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Kohai

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Everything posted by Kohai

  1. I did a drink for Imbibe with Nocello walnut liqueur (.5 oz.) Cynar (1 oz.) Rittenhouse BIB (3 oz.) and sea salt water (~1/8 tsp, 1:3 salt:water). The sea salt brought out the bitter and complemented the nutty tones nicely. I love this drink. If you're in a Scotch state of mind, an adaptation of this might work using chestnut instead of walnut. Might work well with something like Laphroaig, where I already perceive hints of saltiness.
  2. Huh. Now that is an idea........ ETA: A crazy thing about full-on Gordon's is that you can't even buy it in the UK, I'm given to understand - except in duty free stores in the airport. WTF. What about Plymouth? Isn't the English bottling proofier than the milquetoast US bottling? "Proofier". Ha.
  3. Hear hear on the Bombay Dry. Full-strength Gordon's, too. But good luck.
  4. Only issue I have with squeezing directly into the jigger is that I like to strain out the pulp first.
  5. "A julep is an excellent window into the soul of a spirit." YES. Well said. It is one of the few ways I tolerate messing around with really nice bourbons.
  6. A thriving commercial ice industry; even some dive bars have really good ice. How's Tokyo, man?
  7. Very cool. Must try that myself today. Thank you. Oh - how do you store the syrup? Is it shelf-stable?
  8. Can you elaborate on the "usual alcohol-preserved syrup" technique? I am curious what you're using here. Is it just honey syrup with a float of vodka or something more?
  9. I'm looking for a quotation and I can't for the life of me remember where I read it. I believe it's Charles Baker, but can't be sure. A cursory search of Gentleman's Companion does not readily yield the answer. The line goes something like this: "Never serve a cocktail after dinner, unless you wish to imply that the meal was insufficient and you expect your guest to have another somewhere else." Or something. Crap. Can anyone help with this?
  10. Kohai

    Coke Hacks

    What about hacking the actual soda gun? Where I work we've talked about turning up the carbonation, super-charging it so that it lasts longer. Then there's adding adulterants to the syrup itself - or just making your own shelf-stable syrup and refilling an empty bag with it. I seem to remember they did this at Tailor with their smoked Coke.
  11. A few thoughts. And by the way, fantastic diagrams, Sam. I believe the bar at Tender seated about twelve to fifteen. Eight definitely seems small to my memory. 2 ounces does indeed seem to be about standard for most cocktail bars in Japan. Seriously, they're tiny. One of the key differences between stirring and shaking is that stirring is believed to bring out the characteristic flavors of spirits, or at least leave them intact. Shaking subdues them more, takes the edge off of things. Shaken cocktails are more about creating a new flavor out of several ingredients; stirring is more for pointing up those ingredients' existing flavors. To me, ordering original cocktails at Tender almost misses the point. This ties into a theme throughout the seminar, that Westerners are always trying to do new things and make new flavors where the Japanese are more into perfecting the classics. Whether or not this generalization is true, one good thing about classic cocktails is that they are reference points. We can compare Uyeda's Sidecar to anyone else's Sidecar and see how they differ. After the end of the second day of the seminar, when we were doing the photo shoots and final interviews, etc., Uyeda made a Gimlet for a photographer. It sat untouched on the table after the photographer had packed up and after a few minutes I could resist no longer and took a sip. Without the bartender's performance, the micromanaged environmental influences, and even after sitting on the table for something like five minutes - it was still an incredible Gimlet. I don't know what, exactly, but he's onto something.
  12. Just need to jump in here and say that chilling glassware is de rigeur for Japanese bars. I can't explain why he didn't spend any time on it (doing it or talking about it) at the seminar but it's definitely the norm for places in Ginza and most other areas, too.
  13. Some drinks, like Old-Fashioneds, seem to respond well to the ice-last rule. Perhaps it's a factor of the increased viscosity of the sugar syrup when it gets cold? But they seem easier to mix when the ice is not present.
  14. Right. And I keep wondering if there's something going on in the shaker/pitcher, perhaps something not fully understood chemically?, that produces better results with longer shaking/stirring time. Just as (in some cases) slowly cooking something at low heat seems to produce better results than quickly cooking something at high heat. A guy I've mentioned before, Iguchi Noriyuki at Gaslight, keeps Boodle's in a freezer that, if memory serves me correctly, is set to about -20ºC. He gives martinis made with this Boodle's a "long stir" - stirs it about 100 times. He says it "opens up" the gin. (I can't say I noticed any "opening", really, though the martini was quite nice. Time to experiment!)
  15. Just to nip this in the bud, it's important to stress that "Highashi-Date" is a mistranslation of the contraction of the characters used in "Tokyo Kaikan". There is no Higashi-Date stir. The Tokyo Kaikan stir involves holding the spoon at a low point on the shaft - right about at the balancing point, which positions the hand just above the pitcher. This causes the fork which usually tops Japanese barspoons to rotate in a wide circle, mirroring movement of the spoon in the pitcher. It's much harder than holding the spoon near the top, and it looks graceful. The spoon is pinched between the thumb and fourth finger on one side and the index and middle finger on the other side. It's sort of rolled between these fingers with minimal wrist movement (and absolutely no elbow or shoulder movement) quickly and as silently as possible, 25 - 30 times. As one often sees in Ginza bartending, the pinkie is extended at all times, and as motionless as possible. Entry and exit must be graceful and silent. Slide the spoon between the ice and the side of the pitcher at an angle matching the curvature of the spoon, and withdraw it in the same way. What I'm trying to describe is, if the tip of the spoon is curved to a (say) 45º angle to the shaft, then hold the shaft at 45º so that the spoon tip is more or less pointing directly down into the ice, and the back of the spoon is more or less flush with the side of the pitcher. As you slide the spoon in, follow the curve so that the spoon ends up vertical. Did this make any sense? Ice crystals/shards: I've never seen a bartender double-strain ice shards in Japan, but I've also never gotten many drinks that are covered with them. I surmise that mainstream Japanese shaking and pouring styles probably evolved to minimize ice shards. When Uyeda developed the Hard Shake, which creates ice crystals, he seems to have just embraced them as a byproduct that gives cocktails a nice texture. The drinks are cold enough that the ice doesn't melt very quickly into the drink. As far as an "explanation", it's pretty much as you would expect: the ice cubes grind together and shave off tiny bits of ice. And while there are certainly ice shards on top of Hard Shaken drinks, they're not obnoxious or ridiculously abundant. There are simply a few crystals of ice on top of the drink. It's not a slushee or anything. bmdaniel: There's a Bars In Asia thread around here somewhere, but a few quick names are: Gaslight Star Bar Y.M. Kisling Mori's Bar Those are all Ginza places. Try Ishi no Hana in Shibuya, Lady Jane Booze Jazz (so-so drinks, great vibe) in Shimokitazawa, or anywhere in this article for more. And it's worth reiterating, perhaps, that I've never had anything like what I had at Tender elsewhere in Japan.
  16. Sam has grasped this material quickly. I'll just jump in with one or two points. Mr. Uyeda is, over his 45-year career, something of a maverick in the bartending community. As I understand it, he left the Ginza bar association and the NBA (Nihon Bartender's Association) to nurture his own style of bartending which flew in the face of a lot of those groups' rules. Uyeda's style is distinct from almost every other high-end Japanese bartender's style, and his methods cannot necessarily be taken as generalizations about other Japanese bartenders. Some similarities remain, such as the Tokyo Kaikan-style gimlets with the floating ice cube, or his stirring technique (which is also Tokyo Kaikan-style, originally mistranslated in certain CK promotional materials as the Higashi-Date Stir). But in many areas he diverges. Ice crystals on the top of a drink, discussed above, are one such example: forbidden throughout the Japanese cocktail world until Uyeda decided he liked them. As Sam says, there is no "hard stir," or any bartender famous for stirring technique that I have heard of in Tokyo (though admittedly my knowledge is far from encyclopedic). There is no bartender famous for it, that I know of. But Iguchi Noriyuki in Gaslight, for what it's worth, has an incredible smooth, silent stirring technique. He's not famous for it, but watching him is like watching a musician play. But - his drinks were good, but were they so good that I would swear by his stirring technique? Not really.
  17. Random question: does gum arabic require heat to activate?
  18. That's true, but adding ice to a glass full of liquid (especially large chunk ice) can also cause splashing - remember doing cannonballs off the diving board?. And for what it's worth, though it's willfully heretical, my house recipe for Margaritas is on the rocks. To my taste, it's the optimal way to enjoy what is, for me, the quintessential summer cocktail. But I don't build them, rather shake-strain onto ice.
  19. I am not sure what bostonapothecary is trying to say. Whatever that tweet seemed to imply, Uyeda is not saying that the product is not important. He's saying the process, and the reverence for the process, is equally important. And I would argue that separating the process from the product is pointless. The product is simply the inevitable final step of a well-executed process. ETA some stuff.
  20. Negronis are, to my mind, a drink where build technique shines. Build it in reverse order of specific gravity (gin, Campari, vermouth) and give it a single stir. It will slowly blend naturally. By the time you finish drinking it will not be the same drink you started, but it's delicious all the way through. A little journey. Of course, I like 'em stirred and up, too.
  21. Right. I never saw Haus Alpenz products (they may have arrived in the past year, but it doesn't seem likely) or Punt E Mes. I did see obscure (to Americans) European stuff, absinthes, Parfait Amour, the aforementioned Unicum, etc. As far as bourbons go, don't quote me on that, I'm not sure exactly how the production and distribution is structured. I'm thinking here of I.W. Harper and Four Roses, which as far as I can learn are produced by Kirin (?!) but distributed by Diageo. For all I know those are common in some parts of the US and I just hadn't seen them before.
  22. Most or all perceptions of "quality" are subjective. Various factors influence perception of quality. One factor is context: a gin that works well in a martini is not necessarily a gin that works well in an Aviation. Or in tonic. Etc. Then there are trends, and the degrees to which we are influenced by them. The eGullet forums show a fascinating evolution of mixological trends: from bone-dry vodka martinis early in the decade to Fitty-Fitties, to amari, to.... what next? I'm not saying all of these trends are illusory (I can't foresee a day when we ever go back to bottled sour mix) but the extent to which our tastes are influenced by prevailing trends is not to be underestimated. The current love affair with rye is a good example. It's a worthy spirit, but it also happens to be trendy right now, so people jump on board. And then there's marketing (which is not really separate from trends, I suppose). That's Sam on the New Generation Gins thread. Why do some people seem to think that Bombay Sapphire is as good as it gets, and wrinkle their noses at Beefeater? I imagine it's because the Sapphire bottle is a pretty blue - not because they've proven it to their satisfaction in double-blind taste tests. As regards Japanese bars, I can't say I've noticed that products used in Japanese bars are lower quality. If anything, I've found the opposite: they use English-formula Gordon's (as opposed to the American formula), they have products like Suze and Unicum widely available, they have bourbons we've never even heard of, and the variety of obscure Scotches and rums found in specialty Japanese bars is... intimidating. Furthermore, Japanese bartenders are generally intimately familiar with all of their products. As far as Uyeda is concerned, he says that he chooses brands less for their flavor than their "backbone". He doesn't believe that people drink a Gimlet for the subtleties and the flavor of the gin itself - much as someone who drinks a French 75 isn't looking for the subtleties of the champagne. Instead they're looking for the way that all the flavors add up, the synergy. Often that is best realized with products that have a certain, oh, "strength of character" might be a good way to translate it. There's one caveat to the above: I do not understand all the blue Curacao. I just can't get my head around that one......
  23. The fastest person isn't necessarily the person whose limbs are moving the fastest. It's often the person with the most efficient order of operations. Andy's example above is perfect. Off the top of my head (I've never taken the time to actually write it out before) here's my order of operations: 1.) Prep garnishes, rims 2.) Premix stirred and shaken cocktails 3.) Warm/unchanging (red wine and neat shots) 4.) Cold/uncarbonated (white wine) 5.) Cold/carbonated (beer) 6.) Make "built" drinks (highballs etc.) 7.) Add ice to stirred cocktails and let cook 8.) Add ice, shake and strain other cocktails, one by one 9.) Strain stirred cocktails 10.) Garnish and get out of the window. There are lots of ways to make this faster. If servers could be trained to properly garnish drinks (and they can) then #1 and #10 could be eliminated. If servers can be coaxed to pour their own beer and wine at the bar, even better. I've always been leary of having servers stir or shake drinks because it seems like a technique that really requires the right touch. Streamlining this process is another reason why bar design is of so much interest to me. Another thing I try to pay attention to is movement. Order of operations is one thing, but the actual athletic aspect of bartending is not insignificant. It's a dance, especially when you're working in a tight bar in tandem with another person. I used to almost bounce off the walls in the little cage where I used to work; I thought of it as human pinball. Movement and balance are important; there are good ways of getting smoothly from the wine glass shelf above your head to the white wines at ankle level, and there are bad ways which will destroy your back and knees.
  24. Other Japanese bar staples: Shochu oyuwari: Shochu and hot water (great on rainy nights) Gin and Lime: like a Rickey, minus soda Spumoni: Campari, grapefruit, tonic XYZ: Light rum, triple sec, lime Balalaika: Vodka, triple sec, lime Nikolaschka: Brandy, lemon slice, sugar (piled in a little heap on the lemon) And damn, don't they love their White Ladys there too.
  25. This has been received pretty well for the spring. Sister Tristessa 1.5 oz. Herradura Silver 1.5 oz. Noilly Pratt dry vermouth (scant) .5 oz. lemon .5 oz. 2:1 simple syrup 4 cucumber slices Muddle cucumber well at the bottom of a shaker. Add everything else and shake. Double-strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with thin floating cucumber wheel. Everything hangs together pretty nicely.
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