:: fred's top 10 cocktail moments of 2013 ::

In 2010, I was asked what my favorite drink of the year was and I decided not only to start a list of my favorite drinks I had out on the town and in at the home bar, but I decided to list the top 10 moments of the previous 12 months. The previous ones can be found here: 2010, 2011, and 2012. I feel like I should attempt this somewhat chronologically instead of starting with the most major of the events.

1. Taught a class at Stir
As a sidenote to my publishing Drink & Tell: A Boston Cocktail Book, all of the book signings especially around the holidays and the like, I was invited to teach a class revolving around the book at Barbara Lynch's Stir (the class description can be found here). My co-conspirators were Drink's John Gertsen who made helped me plan the class and coordinated the cocktail assembly and chef Kristen Kish who paired food to the cocktail list. We picked five cocktails to present that began with the Revision and continued on to April in Paris, Tommy Noble, Prospect Park, and Northern Lights. One of the guests that night declared the Tommy Noble one of the best cocktails he has ever tasted. Yeah, Tommy S-G got double love in that list via two different bars' offerings, but he's most certainly worthy of that honor.
2. They got me behind a bar?
Having never bartended professionally before, I was called out for an event in February. For the Blue Room's Spaghetti Western-themed Whiskey and Amari night series, I was paired up with The Hawthorne's Katie Emerson. Katie and I decided on a Women of the Wild West night and came up with nine original drinks to put on the menu. The most adventurous was the choose-your-own-amaro Kitty Leroy named after one of the more infamous promiscuous rascals on the Wild West (and the drink remains on the Blue Room's regular cocktail menu), and my birthday Scaffa tribute to organizer Matt Schrage, the Madame Mustache, surprised me at how well it sold over those four hours. The event was captured in an interview on BostonChefs.

3. Teaching cocktail classes
After getting motivated to pursue bartending professionally, I started looking at BostonChef's job listings and there I spotted an ad for someone to teach a "Manhattan class." Answering that ad has turned into a once-every-three months gig teaching the new recruits of The Welcoming Committee organization how to make classic cocktails. It was great that the host expanded the concept to include gin as well as rye drinks, and each time I assembled a cluster of 10 drinks for them to make. Moreover, by word of mouth, it has spawned some catering gigs at private residences albeit with no or less teaching component.

4. Item crossed off my bucket list
I had always wanted to judge a cocktail competition and 2013 saw me judging two of them. I should definitely be careful with what I ask for. The first was a Licor 43 competition in May; the danger of this one was the number of contestants, the sugar content of a liqueur-sponsored event, and the amount of alcohol consumed. Yes, the finals included tasting the top 3 drinks again. In the end, I was left with a sugar-high, an overload of alcohol, and a bottle of liqueur and a t-shirt as thanks. Luckily, at my dinner afterwards at Estragon, Sahil Mehta was able to suggest a drink that dried out my palate and was low in alcohol to patch me up. The other judging was through the Mutineer Magazine for the Luxardo competition. Unlike the Licor 43 competition, they narrowed down the contestants to three and I had to visit each bartender where they worked. While two were in Boston, the third necessitated an excursion out to Worcester. Luckily, we paired that trip with a beer-themed brunch visit to Armsby Abbey afterwards. Judging this one was tough, but in the end, I realized how important it was to read the instructions for giving a personal reason for creating the drink and relating it to the theme can be the tipping point in an otherwise close contest. Every score-able detail counts, and as a mental note to myself as a competitor, read and re-read the contest instructions.
5. Someone was silly enough to hire me?
2013 found me dropping my search for a day job in my old field and considering a job behind the stick. One of the hurdles was finding someone to hire me. The problem was frustrating, for bar managers found me too knowledgeable (or old) to be a barback and too inexperienced to be a bartender. A few places at least let me stage for the night. Alas, Sam Gabrielli at Russell House Tavern came to the rescue and I answered his Facebook posting about needing a barback ASAP. From a response on a Saturday morning to meeting him at early afternoon to staging that night, my career path was set. I ended up barbacking and learning the ropes in the restaurant world for four weeks from May to June before being bumped up to daytime bartender in June to present. While making cocktails is a part of the job, most of the job just deals with people. And beer. Starting earlier in the year, I regained my passion for beer and began tasting, attending events, and writing about this hopsworthy beverage. In addition, I got interviewed by the OnTheBar app for how that app has helped me as both a bar-goer and a bartender. While it took a few months to feel adjusted to the career change, I am quite happy with my new restaurant family from the fellow bartenders to the servers to the guests. It is rarely a dull or usual day in Harvard Square, and when I told that to Deep Ellum's Max Toste when he was sitting at my bar, he commented that "Harvard Square... it's like the airport."
6. Menu items
No longer was I just creating drinks for the blog, books (see #7), or one-off events, but my creations were finding a home. My Chutes & Ladders was the first to appear in August and is still going strong today, and my Downtown at Dawn has been served on menu as well. Suddenly, the product of various bartenders making my drinks began to become evident on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other.

7. Cocktails and techniques appearing in books
The year found my recipes appearing in Gary Regan's The Negroni book and another accepted in his 101 Best new Cocktails 2013 book. My experiments on glass chilling made it into Kevin Liu's Craft Cocktails at Home, and things I said about shrubs will apparently appear next year in Michael Dietsch's Shrubs: An Old-Fashioned Drink for Modern Times.

8. Visited new Boston bars
New breath has been given to the Boston cocktail scene with the addition of several new bars and I wrote up a post in September about five of them that frequently got referenced by the food sites across town. I have been pleased with the vermouth- and sherry-laden offerings at Belly Wine Bar, the Tiki drinks at Blue Dragon, and the food-friendly libations at Sarma. Craigie on Main's sister, Kirkland Tap and Trotter is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. And nearby to Blue Dragon and Drink is Tavern Road making Fort Point a destination instead of a one-stop spot. I am not sure when Casa B opened, but we have enjoyed sitting at Taso's bar there this year. Harvard Square has gained the Sinclair and Beat Hotel, and I look forward to checking out Alden & Harlow soon. Others have opened like Commonwealth, State Park, Ribelle, and Fairsted Kitchen that I have not yet made it to.

9. Thirst Boston!
As a successor to the Boston Cocktail Summit, this year's event continued on the tradition of making Boston's spot in the drink world better known. I wrote up my highlights, but the focus on the Daiquiri Time Out, strange laybacks including Galliano and Bols Yogurt, and Fernet Branca twister were pretty entertaining. Talks on sherry and rum were educational in addition to me picking up an appreciation for Irish Coffee as a beverage and art form. I am glad that they made it so easy to attend for I was too busy with my new job to make it to Tales of the Cocktail or Portland Cocktail Week this year; perhaps I will find the time next year for those events.
10. Randomness of bartending?
Like previous years, I stalled out at 9. For 10, perhaps it is the randomness that working at a bar has afforded me. I have had customers come from as far away as Michigan bearing gifts of Sazerac lollipops -- guests who read the blog and found out when and where I was working. Luckily, enough people use the OnTheBar app and have followed me (to the point that I surpassed the Century Club goal). I have had the honor of reversing the situation of serving bartenders who for years had been serving me. Various industry professionals from brewers to distillers (such as Maggie from Privateer who took the above photo) have sat at my bar. Being photographed and tweeted about has been great, but I have more frequently played the roll of Boston ambassador for tourists and locals alike by giving bar, restaurant, museum, shopping and entertainment suggestions. And in one instance, saving a pair of female guests from going to places that were put on a list someone gave them -- which included the Pine Street Inn (homeless shelter) and Centerfolds (strip club, although I did not assume that they might not want to go there) that were mixed in with good suggestions. Perhaps Max Toste's comparison to an airport is quite fitting!

emperor's new clothes

3/4 oz Bourbon
3/4 oz Cynar
3/4 oz Bittermens Citron Sauvage
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass.
Two Mondays ago, we wandered down to the South End to visit bartender Sahil Mehta at Estragon. For a first cocktail, I had the Emperor's New Clothes since the combination of ingredients seemed like it could do no wrong. The drink began with a minty and Cynar funky herbal aroma. Caramel and malt on the sip led into Bourbon in the swallow and a minty, bitter herbal finish.

little miss

1 1/2 oz North Shore Aquavit (Krogstad)
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Dolin)
1/4 oz Orgeat (BG Reynolds)
1/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass that had be pretreated with the oils from two orange twists. Garnish with an additional orange twist.

After the Stranger Than Paradise, I opened up the Sanctuaria: The Dive Bar of Cocktail Bars and spotted the Little Miss. Matt Seiter, the book's author, described how he had just finished his first batch of orgeat and then he reached for a bottle of Green Chartreuse since he knew how well those two play together. Moreover, the savory notes of the aquavit seemed to fit perfectly in place here.
The Little Miss greeted the nose with an orange, star anise, and herbal bouquet. A white wine sip with hints of citrus and orgeat richness gave way to an herbal and floral swallow. As the drink warmed up, the flavor profile gained more caraway and anise notes from the aquavit.

stranger than paradise

2 oz Atlantico Rum (Caliche)
3/4 oz Amaro Montenegro
3/4 oz Passion Fruit Syrup (BG Reynolds)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and carefully strain into a Hurricane mug with a 1/2 oz ruby port (Taylor Fladgate) at the bottom and filled with crushed ice. The port will float up over time.

Two Sundays ago, I made a drink that I had spotted in the ShakeStir website's recipe database called Stranger Than Paradise. The drink was created by Jade Brown Godfrey of Manhattan's Pouring Ribbons, and like her First Rodeo, this one had a bit of layering to it. Jade was, "inspired by a recent trip to Miami (where I was very much out of my element) and all of the Miami vices I had. Part tiki, part delicious."
The Stranger Than Paradise began with a rum bouquet accented by tropical fruit aromas from the passion fruit which generated an almost pineapple sensation when combined with the lemon notes. That pineapple-like note continued on into the sip along with orange flavors, and the swallow showcased the rum followed by herbal guava-like elements on the finish. As the drink progressed, the flavors became more identifiable as containing Amaro Montenegro perhaps due to the ice melt, and later, rich grape notes entered as the port layer rose to the top of the drink.

windsor knot

1 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac
1 oz George Dickel Rye (Sazerac 6 Year)
1/2 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz Cynar
1 tsp Benedictine

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing a large ice cube. Garnish with an orange twist.

After the Act of Faith, I decided to make a recipe posted by Gary Regan in his 101 Best Drinks of 2013 series. That libation was the Windor Knot created by Richard Yarnall of Orange County's Bartender's Cabinet. The combination of ingredients reminded me of a Vieux Carré where the Cynar and dry vermouth took the place of the classic's sweet vermouth and bitters.
The Windor Knot showcased an orange oil nose over an otherwise herbal aroma. Caramel and malt on the sip gave way to rye and Cognac on the swallow and bitter herbal and vanilla-like notes on the swallow. Overall, the Windsor Know was not as grape driven as the Vieux Carré but equally as good as a sipper.

act of faith

1 1/2 oz Jamaican Rum (Appleton Reserve)
1/2 oz Pedro Ximenez Sherry (Lustau)
1/2 oz Blackstrap Rum (Cruzan)
1/4 oz Angostura Bitters

Build in a rocks glass with a large ice cube. Stir to chill and garnish with an orange twist.

Two Fridays ago, we began the evening with the Act of Faith that appeared in a recent New York Times article. The recipe was crafted by Dan Greenbaum of Manhattan's The Beagle and Attaboy, and the combination of rums, Pedro Ximénez sherry, and spice seemed rather appealing.
The orange twist's aroma brightened that of the rum's blackstrap molasses and sherry's dark grape notes. The aroma prepared the mouth for the sip which offered raisiny grape, caramel, and molasses notes; next, the swallow shared a sharp and dry medley of rum, grape, and Angostura's spice. Interestingly, most of the sherry and molasses notes were pushed into the sip by the hefty slug of bitters instead of residing in the swallow where they most often can be found.

more scotch than sincerity

2 oz Cutty Sark Blended Scotch
3/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Cherry Heering
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

A few Sundays ago, I ventured down to Stoddard's for a drink since bar manager Jamie Walsh had mentioned that the cocktail list was going to be updated soon. Unfortunately, I was a day or two early to catch the new list, but bartender Tony Iamunno knew what the changes were going to be. After listing a few of the possibilities, he mentioned that one of his favorite new recipes did not make the cut this time around. That drink's name, More Scotch Than Sincerity, was rather curious; Tony explained that a mutual friend Whitney penned the phrase in her LiveJournal, and he borrowed it for this libation.
The cocktail's lemon twist contributed bright citrus notes to the cherry aroma. A lemon and malt sip gave way to Scotch on the swallow followed by cinnamon, cherry, and spice on the finish.

absinthe drip

The theme for this month's Mixology Monday (MxMo LXXX) was picked by Nick of The Straight Up blog. The theme he chose was "Anise," and he elaborated on the theme with his description of, "While I had a few ideas I've been kicking around for this months theme, ...I ultimately decided on one of my favorite flavors: anise. Although great any time of year, there is something about colder weather and the holidays that really sets my anise fetish into overdrive. While past MxMos have seen a few specific sources of anise, such as pastis and absinthe, I wanted to open things up to anything anise flavored, the more unique the better. Most folks have something with anise notes laying around, whether it's absinthe or pastis, ouzo, Genepe, even Green Chartreuse, Peychaud's, Raki, etc. Maybe get creative and make something tasty with some star anise, like a syrup, infusion or tincture. Show us that riff on a Sazerac or Improved Holland Gin Cocktail that you love, or create something entirely new."

I originally wanted to do a drink that used Peychaud's Bitters as a base spirit, but there were few save for the Gunshop Fizz that came to mind that I had not tried yet. And I did think of recreating a Sazerac in Tom & Jerry format, but I recalled that I had already written about the Sazerac Toddy. Next, my mind drifted over to the bottle of Butterfly Absinthe that had been sent to me and I considered doing an Absinthe Suissese, but I got bogged down over picking the right recipe as to whether it had crème de menthe, orgeat, cream, egg white, orange blossom water, or other. The earliest recipe I found was in Maloney's 1900 The Twentieth-Century Cocktail Guide for Mixing Fancy Drinks but it was just absinthe, orgeat, and egg white. With such a minimalist recipe, I decided to take a step further back and go with an Absinthe Drip.
Over the course of a few events through the last 14 months or so that have included a pre-Boston Cocktail Summit Origin Spirits tasting event, Whiskey Live, and Boston Thirst, I have had the honor of meeting the people behind Butterfly Absinthe. The spirit is a recreation of 1902 Boston recipe that benefits today from the elegance of modern day Swiss absinthe producers. The ingredients list are historically the same with wormwood, hyssop, melissa, peppermint, anise, star anise, fennel, and citrus, but no sample of the original of the early 20th century product has turned up to confirm the flavor profile. I was quite pleased when they decided to send me a sample of the absinthe for review and delighted when they also included a pair of absinthe glasses as well (one pictured above). The glasses have a mark for an ounce and a half pour of absinthe and I was able to determine where the 4:1 and 5:1 dilution marks would lay. While we do not own a fancy absinthe fountain, Andrea did purchase a rather mesmerizing absinthe balancier years ago -- a similar one tick-tocking away can be seen here in action on Youtube. Since most modern quality absinthes do not require any sweetener, I skipped the sugar cube and instead filled the balancier with crushed ice. I added ice water until the desired 4:1 dilution was reached in the glass.

Absinthe Drip
• 1 1/2 oz Absinthe (Butterfly)
• 6 - 7 1/2 oz Ice-chilled Water (6 oz)
Slowly add ice water to the absinthe in a glass.

With the 4:1 dilution, the 130 proof spirit was decreased to 13% ABV, the approximate strength of many wines, and it gained a beautiful louche. Our tasting notes included anise, fennel, licorice, mint, lemon, and wormwood, and the low proof and clean spirit was definitely gentle enough to drink even without sugar added. With the sugar, the drip would be the simplest of classic cocktails for the spirit, bitters, and water are already in the mix.

Thanks to Nick for hosting this month's spiced event, and cheers to all the rest of the Mixology Mondayers for keeping the lifeblood flowing!

razor ramon

1 3/4 oz Siete Leguas Reposado Tequila
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Coffee Syrup
1/2 oz Campari
1 dash Mole Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Flame an orange twist over the top.

After the Negroni variation, there was another Campari recipe that Ryan Connelly wanted to make for me at Belly. The drink was the Razor Ramon which he named after one of his favorite professional wrestlers. Ryan was inspired to create this drink after attending the coffee-cocktail seminar at Thirst Boston taught by Tyler Wang of Kirkland Tap & Trotter and Jake Robinson of Counter Culture; there, he learned how well French press espresso coffee pairs with Campari, and for this drink he utilized a coffee syrup instead. Back in June, I documented one of the coffee-cocktail events that was part class and part competition which was a precursor to the Thirst Boston talk.
The Razor Ramon began with agave aromas along with a dark herbal note. The coffee's roast paired with the Punt e Mes' grape on the sip. Finally, the tequila began the swallow that ended with the coffee and Campari combination that was complemented by the Punt e Mes' bitter notes and the chocolate bitters.