ANNIVERSARY SURVEY

Cheers to You!

Dear Liquor.com reader,

Thank you for becoming a member of Liquor.com. We celebrated our one-year anniversary at the end of November and have come a long way in the last 12 months since we launched.

We have almost 400,000 visitors to our site each month, nearly 70,000 fans on Facebook, published close to 200 articles and produced more than 45 events at some of the best bars and restaurants in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

But I want to make sure our second year is even better. If you can, we would really appreciate it if you would answer a few simple questions that will help us get to know you better and mold Liquor.com into YOUR ultimate guide to the universe of mixology, spirits and cocktail culture. We will continue to work with the world's leading bartenders and spirits experts to create fun, interesting and relevant content, while also creating exciting and exclusive offers, experiences and events just for you.

Please take two minutes to answer this survey and you will be entered to win a great bartending kit that we put together with one of our amazing partners.

Click here to participate.

Hope you have enjoyed the first year as much as we have. Please share Liquor.com with your friends and stay tuned for what is next to come.

Thank you so much and Happy Holidays!

Cheers,
Kit Codik
CEO, Liquor.com
kcodik@liquor.com

© 2010 Liquor.com Inc., All rights reserved. Our office is located at: 600 Townsend Street, Suite 120e | San Francisco, CA 94103.

December 1, 2010   FEATURED ARTICLE

Cocktail Challenge: Negroni

The Negroni, like many classic cocktails, calls for just a few ingredients: gin, sweet vermouth and, of course, Campari. The famed Italian liqueur usually gets the most attention, since it's responsible for the drink's signature vibrant red color and bright bitterness. The recipe for the historic concoction is no secret (an equal measure of all three ingredients is standard, as is an orange garnish), but to make the best possible Negroni, what gin and vermouth should you use?

To answer this tough question, we recruited some of the West Coast's best bartenders: Erik Adkins (The Slanted Door and Heaven's Dog), Marco Dionysos (Rye and Smuggler's Cove), Ryan Fitzgerald (Beretta), Steven Liles (Smuggler's Cove) and Vince Lund (Beretta) from San Francisco, and Zane Harris (Rob Roy) from Seattle. Our crack team of mixological researchers was led by the talented Jacques Bezuidenhout, who trains Kimpton Hotels' bartenders around the country and is also the brand ambassador for Partida Tequila.

Using the same recipe, our bar all-stars made Negronis with 14 different kinds of gin, in a wide range of styles and flavors. After much stirring, sipping and debating, they agreed that Plymouth Gin and traditional London dry gins, in particular Beefeater and Tanqueray, worked the best.

Not that long ago, you didn't have all that much choice when it came to sweet vermouth: Most bars and stores carried just a few brands. But now there's an ever-growing selection of fine and complex fortified wines from across Europe. Call them traditionalists, but our bartenders picked staples Martini & Rossi Rosso and Cinzano Rosso as their Negroni favorites. While some of the other vermouths worked well, especially with nontraditionally flavored gins, many of them were a bit overpowering and threw off the drink's delicate balance. None were as good at "binding the gin and Campari together," Bezuidenhout says.

Now that the results are in, it's time for you to mix up a Negroni and see for yourself why this is the best recipe.

Get the perfect Negroni recipe on Liquor.com.

(Image courtesy of Liza Gershman)

Tequila and Mezcal Gift Guide

Just in time for the holidays, we asked Phil Ward, head bartender at award-winning New York bar Mayahuel, for his favorite agave-based spirits.

November 22, 2010   FEATURED ARTICLE

Holiday Gift Guide: Bourbon

While there's a lot to be thankful for on Thursday, we're particularly grateful for America's thriving whiskey distilleries. And what could be more appropriate than enjoying some of our country's native spirit, bourbon, on Thanksgiving? A bottle of it is also the perfect gift for a dinner host, of course, and a much-appreciated holiday present. Here are four of our favorite new spirits that would be welcome at any celebration.

Eagle Rare 17-Year-Old ($75):
Bottles of Buffalo Trace's Antique Collection disappear faster than stuffing and pumpkin pie. We crunched the numbers, and your best chance of scoring anything from the series is to hunt for the recently released Eagle Rare 17-Year-Old. The distillery bottled 74 barrels of the complex whiskey, which tastes of both vanilla and leather. It will no doubt sell out shortly.

Maker's 46 ($35):
After basically producing just one thing for more than 50 years, Maker's Mark finally released a new product this past summer: Maker's 46. The bourbon is full of spice and wood with a very long finish. For a big whiskey fan, buy a bottle of both the original Maker's and the new 46.

Parker's Heritage Collection Wheated Bourbon ($80):
To honor Heaven Hill's long-serving distiller Parker Beam, the company created the small-batch Parker's Heritage Collection four years ago. This season's bourbon (pictured above) was distilled from a mix of winter wheat and corn, instead of the more common (and spicier) combo of corn and rye. The resulting spirit is very smooth with a hint of sweetness.

Woodford Reserve Master's Collection Maple Wood Finish ($90):
For each of the last five years, Woodford Reserve's master distiller Chris Morris has released a limited-edition experimental bourbon. His latest offering was finished in barrels made from sugar maple-a first for the industry-and is rich with notes of spice, coffee and even a little sweet maple syrup.

Gourmet Shot

Have dinner and drinks with the celebrity chef and Food Network's Chopped judge Geoffrey Zakarian.

© 2010 Liquor.com Inc., All rights reserved. Our office is located at: 600 Townsend Street, Suite 120e | San Francisco, CA 94103.
 

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October 25, 2010   FEATURED ARTICLE

The Return of Trader Vic

Contributed by Wayne Curtis

"Tiki drinks occupy a space somewhere in the Venn diagram of the American psyche where escapism, irony and kitsch overlap, cutting across so many cultural divides," writes Jason Wilson in his excellent new book, Boozehound.

Staking a flag in the middle of our shared cultural heritage may explain why tiki drinks-like the Mai Tai, Painkiller and Suffering Bastard-have managed to persist for nearly 80 years, or what tiki historian Jeff "Beachbum" Berry calls "an unprecedented lifespan for a drink fad."

And there's no sign of it fading anytime soon. If world's first celebrity bartender Jerry Thomas is the sleeve garter-wearing patron saint of cocktails, Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron is the one in the Hawaiian shirt. And more candles seem to be burning at the Trader's shrine these days.

Though Bergeron's name is synonymous with tiki, he wasn't its inventor: That honor goes to Ernest "Don the Beachcomber" Gantt, who opened the first tiki bar in Los Angeles in 1932. Bergeron admits he swiped the idea from Gantt-he didn't start serving tropical drinks at his Oakland, Calif., bar until 1936.

Tiki has had its ups and downs-it reached a nadir of tackiness in the 1980s-but has lately provided inspiration to a new class of creative mixologists. The past couple of years have seen the opening of several neo-tiki bars: Painkiller, Lani Kai and The Hurricane Club in New York; Smuggler's Cove in San Francisco; and Kanaloa in London.

But this isn't so much a purist revival as a reinterpretation for a new generation-it's like the updated Hawaii Five-0. The drinks usually reflect this stylistic evolution and are generally lighter, a bit more transparent, a bit more rum-forward and a bit more adventurous with spices.

These concoctions do follow history in one way: They manage to transcend escapism, irony and kitsch, and prove that the original tiki drinks could be delicate, subtle and high-quality. As Trader Vic wrote back in 1948, "for the life of me, I can't see why any bar uses anything but pure fresh lemon or orange juice."

And that, more than anything, may be the message that's assured tiki's survival.

Wayne Curtis writes about drinks for The Atlantic and is the author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails.

August 16, 2010   FEATURED ARTICLE

Behind the Drink:
The Hemingway Daiquiri

Contributed by Wayne Curtis

Ernest Hemingway needed a bathroom.

Or so the story goes. The novelist had stopped into Havana's El Floridita bar, not far from the hotel where he lived during much of the 1930s. On his way out, he noticed the bartender setting up Daiquiris. Never one to walk past a drink, Hemingway took a sip. Not bad, he said, but he preferred them with no sugar and double the rum. The bartender made one as specified, and then named the drink after him.

A bar. A man. A drink. "Those are the facts," writes drink historian Ted Haigh in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, "and from there the story goes straight to hell."

The bartender may have called this drink the Papa Doble, which, with some ingredient additions, morphed into the Hemingway Daiquiri (or possibly the Hemingway Special or El Floridita #4). The exact history is a matter of considerable contention among cocktail sleuths, who have been poring over the clues ever since Hemingway walked out of the bathroom.

But of course, there's what really matters: Is this a good drink?

Turns out, trusting Hemingway on cocktail quality is like trusting an NFL linebacker on how to make pasta. His concern was more about quantity than quality-Hemingway proudly claimed the El Floridita house record of 16 double Daiquiris. Of course he didn't want sugar in his Daiquiri; those 16 drinks, if traditionally made, would have involved nearly two cups of sugar. If the alcohol didn't kill him, the sugar certainly would.

Hemingway's sugarless Daiquiri never really caught on the way the Dry Martini did. Try one: You'll find it surprising that something can be so bland and so undrinkably tart at the same time. But it evolved over the years into something much better.

Argue all you want about the composition and history of a true Hemingway Daiquiri; I just figure it's a traditional Daiquiri with a Bohemian streak-the sugar reduced at one point and grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur added at another point to give a bit of depth and sweetness.

However it got there, it's a fine drink.

Celebrate National Rum Day by making Wayne Curtis's recipe for the historic Hemingway Daiquiri.

Wayne Curtis writes about drinks for The Atlantic Monthly and is author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails.

(Image courtesy of Historic Photos of Ernest Hemingway, Turner Publishing)

August 13, 2010   FEATURED ARTICLE

In Defense of
Blender Cocktails

Contributed by Simon Ford

Ask for a frozen Daiquiri or a Piña Colada in a fine cocktail bar and you'll most likely get a dirty look or a lecture on why these drinks have been banished from the menu. But in fact, not that long ago, every great bar had a blender.

Fred Osius is often credited as the father of the blender. Not only did he perfect the technology, but he also convinced celebrity bandleader Fred Waring to invest in his company. Their first product, the Miracle Mixer, came out in 1937. A year later, after a marketing campaign that would put George Foreman to shame, there were, according to the company, 35,000 Waring blenders in restaurants, hotels, clubs and bars across the nation.

While the machines were used to crush and mix all types of things, they were particularly good for making frosty drinks. Don the Beachcomber, who opened the first tiki bar in 1933 in Los Angeles, was a big fan, and before World War II, Waring partnered with rum brand Ron Rico to promote the frozen Daiquiri. Drinkers across America were soon sipping chilly concoctions.

But over the last 50 years, blended drinks slowly began to disappear from high-end establishments and became synonymous with cruise ships, all-inclusive resorts and cheap joints in Las Vegas and New Orleans.

Thanks to a few new brave bars and a resurgence of interest in tiki cocktails, the blender might just get a second chance. And it's time for bartenders to once again embrace this forgotten bar tool and create cocktails that even the haughtiest of gourmets will appreciate. "Classic blended drinks can be serious drinks," says Giuseppe Gonzalez (pictured above), who recently opened Painkiller on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with his best friend Richard Boccato. "We want to serve good drinks in a fun way and in a fun atmosphere."

Long live blended cocktails!

Get the recipes for two of Painkiller's signature blender cocktails on Liquor.com.

Simon Ford is an award-winning bartender and director of trade outreach and brand education for Pernod Ricard USA. He's always on the hunt for a good cocktail.
 

July 19, 2010 FEATURED ARTICLE

Behind the Cocktail:
The Mai Tai

Contributed by Maria C. Hunt

The city of Oakland, Calif., is known for many things, including the Black Panthers and the Raiders football team. But for cocktail lovers, the city across the bay from San Francisco is revered as the birthplace of the Mai Tai.

The classic tiki drink was dreamed up in 1944 by Victor Bergeron-the legendary barman and raconteur also known as Trader Vic-at his eponymous Oakland restaurant. One day, when he was in a creative mood, he mixed Wray & Nephew 17-Year-Old Rum with fresh lime juice, orange Curaçao, French orgeat (almond syrup) and a dollop of rock candy syrup. He shook the ingredients with shaved ice and garnished the cocktail with a mint sprig and lime shell. As the legend goes, Tahitian friends visiting the bar tasted the new concoction and declared it "Maita'i-roa ae," which is Tahitian for "out of this world-the best."

While that story is generally accepted, Bergeron's rival Donn Beach (born Ernest Gantt)-who opened Don the Beachcomber, the world's first tiki bar, in 1933 in Los Angeles-also claimed to have created the drink.

After World War II, the popularity of tiki made the Mai Tai a bar staple, even in actual tropical locales like Hawaii. But Bergeron never disclosed his exact recipe and many bartenders made up their own versions. "That's why we have so many bad Mai Tais with pineapple juice and other hideous additions," says Wayne Curtis, author of And a Bottle of Rum.

While the Mai Tai still can be found all over-including at the many Trader Vic's outposts around the globe-the drink gets special affection in the Bay Area. (After a campaign by local bar The Conga Lounge, city council member Rebecca Kaplan declared August 30, 2009, Mai Tai Day in Oakland.)

The way Martin Cate, talented mixologist and owner of San Francisco tiki bar Smuggler's Cove, makes his Mai Tai, it's strong, tart, slightly sweet and takes you to places far away. Trader Vic surely would have approved.

Traditional Mai Tai
Contributed by Martin Cate

INGREDIENTS:
» .75 oz Fresh lime juice
» .25 oz Rock candy syrup (2 parts sugar, 1 part water)
» .25 oz Orgeat almond syrup
» .5 oz Orange Curaçao
» 2 oz Premium aged rum (Appleton Estate 12-Year-Old, El Dorado 12- Year-Old)
» Garnish: Lime rind and fresh mint sprig
» Glass: Double old-fashioned

PREPARATION:
Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with crushed ice. Shake vigorously until the shaker is well-chilled and frosty on the outside. Pour the drink (unstrained) into a double old-fashioned glass. Garnish with half of a juiced lime and a fresh mint sprig.

Maria C. Hunt is hostess of Champagne appreciation and entertaining website The Bubbly Girl and author of The Bubbly Bar: Champagne & Sparkling Wine Cocktails for Every Occasion.
 

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The insider's guide to drinking (and then recovering) in New Orleans.

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June 23, 2010 FEATURED ARTICLE

Behind the Bar:
Versatile Vermouth

Contributed by Dale DeGroff

French and Italian vermouth became widely available at the end of the 19th century and, of course, are the key ingredients in two of the most classic and enduring cocktails: the Manhattan and the Martini. But the fortified wine can be used in more than just these famous recipes and is now getting the attention of bartenders looking to add a robust accent to their drinks.

What has helped is the introduction of a number of fine European products. The Carpano family began producing sweet vermouth in Turin, Italy, hundreds of years ago. The brand's Antica Formula is now available in America. It is the spiciest of the sweet vermouths and mixologists are now pairing it and Carpano's other sweet vermouth, Punt e Mes, with rye whiskies to make delicious Manhattans and other creations.

Since James Bond's first blockbuster, the Martini has become increasingly a vodka drink with little, if any, vermouth. Happily gin is making a comeback, and the turn-of-the-century Marguerite Martini-equal parts vermouth and gin accented with a dash of orange bitters-is now appearing on menus. Known as the Dry Martini and as the Fitty-Fitty at New York's Pegu Club, it tastes better than ever since bartenders are using Dolin's excellent dry vermouth. It comes from the legendary French town of Chambéry, which is known as the home of the finest vermouth in the world.

Vermouth might have a strong flavor, but when it comes to shelf life it's delicate. Once open, always store it in a refrigerator. To ensure that it's fresh, buy smaller bottles, like the 500 ml size. But once you try these riffs on the Manhattan from two top New York City bartenders, you won't have to worry about left-over vermouth again.

Greenpoint


Contributed by Michael McIlroy

INGREDIENTS:
» 2 oz Rye whiskey
» .5 oz Yellow Chartreuse
» .5 oz Sweet vermouth
» Dash Angostura Bitters
» Dash orange bitters
» Garnish: Lemon zest twist
» Glass: Cocktail

PREPARATION:
Stir all the ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon zest.

Red Hook


Contributed by Vincenzo Errico

INGREDIENTS:
» 2 oz Rye whiskey
» .5 oz Punt e Mes
» .5 oz Maraschino liqueur
» Garnish: Maraschino cherry
» Glass: Cocktail

PREPARATION:
Stir all the ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Master Mixologist Dale DeGroff is the author of The Essential Cocktail and The Craft of the Cocktail. He is also a Liquor.com advisor.