navy cross cocktail

1 1/2 oz Smith & Cross Rum
3/4 oz Blackstrap Rum (Cruzan)
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Allspice Dram (Hamilton's)

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a lime wheel. The drink was originally served on crushed ice in a double old fashioned glass.
Two Fridays ago, I decided to try out one of the recipes that I had spotted in the recently updated Haus Alpenz site called the Navy Cross Cocktail. The recipe was crafted by Alexandra Bookless at The Passenger in Washington, DC, and she replied to my Instagram post that she served this on crushed ice as opposed to up as dictated in the Haus Alpenz's directions. Since the combination of rum, pineapple, citrus, and spice has worked so well in drinks like the Jamaican Bobsled and the Piñata, I was definitely excited to give this one a go. Once prepared, the Navy Cross Cocktail greeted the senses with a lime, molasses, and funk nose that led into a molasses, pineapple, and lime sip. Next, the funky rum was complemented by the dark molasses, clove, and allspice swallow with a pineapple and spice finish.

turnbuckle

1 oz Cynar
3/4 oz Jamaican Rum (1/4 oz each: Smith & Cross, Rumfire, Appleton Reserve)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/4 oz Orgeat

Whip shake, pour into a Tiki mug or double old fasioned glass (Tiki mug), fill with crushed ice, and garnish with a mint bouquet and an orchid (mint only).

Two Thursdays ago for the cocktail hour, I turned to a drink that I had spotted on Punch Drinks earlier in the day called the Turnbuckle. The recipe was found in an article showcasing 10 amaro cocktails and was created by bartender Jen Akin of Seattle. She described how, "The nuttiness of the orgeat and the tart fruit from the passion fruit play beautifully with Cynar; [it's] a perfectly balanced bittersweet and tropical cocktail." To me, it reminded me a bit of an embittered Hurricane or perhaps a Manuia given the orgeat in there as well. Moreover, the Cynar in the mix made me think of the Bornean Spiderhunter, Poison Dart, and other drinks, so I was definitely excited to try it out.
To make the Turnbuckle, I had to go into my garden and kick away the freshly fallen snow to find my mint. Luckily, it was still very much alive despite the temperature in the low 20°s earlier that morning. Once prepared, it gave forth a mint, nutty, and caramel bouquet to the nose. Next, the caramel continued on into the sip along with lemon and a hint of passion fruit, and the swallow then presented funky rum and funky herbal flavors that were held together by the passion fruit notes.

millenial falcon

1 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
1 oz Amaro Nonino
3/4 oz Lustau Amontillado Sherry
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with ice, and garnish with orange oil from a twist.

Two Wednesdays ago, I stopped into Backbar for a nightcap on my way home from a food and beer tour of Kendall and Inman Squares. For a drink, I requested the Millenial Falcon from bartender Joseph Habib who claimed that it was a group effort creation. The subtitle "Chewie we're home!" confirmed that it was indeed a Star Wars reference which is a common motif there such as their Admiral Ackbar tribute It's Arrack! (It's a trap!); however, the spelling of Millenial instead of Millenium Falcon got me. I later found the answer on KnowYourMeme that explained that this Han Solo spaceship pun is a macro meme created in 2017 that features a Peregrine Falcon that has various captions "voicing the issues facing Millennials" such as "Not job hopping hurts a career, not the other way around."
Even the cat coaster I was provided looked to me like an abstraction of the Millenium Falcon (cats are yet another theme running amok at Backbar). Once I got the cocktail to my nose, it offered up orange oil and smoke aromas. Next, a caramel and grape sip flew into a smoky mezcal, nutty, orange, and cinnamon swallow. Overall, the balance began a touch sweet for me, but with a little ice melt over time, this problem subsided.

jet pack

1 1/2 oz Apple Brandy (Laird's Bonded)
1/2 oz Swedish Punsch (Kronan)
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano (Cocchi Americano)
1/4 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1/4 oz Amer Picon (Torani Amer)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass (here, a punch cup), and garnish with an orange twist.

Two Tuesdays ago, I thought about the Rocket cocktail that I had uncovered in the Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 book. Perhaps it was my spotting the relatively fresh replacement bottle of Swedish punsch on the shelves, but soon I found myself on the Swedish punsch cheat sheet that I had generated last year and my mind began racing. To the classic, I swapped the brandy for apple brandy which seemed like a safe bet. Next, I spotted the Lillet/Cocchi Americano pairing on my cheat sheet and recalled at how well the two did in my Chutes & Ladders inspired off the 1937 Metexa, and I exchanged that for the sweet vermouth. I kept the Amer Picon ingredient constant, but the combination needed another touch (and my retentive side was wondering how to round off a drink that added up to 2 3/4 oz). My cheat sheet had agave spirits and punsch as pairings, and I considered how well smoke and apple go together such as in my apple brandy-mezcal Downtown at Dawn or the All Jacked Up, and I figured that a dash of it would do wonders. The smoky element made me think of Phil Ward's Airbag that got me on the track to dub this Rocket riff the Jet Pack.
The Jet Pack launched off with an orange oil, smoke, and apple aroma. Next, apple cruised in with some of the caramel notes from either the Picon or the punsch on the sip, and the swallow lifted away with apple, smoky agave, tea, and dark orange flavors. Andrea commented that this combination made for a rather Fall-inspired drink.

don't stop me now

1 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1 oz Plantation Rum (Plantation Original Dark)
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/4 oz Amaro Nonino (Averna)

Shake with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass, and fill with crushed ice. Float 1/2 oz Campari, and garnish with an inverted spent half lime shell filled with 1/2 oz absinthe (1/4 oz Pernod Absinthe) and ignited.

The second drink that caught my eye in the Alcohol Professor's Freddie Mercury/Queen cocktail biopic was the Don't Stop Me Now from Nick Brown at the Spaniard in Manhattan. Nick explained, "It feels like 'Don't Stop Me Now' should be a Tiki, in-your-face sort of drink, flaming and red like the rocket ship on its way to Mars in the song." In order to show off the drink's layers, I opted for a double rocks glass instead of the Tiki mug that the rest of the ingredients screamed out for.
The Don't Stop Me Now greeted the senses with a funky rum and nutty orgeat nose from below and lime oil and anise aromas from the extinguished garnish above. I ended up shooting the lower proof absinthe instead of mixing it in for fear that it would dominate the profile. Next, a creamy lime sip gave way to funky rum, nutty, pineapple, and bitter orange flavors on the swallow. Overall, the drink reminded me of a complex Mai Tai such as the Bitter Maita'i.

rough seas

3/4 oz Ginger Syrup
3/4 oz Orgeat
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Jagermeister
1 oz Cachaça (Seleta Gold)
1 heavy dash Peychaud's Bitters

Whip shake, pour into a Swizzle glass (Tiki mug), and fill with pebbled ice. Garnish with additional Peychaud's Bitters (omit) and a spent half lime (lemon) shell filled with rum and ignited (El Dorado 151).

For a liquidy treat Sunday night two weeks ago, I reached for Sother Teague's I'm Just Here for the Drinks and spotted the Rough Seas. The recipe was one that he crafted for a Tiki by the Sea event in Wildwood, New Jersey, at one of the years previous to the one I attended in 2018, and it utilized the sponsor's Avua Cachaça and one of Sother's favorite liqueurs, Jagermeister. The cachaça-Jagermeister pairing was one that I was familiar with after making the Rio Grande Sour last year.
The Rough Seas shared cachaça funk and nutty orgeat to the nose over diesel aromas of the El Dorado 151 in the garnish (once extinguished). Next, lemon balanced the liqueur's caramel on the sip, and the swallow proffered a funky spirit, nutty orgeat, and ginger swallow with additional spice elements from the Jagermeister to add a bit of complexity.

ginger rogers

1 oz Gosling's Black Seal Rum
1 oz Hine H Cognac (Camus VS)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Ginger Syrup
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe (split into two glasses here).
Two Saturdays ago, I selected the Cocktail Codex book as a source for the night's libation. There, I spotted Brian Miller's 2011 Ginger Rogers; the drink name sounded familiar but I was confusing it with the Ginger Baker Fizz. Once prepared, the Ginger Rogers shared a dark rum and ginger nose. Next, a caramel lemon sip gave way to brandy and rum flavors on the swallow with a ginger spiced finish.

scream, dracula, scream

1 1/2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon (Old Grand-Dad Bonded)
1 1/2 oz Averna
1 tsp Green Chartreuse
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.
Two Fridays ago, I was perusing the ShakeStir recipe database when I spotted Colin Shearn's 2014 Black Manhattan-like Scream, Dracula, Scream. Instead of the Black Manhattan itself, Colin was inspired to make an autumnal Stinger riff, and he dubbed this after the Rocket From the Crypt album from 1995. The only Rocket from the Crypt album that I own is their 1993 "Circa: Now" release, and I had a chance to see them in concert at the Middle East in 1994, so the tribute intrigued me. Once built the Scream, Dracula, Scream gave forth a caramel and Green Chartreuse herbal bouquet to the nose. Next, caramel and malt on the sip led into Bourbon, minty, and herbal flavors on the swallow which did support the idea of a Whiskey Stinger. When I had a whiskey, Chartreuse, and Averna combination at Drink in my inaugural visit in 2008, it came across more as a rich Green Point (well, the way John Gertsen used to make them with Green instead of Yellow Chartreuse), but the proportions there were much more Chartreuse forward there than Colin's concept.

:: the art of the cut-off ::

First published on the USBG National blog in August 2017; slightly adapted version here.

During Tales of the Cocktail 2017, my friends from a public relations firm introduced me to one of their co-workers at their event. In speaking with her, it turns out that she was also a burgeoning bartender and we got on the topic of how to cut off guests and deal with unruly customers. At my first bar job, I had several mentors. Of those, one duo taught me an opposite skill set: Jay was an expert on welcoming people and fixing blunders, while Adam was an expert at cutting people off and getting people to go. Adam's second job was at a dive bar where it was necessary to do things right the first time especially given the muscular, blue-collared nature of many of their clientele. While I am no master of this skillset, and cutting people off at most of my later jobs was rather infrequent (save for one during 2018 where it was a little too frequent), I figured that I would share my thoughts since I have seen this question pop up on Facebook and Reddit frequently.

I divide the strategy into two parts: the proactive and the reactive.

Sometimes it is tough to be proactive since people can go from zero to sixty rather quickly, or perhaps they were not on your radar due to the crowd (or if their friends were bringing them drinks, or they were drinking at another of the establishment's bar stations).

The preemptive or proactive techniques start once you notice someone going down that path a little too fast, but most importantly, before they ask for that next drink to which you will have to say no. No one likes to get denied, so avoiding that confrontation and their potential embarrassment is what these techniques focus on.

The first of these is The Pause.

The pause is any technique that gets a nonalcoholic beverage into people's hands instead of an alcoholic one. At one New Orleans craft beer bar during the day, they got a lot of townie locals and there I saw the Water Time-Out. When I had problems with townie guests, Adam's advice was to scold them like kids; they respond best to it. Some guests look to you as their parents and they do not want to risk losing access to the treats. At this beer bar, any time one of their tipsy patrons wanted to switch to beer again, the bartender would tell them to "drink your water!" and that happened to be a full pint of the stuff. While the above is a stall that begins with a no with a maybe implied, I have stalled people by asking if they would like to try a new Tiki drink or other that I was working on (and was my treat). However, this was one of the mocktails that I was tinkering with so that delayed them for a round. I have also presented people with shots of espresso (at one place I worked, we had a crappy pod coffee machine, but it could quickly and easily pour a shot) especially if they were starting to nod or drift off. It also gave a good sign that they were closing in on the end of their night out. At private events at my first restaurant, we would avoid telling the guests no (usually these were big spenders buying out half or all of the space) by giving them tonic instead of vodka-tonic or mocktail shooters instead of a round of shots. We could then enter the proper drink amount into the POS machine without the guest figuring out that they were being charged for a nonalcoholic drink.

The Freeze-Out is another method where you avoid taking a guest's order or delay (or "forget"), making it -- to buy some time.

Another proactive technique is inquiring about transportation. When a guest is beginning to get deep, inquire where they live and then work in how they got there and will get home. There are different concerns that come into play if the person was driving instead of taking a taxi or walking, and it can also assess if they have friends with them that can be utilized later. This transportation question could also be utilized in one of the many tricks Adam taught me, namely, approaching a guest from either your side or their side of the bar and compassionately ask how they are getting home and if we can call them a cab. The question becomes not whether they can have another drink but what way they can choose to make their way to bed. A lot of the techniques also depend on whether the guest has an open tab. In most instances, it helps to have the check already printed and ready to be presented to get the financials squared away.

It also helps to speak to the inebriated one's friend to inform them that you will not serve their friend anymore, and to see if they can get them out of there as well as close up the tab. The bonds of friendship can be utilized to your advantage instead of having the friends come to the person's defense. And in terms of other people to speak to, always try to keep the manager abreast of the situation. Getting the manager involved can either be a heads up that you are considering cutting off a patron or that you will be cutting off a patron, so the manager can keep an eye on things. Or sometimes it can be a way to get them to do the work for you. One of my general managers was such a kind yet focused soul that he was a whiz at getting people to pay up and leave without incident. Although some of the assistant managers were more avoidant to that sort of confrontation. If the tab is closed, see if you can get the guest to go outside with you for a cigarette and then wish them well afterwards. Or perhaps come to the other side, shake their hand, talk to them for a bit, and thank them for coming as you lead them to the door. Showing hospitality like that can avoid the guest from feeling embarrassment from their peers.

The reactive part comes when it is at the point that the guest is asking for another drink. Of all the things listed so far, this is the most challenging because all of the chances to do the safer techniques listed above have been squandered, and it is time to turn down the guest without them getting angry or violent. First, it is important not to back down; once you have made the decision that they are done, do not change that or let a coworker override you. Second, do not worry about a tip at this point -- your tip is them leaving. It will help out in the long run financially if your other guests are not bothered by that inebriated patron and thus stay longer, spend more, and tip better. I have definitely been at places when a non-ejected drunkard has scared away clientele, and I have definitely acted on a tipsy guest when he has scared away some of our patrons.

This is the moment that word choice, tact, tone, and diplomacy need to be at their finest. It is most important to be nonjudgmental about things, to not mention that they are drunk, and to not embarrass them if at all possible. The tone should be kind but authoritative yet not condescending. One technique is to tell people that this will be their last of the evening and to present them with a check soon afterwards. This is for more marginal people, and it has been suggested that such a statement could be used as evidence that you knew they were intoxicated. Often, it is best to tell someone that you do not feel comfortable serving them another drink. Claim house policy, concern for their safety, or your job security being on the line, but do not accept their drink order. I have found a welcoming "I would love to serve that to you tomorrow (or the next time), but for tonight, I cannot serve you anymore." No one wants to feel unwelcomed, and this can partially heal the cut off. Perhaps pour them a water or hand them a tonic or Coca Cola and present them with a check with an explanation of "Sorry, I cannot serve you anymore alcohol tonight." That extra nonalcoholic drink is a detriment if your goal is to get them out of the door as quickly as possible, but it can buy you some time if the goal is to also sober them up (especially if they are there with a larger group of friends). It can also help to not embarrass the guest since they are seen leaving the bar with another beverage in their hand.

The signs that you need to cut off a guest depend on your establishment and its decorum. The rate that they are imbibing (and could have a time bomb of alcohol in their stomach waiting to hit their blood stream) is one factor, but behavior is another. One trigger for me is whether the guest is beginning to annoy the other clientele and whether the guest in question is getting snappy or argumentative with me or the other staff. Being overly flirty (perhaps harassingly so), swearing, speaking too loudly, and getting angry are other warning signs. Once they have reached the stumbling, slurred speech, aggressive behavior, falling off the stool, or spilling drinks stage, it is well into the more extreme signs that action needs to be taken. The line that you draw is different if you are in a fine dining restaurant versus a dive bar or perhaps in a restaurant before or after the dinner rush is over (one place I was in went from upscale gastropub to an industry hangout somewhere around 10pm every night).

With that, I have to add that I am still learning. While I love making drinks and assisting people in having a good time, I hate drunks and drunk behavior at my bar. So I am always looking for new tricks to add to my skill set. Therefore, I ask: what are some of your favorite techniques? What has or hasn't worked well for you? And, what are some of your tell signs for when it is time to get into action?