Facilitating Cocktail Workshops & Classes

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks for sort of clarifying. I think. Glad it's the last class....

[Chris Amirault]

I've developed a new rule: bring a ton of interesting stuff for people to try. You never know what they'll like (or hate), but if the selection is wide enough, everyone will have an utterly new experience.

[Chris Amirault]

I've now done several iterations of this introductory session both at restaurants and at private homes, and I think it's got a pretty solid base structure. I don't follow it page by page; rather, I use the handout as something to fall back onto as needed (and the participants write notes all over it).

This is the outline for this Sunday's workshop and Society fundraiser at Cook & Brown Public House here in Providence, the bar at which I now work. (For more information on the event, click here.) It's idiosyncratic, responsive both to my prejudices and to the interests that customers have expressed. I'll report back on it.

what makes a cocktail classic?

• enhance the spirit base
  
• balance, layer & direct different flavors
  
• technique serves the cocktail
  
• treat your ingredients with respect
  
• quality, not quantity
  
• classics form the basis for innovation
  
• recipes are guides: taste & adjust
  
• about 2-3 oz booze per drink
  
• ~25% dilution
  
• beware the sweet

ingredients: some base spirits

• whisk(e)y
  
• rye
  
• bourbon
  
• Scotch
  
• Canadian
  
• gin/genever
  
• brandy/cognac
  
• rum
  
• cachaça
  
• tequila
  
• pisco
  
• vodka
  

ingredients: other alcohol

• fruit liqueurs
  
• herbal & floral liqueurs
  
• absinthe & pastis
  
• maraschino
  
• velvet falernum
  
• pimento dram
  
• bitters & tinctures
  
• amari
  
• dry & sweet vermouth
  
• aperitif wines
  
• port/madeira
  
• sherry
  

non-alcoholic ingredients

• sugar syrup
  
• fruit juice & oil
  
• mint & other herbs
  
• egg, milk & cream
  
• carbonated beverages
  
• grenadine
  
• orgeat
  
• shrubbs

and ...

ice

ice makes & keeps things cold

ice provides water for dilution

ice generates agitation for mixing & aeration

Most bad drinks are caused

by bad ice handling & use.

basic equipment

• Boston shaker
  
• Hawthorne strainer
  
• julep strainer
  
• fine strainer
  
• barspoon
  
• jiggers/measuring cups
  
• knife & cutting board
  
• juicers
  
• ice crusher & pick
  
• muddler

technique: set up

• cold glassware
  
• room temperature booze (excepting wine-based items)
  
• fresh fruits, bitters & alcohol
  
• clean equipment
  
• lots of very cold ice
  

technique: stirring & shaking

stirring: for clear drinks

30-40 seconds with lots of cracked ice

shaking: for cloudy (juiced) drinks

shake 10-15 seconds with lots of whole ice

be strong but not violent

when shaking, avoid slush

when stirring, avoid bubbles

note temperature

technique: full prep in order

1. chill glassware & prep garnish (if necessary)
   
2. build drink in chilled glass or tin
   
3. add very cold ice
   
4. shake/stir
   
5. straw taste & adjust (if necessary)
   
6. (double) strain
   
7. garnish (if necessary)

technique: miscellany

building rocks drinks

muddling

other garnishes

the “dry shake”

floats

flaming rinds

recipe: improved genever cocktail

2 oz genever

1 tsp simple syrup

½ tsp Maraschino

2 dashes bitters

2 dashes absinthe

Stir well.

Strain into a coupe.

Garnish with a lemon twist.

martini & manhattan

2 oz spirit (gin or bourbon/rye)

±1 oz vermouth (dry or sweet)

bitters (1 orange or 2-3 Angostura/OF)

Stir. Strain into cocktail glass.

Garnish (lemon twist/olive/onion

or lemon twist/orange twist/cherry).

margarita, daiquiri & sidecar

2 oz spirit (tequila, rum, or brandy)

1 oz sweet (triple sec, simple, or triple sec)

¾ oz fresh lime, lime, or lemon juice

Shake well.

Fine strain into coupe.

resources: books

Craft of the Cocktail, Dale DeGroff

The Joy of Mixology, Gary Regan

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, Ted Haigh

Imbibe! David Wondrich

The Art of the Bar, Hollinger & Schwartz

resources: internet

www.egullet.org Spirits & Cocktails forum

www.cocktaildb.com

www.cocktailchronicles.com

www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org

www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com

[mkayahara]

ingredients: some base spirits

• whisk(e)y
  
• rye
  
• bourbon
  
• Scotch
  
• Canadian
  
• gin/genever
  
• brandy/cognac
  
• rum
  
• cachaça
  
• tequila
  
• pisco
  
• vodka
  

No Irish whiskey?

I have yet to see a "base spirit" typology that satisfies me. If you do it by source of fermentable sugars, you leave out vodka and gin; if you do it by distillation proof, London dry gin and genever suddenly start to look different; if you do it by post-distillation infusion, where does spiced rum fall? I guess the only way to really do it is by historical use. Personally, I would fold pisco in with brandy/cognac/other fruit eaux-de-vie, cachaça in with rum (even though it's not, really), and add mezcal in with tequila.

[Chris Amirault]

No Irish whiskey?

Ack! Yes Irish whiskey.

I have yet to see a "base spirit" typology that satisfies me.

Me, too, but I appreciate your revisions/additions.

[Chris Amirault]

I've now done these workshops about ten more times and have another coming tomorrow night. The content above has changed a bit, but the basic framework is the same. In particular, I'm convinced that making an Old Fashioned or Improved when people arrive, using the Manhattan/Martini as a teaching pause, and then getting everyone to make a sour is a solid structure, stretching out the drinking but also getting people involved. Spirits tasting is also a must: watching people have their first taste of quality absinthe, in particular, is worth the many hours of prep and delivery.

I'm doing tomorrow's here at the house, so I may try to snap a few photos. Will report back either way.