John Deragon (johnder) in the News

[JAZ]

Today's New York Times includes a feature article on bitters: A Bit of History, Reborn in a Glass.

Along with other cocktail luminaries and Society members drcocktail and DrinkBoy, eGullet Society host John Deragon (johnder) is featured prominently with several quotes regarding his attempts to recreate the defunct Abbott's Bitters.

Check out his contributions to the All About Bitters Topic here in the eG Forums.

John is a host of the New York, New Jersey, Food on Radio & TV, Food Periodicals, and Food in the Dramatic & Visual Arts forums.

[docsconz]

Very Vermouths, huh?

[Chris Amirault]

Our own John Sconzo (docsconz) submits this news -- CA

eGullet Society member and Forum Host John Deragon (johnder) was mentioned in the latest issue of American Express's Departures Magazine (September 2007) in a story discussing the resurgence of interest in pre-Prohibition cocktail bitters. On page 192 it reads:

On a smaller scale, numerous bartenders are now experimenting with their own bitters recipes, while amateur sleuth–cum–mixologists are producing small-batch replicas of extinct brands and supplying them to authenticity-obsessed bars. New Yorker John Deragon, whose day job is chief technology officer at a media company, has been tweaking an Abbott's recipe (see "Reinventing the Abbott's") cooked up by a chemist friend, who used gas chromatography to analyze an old sample. Abbott's is prized as the key ingredient of the Martinez, the 19th- century precursor to Bond's favorite tipple.

"It's barrel-aged to allow the clove oil to break down and mellow," says Deragon. "The issue is exactly how long to age it." He's relying on bartenders to help him fine-tune the formula, providing batches to New York cocktail meccas such as Death & Co. and Gramercy Tavern restaurant. "I only recently tasted Abbott's for the first time," Deragon admits. "Still, everyone agrees my recipe is very good."

Nice work, John!