:: shaun caleb of el dorado rums ::

On Thursday, July 23rd, Boston had the honor of hosting Shaun Caleb of El Dorado Rums. Dave Catania of Burke Distributing was able to persuade Shaun to stay in the country after Tales of the Country and speak to Boston bartenders at Felipe's in Cambridge. Shaun's talk that day seemed to be more of a general overview of the Guyana's history, the distillery, and their product line with perhaps some overlap with his talk at Tales entitled "Rare & Heritage Rums of Demerara." Shaun started his quest by leaving his home country of Guyana to study chemical engineering at Princeton University, and then returned as promised to work for the Demerara Distillers. There, he learned under then-master distiller George Leslie Robinson who trained him over a five year period to take over the position.
Guyana is a country about eight times the size of Massachusetts that was first discovered by the Dutch before being taken over by the English in 1700s. Being on the northeastern tip of South America, Guyana has close access to the sea and Caribbean islands and soon became a gateway to South America. By the late 1600s, Guyana had well established agricultural industries revolving around cotton, coffee, and sugar. Most of the sugar cane there is grown along the coast on about ten percent of the land. At one point, there were 300 sugar plantations and 380 small distillers. As time, taxes, and dropping sugar prices intervened in the 1800s, plantations closed and transferred their stills to other plantations. With this preservation and frugality, stills from the 1700s and 1800s have survived to this day. The Demerara Distillery has 12 of these surviving heritage stills that range from one to three centuries old and vary in material including wood, copper, and steel, as well as vary in style such as pot and column. This wide arsenal of stills of varying styles and histories is utilized to assemble the El Dorado product line such that the different age statements are not just time spent in barrels but different assemblages of distillations from assorted stills in their collection.

One of their oldest stills was from the Port Mourant Estate from 1732 and is a double wooden pot still made from local hardwoods sourced from Guyana's rainforests. It is these same hardwoods that are utilized for building boats and wharves to stand up to marine conditions. The wood is not neutral in the still and does interact with the alcohol to donate a heaviness in body with a low boiling heads aspect. Granted the wood today is not the original, for every few decades, some of the staves need to be replaced. The double wood still is heated by steam for the first pot, and the vapor from that first pot drives the second. Copper swan necks connect the stills and help to strip out impurities and sulfur.

Another gem in their collection is the wooden column still modeled after Aeneas Coffey's still from 1832. Originally build for the Enmore Sugar Estate around 1880, it utilizes the same woods as the double pot still described above. The still runs in a continuous process over 3-4 hours and produces a similarly volatile rum as the double pot still but not as heavy; the spirits coming off this still are rich, aromatic, but medium bodied.

The last of the twelve stills that Shaun highlighted was the French Savalle still from the Uitvlught Estate from the end of the 19th century. This four column still of French design was installed by the Dutch. The all metal still is versatile and can be utilized to make nine different styles of rum with a range from very low to high aromatic content. They can be tuned to emphasize singular or multiple characters such as bringing out guava, coconut, floral, fruity, or fresh sugarcane notes from the mash.

With different subsets of these stills, the Demerara Distillers make a wide range of blends for different niches:
• El Dorado 3 Year Rum is crafted from two runs off of the French Savalle still, and after being aged, it is double charcoal filtered to remove tannins and color. Overall, it is filled with sweet aromatics and with fruity notes like coconut and hints of banana and orange peel. These fruit notes help it to be a great mixing rum.
• El Dorado 5 Year Rum shows off some fruit and aromatic notes and medium bodiedness from the French Savalle still. The aroma of fresh sugar cane mingles with vanilla from the barrel along with caramel, butterscotch, and dried fruit/raisin notes. It is the second best seller in Guyana after their vodka.
• El Dorado 8 Year Rum is a blend of four different stills and is on the cusp for usage for it is balanced enough to be a mixer while being complex enough to be sipped. A lot of the character is from the wooden stills, such as the wooden column still which donates fruitiness and a hint of wood, and the double wooden pot still which offers body and earthiness. Tasting notes here include tea, roasted nuts, vanilla, fruitiness, baking spice, and dried apricot.
• El Dorado 12 Year Rum pairs products from the wooden and the metal Coffey stills. While older production batches are aged with caramel, the newer rums put into barrel (but not yet released) are not. However, that sugar content does aid in making this a delightful sipper. Overall, the 12 year opens up quickly to yield demerara sugar, salted caramel, pepper, cooked stone fruit, and tropical fruit all with a short finish.
• El Dorado 15 Year Rum is the distillery's flagship product from 1993. It uses all the heritage stills both wood and metal as well as pot and column. Flavor notes are old sherry, peppercorn, long finish, dry.
• El Dorado 21 Year Rum uses the wooden Coffey still with some of the metal column stills; moreover, there is a small amount of Versailles Estate single wood pot still to donate body. This rum is luscious, fruity, toffee, and madeira noted.
• El Dorado 25 Year Rum was not one of the ones we tasted, but it is available at Drink in Fort Point. It utilizes wood Coffey still distillate and combines it with a pair of medium-bodied products from the French Savalle still.

Besides the variation in stills, the fermentation utilizes a main yeast that they add as well as whatever wild yeast and bacteria came with the molasses. They estimated that there are over 200 microbial components that effect fermentation. Overall, it is the same fermentation process that goes into each component and each blend with the variation first occurring with which still or stills are utilized. Typically, the molasses-based mash is fermented for 20-30 hours in stainless steel; however, there is the exception of a high ester ferment for aged rums that can last as long as six weeks.

vagos motorcycle club

1 oz Mezcal (Montelobos)
1/2 oz Añejo Tequila (Siete Leguas)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Falernum Syrup
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse

Build in a Hurricane or Collins glass. Swizzle with crushed ice to mix and chill.

The day after returning from Tales of the Cocktail, I began to sort through all of the recipe cards that I had collected. One that called out to me was from the Tippleman's Syrup Guide named the Vagos Motorcycle Club created by Josseph Tippleman. The Club is one of the country's most dangerous motorcycle gangs named after the Spanish word for "vagabond." To counter the gang's proclivity towards drug smuggling and murder, I opted to garnish this smoky number with pure Tiki intent. Since the gang does not seem to be associated with the Tippleman's South Carolina home base, I am assuming that the drink name is more a tie in with the motorcycle club's Mexican associations.
The Vagos Motorcycle Club started with a peppery floral aroma with hints of smoke wafting through the garnish. Next, lemon and pineapple on the sip transitioned into smoky agave and clove spice on the swallow.

:: interview with paul clarke, author of the cocktail chronicles ::

During Tales of the Cocktail this year, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Paul Clarke to discuss his new book, The Cocktail Chronicles: Navigating the Cocktail Renaissance with Jigger, Shaker & Glass. Paul was one of the writers that I was reading as I started on my own cocktail quest. Back then, I was journaling my exploits that inspired my friend Jessica to start this blog that she later invited me to be an author of six months later. Two years ago, I paid tribute to Paul and 13 other bloggers who were active when I started writing for this blog, and part of the description for Paul is in the infographic below. Strangely, I did not pick up at first that Paul's decrease in blogging or his asking me for advice on essential cocktails had anything to do with this book project instead of writing for Imbibe Magazine or other, but I am overjoyed that his writing has solidified into hardcopy gem. A few years after I started blogging, I finally got to meet Paul at Tales of the Cocktail and have a drink of his, the Dunniette. But the vast majority of this book is not about his recipes, but his adventures chronicling the cocktail renaissance and featuring classics and neoclassics with an eye for simplicity, elegance, and longevity.
What were you doing before you started blogging?
Before I started blogging, I had already been spending about two years roughly digging into cocktails, collecting the books -- which at this time in 2003-2004, it was ridiculously easy to get an original copy of David Embury for $3 or the Gentleman's Companion for $10. I had already been spending a couple of years digging through the cocktail literature and exploring recipes and playing around with everything related to cocktail in my own time. I also kind of dabbled online a little bit on the DrinkBoy forum and eGullet which were getting pretty active at the time on the cocktail front. It wasn't until 2005 that I realized that I needed some sort of central repository to stick all the recipes that I had been playing with, and to put all the little bits and pieces of writing that I had been dabbling with... I had been doing the cocktail thing for a couple years before I started blogging, but blogging was where it started to solidify.

What, where, when was your first memorable craft cocktail?
Probably in my own kitchen. At the time that I first started getting into this in 2003, there simply weren't that many craft cocktail bars around the country. It was only a little bit later that I learned about the Zig Zag Café in Seattle, but my first craft cocktail experience was after reading through the excellent book by William Grime and from picking up a copy of Esquire Drinks and then heading out and finding a bottle of rye whiskey and coming back and saying maybe I've got a bottle of Pernod at home so let’s try a Sazerac or let's try a Manhattan. So my first experience was on my own, and I think in some ways that may have helped me because it left me to my own devices and my own judgment as I decided what tasted good and what worked well and what was fascinating.

What is your writing background?
Writing has always been one of those career directions that's not really a career direction. Like the thing you think about when you're in high school or in college and you think that there's no way you can make a living doing that... So when I did start dabbling in writing and writing professionally even when it wasn't touching on cocktails at all -- when I was working as a freelancer on anything they'd pay me to write on, I always saw the real desire... to be on good writing, on making it genuinely interesting... So when I actually started working with material that I found fascinating (in cocktails) I had a jewel box of information here and of stories at my disposal. If I write about these and manage to make them boring, then I have done an incredible disservice. So I feel an incredible obligation not only to the drinks themselves, but to the bartenders who created them, and also to the heritage of cocktail writing to try to elevate it. This is a topic that can be gorgeous and beautiful. This is a topic that is not essential to any of our lives: this is about a flight of fancy, an amusement, a luxury to many people, and so it deserves to be looked at in such a way that reflects that. If you manage to write about cocktails and make them boring, then I'm not really sure why you're doing it.
What old trends or drinks do you see or foresee coming back?
I think we've plumbed the past pretty well by now. And on occasion I will go through some of the older drink guides looking for things overlooked, but there are so many bartenders who have been turning over those stones for so long that I think we've really fleshed out most of the rediscoveries that are there to be dug out. So in terms of drinks for the future, that's tough. One thing that I would like to see and I think that we are starting to see in some parts of the bar world is a fresh embrace of simplicity which I think is wonderful. One of the hallmarks of the cocktail renaissance has been a renewed level of creativity and innovation on the part of bartenders regarding ingredients for example the spread of a thousand styles of bitters, infusions, gastriques, shrubs, and things of that nature -- those are fantastic to see, that's wonderful to see that level of creativity but simplicity is going to be the glue that continues to hold interest in the cocktail together. The moment that we make cocktails too difficult or too inaccessible to the average guest, the average consumer, then we start losing people. And we've lost people in the past. I am sure that the guys at Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers thought that their product was going to stick around forever, but tastes change. And we need to recognize that if we want this enthusiasm for the cocktail to last; we need to prioritize simplicity and approachability.

Which cocktails in the book are the babies you want to promote to the world?
I intentionally put [only] one of my own original cocktails in this book; I did not want this book to be about my experimentations with recipes. I wanted to highlight some of the classic drinks that are both on every menu like a Tom Collins and Last Word as well as things that bartenders and bloggers have dabbled with or dug up like the Self Starter or the Appetizer a l'Italienne and put back out there. But I also wanted to focus on some of the riffs on classics -- for example the entirety of Chapter 3 in the book is taking the five mainstays of cocktails: the Old Fashioned, the Martini, the Manhattan, the Negroni, and the Daiquiri, and looking at ways that those continue to resonate with bartenders today and have for decades in many cases. Showing variations on those such as the Boukman Daiquiri from Alex Day or the Chocolate Negroni from Naren Young -- fantastic variations on these classics. And of course the totally original drinks that have come out over the last 10 or 15 years that I think may actually stand a chance of being a classic that are enjoyed decades from now like the Chartreuse Swizzle by Marco Dionysos or the Penicillin by Sam Ross. Those are two of the more obvious examples because they are on a number of menus around the world now.

When you were writing your book, did you ponder the world of cocktail books? David Wondrich wrote an article last year about how the world does not need more cocktail books.
Yes, that was a dispiriting thing to read when working on the book. No I did. Part of writing any book is looking at the bookshelf and saying "Is there a gap?" and if so, how can I best fill that. The gap that I saw was that there had been a number of cocktail books that have come out and there are many many more on the way that specialize in techniques or in particular recipe approaches of individual bars. That's great, but it's been 10 or 12 years since [a book like] the Joy of Mixology -- or actually Esquire Drinks would be a way better example -- came out that was more of a comprehensive guide to classic cocktails and some new classic cocktails that are both of interest to the professional in the industry but also very approachable to the first timer, to the newcomer. I wanted to make sure that I did not write something that was only applicable to the industry. I wanted to bring in the first timer. We need to be conscious as this proceeds; we need to continue to bring more people in and this is going to include a younger generation, the people who may currently be in their early 20's but in a few years, their palates are going to be maturing, their tastes are going to be maturing, and they are going to be looking to get into things. So I wanted to have that sort of introductory aspect to it. So was there a need for this? I think so. There is nothing that really functions as a snapshot of where we've come thus far.
You can find Paul's book The Cocktail Chronicles on Amazon, Cocktail Kingdom, Boston Shaker, and other fine booksellers.

:: final reflections on tales of the cocktail ::

Final reflections on Tales of the Cocktail, or what I scribbled into my notebook while nursing a final beer at the Avenue Pub after checking out from my hotel but before my airport shuttle arrived as, "The difference returning to Tales as a bartender rather than just a blogger (or enthusiast)." Some of these were things I noticed in myself and some were things that I observed in others.

First, as a bartender, you represent your establishment everywhere you go, so act with dignity. That does not mean do not go on a mechanical bull or other silly things at the appropriate times, but try not to do or say anything negative or hurtful. Treat others at the event including the establishments you visit with kindness, for how you behave shows a window not only into your soul, but it projects the sense of hospitality one can expect in your establishment. If my first bar manager Sam Gabrielli were to write a "Letter to a Young Bartender," hopefully it would include the advice he gave to me at our first meeting a month or two in, namely "Don't be an asshole." With that, he meant not just the obvious with the guests but to treat the servers, hosts, and everyone else well. A similar sentiment was shared in the Three Phases of Hospitality talk at Boston Thirst 2014 that was repeated this year at Tales. Moreover, I believe this was the gist of this year's Tales of the Cocktail with hospitalitarian Danny Meyer being the keynote speaker and talks like "Building & Apprenticing Your Team."

Second, I definitely felt that I was swimming in a different current. While I still could get introduced as a blogger, I could also be introduced as a bartender or author. Being a bartender garnered me more of an industry nod, and it made bartenders more willing to just hangout and talk about life. Even asking for recipes felt more like bonding and cross-education than just about having them feed the media engine.
Third, I traveled lighter. It felt less awkward and inhibiting when I shed my backpack and just carried my camera and a small moleskin in a pocket. Sure, I did carry my backpack around during the day to carry essentials like a backup cell phone battery charger, water, meal replacer bag of almonds, and a large moleskin, but at night, I went minimal and it allowed me a lot more freedom to have fun while still having the ability to document the world as needed.

Finally, I would like to thank Tales for granting me a media pass for the first time in years. Access to the talks and their wisdom was invaluable, and I hope that I repaid you with my coverage.

Said final beer, Abita + Del Ducato collaboration Two Boots saison.

blanche dubois

2 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
1/2 oz Senior Curaçao
1/2 oz Housemade Orgeat
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1 Strawberry
6-8 Mint Leaves

Muddle the strawberry, add rest of the ingredients, and shake with ice. Double strain into a rocks glass, fill with ice, and garnish with a mint sprig.

Like 2011, I ended my Sunday night of Tales of the Cocktail on Rampart Street having a low key night at Bar Tonique. After indulging in their Sunday $5 Mai Tai drink special (something that could never happen in Massachusetts), I decided to follow it up with a house original that looked like a gin and lemon riff on a Mai Tai with strawberry and mint also in attendance. The drink was created circa 2012 by bar owner Ed Diaz and pays tribute to Tennessee William's character in A Streetcar Named Desire that was set in New Orleans.
Bartender Tony Lamperti confirmed that it was the same general specs as the house Mai Tai that I just had, and the Blanche DuBois that he made for me offered strawberry aromas in addition to the mint. Lemon and berry on the sip transferred to juniper, strawberry, and almond on the swallow and mint on the finish. While retaining the delightful balance of a Mai Tai, this recipe took the structure in a entirely different flavor direction.

meyer's cobbler

1 1/2 oz El Dorado 5 Year Rum
3/4 oz Hidalgo Amontillado Sherry
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Rich 2:1 Demerara Syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 bsp Strawberry Preserves
1 slice Lemon
1 slice Orange

Whip shake with two ice cubes and double strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a berries (here, blackberry and raspberry), orange slice, and mint. Add straws, and finish the drink by sifting powdered sugar over the garnishes.
Probably the most stunning visual cocktail of my New Orleans adventure -- with, of course, Beachbum Berry's Tiki libations in a separate class of their own -- was this Cobbler at Compère Lapin. The taste also lived up to the appearance as well. For dinner on Sunday, I stopped into Compère Lapin and asked bartender Ricky Gomez for this drink. Since the drink description said "rum," I asked which one expecting it to be Myer's (yes, mentally overlooking the spelling difference). Ricky declared that it was El Dorado 5 Year Rum, and when I inquired further about the name, he explained that the Cobbler drink shares a linguistic relationship to the Cobbler shoemaker, and that got him thinking about old-timey professions. Therefore, he paid tribute to Meyer the Hatter on St. Charles Street, a shop founded in 1894 that I passed by every day on my way to the Monteleone Hotel. Moreover, it is one of Boston legend John Gertsen's favorite New Orleans stops; when I bumped into him at the Bartender's Breakfast during his brief Tales sojourn, not only was he sporting a new hat, but he was carrying a Meyer's bag with more goodies (see photo below). Once prepared, the Meyer's Cobbler shared an orange and mint aroma that led into an orange and grape sip with a hint of caramel from the rum. The rich rum continued on into the swallow where it blended in with the nutty sherry, and finally the drink ended with a light strawberry note.

Figure 1: Portrait of a hat fiend.

pua lani

2 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
3/4 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
1/2 oz Falernum
1/4 oz Galliano Ristretto
3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a tall glass filled with crushed ice. Add a straw. Tiki-style garnish would not be out of place here.
Though the Bartender's Breakfast was a late night for me (tack on the walk home and a nightcap beer circa 2:30am at the 24 hour craft beer bar, the Avenue Pub), I still made it up to have breakfast with Paul Clarke at 10am and then interview him about his new book (interview soon to follow). After that, both Paul and I made our respective ways over to Pig & Punch held by the Bon Vivants. After sweating for an hour or so in the 108°F heat index weather, I decided to take a brief break from the event and seek solace in the air conditioning offered at Cane & Table before returning. At Cane & Table was another one of the pop-up events; this one was "Drive Thru Daiquiris" done craft style with David Gonsalves, Otis Florence, and Misty Kalkofen using the Bond & Royal portfolio. Misty's rich, smoky, complex, and tropical number served over a bounty of pebbled ice hit the spot and revived me so I could spend another few hours in the heat and score my first sunburn in years.

ye old hurricane in a bottle

1 1/2 oz Beefeater Gin
3/4 oz Oloroso Sherry
1/2 oz BG Reynolds Passion Fruit Syrup
1/8 oz (1 barspoon) Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

There was no information provided about the dilution here. My guess would be to serve a single portion after stirring with ice and straining; this one was batched and bottled (with or without extra added water). The spirit level is a bit too great as compared to the sugar level and lower ABV ingredients to not benefit from some sort of dilution.

The only drink that I had twice at the Bartender's Breakfast at Tales of the Cocktail was Ye Old Hurricane in a Bottle. Once because I was curious what a citrus- and rum-free Hurricane would taste like (passion fruit syrup was the only overlap between the recipes). The second was after the power went for the whole Bywater-Marigny Ninth Ward and the lights and music ceased. There was still a few booths making drinks but most were packing it up in the outage; however, the one that needed no bartenders in attendance was the bottled Hurricane. Therefore, I got one for myself, Nicole Desmond of the Rum Rum Room, and Rebecca Cate of Smuggler's Cove. It just felt right to drink something named after a storm associated with power loss, and the bottle was convenient in case we were all asked to leave the venue (although it turned out that there was no rush to shoo us from the space).
The Ye Old Hurricane in a Bottle began with a nutty sherry aroma that was brightened by passion fruit notes on the nose. Grape with tropical notes filled the sip, and the swallow offered gin, nuttiness from both the sherry and Maraschino. Overall, this Hurricane was very sherry-shifted due to the lack of citrus, but the dryness of said fortified wine maintained the balance rather well.

normandie club collins

1 1/2 oz Beefeater Gin
1/2 oz Amaro Montenegro
3/4 oz Strawberry Syrup (*)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice. Top with soda water and garnish with a lemon wheel (omitted here).
(*) Muddling a medium-large strawberry in 3/4 oz simple syrup will substitute in a pinch.
One of the next drinks I had at the Bartender's Breakfast was the Collins from the Normandie Club in Los Angeles. The recipe was attributed to bartenders Devon Tarby and Daniel Eun, though this one was made for me by bartender Daniel Warrilow. I was definitely excited about the strawberry-Amaro Montenegro combination for it worked rather well in the Gulistan.
The Collins greeted the nose with a lemon aroma. Next, the sip was very berry flavored with crisp lemon and carbonation to give it structure, and the swallow then offered gin and orange-tangerine notes from the Amaro Montenegro.