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Ask Your Bartender: What’s Crackin’?

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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

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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…

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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…

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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

How Not to Make a Mint Julep

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Oh my God this is so awesome I want to die. Andrea from Brooks Nightclub and Whatever had me totally captivated for, like, a whole fifteen seconds – right up until the part where she says that a “Mint Julep is like a Mojito, but with bourbon” That’s when the Rose’s Lime Juice started happening | Read More

Gettin’ My Flair On

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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

El Mayor Tequila

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Stopped by the Luxco booth and sampled some of the sexy, rebranded El Mayor tequila. I don’t know how many times El Mayor has been distilled, but one thing I missed from the silver was a deep, fruity agave flavor. This could have something to do with the fact that my palate was starting to | Read More

Make Me a Golf Ball Margarita

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I posted an article about the lunatics from Blendtec back in November, and now here I am watching them live and in person, blending golf balls and a rake. Delicious. I tried to get a video at 3:00 PM, but it seems that I forgot how to use a digital camera. Oh, well. You can | Read More

Momokawa Nigori Genshu Sake

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This is possibly the best product I tried all day: a thick, semi-sweet, chilly sake with lots of tropical fruit and coconut flavors. It’s made by Momokawa Sake in Japan, but the product is owned and imported by SakeOne here in Forest Grove, Oregon. Hmmmm… sounds like yet another reason why Oregon is such a | Read More

Tezón Reposado Tequila

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I met up in the middle of the show floor with the guys from my liquor store here in Eugene and we popped in at the ginormous Pernod-Ricard booth. As I already carry most of the products that they were showcasing, I was interested in tasting their Tezón tequila. Tequila often has a lot of | Read More

Flor de Caña 18 Year-Old Centenario Gold Rum

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Next I stopped by the Flor de Caña booth to sample a product I’d heard a lot about, but had never tried: Flor de Caña 18 Year-Old Centenario Gold Rum. Although the company is headquartered in Nicaragua, they own sugar cane plantations and distilleries all over Latin America. The company has been alive for seventy | Read More

Angostura Rums

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I met up with Marv Ali from the Angostura company at the show. We go through a lot of Angostura bitters at my bar – a lot – but I’ve never had the pleasure of trying any of their other products because my very controlled state doesn’t let us have them. First I tried the | Read More

What to Expect at the Vegas Bar and Restaurant Show

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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

On The Floor at the Vegas Bar and Restaurant Show

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I’m waiting for them to open the doors to the show, as hundreds upon hundreds of people line up outside in the lobby. Coming up next, I’ve got tons of product reviews from inside the show, and a mixology competition with our friends Sean Bigley, Darren West and Zoltan Andahazy.