is America’s defining domestic spirit, but before whiskey there was rum.

That may seem surprising since rum is so strongly associated with the warm, sunny climates of the Caribbean and not at all with the cooler zones of colonial America, except, perhaps for the sailing set and their Dark and Stormy’s. It’s precisely rum’s association with the Caribbean, however, that links it to what is now the United States.

Our 13 colonies were not the only colonies that Britain possessed. The others were located in Canada and on various Caribbean islands. Not distinct countries before the late 18th century, these colonies traded amongst one another as part of one nation, Britain. One specific system of interconnected trade routes is commonly referred to as the Triangular Trade, an overly simplified model of the brutal supplying of enslaved Africans to the Caribbean and the 13 colonies from across the Atlantic to work the islands’ sugarcane plantations, which produced the molasses that was shipped up to New England to be distilled into rum, which then would be used to buy more slaves in Africa.

The northern colonies grew so rich and financially reliant upon the transatlantic trade of slaves, molasses, and rum and the other goods implicated in this system that they dared to fight for their independence from Britain, especially after the motherland passed the restrictive Molasses and Sugar Acts (1733 and 1764, respectively), which complicated the colonies’ profit earnings. Against the odds, we won. This victory and the resulting separation from Britain meant, however, that no more cheap molasses was sailing up from the Caribbean to the U.S. And that meant the reign of rum in the U.S. was over. Whiskey took over as our native spirit.

On July 4th, let’s remember our first spirit by mixing up a rum drink. A rum cocktail serves another purpose, to memorialize the backbreaking and deadly labor performed by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and in the 13 colonies--work that brought great wealth to the founding fathers and that has gone uncompensated for centuries. Make a toast and recall these words from our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

 Need a suggestion for a rum drink? I recommend Harlem Glory, created by my friend and fellow drinks historian, Tonya Hopkins, aka The Food Griot. Every element of her cocktail represents an element of African American heritage: rum and sugar for the reasons explored in this blog; Cognac for its current popularity among African Americans; the red color for Juneteenth celebrations; and hibiscus for its original home of West Africa. It’s an easy drink to make because it’s composed of equal parts. And it’s so delicious to drink! A real taste of America and its history on July 4th.

Harlem Glory
Adapted from Tonya Hopkins

1 oz Strawberry-hibiscus syrup*
1 oz cup Dark Jamaican rum (if you must use white rum, make sure at least half of it is overproof for the added flavor) 
1 oz Cognac
1 oz  Fresh sour mix (half fresh lemon juice and fresh lime juice)
Garnish: Whole strawberry

Shake all ingredients except garnish over ice and strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Garnish with a strawberry on the rim of the glass.

* Strawberry-Hibiscus Syrup
¼ cup Water
Hibiscus tea bag (Tonya recommends Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. Tea) 
¼ cup Sugar (preferably turbinado or demerara)
¼ cup Strawberries, hulled and then diced or mashed/muddled for more flavor extraction

Combine water and hibiscus tea bag in a small saucepan and brew over low heat until a deep red color is achieved (5-10 minutes). Add sugar and strawberries and stir to combine. Bring to a gentle simmer and maintain the simmer for 20 minutes (don’t boil). Remove the saucepan from heat and take out the tea bag. Strain the remaining strawberry mixture into a small, heat-proof container and let cool before using. Keep leftover strawberry-hibiscus syrup in the fridge.

The Importance of Having Ice

An army of coolers for a July 4th party

If you’re having an outdoor party this summer, and you’re serving drinks, there has got to be ice.

Ice is a necessity for so many reasons. First and foremost, no one wants to drink anything room temperature except red wine and maybe a shot of tequila. Everything else should be nice and chilled. In fact, a cocktail isn’t, by definition, a cocktail unless it’s cold, as specified since the late 19th century. The Century Dictionary in 1889 defined it as “an American drink, strong, stimulating and cold,” and Webster’s today: “a usually iced drink of wine or distilled liquor mixed with flavoring ingredients” (I’ll save for another blog how cocktails were originally taken at room temperature, more as medicine than as a thing of pleasure. I mean, you wouldn’t ice down your Alka-Seltzer or Robitussin, would you?)

There are also pragmatic reasons to have ice on hand.  It’s there for safety,  preventing citrus juices from spoiling in the sun and leafy garnishes from wilting. In addition, on a hot day, it can help guests stay cool so that they too don’t wilt.

Specific applications for those bags of ice you’ll need include shaking and stirring cocktails (not only for chilling but also for diluting them); filling glasses of drinks; cooling down bottles and cans of beer and wine; and keeping cocktail ingredients and garnishes fresh. 

With all these uses, this means that at your party there’s going to be ice in coolers and buckets and lots and lots of it.

Procuring ice is essential but it’s also tricky. Unlike most everything else that’s needed for a party, ice can’t be picked up ahead of time, unless you’ve got a deep and empty freezer somewhere and/or an army of coolers at the ready. So what to do?

Here are some tips. First, figure out how many pounds of ice you’ll need. Paul and I calculate a pound of ice per drink. That’s about what’s needed for shaking or stirring a drink and then serving it on ice. The math we use for estimating the number of drinks for an event is: a third of the guests will drink cocktails, a third beer, and a third wine. Multiply that number by the number of drinks a guest will likely consume during the party. To figure out that number, assume that during the 1st hour of the party, folks we enjoy typically consume 2 drinks; the 2nd hour; 1.5 drinks; the 3rd hour 1 drink; and in the 4th and final hour half a drink (hopefully they’ll properly dispose of the other half!). Putting that math into action, for a 4-hour party with 50 guests, 15 guests will opt for cocktails and consume a total of 75 cocktails (15 people x 5 drinks in 4 hours). That translates into 75 pounds of ice. And that’s just for the cocktail drinkers! Do similar calculations for the wine and beer drinkers, though most of that ice will be used to chill down the wine and beer, as well as soft drinks by those opting not to drink. In all, we’re looking at 225 pounds of ice.

The next thing to figure out is how you are going to get it. See if you can have the bags of ice delivered. Supermarkets delivery services are a great option, but note that you’ll need to secure a delivery date many days ahead, especially during the hopping summer party season. In addition, you’ll need to determine where to store it. If you don’t have enough coolers, ask friends to loan them, or rent them from  a caterer or party supply company. Adding dry ice to the coolers might be necessary if it’s going to be a particularly hot day. Another option is to pick up that day as much as ice as can fit in the coolers that you have on hand and then designate friends to go out and pick up ice during the party and to keep an eye on supply. You, as host, can’t be doing everything.

Handling the issue of ice presents logistical complications and isn’t tons of fun, but you need it. Give it some thought before the party, get it sorted, and then relax and enjoy a nice, icy cocktail with your guests. That’s why you’re having the party, after all!

How to Mix Up Cocktails in the Time of Corona

Stack of cocktail books—and a cocktail—that I am working my way through

Now that your bar is stocked following our tips, what are you going to mix up for yourself and for those people who are within your Corona bubble?

Deciding what to shake or stir with your curated selection of spirits can be, ironically, a deterrent in your mission of getting glass to lips. The decision can seem like too much work, especially when you’ve also got to figure out what to make for dinner with the supplies still remaining in your Corona pantry, and when your brain is in a daze after hours of Zoom calls. Opening a beer or pouring a glass of wine or even drinking a spirit neat beckons with its ease and efficiency.

And that’s fine if you take that route for an end-of-day or weekend tipple, but, come on, you know you want a cocktail. It’s probably what you would be treating yourself to if you could walk into a bar and order one from your pro bartender. 

(Note that even though you may not be able to lift an elbow at a bar in these topsy-turvy days of the global pandemic, many states are temporarily allowing you to get cocktails to go. This loosening of local liquor laws means that that expertly made cocktail destined for your gullet isn’t so out of the question any more. Check to see if your local restaurant is allowing this. Paul’s place, Talula’s, is, as well as Langosta Lounge & Pop’s Garage, which started doing so today after a long, challenging hiatus.)

If, however, the only way (or the preferred way) for you to get a craft cocktail in hand is for you to make it yourself, then that’s what you need to do. Since you have standards, throwing a bit of this and a bit of that from your liquor cabinet and pantry into a cocktail shaker won’t do. You need some guidance on how to prepare a decent cocktail.

In this age of the Internet, you might be surprised to know that I turn to books more often than the computer for recipes and mixology tips. Judging from the orderly piles of cocktail books in Paul’s apartment, I am going to bet he does too. One of my main goals during self-isolation was to work my way through my own stack of cocktail books. Having made decent progress in this self-assigned task, I can recommend some especially helpful printed books for guiding you in the ways of superior cocktails. My top picks are Death and Co;  Joy of Mixology by the late and great Gary Regan; and The Bar Book by Jeffery Morgenthaler. 

If self-instruction by book isn’t the ideal way for you to learn the arts of mixology, there are on-line classes available for free or a modest price, led by the pros. Located near Talula’s in downtown Asbury Park, Laylow, a relatively new speakeasy-style craft cocktail bar, holds weekly cocktail classes on Saturday evenings for $10 (tonight at 7pm!). Not only do you get to learn a thing or two, while drinking a thing or two, but your ticket also helps support out-of-work bartenders who are really taking a financial hit since most drinking spots are closed to the public. Another establishment hosting cocktail classes is world-renown Dear Irving in New York City, via Instagram Live. Many other bars and liquor brands are doing something similar on Instagram and Zoom. In short, there are many live and on-line resources available.

Paul and I are available, too. If you would like to connect with your friends remotely over a cocktail that you all make together in your respective Zoom square, we can arrange for a group on-line class. Recently I was hired to demo how to make a tequila cocktail for a person’s birthday gathering on Zoom. It was a lively and fun way to celebrate. Next up, I’ll be conducting an in-depth look at the history of rum and showing how to make three different rum cocktails. In each case, participants were notified of what spirits, mixers, and equipment they needed to make the mixed drinks along with me.

It may be a bit trickier than before to treat yourself to a decent cocktail, but you have the supplies, and with these printed and on-line resources, you now also have the skills. And when all else fails, support your local restaurant and bartenders and order one to go.

Stay safe and healthy, and please drink responsibly…and well.

Cheers!

Stocking Your Home Bar in the Time of Corona

My latest order from Court Liquors

You’re stocked up on toilet paper. If you’re not, someone has helped himself to your share. Let’s hope you’re not running out. You’ve also stock-piled canned food, medicinal supplies, and paper goods. Thanks to your plan of attack at the supermarket, either virtual or actual, your closets and pantries are packed to the gills. You’re good to go.

But what about your bar? Have you supplied it too?

If you haven’t and you want to (and I am assuming you do if you are reading this post), note that determining which spirits and cocktail ingredients to buy can be a bit more tricky than figuring out what beer and wine to have on hand, since there are many options and possibilities, but it’s much easier than figuring out which stores still have toilet paper on their shelves. And the task is made even more simple in these very strange times because it’s not like you are going to have company over anytime soon, so you don’t need to worry about anyone’s tastes and preferences other than your own. 

Since cocktails are built from a wide variety of spirits, liqueurs, fortified wines, and mixers, there’s barely a limit to what to buy, other than what’s dictated by the size of your liquor cabinet and wallet You could be like me and try to have at least one of everything, so that anytime I come across a recipe that I want to try, I’ve got the bottles at hand. A Midnight Marauder with mezcal, Bonal, Cynar, and mole bitters? Check, check, check, and check!

But I don’t recommend this strategy. It leads to way too many bottles (see photo of my latest delivery if you need convincing), many of which will go untouched for weeks or even months at a time. Instead, take one of these more moderate approaches. 

One way to go about it is to base your selections around one or two of your favorite cocktails and possible variations of them. As an example, picking the Manhattan, the mother of stirred cocktails that contain vermouth, would lead you to buy bourbon or rye or both, sweet vermouth, and aromatic bitters (e.g., Angostura), along with whole oranges or lemons and/or real maraschino cherries for garnish. Add a bottle of scotch to your order and you can swap out the rye/bourbon for a Rob Roy. Split the measure of sweet vermouth with dry vermouth and you have a perfect Manhattan. Use that dry vermouth with gin and viola, and you have stirred for yourself the most classic of classic cocktails, the martini. Want to be daring and try something different? How about the Cynar mentioned above? Add some of it to the regular Manhattan and you’ve replicated the modern classic,  Little Italy, which originated at the Pegu Club in Manhattan, which has sadly closed forever because of the Coronavirus. You can use this approach for any of your favorite cocktails, e.g., margarita, Negroni, old-fashioned, gin and tonic etc. Buy the essentials along with a few bottles to create variations. For inspiration, Google, for example, “Negroni variations,” and see if any of the results intrigue you and then buy the ingredients to make them happen at your home bar.

Another approach is to base your selections around one or two of your favorite spirits. If it’s tequila, you’ll obviously need the fixings for a margarita: limes and a sweetener, typically either agave syrup or orange liqueur. Don’t stop there. Find some grapefruit soda and you’ve got a paloma (or use grapefruit juice and bubbly water). Jazz up either of these popular drinks with mezcal, a small addition of which will add a touch of smoke. Or totally swap out the tequila for mezcal to up the smoked agave experience. What about rum to invoke the summer? Get a light and a dark one, along with some mixers: Ginger beer for a dark and stormy, limes for real daiquiris and mojitos; bubbly wine for an Old Cuban, another modern classic from Pegu Club. RIP 

If this all is just too overwhelming to figure out in this time of a global crisis, another option is to order cocktail-making kits from a local bar or restaurant. For instance, Paul’s place of work, Talula’s, is boxing up what you need to make their signature gin & jam and infante. Going this route kills two birds with one stone: it simplifies what you need to make yourself a drink and it supports your favorite eateries and watering holes that are facing troubling economic times.

When you can host people again, we’ll re-explore bar stocking strategies, as there will be other considerations that you’ll have to make, chief of which is having a little something for everyone, just as you might do for wine: white, red, rose and sparkling. 

Until then, stay safe and healthy!

Truly Tasting Whiskey in the Time of Corona

April Meeting of the APWC on Zoom

In the midst of a global pandemic, this may be an odd--even inappropriate--moment, to talk about how to appreciate whiskey, but with the whole world slowed down, like an extended snow day, in many ways it’s the perfect opportunity, and an unprecedented one, to give yourself the space to contemplate a dram of aged, grain-based spirits. Seizing the occasion, this is exactly what the Asbury Park Whisky Club explored at its April on-line meeting.

To be honest, some practical considerations led to the club’s focus on connoisseurship--the expert appreciation in matters of taste, or in this case, aged spirits. Mindful of the substantial cost associated with good quality alcohol and of the potential health risks of leaving the safety of home and going out to the liquor store, which is considered an “essential service” here in New Jersey, the Club departed from its normal format of sampling three different whiskies together. Instead, the Club let its members choose whatever they had on hand at home or could safely procure for the Zoom meeting.

Since the Club wouldn’t be tasting the same expressions, this is how it came about that the Zoom meeting would explore how to taste whiskey in general, not any specific brand. You may wonder what that means exactly--to taste a whiskey--since we all are capable of tasting whatever it is that we’re putting in our mouth, assuming our noses and tongues are working properly. (And if they’re not, “a new loss of taste or smell” can be a symptom of Covid-19.) What we mean by tasting in this case is fully appreciating a pour of whiskey--its appearance, scent, taste, mouthfeel, and overall quality. 

Paul and I, the co-leaders of APWC, usually review the principles of tasting at each of the Club’s monthly meetings, but for April, the plan was to delve deeper into the methods of tasting and have someone else, a real expert, do it. We brought in an honest-to-goodness single malt specialist, Alastair Menzies of The Dalmore and Jura (he actually reached out to us!). He is also an honest-to-goodness Scotsman, with an accent so charming that a member of the Club on the Zoom call confessed that she could have listened to him read the phone book all night! 

Fortunately, Alastair didn’t do that. Instead, in that lovely Scottish accent, he led us step by step through his own approach of drinking a whiskey, which is usually a Scotch for him. No surprise there!  First, he eyes the whiskey, as its color can reveal information about how the make (new spirit) has been aged--in what kind of wood and for how long, both of which contribute to the spirit’s flavor. Next, he smells it. But he doesn’t inhale deeply, sticking his nose straight into the glass, as one does with wine. Instead Alastair passes the small tasting glass quickly between each of his nostrils. The reason for his sniffing technique is that each side of the nose can pick up different scents. He then pulls the glass away from his nose, gives a think of what aromas he’s detected, and then he passes the glass under each nostril again, and maybe one more time after that. In his lyrical voice, Alastair verbally shares what scents he picks up--heather, honey, chocolate-covered oranges, etc.

Then comes the moment you’ve been waiting for--actually drinking the whiskey. But before letting it pass down his gullet, Alastair lets the whiskey sit on his tongue, which he makes parallel to the floor by tilting his head back a wee bit. This allows the liquid to sit evenly on his tongue. It may seem like a bit of unnecessary acrobatics for a simple sip of whiskey, but this method allows him to determine how the flavors of the spirit hit the front and back of his palate and to detect its rainbow of flavors. 

Ok, now really comes the moment you’ve been waiting for--swallowing the whiskey. When Alastair does so, he opens up his mouth right after. This technique detects even more flavors, as your nose gets involved again, since, as we know, the nose is really the one responsible for perceiving flavor. This was what really wowed club members because when they opened up their mouths after swallowing, they really did pick up on nuances in the spirit that they hadn’t noticed before. They’ll never drink whiskey the same way again.

Hopefully, we’ll never have to drink whiskey the same way again--alone, under lock down. But while we are sheltering in place, this is a great time to truly taste a whiskey. With a little practice, you’ll surely never drink whiskey the same way again either.

Stay safe and healthy and drink good cocktails and spirits!