I'LL HAVE THE USUAL

Why say that? “I’ll have the usual.” The usual will give you security in the knowledge that you are getting a familiar product and maybe a product that you really enjoy… but that isn’t enough!   Life is too short… Take a chance. Let a good bartender take you down a road you have traveled lightly if at all.

 

My favorite occupation behind the bar was the challenge of turning a regular, or a stranger for that matter, onto something they may never have the opportunity to experience otherwise. At the Rainbow Room in the 1990’s, we had drinks on our menu that had not seen the light of day for at least a half century and it was a bit easier to meet that challenge.

 

The first words out of my mouth when I arrive in a new bar are, “what drinks are special to the house?” A good bartender should have a ready reply outside of the comment “everything we make is special.” It is almost guaranteed that if they reply in that fashion nothing is special and you might be better off with a wine or beer!

 

So, first rule of thumb: find a joint that has a bartender with a passion for his work; and by the way—if you see that  DRINKWELL® plaque next to the Zagat® Plaque in the window of a bar/restaurant, chances are real high that you have found that aforementioned passion. The chances are also pretty good that they will stock quality spirits.

 

Here is one of those drinks that came from an encounter with a customer at the Rainbow Bar that I prepared on the spur of the moment to meet a customer challenge. The drink became a popular offering that never came off my menu:

 

FITZGERALD

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces Tanqueray gin

3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

3/4 ounce simple syrup (equal parts of sugar and water dissolved together)

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Preparation

Assemble all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake well for ten seconds. Strain into a rocks/old fashioned glass filled with ice and garnish with a lemon wheel.

 

The Fitzgerald is a simple gin sour that is transformed and brightened by the tropical spices found in a few dashes of Angostura bitters. Sometimes three or four simple ingredients, deftly handled, can produce bold and direct new flavors!

 

If I use the same starting point (gin, lemon juice and simple syrup), but add two different flavors, I can totally transform the drink again as seen with the Strawberry Nirvana:

 

STRAWBERRY NIRVANA

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces Tanqueray No. Ten gin

1/2  ounce fresh lemon juice

1 ounce simple syrup (equal parts of sugar and water dissolved together)

A small piece of fresh ginger the size of a nickel

Two medium strawberries hulled and washed

½ of strawberry with the green on as garnish

Preparation

Place the ginger in the bottom of a cocktail shaker glass with the lemon juice and muddle well with a bar muddler or mash with a wooden spoon to extract the flavor. Add in the strawberries and the simple syrup and muddle again to extract the flavor from the strawberries. Add the gin and fill the shaker glass with ice. Shake well and fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the half strawberry on the rim of the glass.

 

 

See you next week …enjoy your drinks responsibly and don’t forget to turn the lights out when you leave.

Dale aka kingcocktail