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The Richmond Gimlet in Wine Enthusiast Magazine

  I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see that Gary Regan had included the Richmond Gimlet in his lineup of drinks for a superb article in Wine Enthusiast magazine this month. The article centers on some of the wonderful new gins that are being released right now from all over the world. The Richmond | Read More

Ask Your Bartender: Advice for a High School Senior

Hey Bartender, I’m a senior in high school here in Eugene, and I read about you in the Register Guard today. I’ve been thinking about becoming a bartender for a while, and the article, along with your blog, pretty much sealed the deal. I was wondering if you would tell me how you got into | Read More

I’m Interviewed by My Other Hometown Newspaper

Jeffrey Morgenthaler, head bartender at El Vaquero restaurant, is the author of a well-read blog on mixology. The Register-Guard here in Eugene ran a piece about local area bloggers today, featuring a humungous photo of yours truly. Lewis Taylor did a nice job editing out all of my ums and uhs from the conversation we | Read More

El Vaquero: Drink Fresh. Or, Don’t.

Someone sent their drink back tonight. Scott and I put a lot of care into our cocktails: we use all fresh ingredients, we measure absolutely everything, and we’re passionate about every drink we put out. We’re proud of the fact that our drinks rarely get sent back, so when one of our servers came back | Read More

The Real Reason Why I Tend Bar

The thing about bartenders is that we’re all attention whores and egomaniacs and couldn’t care less about much else than ourselves. Sure, some of us will tell you that the craft of the cocktail is the most rewarding thing about being a bartender. Others will tell you that putting on a show and giving people | Read More

I’m Interviewed by My Hometown Newspaper

I was interviewed by the Monterey County Herald earlier this week for an article on recent trends in mixology and bartending that appears today. This was pretty exciting for me, as the reporter originally had no idea I had grown up there, he just happened to find me online as a sort of “expert” (yeah, | Read More

I’m About to Get My Ass Kicked at the Tales of the Cocktail Drink Competition

I received this in my inbox last week: TO: All Participants WHAT: Tales of the Cocktail, the annual culinary and cocktail festival, features a Cocktail Competition to determine the “official cocktail” of the event. Bartenders local and nation-wide submitted recipes for the competition. Moët & Chandon White Star Champagne was a required ingredient for the | Read More

The End of an Era

For the past year and a half, one of my favorite sites to read on the internet has been D.C. Drinks. Authors Isaac Washington and Lonnie Bruner brought some great writing and a huge dose of sarcasm to the cocktail blogosphere (I hate that word) On Saturday, sadly, they posted their last article ever: “I | Read More

Oops, I Did It Again, or, Another Worthy Blog I’ve Forgotten to Link To

The links section of my website is the area that I spend the least amount of time concerning myself with. Sometimes it’s hard enough, between managing a busy bar and working four nine-hour shifts a week, to even try to think up a mildly entertaining article to write. However, I’m an avid reader, and typically | Read More

Ask Your Bartender: What’s Crackin’?

Hey Bartender, Ever since I started making my own drinks at home I’ve been eyeing all my bartenders like a hawk. I’ve noticed a lot of them use the crack-open-the-boston-shaker straining technique. What are your thoughts on this? I’m not a huge fan of it because it allows bits of ice to get into the | Read More

New Cocktail Menu at El Vaquero

I finally released a new cocktail menu that I’ve been working on since just before I left for Las Vegas. It’s not completely finished yet, but I really wanted to get something new out there, and it’s pretty close. I’ve spent weeks testing and refining these drinks, and I think it’s my best menu yet. | Read More

Tastes Just Like A…

Why is it that drinks these days have to taste like some sort of junk food in order to be understood by the average person? Take this little story: We were at our local dive bar, playing some video golf and having a beer. The bartender, who had obviously been behind the stick for a | Read More

More Ways to Louse Up a Bar…

Our friend Darcy over at Art of the Drink adds to the “50 Signs…” madness with 50 Signs You Are a Bad Bartender, all but one of which I think is right on the money: 48. The solution to every problem is: just add bitters What!? That’s not true? And in the comments, someone sends | Read More

Gettin’ My Flair On

Stopped by the Extreme Bartending booth and hung out with founder and president Scott Young for a few minutes. He’s a super nice guy, very much into bartending, and bartending toys, and flair bartending. He always had a smile on his face and loved to talk to everyone about bartending. He even seemed to like | Read More

What to Expect at the Vegas Bar and Restaurant Show

After waiting for the initial line to die down… oh, wait. We didn’t wait in line. Some people thought they’d just go to the end of the line, two blocks away, and wait to be let into the show. My associates and I? We just weasled our way up in front and were among the | Read More