October 25, 2007
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Yours truly has been voted Second Best Bartender by the good people of Eugene. I bow graciously to my longtime friend Ty Connor, who came in first, and apparently invented the Vodka Rickey (Ty, I knew you were quite a bit older than I, but wow!) Also coming in second place was this very website! | Read More
October 24, 2007
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So, Oregon is the best, as everyone knows, but here’s another reason why: Oregon whiskey. The November issue of Food and Wine Magazine has a great story by Nick Fauchald on page 170 about the rise of Oregon whiskeys, and credits our plentiful raw ingredients (grain, water, wood) and do-it-yourself spirit for a new revolution | Read More
October 15, 2007
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To be honest with you, I didn’t really have much of a chance to prepare for this month’s Mixology Monday. In fact, when Natalie emailed me a reminder earlier today, my first thought was, “Oh, f*ck!”. And as much as I loves me some Mixology Monday, I’ve been a little out of the loop this | Read More
October 1, 2007
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Recently, over at the Epicurious blog they had a post detailing their ten must-read books for cooks and gastronomes. I figured, “What a great idea, I should steal this for my own website!” So here are my recommendations for the top ten books any bartender or home mixologist should keep within arm’s reach at all | Read More
September 25, 2007
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It’s football time here in the university town I call home, so on Saturday mornings my kitchen often becomes the epicenter of pre-game madness. I like to put out a bottle of vodka, a pitcher of my Bloody Mary mix, and a tray of fun garnishes for the fans and let people put together their | Read More
September 13, 2007
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There aren’t many spirits that inspire such passionate opinions as gin does. I know vodka drinkers who recoil in horror when confronted with a bottle of Tanqueray, and gin drinkers who would rather abstain completely than suffer through a Grey Goose martini. But what many people don’t realize is that gin and vodka begin life | Read More
September 12, 2007
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I never really venture too far outside of my comfort zone when it comes to cocktails. Sure, I’ve tried some strange combinations before, but when all is said and done I usually tend to stick to the classics. Until this evening. Maybe it was all the late-summer sun I got at the pool this afternoon | Read More
September 10, 2007
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I was in Portland again this weekend, taking a tour of House Spirits Distillery and meeting with some West Coast cocktail luminaries. I’ve been a big fan of the House Spirits products for quite some time, so this was quite the excursion for me. I was met there by some other like-minded enthusiasts: Erik Ellestad | Read More
September 2, 2007
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Sometimes living in Eugene, Oregon means that you have a smaller circle of people who share similar interests as yourself. Driving an hour and a half to Portland is always an option, but sometimes you just wish you could play at home. A select few of us local cocktail enthusiasts gathered today to experiment with | Read More
September 2, 2007
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Earlier today at our little Cocktail Summit, we played with seaberries (aka sea berries or sea-buckthorn). If you haven’t tried seaberries before, they’re a small, soft fruit full of a milky, citrusy, tart juice – slightly astringent and very rich. They’re unlike anything I had ever tried. I had been messing around with some wine syrups | Read More
August 27, 2007
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Yesterday my co-pilot at El Vaquero, Scott, and I made our way up to Portland at nine in the morning for the Great American Distillers Festival – a feat not easily accomplished by two bartenders who had closed the bar the previous night. The list of products available for tasting was short – this ain’t | Read More
August 22, 2007
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For those of you in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, this weekend is the Great American Distillers Festival [PDF at rogue.com] in Portland. I’ll be hanging out and blogging the festival all day on Sunday, so if any of you want to meet up and tour the booths with us, drop me a line and let | Read More
August 19, 2007
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I’m a big fan of Jamie Boudreau’s website Spirits and Cocktails. The writing is engaging, the photography is brilliant, and his techniques push the boundaries of mixology. So when I read about how Jamie would brulée brandied cherries with a Misto filled with 151-proof rum and Angostura bitters, I was inspired. And I immediately thought: | Read More
August 13, 2007
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In case you’ve missed all the hoopla, it’s time for another Mixology Monday! This month, we’re being hosted by Gwen over at Intoxicated Zodiac. Gwen has chosen orange as the theme for the month. I had originally planned on doing a post about one of my cocktails that uses orange bitters. However, I figured that | Read More
August 9, 2007
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I’ve been stricken by writer’s block this summer. And who cares? People tune in to their TVs to watch a bunch of re-hashed crap every summer, right? If it’s good enough for major multi-million-dollar TV networks, it’s good enough for me. Here’s what you may have missed on the Jeffrey Morgenthaler Network last season: Remember | Read More
These are the books and tools I use every single day to make drinks at home and behind the bar. Clicking on a product takes you to Amazon, which helps me keep this site running, so thank you in advance!
