“To live and eat in LA, it’s the place to be;
You’ve got to be there to know it, what everybody wanna eat”
- Tupac

Alright, alright, Tupac didn’t say “eat”. But instead of talking about hoes and tricks, he should have rapped more importantly about the bounty of food to be found in LA. Cause damn it, it is a damn fine place for eating. Here are a few of the stops I made on my recent trip to the City of Angels.

BEST FISH TACO IN ENSENADA
1650 North Hillhurst Avenue (Los Feliz)

I try to stop by Best Fish Taco whenever I’m in town. At $1 per taco, it should not be missed. They also have shrimp, for $2. I had one of each. The fried batter is light and airy, and keeps the fish moist, and the crisp of the cabbage makes each bite a piece of crunch heaven.

PHO 87
1019 North Broadway (Chinatown)

As soon as I landed, Brother took me here. The spring rolls were some of the best I’d ever tasted–instead of the usually flavorless pork, Pho 87 adds a sweetly marinated grilled pork. So delish.

As Yamahomo has suggested, always order your rare beef on the side. Dunk like shabu.

Brother

RED CAR BAR @ COLE’S
118 East 6th Street (Downtown)

Cole’s is historically known for their french dip sandwiches, but we stopped by their bar, called the Red Car Bar, for cocktail hour instead.

I was supremely impressed by the care they took in building each classic cocktail–down to their attention to hand-carved ice.

Old Fashioned

A fashionable history

Sazerac

Red Car Named Desire: Rye, Cynar, Luxardo, Maurin

A magical nook of amaros, mezcal and tequila. Oh my!


Martini

Yup, still light out.

“To live and eat in LA, it’s the place to be;
You’ve got to be there to know it, what everybody wanna eat”
- Tupac

Coming Up: Takao restaurant in Beverly Hills, and Robata Jinya in West Hollywood!

The one and only Paystyle rolled into town a couple of weeks ago. Although he would be fully booked with personal engagements, I knew exactly how to get him to pencil me in. A few days before he was scheduled to land at SFO, I texted him, “Should we go on a SF cocktail crawl when you get here?”

How could anyone say no to that? Surely not Paystyle, who texted me back right away, with an enthusiastic YES!

Now, we all know that Paystyle is a tough crowd, and not just cause he’s a New Yorker. As a cocktail enthusiast, consultant, and bar chef himself, I couldn’t just take him anywhere. These spots had to be the cremè de la cremè of San Francisco. I take a lot of pride in SF’s cocktail scene, which is a eclectic mix of old school dives, grubby pubs, elegant restaurant bars and moody speakeasy’s, that have all moved and shifted to accommodate the thirst for pre-prohibition cocktails. I’m proud to be a part of this scene (I bartend at Camino in Oakland), and wanted to share this with Pay.

I figured we would play it by ear, but I had a general sense of where I wanted to take him. We met at Bar Agricole, drove to Smuggler’s Cove, then over to 15 Romolo. Then, we walked over to Rickhouse, and finished off the night with a big city bang–a huge late-night feast at New Sun Hong Kong in Chinatown (open till 4am!!!).

Here’s a recap of the night, and what Paystyle thought of the bars, his drinks, and the SF cocktail scene.

BAR AGRICOLE
355 11th Street // SOMA

Paystyle: Very nice clean set up and back bar. Had the type of setup bartenders can appreciate, with a very large workplace and room to move around. Compared with most bar setups, including my current one, it’s a dream.

Drinks were also great and simple. Nice house made stuff. The menu might not sustain my repeated visits but it was one of the top visits I had that weekend.

Kayoko: I had the ‘Fix’, made with mezcal instead of tequila. I really liked our bar man Craig, who graciously bended to my request for mezcal, then let us sample some of the “Hellfire” bitters (which tastes EXACTLY how it sounds). He can also impressively stir two cocktails at once while holding a completely serious conversation with a straight face. Extreme badassery.

Mezcal Fix at Bar Agricole.

+++

SMUGGLER’S COVE
650 Gough Street at McAllister // Western Addition

Paystyle: I had very high hopes for this place, and had I not been accustomed to the quality and attention to detail of Painkiller in NY, I would have been very impressed. However despite the appealing multi-story layout of the place, the execution and overall attention to detail lagged behind what I have become accustomed to at Painkiller, which has appeared to significantly up the Tiki-ante.

Kayoko: This was my first time I ever had a Painkiller, and of course I wanted to try one after all that Pusser’s drama that Paystyle wrote about. I never knew you could choose the amount of rum in a drink, kinda like an order of fries at McDonald’s or something. Small, medium or large? Two ounces, four, or six? I was driving, and we had a few more stops to go, so I opted for the small. This was one of my favorite drinks of the night. The froth was so satisfying–us bar folks try so hard to achieve this level of froth via shaking, but come on! Once in a while: Viva La Blender.

Paystyle: The one area where I was impressed was the menu at Smuggler’s Cove. Although the menu at PK is much more prolific (frankly I’ve never seen such a lengthy cocktail menu), Smuggler’s menu is a lesson in history, especially Tiki history and the history of rum in general. It’s an enjoyable thing to read, especially for the cocktail nerds.

Menu at Smuggler’s Cove.

+++

15 ROMOLO
15 Romolo Place // North Beach

Paystyle: I had been hearing lots of good things about this place which may have set my expectations too high. I liked the saloon feel, which is an overall perfect aesthetic for SF bars, but there wasn’t the attention to detail I had expected. Ultimately none of this matters if  the drinks taste great, and I can find appeal in the dive aesthetic. However the two drinks I ordered were imbalanced in different ways. One a bit too warm, because the bartender added a forgotten element after the fact, into the cocktail glass, and the other was just too sweet.

However I’m wise enough to know that others, like myself, can have an off night, and would delight in the opportunity to give it another shot.

Kayoko: I honestly can’t even remember what we ordered–not because I was drunk, but more cause it was unmemorable. This makes me sad, cause 15 Romolo used to be really great, even just a year ago! But the quality of the drinks diminish each time I go, and the bartenders are all so unapproachable (Gentlemen: LOOK UP!). I’m pretty sure I had the Sazerac, and Pay had the Wilson’s Smash (dark rum, pineapple, mint, lime) at some point. My Sazy was too sweet, probably cause as Pay said, it wasn’t chilled well enough. I’m working on my sweetness restraint right now, with any sweeteners (gum, simple, etc). Or maybe I’m just working on my restraint in general.

PRACTICE RESTRAINT!

+++

RICKHOUSE
246 Kearny Street // Financial District

Paystyle: I’d have to search very hard to find something negative about this place, so why waste the effort? The place is fantastic. One of my favorites of the trip. So much so that I returned with my brother the next evening, and considered going the night after that.

Did it help that my friend Russell Davis works there? Sure, but high marks would have been doled out regardless, since he wasn’t the one to make our drinks–which, by the way, were fantastic. I simply had a whiskey Buck made with strawberry infused bourbon, which was delicious. I forgot what K ordered and I didn’t care cuz mine was so good.

Juliet + Romeo (L); Kentucky Buck (R).

Kayoko: I had the Juliet + Romeo, and it was my other favorite drink of the night. As the name suggests, it’s a romantic drink, with mint and rose, but so refreshing with cucumber and lime. Hmmm, so more like if Juliet got together with a hottie surfer?

Like Paystyle at Smuggler’s Cove, I love the menu at Rickhouse. It’s like the Cocktail Bible, it’s so friggin huge. What a delight for any cocktail geek to go through.

Paystyle: But it wasn’t just the drinks at Rickhouse. The decor was dope, the atmospheric was dark yet inviting, and the size was quite admirable. It perfectly achieved the saloon aesthetic. The overall operation was smart, and reminded me of my favorite bar in New York, Employees Only.

+++

NEW SUN HONG KONG
606 Broadway (at Grant Ave) // Chinatown

Kayoko: No epic cocktail crawl would be complete without a 2am stop for some greasyass Chinese food. After Rickhouse, Pay and I walked around looking for a spot that would actually be open. God fucking forbid there be any late-late night dining in SF, anywhere. We were about to give up, but then we turned a corner, and there stood our beacon of (bad fluorescent) light: New Sun Hong Kong.

There are a few things I miss about NYC (alright, alright, MANY), and late nights at Great NY Noodle Town is one of them. This isn’t quite the same, but at 2am in SF, I’ll take it. Pay and I dueled it out about which is a better food city, over prawns, fried rice and mushu pork. What a great night!

Overall, it was awesome to see Paystyle, and take him around my new town. He went to Cal, so he’s no stranger to the Bay Area, but it’s easy to get jaded once you’ve lived in NYC for so long. I have a list of other bars (Alembic at the top) I want to take him to, and I hope he and Vanessa come back soon so we can continue our SF Cocktail Crawl.

Paystyle: In general I’d add that the prices in the Bay Area are a lot more welcoming than in NY. $10 vs. $13 average in NY.

Kayoko: Ultimately, it’s a good thing that the bars close earlier here in Cali. That saved us from a few more rounds of cocktails and a deadly hangover.

In the past week there’s been a lot of buzz in cocktail circles regarding the outcome of a legal dispute between Pusser’s rum and Painkiller, a tiki bar in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It’s a story that’s led to a lot of anger among us folks in the cocktail biz, as it touches on a number of issues we consider important, so I figured I’d touch on it here. And because the dispute involves the confounding and often contradictory legal concept of intellectual property, there’s been some confusion that I think needs to be cleared up as well–and who better than a lawyer to do so?

Photo copyright www.thelodownny.com. They were the first to break the story about the Pusser’s drama. Read the original post here.

At the heart of the dispute is a classic tiki drink called the Painkiller. It’s a drink I wrote about a couple years ago (photographed above; updated post here), and it’s one I still enjoy on a hot summer day. It also happens to be the name of a tiki bar in Manhattan which opened just a year ago. The bar’s name, obviously, is a tribute to the drink and by extension, its creators. The name Painkiller also happens to be trademarked, and that trademark happens to be owned by the rum company Pusser’s. Painkiller (the bar), as you might imagine, also happened to feature the Painkiller (the drink) on their menu, and not necessarily with Pusser’s rum in it.

So when Painkiller (the bar) opened its doors a year ago, Pusser’s became pissed off about it and demanded that the bar cease and desist the use of their trademarked term as their name, and that they cease selling drinks called Painkiller unless it featured Pusser’s rum. When the owners of Painkiller refused, the rum company decided to sue the bar in federal court (because the trademark is filed with the federal government), claiming “irreparable harm to its brand, unfair competition and unfair business practices.” Rather than duke it out in court (which may seem like the honorable thing, but remember honor can also be very expensive) the owners of Painkiller decided to settle out of court. Accordingly, the owners have now changed the name of their bar (it’s now officially called PKNY), surrendered their domain name, and removed any references to the Painkiller drink.

When word spread last week, the cocktail community was ablaze with fury over the issue. People soon took to social media outlets like Twitter and various blogs to sound off against Pusser’s. Many called for a boycott of the rum brand, and a Facebook page was started called Bartenders Against Trademarking of Cocktails, which garnered hundreds of members in a matter of hours. Jackson Cannon, bar manager of Eastern Standard in Boston decided to take it a step ballsier by changing the cocktail menu to feature the Painkiller “proudly made without Pusser’s rum,” and posting a picture of the new menu along with his business card on Twitter, proclaiming “This is my menu… This is my card… You know where to find me!”

Photo by Jackson Cannon.

So who’s really at fault here? To wrap our head around the issue (and various sub-issues), I figured it best to divide the analysis into three parts: the legal, the ethical, and the practical considerations.

LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS

Any legal analysis of this issue must begin by clarifying the differences between a patent, a copyright, and a trademark, the three main areas that comprise what is collectively referred to as intellectual property.

Patent

First let’s get patent out of the way because it doesn’t really apply in this case, though it’s still useful to understand the basic concept. When someone seeks a patent, they’re seeking a property right for an original invention or process they’ve come up. Having a patent allows the patent holders to exclude others from manufacturing or selling that invention or process.

So what can and can’t be patented? A robot that has human emotions? Hell yes, and pretty cool at that. How about if someone invents a procedure from which to turn water into wine? Yes, that process can be patented, and would also be damn cool. But how about a recipe, because that’s a process, right? Well, the answer is, sometimes. Technically recipes can be patented, but only if they present some new or inventive method of preparing said recipe. So to get more specific, a mere listing of ingredients and preparation instructions is not sufficient to receive a patent. Even a unique combination of ingredients is not enough. The process itself must be novel. So as it relates to cocktails, the simple answer is that cocktail recipes can not be patented. So even if you use your special homemade yak testicle bitters in an original cocktail creation, at the end of the day it’s just a stirred cocktail that’s no different from a Manhattan with regard to how it’s prepared and the types of ingredients used (base spirit, a presumed modifier, and bitters).

Copyright

A copyright provides protection to “original works of authorship.” This includes anything artistic, literary, musical, intellectual, etc. Owning a copyright gives you exclusive the right to do what you want with your creation. You can sell it, reproduce it, license others to reproduce it, display it for free, or perform it as the case may be, and prevent others from doing the same with your work. The reason behind the principle of copyright is to promote creativity by protecting it, with the rationale being that if creative works can be stolen, then creative people have less incentive to do creative things, and society would be presumably worse off.

It’s important to note that a copyright protects the form or method of expression, and not the subject matter itself. So let’s say for example that someone writes a book about the history of the Painkiller cocktail. The writer can copyright his original work of authorship so that someone else can’t just publish his specific writings in whole or in part without his permission. But it doesn’t prevent someone else from writing a different book on the history of the Painkiller cocktail because the subject matter itself is not protected. Otherwise there would only be one book published per subject.

So can recipes be copyrighted? The answer is no. A mere listing of ingredients is not protected under copyright law because it’s not deemed to be a “substantial literary expression.” What could be potentially protected is an accompanying “description, explanation, or illustration.” Thus a cookbook can be protected, but the mere listing of the ingredients for a particular recipe within the cookbook can not be protected.

If that’s the case, then what’s the basis for Pusser’s claim? Read on.

Trademark

A trademark is a word, symbol, or name that is used to distinguish a product of one company from the same product from another company. For example, Coca-Cola is a trademark. The company that owns that trademark, in this case Coca-Cola, has the right to sue another company if that company uses Coca-Cola’s trademark on their products.

The principle behind trademark law is that it encourages honest competition between companies, and enables the consumer to distinguish between competing products. Unlike copyright law which is intended to limit competition, trademark law works to foster competition–or at least that’s what it’s supposed to do. You can see how it would be disadvantageous to consumers if someone were to be able to use the name Coca-Cola or a confusingly similar name to promote their own independent soda product. Even if that product were to be of higher quality than the real Coca-Cola, it would amount to consumer fraud, and we surely wouldn’t want to allow that. When you buy a can of Coke, you expect it to be a can of Coke.

This principle is at the heart of Pusser’s claim, which is that when a customer orders a Painkiller, they expect it to have Pusser’s rum in it because they’re expecting that unique taste. They have two trademarks on the name Painkiller: one for “alcoholic fruit drinks with fruit juices and cream of coconut and coconut juice,” with the claim that the alcohol in the drink is Pusser’s rum; and one for “non-alcoholic mixed fruit juices,” because they also sell a product called “Pusser’s Painkiller Cocktail Mix.” The former trademark enables them to force a bar to either remove the Painkiller drink from its menu or use Pusser’s in the drink. The latter would appear to apply to the issue of preventing a bar from taking on the name Painkiller, since they have a product on the market with that name.

Note that there’s no specific recipe being protected here. Their claim is not based on the precise measurements of particular ingredients to be used in a Painkiller, but rather that any drink called a Painkiller must include Pusser’s rum in addition to “fruit juices and cream of coconut and coconut juice.”

Legal Conclusion

It’s important to remember that the case settled before actually going to trial, so no legal precedent has been set in favor of Pusser’s. Whether or not they would have prevailed is something we’ll never know, but presumably the attorneys for the defendant believed Pusser’s had a good chance of prevailing and thus advised their client to settle; or that even if they believed they could successfully fend off the suit, the cost to do so simply wasn’t worth it.

That said, the fact that Pusser’s owns the trademark is not in dispute, and therefore the legal analysis seems to point in their favor. So why are people still upset then? People are upset, and I believe rightfully so, because this is a case where a colorable and convincing argument can be made that the law as applied has consequences that conflict with the spirit of the law as conceived.

For one, this seems to suppress competition, not enhance it the way trademark law is intended to do. Requiring Pusser’s to be used in any drink called a Painkiller seems no different in principle than requiring only one brand of tequila to be used in a Margarita, or even one brand of pasta to be used in a Fettucine Alfredo. The only difference is that in the case of Pusser’s they happen to have a trademark on that name. The current bartending culture thrives on cooperation and sharing of ideas, and the fact that a bartender could be restricted from using a different rum in a drink recipe just seems plain odd and out of line with plain common sense.

Furthermore, Pusser’s trademark is certainly not akin to that of Coca-Cola, which involves a product with a secret recipe. The recipe for a Painkiller is not only public knowledge, but it was not even created by the Pusser’s. Nor did Pusser’s come up with the name. Worse yet, the Painkiller recipe predates the existence of the company by a decade, and the filing of the trademark by nearly two decades (I’ll elaborate on that later).

This doesn’t seem fair at all, and the entire concept of intellectual property is built on the notion of fairness. It’s therefore too simplistic to say that Pusser’s had a right and they were merely exercising that right. In fact, the more involved legal analysis reveals a reasonable argument that a trademark should have never been issued to Pusser’s in the first place, or in the alternative, that trademark law needs to be changed to reflect a fair outcome in these types of cases.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

All the analysis about legal issues and rights doesn’t change the fact that for many people, something just didn’t smell right. Pusser’s claim that Painkiller’s use of their trademark caused “irreparable harm to its brand, unfair competition and unfair business practices” seemed to many like old-fashioned legal speak drummed up by smart corporate attorneys. Fuel to the fire of that suspicion was added when a few facts came to light that didn’t put Pusser’s in the most honest ethical light.

The first of those issues I mentioned above, that Pusser’s did not even create the recipe for the Painkiller, nor did they come up with the name. Robert Simonson reported on his blog that tiki historian Jeff “Beachbum” Berry researched the history of the Painkiller and noted that it was created in 1971 by the owners of the Soggy Dollar Bar in the British Virgin Islands. He further notes that the original Painkiller was made with Mount Gay and Cruzan dark rums, not Pusser’s. And as mentioned above, Pusser’s didn’t even exist as a company until a decade after the drink’s creation. This is not in dispute, as it is corroborated by Pusser’s rum founder Charles Tobias in a recently released statement on the company’s website.

This was something I only recently realized. Up until a week ago I believed Pusser’s was the original rum in a Painkiller, and that’s what I wrote two years ago when I first wrote about the Painkiller recipe, and I’ve since had to go back and correct the record. As Simonson noted in his piece, even Jeff Berry, with his immense knowledge of tiki drinks was fooled, and admitted that Pusser’s litigation lead him to believe they actually created the drink. I suspect others with an even more modest knowledge of tiki history were also fooled by Pusser’s claim.

And that’s not the only issue. Besides not being the creators of the drink they’ve trademarked and now aggressively enforce, it appears they’re guilty of the same practices they accuse others of. A crafty member of the bartender community dug up a tweet by @pussers_bvi (the company’s Twitter account) dating back to May 2010 which encouraged consumers to use Pusser’s rum when making a Dark & Stormy. The significance of this is that a Dark & Stormy is the name of a cocktail created and trademarked by Gosling’s rum; it is a trademark that Gosling’s vigorously seeks to enforce in the same manner as Pusser’s. In the legal field, the term for such behavior on the part of Pusser’s is “unclean hands.”

Ethical Conclusion

That many in the cocktail community are up in arms over the actions of Pusser’s is not merely an irrational, uninformed, or visceral reaction as some have stated. There are bona fide issues of moral duplicity on the part of Pusser’s which are difficult to avoid, and have not yet been responded to by the folks at Pusser’s. Moreover, most people aren’t well-versed in the legal intricacies involved, so these issues strike a bigger chord than claims of legal right. To most people learning of the issue, Pusser’s actions simply don’t pass the smell test.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

In addition to the various legal and ethical issues here, a number of people have brought up certain points that are simply common sense considerations, irrespective of the technicalities of the law or otherwise. Below is a summary of some of the most notable ones.

First, and in defense of Pusser’s, they rightly claim that not enforcing their trademark in instances of potential infringement leaves them vulnerable for when they do decide to enforce. Essentially the claim is that you risk losing a right you don’t take care to defend. True as that may be, it’s still a tough sell when you weren’t the creator of the trademark.

Others have noted that claims of legal right aside, suing a well respected bar as Painkiller, with owners as highly regarded in the cocktail community as Richard Boccato and Giuseppe Gonzalez, is asking for a major PR headache. As it is Pusser’s doesn’t have a huge presence in the U.S. market, and pissing off bartenders who are the gatekeepers of consumer awareness and consumption is not a bright way to increase market share.

Furthermore, it’s likely that in its one year of existence, the bar Painkiller has done more to promote the drink–and indirectly Pusser’s as a brand–than all of Pusser’s marketing efforts in the last decade. So rather than seeing the Painkiller the bar as hurting the Pusser’s brand, one could argue the bar has helped shine a positive light on their rum that they didn’t previously enjoy; that with a little creative thinking on Pusser’s part they could have created some mutually beneficial collaborative opportunities.

Lastly, if you’re going to claim that you have a product so unique and amazing as to make it indispensable in a recipe, you had better be able to back it up. As noted above, Pusser’s can’t be that indispensable to a recipe if it wasn’t even called for, nor even existed, when the recipe was created. But even putting that issue aside, perhaps they could claim that the Painkiller recipe is better with Pusser’s than it ever was.

Of course this can’t be proven or disproven because it’s a subjective claim, but one would think that if it makes such a great Painkiller, then tiki bars would use the brand more often in the recipe–at least the bars that fashion themselves as using the highest grade ingredients. But that fact simply doesn’t bare out. Painkiller and other high quality establishments that serve Painkillers often use other rums besides Pusser’s.

Why is that? Contrary to their ridiculously sounding claim on the Pusser’s website that their product is “The Single Malt of Rum,” the truth is that many bartenders and rum experts will tell you is that it flat out sucks. For starters, it’s outright puffery to claim that a rum can even be a single malt (it is impossible, since rum is distilled from sugar, not malted barley). But even if we take the phrase in a looser sense, it doesn’t jive with reality. Paul Pacult, who is a highly respected spirits critic, published a review of Pusser’s rum in his 2008 book Kindred Spirits 2. It may be enlightening to read what he had to say about the highly self-touted rum. Here’s the review in its entirety:

“The brilliant copper penny color is pretty, but displays minor sediment beneath the examination lamp. The opening nose detects peculiar smells of olive brine, seaweed, wood polish, and shellfish; extra air contact does nothing to enhance the briny/solvent-like and weird aroma. Better in the mouth than in the nasal cavity; the palate entry is piney, cedar-like, and astringent; at midpalate there are flashes of molasses, coffee, and tobacco that aren’t significant enough to drag this oddball rum up into recommended territory. Ends up poorly as highly astringent and manufactured tastes dominate the exit. This was originally labeled as “Admiral’s Reserve” in 1993 and 1996. That designation no longer appears on the label, though the abv strength is the same. The detergent-like, cleaning liquid finish brings the rating back down to one star. A waste of a good glass bottle. No wonder the British Navy fell into disrepair. Rating: 1 star/Not Recommended”

One star is the absolute lowest rating that Paul Pacult gives a spirit. In other words, their rum just sucks. Of course that’s only one critic’s review–one notable and highly respected critic–and ultimately you should decide for yourself. Nonetheless it doesn’t help Pusser’s claims that it is the one and only rum that must be used in a Painkiller.

Perhaps then, in the utmost consideration of practicality, some of Pusser’s legal budget ought to be redirected toward product development.

Just a thought.

*Got a cocktail question? Hit me on twitter @paystyle, email me at payman(at)lifesacocktail(dot)com, or simply drop me a comment below.

I just got back from a weekend in NYC, for a very important Umamimart Reunion Dinner, hosted by Yamahomo (post coming!). Even though I really only had two full days in the city, I bounced around and hit some of my favorite haunts. It felt good to be back, if only for a few days. The air was warm and everyone had a spring in their step. There’s no place like New York–the spirit and energy is such an incredible force.

I took pictures of everything I ate and drank. Duh. Here is the creme de la creme of this trip.

The Sage Advice cocktail at Craftbar.

Platter of Hama Hamas, French Kiss’, Kumamotos, Naked Cowboys (!), Penn Coves, Skookums, and Cherrystone clams, at the Grand Central Oyster Bar.

Octopus with chorizo at Craftbar.

Steak tartare at Balthazar.

3am bowl of shrimp wonton noodle soup at Great NY Noodle Town.

Hibiscus and Blood Orange donuts by Bed Stuy’s Dough, at the Brooklyn Flea.

Cocktails at Hotel del Mano.

The Di Fara Classic. Had to go see Signore Domenico!

Martini at Balthazar.

The Vampiro at Fonda in Park Slope.

Cherry blossoms at Cafe Colette in Williamsburg.

New York is home. Sweet home.

Are ya’ll sick of hearing about fundraisers for Japan yet? Well, get over it–Japan needs us right now and we absolutely must do what we can to support it. You don’t hear me get all up on my soapbox very often, but for this, Umamimart must.

And it doesn’t get easier than SIPPIN’ ON A COCKTAIL for the cause. Camino, the badass restaurant in Oakland where I tend bar, has been doing its part to support the Japan earthquake relief efforts for the last few weeks. Every time you order the Japanese Cocktail, 100% of your precious Alexander Hamilton will go directly to help victims of the quake and tsunami.

What started out as a one-week drive was extended until the end of the month–so today, Thursday 3/31 is the last hurrah for this great drink, for a great cause at Camino. Here’s a little history of the Japanese cocktail by Esquire’s one and only David Wondrich. We added a little bit of citrus to ours for some punch. Cocktail purists, deal with it.

I’m working tonight, 5:30-10pm so come harass me and Jen behind the bar! Yes San Francisco people, that means you too! Our goal is to raise $5000–we did the math and we’ve gotta shake 125 of these tonight to get there. We can do it! One couple last night had six. I challenge you to outdrink them.

*Photos courtesy of Camino. You can see my hand in this one above.

A bar is a playground for grown-ups. A place where you can meet new playmates, taste the sweet nectar of intoxicating juices, take time off to enjoy life with your closest of pals, and on occasion enjoy the chance of entangling your reproduction organs in other people’s warm orififi and bodily fluids. The playground swings have been replaced with bar stools, and once you sit down, you never know what might happen.

It’s a place for adventure, and for personal ruin if you just can’t find the strength to get off those swings.

But this is not exactly a bar review written by an alcohol fanatic.

I’ve never been much of a drinker. Compared to French pastries, Italian pizza, American ice cream and Japanese sushi, alcohol just seems pretty boring. Plus you get a headache. After one beer I feel tired, numb and ready for bed–and not in the kinky way, but in the grandma way. I’ve also never gotten laid while being drunk, or at least so I recall. Ha! [Doh!]

Still, I like bars for what they offer in relaxation and social connections, especially if it’s owned by friends. And so in 2009 I was actually hired by some previous clients of mine to work on the graphic identity for their new bar called 1105. The bar is off a popular shopping street, 1105 Copenhagen K, and was named after their very own, unique postal code.

The aim of 1105 was to give off the vibe of classic old hotel bars–which was the new hot trend back in 2008-09: cozy atmosphere, dim lighting, crystal glasses, luxury barware, gold and chocolate, the finest ingredients, the best, most professional and service-minded bartenders working off an acoustic backdrop of elegant lounge house and chill techno.

And of course to serve the most delicious cocktails in town. Co-owner and head bartender Gromit is the kind of person everyone’s heard of in Copenhagen, famous (and infamous) for his quick wit, sharp tongue and creative, interesting cocktails.

During the developmental stages of creating the bar, my friends traveled Europe looking for old hotel bar interiors and barware for inspiration. I started researching old New York and London hotel identities, for the glamour and elegance they provided to their guests. I came up with about 50 logos. The owners of the bar took one look at my pitch material and decided in a split second on their favourite: a slinky, simple, vertical mark that happened to fit with exactly what they were looking for, for their bar.

The cocktail card is bound in carved and imprinted goat skin.

Each card has a different texture and color hue depending on which goat donated its furry coat to this greater good.

Two years since their opening, the bar is a success, for many reasons. Even though it does not offer bargain prices, it invests zero money in advertisement, and is hidden away from the street and public bypassers–it still attracts a big crowd each weekend.

According to one of the owners Morten, 1105 doesn’t cater to the trendy crowd since they are usually more like untrusty lovers, leaving your bed as soon as there’s something hotter on the other side of the street.

Instead, it’s about attracting a nice blend of different kinds of people: hardcore cocktail lovers, single girls, tourists cruising the Copenhagen bar scene, people who are ending their work day with a quick drink, people starting their booze night off with style before going nuts at the pub, etc.

In 2009 it was added to Condé Nast’s list of best bars across the world.

A night in February I met up with Morten and the accountant/party lady La Cam in order to taste the bar’s three most popular cocktails. Working behind the bar was Hardeep Singh Rehal, who has won the gold medal in the annual Copenhagen Cocktail competition three years in a row.

Three times, this gentleman has dazzled the judges with his own recipes which have all become instant classics in the Copenhagen bar scene.

We start out with a Honey Smash:

It’s very sweet but fresh at the same time. The lime juice adds an element of exotica to the Danish berries. Super popular among the lady crowd.

Honey Smash recipe:

5 cl (1.7 oz) vodka
2 cl (0.7 oz) honey
1 cl (0.3 oz) lime juice
1 cl  (0.3 oz) gomme syrup
1 strawberry
2 raspberries
1 slice of lemon (with the peel)
1 small handful of mint leaves

Now we move on to the Cucumber Yum Yum :

This drink was composed by Hardeep and landed him the gold medal in 2009. I couldn’t have come up with a better word myself, it truly lives up to its name. It has a very cucumber-y freshness, combined with the sweet hints of raspberry and gin. Truly original and the perfect pre-dinner cocktail.

4 cl (1.4 oz) Beefeater Gin
1½ cl (0.5 oz) Aalborg Jubilaeumsakvavit (Danish snaps)
3 cl (1 oz) Acacia honey
4 Fresh raspberries
1 Fresh cucumber
Sliced passion fruit

We ended our tasting session with the Señor Hansi, my new favourite:

Again, quite a sweet drink but with more of an edge (seems the Danes are suckers for nectar filled drinks, it must be the Scandinavian winter forcing us to eat sweets). By now I was pretty hammered so this poor picture was all I was able to snap before copping out.

But I remember really loving the drink, and snacking from the open sliced passion fruit.

I haven’t been able to pull the exact recipe from the bar crew except that it consists of tequila, agave syrup, lime juice, passion fruit and weissbier foam.

Intoxicated and dingy (see picture above) we call it a night and manage to throw ourselves off the swings and back into the real world. Three drinks is a wise limit I tell myself.

Still, the next morning I woke up with a headache.

Last week I wrote about the Hot Buttered Rum, and how it’s a winter drink for when you’re feeling festive (and when you’ve planned far enough ahead of time and made the essential spiced rum batter). Now that we’re nearing the dead of winter, you may be interested in something more simple– a drink that doesn’t require much advanced preparation. For these moments, the Hot Toddy shines (and warms) like no other.

Technically speaking, a toddy is a category of drinks rather than a specific recipe and the Hot Toddy is simply, well, the hot version of a regular toddy. In the old days a tavern keeper would heat the drink by taking a hot metal poker from the fire and plunge it into the pot that contained the mixture. So yes, originally, in less frigid times toddies were served at room temperature except for the very rare instance when ice was handy (we’re talking about 18th century and prior).

The name of the drink comes from the term ‘toddy stick,’ which was the big wooden baton-like tool the barkeep would use to break up sugar, as well as muddle any spice and everything nice, and even crack ice, when it became a commonly used item. Sugar of course had to be broken up because during colonial times it came in hard loaves that needed to be chipped into smaller usable pieces. The luxury of nicely granulated sugar that we find in the stores today was not to be had back then.

Understanding the toddy as a category, or better yet a concept, will enable you to use its template as a base for creating something uniquely your own, simplifying (or complicating) it as you see fit. There is no universally recognized toddy recipe, yet all good toddies will have the same components: a base spirit (traditionally whiskey but any brown–i.e. oak-aged–spirit will do, with genever being the allowable exception); a sweetening agent (sugar, honey, whatever); a diluting agent (hot water, tea, cider); and lemon juice for a necessary acidic bump to bring all the flavors in balance. Beyond that you can muddle lemon or other citrus peels, add cinnamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, oregano– ok maybe we’re getting carried away now.

Below are two recipes that exemplify this approach. The first is a basic toddy that any tavern with the ability to boil water should be able to turn out, and the other is a Jasmine Toddy (pictured above) that’s a touch more complex but well worth it for the final product it yields.

Hot Toddy
1 oz whiskey
1 oz honey syrup (equal parts honey and water pre-diluted for easy mixing)
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
boiling water (about 3-4 oz depending on glass size)

Pour the honey syrup, lemon juice, and whiskey in a heated hot toddy glass or mug and stir to dissolve. Top with boiling water and enjoy. If you choose to use straight undiluted honey, only use half the suggested amount.

Just as it’s important to pre-chill a glass when making a cold drink, it ‘s a good idea to pre-heat your glass when making  a hot one. You can do this by simply pouring boiling water in your glass and letting it sit until you get the rest of your ingredients together, then pouring it out once you’re ready to assemble the drink. And because the water (or other diluting agent) is the only hot element of this drink, I make sure it’s boiling (as opposed to just being hot) when I add it, otherwise the rest of the ingredients will quickly bring down the temperature, which would yield a Tepid Toddy, not a Hot Toddy.

Jasmine Toddy
1/2 oz Yamazaki 12 Yr
1/2 oz Rhum Barbancourt 4 Yr (or other lightly aged rhum agricole)
1 oz honey syrup
1/2 oz variegated pink lemon juice (just use regular lemon juice; I’m being fancy-schmancy cuz that’s what was in my CSA this week)
Fresh brewed jasmine green tea (approx 3-4 oz; Ahmad Tea makes a pretty good one)
half lemon wheel studded with 3 cloves

Pour the honey syrup, lemon juice, and spirits in a heated glass and stir to dissolve. Add the clove-studded lemon. Pour in the jasmine green tea and enjoy.

The floral nose and mildly sweet palate of the Yamazaki Japanese whisky makes it a great pairing with the lightly oaked yet still grassy undertone of the Haitian rum, and together provide a nice base of complexity and body despite the relatively low amount of liquor in the drink.

I used variegated pink lemons simply because I had them on hand, and aside from the aesthetically pleasing aspect of the pink lemons, they’re also a bit more tart and have a stronger flavor than their yellow cousins. But if I didn’t have them I’d just use regular lemons because there’s no sense in venturing back into the cold to track them down. That would certainly defeat the entire purpose of this enterprise.

You’ll notice that both toddy recipes adhere to a similar formula, and both check off the necessary components, yet they vary widely in flavor profile. That’s the beauty of a good hot toddy, because it’s made of stuff almost everyone either has in stock or can easily attain. If you don’t have whiskey you can use aged rum; if you don’t have honey you can use sugar; if you don’t have… you get the point.

Winter ain’t got nothin’ on you now kid!

*Got a cocktail question? Hit me on twitter @paystyle, email me at payman(at)lifesacocktail(dot)com, or simply drop me a comment below!

Halloween’s only a few days away and many of you still haven’t bought or made your costume, or worst yet, haven’t even figured out what you’ll be dressing up as.  Unfortunately I can’t help you in that department. However where I can be of assistance is in figuring out what to serve at your party–or what to pre-party with if you’re not throwing a bash of your own.  If you’re still in search of your Halloween cocktail, then keep reading.

Admittedly, I’ve never been really good at–nor really fond of–making Halloween-themed cocktails. I’ve always had difficulty getting past the high kitsch factor. Now I know kitsch isn’t always a bad thing, especially when done smartly and with a moderate hand, but perhaps it’s been my lack of creativity that’s often made it a difficult hurdle.  This has been especially true when the creative impulse favors appearance over flavor and quality; when ingredients are chosen not so much for what they contribute to the flavor or aroma of a drink, but for their particular color or other attribute that helps the drink’s appearance fit within the event’s theme.  In the case of Halloween, it becomes critical for the drink’s name and/or appearance to reference something ghoulish, frightening, or what have you. So you often wind up with drinks made with crap ingredients like Midori because they’ll make the drink green to reference a monster or a witch or Frankenstein or whatever.

That said, it’s not always a choice of extremes, and there are always instances when one comes across a cocktail that hits the trifecta of flavor, appearance, and name dead on while staying in character and true to theme at hand.  This year, that drink is the Blood and Tears. It’s not a creation of mine, but rather a friend of mine and bartender Brian Matthys, a man who wins cocktail competitions left and right without the use of performance enhancing drugs.  One look at the ingredient list of this cocktail and you can see why. Below is the recipe, and the ingredients in italics are simply my own additions which I feel add a touch more depth and texture to the drink. Try them both ways to see which better suits your palate.

Blood and Tears
2 oz DonQ Gran Anejo rum
2 oz horchata (recipe below)
1/2 oz honey syrup (mix equal parts honey and hot water)
1/4 oz fresh lime juice
1 egg white (small egg is sufficient)
2  1/2 tbsp diced red bell pepper
2 small diced pieces habanero pepper
Peychaud’s bitters
pinch of cinnamon

Tools: shaker, strainer, muddler
Glass: chilled cocktail glass

In a cocktail shaker, add the peppers and honey syrup and muddle. Then add the rum, horchata, and optionally, the lime juice and egg white along with ice. Shake vigorously until your fingers are bloody and you’re in tears.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, then add a few drops of Peychaud’s bitters on top to give it that bloody effect, as well as a small pinch of ground cinnamon.  When using egg white, some like to do a dry shake (shaking ingredients without ice) to help it emulsify before adding the ice and shaking again to chill the drink. Also, because of the little pepper pieces in this drink, I like to double strain the drink using a fine strainer like a tea strainer to catch all those little bits.

Horchata (yields 3 quarts)
2 cups white rice
1 cup orgeat (I used Trader Tiki brand, but you can learn to make your own here)
1/3 cup almonds
1/3 cup cinnamon syrup (used Trader Tiki)
1 tsp rosewater

Place the rice in a container along with 4 cups water and cover and allow it to soak for at least 12 hours. In a separate container, place the almonds with 1 cup water and allow that to soak, covered, for same amount of time. Drain the rice and grind it as fine as possible. Drain and peel the almonds, then grind them the same way. Mix the rice with 2 quarts water and pass it through a fine sieve or cheesecloth into a 1 gallon container. Mix the almonds with 1 quart of water and fine strain it like the rice, into the same container. Add the orgeat, cinnamon syrup, and rosewater and mix well. Cover and chill in the refrigerator. Always stir before using as materials will separate and settle.

The Blood and Tears is a rare example of a Halloween-themed cocktail that successfully balances kitsch and quality. And if you go the extra mile of making horchata from scratch, not only will you be rewarded with an extra flavorful cocktail with a bright floral aroma, but you’ll have plenty left over for the Dia de los Muertos party.

Cheers!

*Got a cocktail question? Hit me on twitter @paystyle, email me at payman(at)lifesacocktail(dot)com, or simply drop me a comment below.

Photos by Erin Gleeson.

On a balmy, quiet Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn, we had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Louis Smeby, founder of A.B. Smeby Bittering Co., for a tasting of his extensive line of bitters. When we all settled down in Quarter Bar‘s charming back yard, there was one glaring question on our minds: What exactly ARE bitters? Where do they come from? What do we do with them?

Ok fine, so three questions.

The event was so much more than what any of us had anticipated. Louis, a dashing, soft-spoken Brooklynite, patiently fielded our questions while we tasted his bitters (he brought over 15 kinds!), and went through the history of bitters. To put it in perspective, he discussed how bitters have a stronghold in the history of American soda fountains (think Coca-Cola!), which fascinated us (and opened up a whole other can of worms).

What exactly is a bitter? Simply put, it is a blend of herbs that historically, have been used as digestive aids. Louis explained the primary importance of potable vs. non-potable bitters. Potable bitters being Amaros, or Italian liqueurs like Fernet Branca or Campari, which you can sip to your heart’s content. On the other hand, non-potable bitters are of the Angostura or Peychaud variety, which can not be taken straight, and only dashes should be added to drinks, or whatever else you desire. Angostura was created in 1824 by a German living in Venezuela, so the origin of bitters is all over the map.

The earliest definition of a “cocktail” is that it MUST include bitters– demonstrating how essential this ingredient is within mixed drinks and cocktail culture from way back in the day.

Yes, all of this came out during out sit-down with Louis, who turned out to have a brain full of facts on botany, the spice trade, and alchemy. Louis fuses together his passion for seasonal, organic ingredients and botanicals to create his magical potions of bitters. He’s our modern day Herbalist!

And indeed, he comes up with some of the most intriguing flavor combination that frankly blew our minds. Some of these are an intricate blend of ten, fifteen, twenty ingredients and upwards. I’m talking Chai ‘n Rye. Lemon Verbena. Hibiscus Rose. Nasturium-Cumin. Martie’s Cherry Vanilla (named for his beloved grandfather).

Then, he’s got creations that are more mysterious. And sexy. Bitters with names like Diesel (citrus and spices). XXX (Louis’ interpretation of Angostura). Forbidden (30 spices, aged 12 months). Black & White (Mexican chocolate and vanilla).

Louis has a strong background in the food industry, as he has worked both as a chef, as well as in the front of the house. His bitters are now currently on the menus at several reputable bars and restaurants throughout New York City, including The Modern, PDT, Buttermilk Channel, Gotham Bar & Grill, and Quarter Bar. Louis created an exclusive line of bitters just for The Vanderbilt in Brooklyn, which is so special!

Alright, let’s taste, shall we?

ERIN M.
Everything I tried tasted organic and complex. All of that said I think what I liked was: Hibiscus, Black & White, Lemon Verbena and XXX.

ERIN G.
I never knew there could be so many kinds of bitters! Or that they could individually taste so different. Louis had some pretty innovative flavor combos.

JUDSON
Having so many bitters to sample was amazing– it actually got me a little buzzed, which surprised me.

KAYOKO
Quarter Bar features several cocktails using Louis’ bitters. We took breaks throughout the afternoon to stretch our legs and re-up on our drinks.

KAYOKO
I love Louis’ bitters for their imaginative flavors that bring a complexity to whatever you add to it. Chocolate might hit you in the back of the mouth; or more earthy hints of annis might linger throughout. I made fig jam and added Chai ‘n Rye bitters. It turned out really great– the bitters really adds a whole new dimension to the fruit.

ERIN G.
I am super fascinated with the idea of using the bitters in vinaigrettes and marinades, and will try it soon.

JUDSON
I took home two bottles and wish I had gotten a lot more for gifts and for myself. I got the XXX and the Hibiscus-Rose. I’ve used the XXX in a Manhattan which was perfect, as well as in sparkling mineral water. I’ve used the Hibiscus-Rose in a mojito and in still water. I thought the XXX would have been my favorite because it’s darker, but actually the Hibiscus-Rose has won me over.

ERIN M.
Louis is great– obviously passionate about the alchemy and world-wide history of bitters. I appreciate his serious entrepreneurship (as in he really does EVERYTHING himself): creating new recipes, cooking the bitters, bottling the bitters, designing labels, pasting said labels, making deliveries. Everything.

KAYOKO
It’s true. Louis does EVERYTHING. He has a sharp eye for design, which I deeply appreciate.

ERIN G.
Louis is a real trendsetter– ahead of his time. I can see this becoming really big. Yet it’s so interesting that making bitters is such an age-old tradition. I love that it started in monasteries!

KAYOKO
A big huge THANK YOU to Louis for teaching us so much, and walking us through all your different bitters. The entire afternoon was so intimate and delightful– it was a memorable for all of us.

Also mucho thanks to Quarter Bar for letting us raid the back yard. You are wonderful hosts, and I’m so happy to see a serious cocktail bar in that neighborhood (there was nothing like it when I lived there eight years ago!).

And of course, last but not least, thanks to everyone who made it out to the Umamiventure! You know Brooklyn holds a special place in my heart, and it was awesome to reunite this way.

Check out the full line of A.B. Smeby bitters, and what’s new for the season, please check his website. To order, contact info@absmebybitteringco.com

*Umamiventures are organized monthly, traveling far and wide to find good, cheap grub off the beaten path.

**Become a Facebook Fan or follow UM on Twitter to stay updated on all future trips!

Past Umamiventures include:
1.) Ocean Jewel Restaurant – Flushing, NYC; June 2007
2.) Red Hook Ball Fields - NYC; June 2007
3.) Taste of Jackson Heights – NYC; October, 2007
4.) Sripraphai Restaurant – Woodside, NYC; November 2007
5.) WINTERMARKET – South St. Seaport; December 2007
6.) Jackson Diner- Jackson Heights, NYC; January 2008
7.) Pacificana – Sunset Park, NYC; February 2008
8.) Puerto Alegre – The Mission, SF; March 2008
9.) Dinosaur BBQ – Harlem, NYC; April 2008
10.) Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden – Astoria, NYC; May 2008
11.) Brooklyn Banh Mi Crawl – Sunset Park, NYC; August 2008
12.) Sheapshead Bay Lobster Crawl – NYC; September 2008
13.) Flushing Food Circuit – NYC; October 2008
14.) Strong Beer Month – SF; March 2009
15.) Loisaida Throwback Crawl – NYC; April 2009
16.) Harley Farms Goat Dairy – Pescadero, CA; June 2009
17.) Tomales Bay Oyster Farm – Marshall, CA; August 2009
18.) Din Tai Fung – LA; September 2009
19.) Din Tai Fung – Tokyo; September 2009
20.) Schroeder’s Oktoberfest – SF; October 2009
21.) Fish Taco Crawl – San Diego; November 2009
22.) St. George Spirits & Hangar One Vodka -  Alameda; January 2010
22.5) Everett & Jones – OAK; January 2010
23.) Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse – NYC; February 2010
24.) Guerilla Ramen Night – SF; April 2010
25.) Knife Sharpening Workshop at Hida Tool & Hardware – Berkeley, May 2010
26.) San Pedro Fish Market - LA, June 2010
26.5.) Candytown – LA, June 2010
27.) The Trappist – Oakland, July 2010
28.) San Tung Restaurant – SF, August 2010

By Paystyle
Originally posted on March 3, 2010

*I am especially fond of this post because it has reunited long lost family members (almost). Please make sure to read the comments. It’s incredible.

In the world of mixology, there aren’t many cocktails based on Cognac relative to the other spirits.  I can count less than twenty old recipes off the top of my head, which is really not much, considering a quarter are mere variations of each other, and another quarter or so share the stage with other spirits like Rum (Fish House Punch, Between the Sheets) and Gin (Delmonico No. 1).

The highly effective marketing of Cognac as too-haute-to-mix may have something to do with this.  Scotch producers have accomplished the same feat through shrewd marketing, though Scotch naturally lends itself to this because it’s generally a more difficult spirit to mix with than Cognac. Perhaps another reason for the comparative lack of truly good Cognac-based cocktail recipes is the dearth of creativity that’s plagued the bartending profession (minus a few bright spots here and there) since the end of Prohibition.  Luckily we’ve seen a real Cocktail Renaissance over the last decade that has thus far not shown any signs of slowing, and so we can undoubtedly expect more good things to come down the pipeline.

For the moment, however, we’ll celebrate one of the few really good Cognac-based cocktails that’s been largely forgotten over the years, the Metropole.

The Metropole is a quintessential pre-Prohibition cocktail. It’s boozy and simple so it doesn’t really mess around, and of course was invented at least a couple of decades before Prohibition took effect.

Before Times Square was sterilized by Guiliani—way before Times Square was sterilized by Guiliani—there stood the Metropole Hotel near Broadway and 43rd St.  Among the hotel’s most notable (and notorious) residents were Nicky Arnstein (international gambler/con artist/entrepreneur, played by Omar Sharif in Funny Girl) and Bat Masterson (buffalo hunter/gunslinger/gambler/sportswriter).  The hotel had a street level bar called Café Metropole which, according to cocktail historian David Wondrich, had an equally notorious clientele of “crooked ward-heelers, mid-level gamblers, palookas and their handlers, actors…and every other species of half-hand bigshot who talks sideways and never looks you in the eye except when he’s dealing from the bottom of the deck.”

It was here that the Metropole cocktail was created, and though I have no clue what a palooka is (nor how to handle one for that matter), I can tell you if this place were around today, you’d find me there tossing back a few.

Eventually bankruptcy forced the hotel to close its doors in 1912, but not without one final furbelow befitting its sordid reputation.  A week prior to shutting its doors, in the wee small hours of the morning of July 13, bookmaker (read illegal gambling-den operator) Herman “Beansy” Rosenthal was gunned down in front of the hotel by rival Jewish gangsters from the Lower East Side.  (Interestingly enough, this little bit of criminal history ties into another classic cocktail, the Jack Rose, but that’s for another day.)

Metropole
1 1/2 oz Cognac (save the fancy stuff; a VS, or even plain Brandy, will do fine)
1 1/2 oz French (Dry) vermouth
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Garnish: lemon or orange twist (optional)

Tools: barspoon and mixing glass
Glass: chilled cocktail glass or coupe (pictured)

Stir ingredients well in ice-filled mixing glass (about 30 seconds) and strain into your glass.  The old recipes don’t call for a garnish, but I sometimes find a lemon or orange twist is a nice addition.

I’ve also seen old recipes of this drink that call for a couple dashes of gomme syrup (sugar syrup with gum Arabic added to give it a smoother texture). I’m not sure which is the original, however the era in which this drink was created leads me to believe it’s the one without the syrup. Regardless, they’re both good, and at times I’ll add a dash or two of simple syrup if I feel like having a slightly sweeter drink.

The Metropole is essentially a variation of the original Dry Martini (remember that the original classic Dry Martini was equal parts Gin and French vermouth, with a dash or two of orange bitters), with the Gin replaced with Cognac, and a couple dashes of Peychaud’s bitters added.  In that same spirit I sometimes change the proportions to a 2:1 ratio of Cognac to vermouth, when I desire a stronger drink with greater Cognac flavor.

As with many classic cocktails that were created during the “Saloon Era” of American history where even the law acted lawless (see Gangs of New York, and just about every other period piece set around the mid to late 19th century), the Metropole has a unique story filled with colorful characters.  And even here where the story itself is not so much a tale of the drink’s creation, but simply the backdrop, that in itself is significant (and arguably more important) because it offers a glimpse of the types of folks who might have ordered such a drink, which in turn tells us something about the drink itself.  While we must be careful not to draw too many conclusions, it certainly counters the notion held by some that cocktails with such fancy ingredients as orange bitters are primarily the providence of geeks and aficionados.

And those who still think a real man wouldn’t be caught dead with such a drink in his hand should go look up, um, “Beansy” Rosenthal.

Here’s to old New York, the real metropole.

*Got a cocktail question? Hit me on twitter @paystyle, email me at payman(at)lifesacocktail(dot)com, or simply drop me a comment below.