davicus

sorry for my horribly delayed response... i just bot a bar in Detroit that has been closed for 50+ years. good news is it's a beautiful space. bad news is it needs a ton of work. working on blue prints / permits / financing, but been thinking about layout quite a bit... here's where i am at. overall inside bar length is about 26'. i've got a 6' long 3 bin sink right in the middle of the bar, so that leaves 5' per cocktail station, since i want to fit 4 back there. i've got to use 18" deep equipment under the bar for building codes. knowing that, i am planning on each station having a 24" ice bin w/ cold plate, double speed rail & bins for garnishes, 12" sink w/ speed rail for shakers / tins / tools, 18" x 18" glass rack (adjustable intermetro type so i'll get at least 4 levels or around 80 glasses per unit) and a 6" x 18" trash can... we'll make the drinks on the drink rail itself, which isn't much of a reach since the equipment is only 18" deep. in the back bar, i'm hoping to fit two small reach in freezers and two four door coolers. my bar is going all the way up the ceiling (approx. 10' over the bar) so a ladder will have to be involved for the very top shelf action, which sucks, but the common bottles will be on the lower few levels. so, i'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter... how would you lay out your own 5' workstation?

I am working on my bar layout right now... what are your feelings on Krowne MultiStations? I've got a lead on some used ones - the type with the ice bin, small area for prep and a double speed rail. i am going to try to fit four in, so my front bar will look like: glass rack multi station hand wash sink multi station glass rack quad sink glass rack multi station hand wash sink multi station glass rack my back bar will have two three door coolers, and two small reach in freezers. ice machine is going in the basement. my bar is long and skinny, so i am thinking this will work. dunno. thoughts? comments?

Wifey and I stopped in Nashville on our way back up north just to check out TPH.... Had a slew of drinks, all well made, excellent looking place, knowledgeable staff, definitely worth the effort. Also, Josh went out of his way to get us reservations at a great restaurant, last minute. Thanks for the hospitality!

While we're talking about it (sort of), I really like a Brooklyn variation, subbing the Amer Picon with Averna: 3 oz. Overholt 80* .75 oz. NP Original .5 oz. Averna 1/2 barspoon Luxardo M dash Ango Orange dash Ango

I find a Ransom / Carpano Antica Negroni to be a thing of wonder. All subsequent Negronis seem flat, boring. But then again, I'm not really one for subtlety.

Heading to Savannah in a few weeks... looking for some recommendations on high quality craft cocktail bars, along the lines of M&H, PDT, TVH, etc. Thanks!

FWIW, after tasting the house made Amer Picon at TVH, I've found Tornai is a bit closer after adding a few dashes of orange bitters and a bit of simple syrup. Boosts the orange, cuts that strangeness that seems to pop up on the end.

Green. I may actually have to go back tonight.

I had a Sazerac at TVH last night made with a rye that I can't seem to find. I thought he said it was a Buffalo Trace brand but I'm not sure if it's Eagle or Weller or what... I know he said it was 114* - and each year it's made the proof varies... and it definitely wasn't old grand dad 114. Any ideas? Incidentally, it was rinsed with chartreuse instead of absinthe. Oh dude. edit: looks like it was a Thomas Handy 2008 release. Wow.

This is interesting. I really like lovage. Do you know whether this was the root, or the stem and leaves, or the seeds of the lovage plant? I ask because lovage leaves and stems have a kind of herbal celery flavor that is nothing like what you describe. This brings me to another thought about bitters in general, which is the idea of perhaps including a fresh infusion as part of the recipe. For example, you could take fresh lovage leaves, infuse them into grain alcohol, steep, remove, add more leaves, steep, remove, add more leaves, etc. until the alcohol became saturated with the lovage oils -- and then you could use the intense lovage infusion in your bitters. As an added bonus, this kind of infusion into grain alcohol will maintain its intense green color more or less indefinitely. If you kept the bitters at a high proof, you could have a great color. ← Sam, i think this is a great idea. i'm doing lemon grass bitters which use a lemon grass in 151 rum infusion as the flavoring component, but i've found after a few weeks the booze stops gaining flavor and plateaus - which limits the final flavor of the bitters. i think i'll remove the old lemon grass and add some fresh stuff tonight.

Got a few new shakers today... excuse the patina, I just pulled them out of the boxes. But this little beauty is the belle of the ball: Top is a three piece shaker with a strainer in the cap, bottom holds a rack with four cups.

Special shipment from CA this afternoon containing two bottles of Torani Amer! Just made a Liberal with overholt, carpano antica, torani amer (3:1:1), with a dash of Ango orange. Really, really nice. Going to get a bottle of Noilly Prat Original for some Brooklyns. So yes, it's a pretty big day for me.

I've been doing this with Le Tourangelle oils, but the general consensus is the resulting liquor is too oily. I've had better results with the fat wash method, using butter or crisco. I posted in the nut infusions topic in greater detail, if looking for specifics.

Sad. ← This sucks. Fiddleheads was one of the few great spots in Metro D.

my bittering compound is 750 ml of rye with half a tablespoon each of wormwood, gentian and calmus. the last batch turned out pretty well, as the rye is very bitter but doesn't have (very much) the harsh earthy flavor of the root. i haven't infused any of these separately, so if you find that one has a stronger taste than the other, maybe i'll eliminate that element. maybe i do need to let the flavoring portion infuse longer get more intense. i've got a bad habit of tasting my infusions a little too often. again, i've had some really good results, but none have had the intensity of an ango, etc. the coffee bitters should be done mid week. i'll post results.