MxMo Variations and the OBG

Ok, I admit, I'm not the most technical person you'll ever meet. For the life of me, I still can't figure out how to save that MixMo logo and embed it into my posts, al la Jeff Morgenthaler. For now, please bear with me (someday I'll figure out how to get the pics into the body of my post too, but thats for another day). Anyway, as you probably know, the immensely talented Jimmy Patrick is the host of Mixology Monday this month and the theme is variations. In addition to my own variation (pic 1 above), I'm also going to offer up some interesting variations on cocktails by some of my fellow members of the Oregon Bartenders Guild. Before I get into the cocktails, let me say that I am proud to be a member of the only independent bartenders guild in the United States. We're doing some exciting things and if you are interested in some of our discussions and such, you can access our forum here. But I digress, lets move on to the cocktails shall we?

The first picture above is my creation, the Spagnuolo, one of three variations on the Negroni that I'm sharing in this post. For my variation, I substituted Aperol for the Campari, being sister products I thought it would be interesting to note the differences that occured in the cocktail. While Campari has quite a bit of bitterness, I knew that I'd be losing some of that bitterness with the substitution of Aperol. To try to maintain the balance of the cocktail, I used Punt E Mes, which I find very bitter, and Aviation Gin by House Spirits, mainly because I love their gin and didn't want to drink anything else. I also added three dashes of Fee's Lemon Bitters as a small variation. While it just isn't fair to compare the Spagnuolo to a classic Negroni, the resulting cocktail was quite pleasant, with very pronounced notes of bitter orange. The Punt E Mes was the right call to maintain the balance in the cocktail and the Aviation mixed, as usual, like a champ. Who knows, I might just throw the Spagnuolo cocktail on the menu as a special soon, it would be particularly nice during the spring. One note, the cocktail was made with a 1-1-1 ratio and 3 dashes of lemon bitters.

Next up, we have an entirely different variation on the Negroni from my friend and fellow Oregon Bartenders Guild board member, David Shenaut of the TearDrop Lounge. While David didn't give a name to his variation (his is the second pic above), lets call it the OBG #2. While the Spagnuolo really explored the fruit nuances available in a Negroni variation, David's OBG #2 traveled down a much more savory path. Composed of 1.5 oz Aviation gin, 1.25 oz Carpano Antica, 1.25 oz Campari and 20 drops of the TearDrop's notorious Chipotle- Chocolate bitters and finished with a twist of lemon. I was lucky enough to have David make this for me on my last trip to the TearDrop and I was thoroughly impressed by the spicy, savory notes that he was able to bring out in this cocktail.

Moving on, and not pictured above, but definitely worth mentioning is another variation on the Negroni created by yet one more Oregon Bartenders Guild board member, Kevin Ludwig. Kevin makes a Norwegian Negroni with Krogstad Aquavit, Cynar and Carpano Antica. I didn't have time to whip one up, but if you are a fan of Robert Hess' Trident cocktail, then the Norwegian Negroni should be right what you've been looking for.

3 variation on the Negroni from the Oregon Bartenders Guild? What, do we have some sort of a groupthink mentality? Actually, its just a bit of a strange coincidence (although I am praying that Jeff Morgenthaler's post isn't a variation on the Negroni). Thank goodness we're finishing up this post with Daniel Shoemaker. Owner and creative force behind Portland's best cocktail lounge, the TearDrop Lounge with his partner Ted Charnak, Daniel offers us his variation on the classic Japanese cocktail, aptly named, "The Cyclone Ranger" (last pic above). 2 oz of Barsol Quebranta Pisco are mixed with 3/4 oz of the TearDrop's own filbert orgeat, a dash of angostura bitters and 4 drops of their house Chipotle-Chocolate bitters. Daniel serves this up in a coupe garnished with catlike dexterity (I know, catlike dexterity? Daniel was recently written up as catlike in a recent review, so I've got to continue teasing him) with shaved Scharfenberger chocolate.

In the future, you may continue to see drinks and ideas here from my fellow OBG members. I think its a great exercise to do collectively, and as you can see, 4 bartenders came up with 4 completely different variations this time. Perhaps our next project should be creating punches for Tales. Too bad Old New Orleans Rum isn't exactly easy to come by in Oregon. But thats a subject for another post. Thanks for reading and giving me the opportunity to share some of the talents of my fellow members of the OBG.

Follow the rest of the variations here at Mixology Monday.

Smuggled Saffron, Missouri Oak and the OBG

One of the first collaborative events the Oregon Bartenders Guild members are doing is creating bitters together. I know Jeff Morgenthaler is looking to recreate the old Bokers bitters recipe, a couple of the brilliant minds at the TearDrop Lounge have been discussing attempting an Oregon Truffle bitters, and even a pine bitters has been proposed. If you are curious about some of the discussions going on, check out our forum (you need to sign up for access) here .

One of my current favorite bitters is Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters, a lovely, complex bitters tasting of cinnamon spice. So far, all of my previous bitters creations have been made in glass, but barrel aging adds a depth and complexity that is complimentary to many styles of bitters. In fact, I've even been contemplating making a barrel aged orange bitters to contrast with the commercial orange bitters on the market. In order to facilitate the production of barrel aged bitters, each board member of the OBG has ordered a small Missouri oak barrel to produce unique styles of bitters from Steinbart’s. It should be interesting to see what everyone creates. I've been toying with the idea of a coconut bitters in addition to the barrel aged orange and saffron bitters I'm planning. Speaking of bitters, I'm quite excited to see that there is going to be a new player entering the market, Bittermen’s, I've heard good things about their products and can't wait to try them.

Last night, I was perusing my liquor cabinet, looking for something a little bit different (and also trying to free up some room, I definitely need a larger liquor cabinet) when I noticed that I had just enough Sub Rosa Saffron Vodka to pour myself a nightcap. I picked up a bucket, in went a couple of ice cubes (Tovolo to be exact)and I poured myself two fingers of vodka, finishing off the bottle. I don't generally drink vodka on the rocks, but the Sub Rosa saffron has some interesting spicy curried notes that make it worthwhile to drink that way. I was sitting at home, nursing my drink, enjoying the exotic spiciness and unwinding from a hard day. As I was admiring the orange red hue of the vodka a thought popped into my head, "why don't I make a saffron bitters?". Strangely enough, I recently met a saffron smuggler (who knew?). A few weeks ago, he surreptitiously handed me a glass vial that I thought might be something illegal, so I freaked out a bit, gave a stern lecture about not being a kid anymore, etc, etc, until I looked down and saw that the vial was filled with red threads. I was a little surprised, especially since I don't know this person well. "Its saffron, the most expensive spice in the world. I get it in Cairo for .80 an ounce and smuggle it in." I guess in the grand scheme of things being a saffron smuggler doesn't rate too high on the priorities of most law enforcement agencies, perhaps being just a slightly lower target than those dastardly tapioca smugglers. I just hope he didn't have to keester it in.

Anyway, Mr. Saffron Smuggler provided me with a full gram of the Egyptian stuff, so I went downstairs and added the threads to a fifth of everclear, which I'm going to use as my base. I doubt I'll barrel age this stuff, but once the saffron infuses the alcohol, I may add some secondary flavoring agents to the mixture. I'm also curious to compare it to the Sub Rosa saffron vodka to see the differences.

Happy Repeal Day!

Today is Repeal Day. My good friend and original Repeal Day organizer Jeff Morgenthaler has some pics up on his blog of his NYC Repeal Day activities (www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com). Closer to home, my friends and brilliant mixologists Daniel and Ted at the TearDrop Lounge are doing some great Pre-Prohibition cocktails in honor of Repeal Day. Stop by around 5pm there and you might catch yours truly there.