Green Chartreuse Martini

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. green Chartreuse
• 1 oz. dry vermouth 

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Bourbon

The saying goes, “All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon.” It is a matter of categorization. Whiskey is a distilled grain spirit that has to be aged in oak however long you choose to age it and in whatever type of barrels you use. Bourbon is special—it must contain at least 51 percent corn in the mash and be distilled to no less than 80 proof (%40 alcohol). Then it must be aged in charred oak barrels for at least 2 years if it is
straight bourbon or 4 years if it is blended to ensure quality. While there are clear whiskeys, (due to being unaged or aged for a very short time) all bourbon whiskey has a dark amber hue due to the charred oak barrels.

Flavor
Compared to most whiskey, bourbon is softer (due to the water from the region of its distillation—usually Kentucky) and characterized by a mellow vanilla flavor from the vanillin compounds it picks up from the charred oak. Oak is a major feature in bourbon’s flavor profile as well, and the use of corn as a major component means that bourbon is less spicy than rye and subtler than the all-too-noticable malted barley used in its Irish and scotch cousins.

Photograph and Terminology
This is a photo of my Evan Williams Single Barrel. A single barrel means that the whiskey contained in the bottle comes from one barrel selected by the distiller to be sold as an exceptional example of the distillery’s production. It is by definition “straight,” which means it comes from one distillery and is not a blend of several distilleries’ products. Most straight bourbons are a blend of barrels from the same distillery, which makes them more consistent from batch to batch. Sour mash, which also provides consistency, means that part of the fermented (sour) mash is saved from each batch to be  introduced into the next. The sour mash does not imply a sour flavor, it means that the yeast strain used to make alcohol from the mash is maintained rather than starting with a fresh batch with new yeast strains, much like sour dough bread.

Good bourbon is often best experienced neat or on ice. Some like Maker’ Mark have a distinctive sweet taste due to the portion of wheat used in the mash. Evan Williams is known for its balanced flavor with a little rye and wheat in the mash while its primary grain is necessarily corn. Unlike scotch, almost all bourbon shares a similar flavor profile, color, and mouthfeel. This predictability lends itself to mixing, when any bourbon, fine or cheap, will do.

Mix it with pineapple juice for a Kentucky Cocktail, muddle it with orange and simple syrup in an Old Fashioned, mix it with muddled mint for a Mint Julep, shake it with sweet vermouth for your Manhattan. One thing you will notice is that bourbon cocktails keep the flavor of the whiskey at the forefront and don’t try to mask it with too much additional flavor. Mixing with bourbon means working with the spirit, not against it, and using additional liqueurs and syrups that have a similar taste. Bourbon does not like to be hurried or ignored, and a good drink will hold your attention.

Canadian Whiskey

Last week I had a guest at the bar who wanted help narrowing down his whiskey preferences. He knew he liked whiskey and that it was good in mixed drinks, but he wasn’t sure which kind of whiskey he liked most. I made a variety of drinks for him, mostly very tropical and sweet to fit his palate, and discovered exactly what he thought. He liked Canadian whiskey.

Canadian whiskey is probably the easiest whiskey to mix with because it is always blended and very smooth. There’s no malting or smoking and the multiple distillations and aging in new oak pretty much mean that the only thing you taste is the alcohol and the barrel. In this way, Canadian whiskey is like the vodka of whiskeys.

That’s not to say that Canadian whiskey is inferior to scotch or bourbon, Irish or Japanese, it is just different. There are some outstanding blends like the one above that stand out very well on their own. They have their own distinctive flavor, more spicy than bourbon, milder than a rye, drier than most scotches—Canadian whiskey tends to have a strong alcohol burn with a light palate and soft oak notes. Some of the better blends like Crown Royal Reserve have milk chocolate flavors and a long-lasting finish.

Other Canadian whiskeys are the perfect price for experimenting by mixing with maple syrup in a Manhattan or a Canadian Dog Sled cocktail. The Blinker I made yesterday is made with Black Velvet, a 3 year old whiskey, that allowed the grapefruit flavors of the drink to stand in the forefront while keeping oak in reserve. Try mixing Canadian whiskey with pineapple juice and creme de cacao for a Kona Cooler or with light rum in a Lord Rodney. You’d be surprised how close to the tropics Canada can get with its whiskey.

Blue Sapphire Martini

The End Of Martini Week: Some Thoughts
For some, every week is Martini Week. That seems to be the case here in the Jolly Bartender world where I am often asked by my guests to make something they have never had before and that often means a variation on a Martini. I have said before that I am liberal in my definition of “Martini,” but that some drinks are not really a Martini simply because they are in a cocktail glass. The Blue Lady I posted on Friday doesn’t fit my definition of Martini because it contains no gin or vodka and is made of a majority of liqueurs. Still, I featured it because it was expertly made by another bartender who attended Thursday’s class.

I will however end Martini Week with a true Martini, and one that in my opinion is visually most appealing to have with a bottle of Bombay Sapphire on hand.

Blue Sapphire Martini

• 3 oz. Bombay Sapphire gin

• 1/4 oz. blue curacao

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

The Jolly Bartender On The Purpose Of The Blog
Just to be clear to my followers, I want to lay out a few things that are important to me as a bartender and lay aside things that I could care less about when making this blog. The most important thing to me is enjoying myself in whatever I chose to do. If this was a labor that I didn’t enjoy, I wouldn’t do it. As it turns out, making drinks well is a great way to make friends. I’ve found that garnering a reputation as a cocktail chef has helped me bridge social gaps and find common ground between myself and people I normally wouldn’t interact with. We are brought together by a similar love of sharing stories and learning how to make drinks. Now my guests and students, most of whom have always wanted a home bar, say that they feel that they are much closer to finally starting a liquor collection and mixing at home.

That is the other purpose of this blog. I want to help people try drinks they wouldn’t usually order when they are at a bar and to learn to make drinks they like, but I am also offering a guide to starting a home bar and shortcuts to making a versatile bar—one that can make the most number of drinks with as few bottles as possible to keep it affordable and portable. One of the things I will do is recommend inexpensive liquors that get you the most for your dollars. That doesn’t mean I am a cheapskate, I just don’t subscribe to branding and would prefer that my readers use whatever liquor they enjoy most. I just don’t believe that top shelf is always the best choice for hosting parties.

There are some things I care about, quality of ingredients, glassware, affordability, even the attractiveness of packaging or color of liquor. All these things add to the experience. Things I don’t care about include brand loyalty, marketing, ubiquity of liquor, and strictly adhering to tradition. I am not a snob and if it appears that I am providing marketing to top shelf liquors, it is merely by accident. I do find that Martinis are better with the best gin and vodka available, and I don’t always make mixed drinks, preferring a single malt scotch, bourbon, or whiskey neat. Look at my virtual bar— http://www.whiskybase.com/profile/jolly-bartender/collection — it is mostly whiskey. That is my choice as a whiskey drinker and I have tailored my bar to fit the needs of my friends who also drink whiskey or mix with it, and yet it has enough variety to make just about any other drink called for.

One thing I am not about is “The Best______.” I mean I won’t say that there is a best way to make a Martini, or a best ingredient. There are just ways and the difference in these ways reflect the tastes of every individual. While I say I am not brand loyal, I can look at my bar and see that I have repeatedly replaced products by Smirnoff, Sauza, Bombay Sapphire, Black Velvet, Evan Williams very consciously while deliberately buying off-brands at other times. This is just part of my method of adjusting the bar to my needs. I agree that Crown Royal is better Canadian whiskey than other brands, but I hesitate to say anything is “the best” due to my sensitivity to what works with what drink. Even then, it is impossible to claim that one way to do anything is “the best” way.

Readers, when you post recipes or comments, keep this in mind: is the post encouraging creativity and fun and not trying to top what others are doing? This is not a competition—you don’t win a free T-shirt for the most outrageous drink. You’ll notice I chose to repost drinks that others make when I see that the drink is doable for most home bars and uses existing glassware that someone would have at home. My tips for home bartending won’t include using things that are only available at a bar like soda guns and beer taps. I won’t discuss high-volume bartending tricks, keeping my posts limited to small gatherings and home bar maintenance.

Thank you to all who follow the Jolly Bartender or attend classes at my home bar. Spread the word, experiment, and enjoy mixing as a way to enhance life and find friendship.

Cheers!

Gin

Oh The Possibilities…
TGIF everyone! Today I want to post about the versatility of gin and how to pick a gin for your home bar. (Ideally, I hope you pick several because there’s a lot to enjoy about the differences in gin.) I’ll share tips on getting the best gins for your money and the times when splurging on top-shelf gin is not only acceptable but recommended.
My tips for starting a gin collection for the home bar are as follows:

1 Get a house gin.
Start by finding an inexpensive gin you yourself like and you can use for a variety of drinks when you host. Nothing too fancy for everyday drinks. That is more difficult to do when faced with the variety of gins on the market today, so it is good to at least know the differences in gins.
Gin is generally an unaged, clear spirit that takes its flavors from the botanicals introduced during distillation (a common botanical is juniper, which gives gin the pine tree flavor.) The most common style of gin right now is London dry, a very clean tasting gin with lots of citrus sparkle and less bitterness. There is little difference between an inexpensive and a top-shelf London dry gin except that the pricy London drys use rarer or unique botanicals in their secret recipes. Don’t be deterred, however. Many top-shelf gins have their rail equivalent. Tanqueray, for instance has Gordon’s (named after Tanqueray Gordon) which is a significant savings and a fine gin in its own right. For a house gin, I find it is important to have quantity as well as quality and a low price. I recommend these in 1.75 liter bottles:

Gordon’s

Sir Robert Burnett’s

Seagram’s

These are standard London dry gins without additional flavoring. If you want to pick up a fifth of a unique flavored gin in these brands, go ahead, but you won’t find the same versatility there as you do with the original formulations. (i.e. you can’t make a martini with orange flavored gin.)

2. Get fresh ingredients.
Fresh citrus, olives, herbs and juices are a must for even the basic cocktails. Fresh squeezed oranges are always preferable to concentrate. Mash strawberries and mint in simple syrup before adding gin and soda. Only choose plump and juicy olives, not those rubbery canned ones you use for cooking. The better your garnish, the more enjoyable the drink. Remember, the gin is the base of the drink and the fruit and herbs make it taste fresh. You can cut corners on one ingredient but you can’t do it on all and have a passable cocktail.

3. Pick up a craft gin.
Other styles of gin include Plymouth and Old Tom gins. These are earlier, less refined tasting gins from the early industrial era. Old Tom is sweeter and Plymouth is a style that features strong tasting botanicals beyond the basic juniper and citrus. Both can be either aged in barrels (brown gins) or unaged and clear. These gins open up the the possibility of making historically accurate cocktails from pre-prohibition times—the golden age of cocktails, as it is sometimes called. Try making drinks like the Aviation, the French 75, the Cabaret, or the Negroni with these:
Ranson Old Tom Gin
Plymouth (brand) gin
Green Hat Summer Seasonal Gin

4. Get a martini gin.
You may also enjoy making dry martinis with costlier London dry gins. Consider getting Beefeater or Blue Coat. Try out the difference you taste in your favorite martini when you use Bombay Sapphire vs. Tanqueray 10 (both have ten botanicals). And see if you can detect the cucumber in Hendrick’s.

5. Have fun mixing and tasting.
Just get creative. It is hard to screw up a gin cocktail when gin is the most mixable spirit that has its own distinct flavor (unlike vodka which has no flavor). Gin was my first purchase for my home bar when I started many years ago. Though I leave it aside many times for other spirits, I haven’t grown tired of it yet.