Archives for the 'Spirits' Category
The best sazerac in New Orleans
It was still early on a Friday night. I had just lost all the money I was willing to part with at the tables of Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans. I had played “Let It Ride” for more than five hours, holding my own most of the time. I had hoped for a big pay-off eventually, but my $300 ran out first.
I started walking out of the casino, towards the Poydras street exit right where John Besh’s steak house is. There I saw a little bar with plenty of traffic. Upscale compared to most casino bars, this one actually charged for drinks.
I sat in one of the lonely bar stools. I had an hour or so to kill before my wife ran through the rest of her cash at the nickle slots.
“If I asked you to make me a Sazerac, would you know how?” I asked the barman.
Foolish me.
Behind the bar was Mark Quigley. I came to find out that he’s been behind some bar somewhere in New Orleans for more than thirty years.
“Oh, yeah,” Mr. Quigley replied. “I know how.” (I use the term “Mr. Quigley” to express my utmost respect.)
Now a Sazerac isn’t a complicated drink, at least not in the number of ingredients required to get it into a glass. In a Sazerac, the complications come from the exact measurement of the ingredients and precise application of the techniques used to prepare it.
“OK, make me a Sazerac,” I said in cautious anticipation.
Now I’m no Sazerac virgin.
I’ve had Sazeracs made by the best: Marvin Allen at the Hotel Monteleone’s Carousel bar, Chris Hannah at Arnaud’s French 75 and Chris McMillian at the Ritz’s Library Bar (back before its recent disappointing transformation into a place to be avoided at all costs).
Mr. Quigley set a short rocks glass on the bar and filled it with ice. In a second glass, he muddled a sugar cube with a dash of Peychaud’s bitters and then added a three-ounce pour of baby Sazerac rye whiskey, topping the entire mixture with perfectly clear ice cubes. With his bar spoon, Mr. Quigley expertly stirred the precious drink to its ideal temperature and dilution.
As that second glass sat on the bar, Mr. Quigley emptied the ice from the first glass. In true New Orleans fashion, he then poured a small amount of Herbsaint into the chilled glass and tossed the glass into the air, spinning it quite naturally to distribute a fine sheen of flavor around the inside of the glass. A few quick shakes removed the last drops of liquid left in the bottom. Into this glass, he strained the contents of the other glass.
As a finale to the ritual, right in front of me he twists a lemon peel over the drink, and then slides the perfect Sazerac towards me, the glass sitting perfectly centered on a Harrah’s cocktail napkin.
No doubt at all: Mark Quigley makes the best Sazerac in New Orleans.
Sazerac
The classic New Orleans cocktail3 ounces rye whiskey (Sazerac is best)
1/2 simple syrup (or to taste)
dash Peychaud’s bitters (accept no substitute)stir with ice, pour into a glass rinsed with Herbsaint liqueur (absinthe works great, too). Garnish with a lemon twist.
It takes seven times before you’ll like Campari
It was about six or seven years ago. I was enamoured with the marketing campaign for an exotic Italian liqueur. The ads all showed smart, sophisticated Europeans sipping a wondrously red drink from elegant, crystal glasses. The people in the ads were attractive, sexy and just flat gorgeous. I wanted to be like them.
I bought my first bottle of Campari and took it home.
On the bottle there was a bottle tag with two recipes: Campari and soda and something called a “Negroni.” With great expectation I mixed the simple highball: two parts club soda, one part Campari, served in a tall glass with lots of ice. I used my best crystal so I would experience the drink just like those people in the ads.
“Blah!” I yelled out loud. My wife looked at me strangely. (OK, that’s not so unusual.)
I didn’t like it.
I drank the whole drink and then mixed myself another, this time four parts soda, one part Campari.
I didn’t like that drink any better.
I would try Campari again and again over the next several weeks. But it didn’t matter how I mixed it: on the rocks, in a Negroni, as a shot. No matter what, I always had the same reaction: “Blah!”
Eventually, I shoved the bottle behind the thirty or so other bottles in the cabinet under my wet bar. I soon forgot I had it.
A few years later, I pulled the two-thirds full bottle out from its hiding place and remembered, bitterly, my previous experiences.
“Good riddance!” I said as I threw the bottle out.
Flash forward several years to late 2006.
I’m walking around my local Spec’s looking for something new to try and there’s that exotic red liqueur staring me in the face.
“Try me again,” I hear the bottle say. “The Italians have been drinking me for 146 years. I must be good for something.”
“Liar!” I scream. The store clerk asks me to keep the noise down.
But something inside me tells me that what the bottle said must be right. So, hesitantly, I put a bottle into my shopping cart and roll the cart to the checkout register.
Thirty minutes later, I’m sitting at home looking at a tall, elegant crystal glass with two parts club soda, one part Campari and lots of ice.
I take a reluctant sip.
“Hmm,” I say. “Needs a little gin and a touch of sweet vermouth.”
Negroni
1 ounce gin (I like Boodles for everyday)
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Camparishake, serve up with an orange slice
Drinking Out Club at Beaver’s
| April 10, 2008 | ||
Are you a fan of classic cocktails?
Want to learn more about cocktails and spirits? Want to enjoy evenings out at the Houston bar scene? Want to meet people who enjoy the pleasures of a good drink in a fun place?
Drinking Out Club / Houston is all about cocktails and the fine art of drinking out. Join us as we visit some of the best bars in Houston.
- There’s no fee!
- Each attendee pays for their own drinks and food.
- The meeting starts at 7:30pm but people start drinking whenever they show up. Come on time… you don’t want to fall behind.
- Meetings last about an hour. Some people stay around after the meeting to enjoy the venue and the company.
|
Interested? Sign up and RSVP for our next meeting.
FYI: We use www.meetup.com as our RSVP/Membership tracking tool. It’s free for you! |
This Meeting
Join us at Beaver’s (near Washington Avenue and Sawyer).
Beaver’s Restaurant and Ice House
2310 Decatur Street
Houston TX 77007
(713) 864-2328
www.beavershouston.com
Beaver’s Restaurant and Ice House
Beaver’s Houston is a casual restaurant and icehouse for beer, barbeque, ribs and more.
Beaver’s has a full bar and the best bartenders in Houston – Dave, Bobby and Kevin know cocktails like no one else. Go ahead, let them create a drink for you.
Something else you should know: we take beer seriously with a beer menu that reads like a wine list; while we offer the Icebox standards, you will also be able to find some truly esoteric and unexpected brews, all of which pair well with smoky and spicy foods. We also offer a signature cocktail menu of “Front Porch” drinks, incorporating Texas’ own fine spirits, as well as a “Beer-Tail” menu that puts beer squarely in the cocktail ring, where it belongs.
Want more cocktail talk? Check out Robert Huegel’s blog at Drink Dogma.
Beaver’s menus (dinner, lunch, brunch) celebrate the smoky subtleties of live-fire slow cooking. We elevate the expected BBQ standards, create new addictions, and revive retro desserts.
Chef / General Manager Dax McAnear will put up daily specials from the smoker or the hot side of the kitchen that will lay naked his passion for all things rubbed, aged, smoked and slow-cooked.
Steak night at Ernie’s
It’s 6pm on a Thursday night and I’m driving home to an empty house with an empty stomach. Sounds like a good time to stop and eat at a place where everyone knows my name. I drive south on Montrose, just past US-59 and turn right. There it is: Ernie’s on Banks.
“A martini. Gin, of course,” I say as I ease into the barstool at the end of the bar.
The bartender’s name is Danny and he’s friendly enough. “A special gin?” he asks.
“What’s the house?”
Danny shows me a bottle of Taaka.
“Oh, yeah, I’ll need the Tanqueray, please.” Taaka is cheap stuff at six bucks a bottle. Not tonight, thanks.
Danny shakes me a great 3-to-1 martini and I settle into my seat.
American Standard Dry Martini
3 ounces gin (always use the best gin you can find)
1 ounce dry vermouth
shake, serve up with a single olive
I’m a purist when it comes to my martinis. The drink is mostly gin, so scrimping there doesn’t make sense. And the vermouth is critical: too little or too much and the drink loses its appeal. Shake mine, please, don’t stir. I like to drink my martini while it’s still laughing at me.
There are five or six people at the bar and two more at the dart board. None of them know my name and that’s alright with me. I’ve only been here once before, on my way to some museum event a month or so ago.
As I finish my martini I realize that my empty stomach won’t go away by itself. I stopped in tonight because Thursdays are $10 steak nights.
“Danny, I’ll have a steak, well-done.” I motion to him that I’ll be at the table closest to the door. I’ll be able to watch the TV and the crowd from there.
The steak arrives quickly enough and it’s just the meal I needed.
Ernie’s On Banks
1010 Banks Street at Montrose
Houston TX 77006-6112
(866) 464-9251
www.erniesonbanks.com
