The Prohibition Era figures prominently in the collective imagination of the cocktail world. The aura and mystique surrounding that era still wields great influence on popular culture. The popularity of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire is a perfect example of our still not fully reconciled fascination with that period, as is the proliferation of modern “speakeasies” in New York and across the country. Yet despite this nostalgic intrigue, most of us have no idea what it’s like to live under prohibition.

Recently I had the opportunity to have such an experience, as I traveled to Iran for a cousin’s wedding. As many of you know, alcohol is prohibited in Iran, but that doesn’t mean people don’t find a way to get their drink on, as we sure enough did.

Breakfast of champions: grilled lamb chops, liver, heart, and lung on the roof of my cousin’s house.

A street food vendor fanning the grill, atop which sits skewers of lamb liver. Street food in the U.S. rarely gets this good.

The wedding was in a city called Saravan, a very rural city in the southeastern region of Iran known as Baluchistan. The name Baluchistan means “land of the Baluch people,” the ethnic minority who have inhabited the area for hundreds of years.

The Baluchistan region spans across southeastern Iran, northwestern Pakistan, and southern Afghanistan.

Regional map, with Baluchistan in Pink

The area is also a veritable desert, though dates grow abound from the many palm trees dotting the region. In fact, some of the best, juiciest dates in the world come from this region.

Since my cousin was marrying a Baluchi girl, he was having a traditional Baluchi wedding, the traditions of which were unfamiliar to myself and other members of my family (who are of Persian, not Baluchi ethnicity). My cousin, however is half Baluchi, so this was no sweat for him. As a matter of fact his grandfather was the Baluchi king of the region in his day, with grand castle and all.

The view of the town below from one of the rooms midway up the castle. The castle itself is at least 500 years old and is now a national historic site.

Henna tattoos are a common tradition at weddings in this region.

So this wedding was a big deal for a lot of people in the area–and by a lot, practically everyone. In its entirety, the wedding was a three day affair, with extravagant lunches and dinners offered on each day. To give you a sense of how extravagant, on one evening 20 goats were freshly slaughtered and smoked as part of the main dinner offering. Every day it seemed the entire town had gathered to be fed.

In America, the open bar is at least half the motivation for attending a wedding. Obviously expectations are not the same in a country like Iran where liquor is prohibited. Going dry for one wedding is bad enough, let alone a three day wedding.

A three day wedding with no bar? Ok, I can adjust my expectations and make the best of it, I figured. What I didn’t anticipate, however, was that for almost every aspect of three day affair, including the lunches, dinners, tea, and dancing portions, the men and women would be in separate areas.

So traditional was this wedding that the men (including the groom, I believe) didn’t get to see the bride until the morning after the third day. The picture of the bride below was taken by my mom, because the guys weren’t even privy to this.

No alcohol, no problem, but kickin’ it sober with a bunch of dudes? Oh man, this situation needed some amelioration.

Fortunately one of my cousins (I have too many to count, but suffice it to say it wasn’t the one getting married–thankfully, because that would be a disaster in waiting) felt the same way as I did, and even more fortunate was the fact that he knew a thing or two about amelioration, if you know what I mean. So he decides to score some liquor before the wedding, and asked if I wanted to come along. Naturally, I did.

We went to the local bazaar, where he knew a guy who sells textiles and cloth by the meter, but also comes across some hooch from time to time. After several minutes of shooting the obligatory shit, we end up with a packaged pouch of liquid that read “Scotch Whiskey.” I was instantly skeptical, but it wasn’t as if I was going to call the Better Business Bureau, so we had to take what we could get.

When we got back to his kitchen I busted it open and confirmed what I already knew, that it wasn’t Scotch, and it most certainly wasn’t whiskey. It was nothing more than clear, high proof bootleg alcohol. Thus my cousin received his first lesson in spirits: it ain’t whiskey unless it’s brown.

We needed to figure out a way to make this drink go down, so we began looking for mixing ingredients, and thus began my cousin’s second lesson: how to make a balanced cocktail… in any circumstance.

We found sour cherry juice, lemons, and honey, and with a little tinkering I came up with something that was not only palatable, but actually tasted good. We found a mason jar with a lid and turned it into a makeshift shaker. I then proceeded to give them the cocktail of their lives (they’d never had a cocktail before so this was easy)–call me the Mcgyver of mixology.

I call this drink The Desert Ain’t That Dry, an actual prohibition-era cocktail you could say!

The Desert Ain’t That Dry
2 oz Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon
1 1/4 oz sour cherry juice
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/4 oz honey

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a glass. No garnish necessary. We don’t bother with garnishes during prohibition.

In the spirit of bootlegging I used a marketed moonshine such as Junior Johnson’s, made by Piedmont Distillers in North Carolina. But you can certainly use any other brand of corn or grain alcohol, including vodka. However if you are going to use vodka I recommend using one that still has some character and flavor retained in the distillate, such as Purity from Sweden.

As for the sour cherry juice, be aware that you may have to adjust the amount of honey from the recipe depending on how sweet the juice is. Some brands are pure sour cherry juice (more tart) and some are marketed as “nectars,” which means they have added sugar and possibly water to tone down the tartness, and are thus sweeter. In Iran I used a rather tart variety with little sweetness, but here all I could find was the nectar variety with added sugar, so I had to tone down the honey significantly.

Speaking of honey, you can either use straight honey, or to make it more easily dilutable, you can make honey syrup by mixing equal parts honey and warm water until fully dissolved. The recipe above is for straight undiluted honey, so double it if using honey syrup.

Here’s to repeal!

*I’d like to express an immense amount of heartfelt gratitude to Fredo Ceraso of the lifestyle blog Loungerati for tending bar for the past several weeks while I was away.

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

When selecting a mid-March cocktail for this article, I was tempted to go the easy route with a St. Patrick’s Day whiskey drink. Then this weekend, I had the fortune to dine at Magasin Wells (aka M.Wells), the critically acclaimed Québécois-American diner in Long Island City, Queens.

M.Wells’ haute comfort food menu and greasy spoon aesthetic were beyond sublime. However, they merit their own article devoted to what I can only describe as veritable cibo matto. Whelks in garlic and butter sauce for breakfast? Yes, ma’am! Now, the featured brunch cocktail, The Bloody Caesar, is right up my alley for the Ides of March!

The Bloody Caesar is Canada’s most popular cocktail. It is a variation of the traditional Bloody Mary with a unique ingredient: clam juice. The cocktail graces many brunch menus in the United States but sadly takes a back seat to the ubiquitous Mary and the up and coming Bloody Maria (with tequila). Most likely, it is the industrially produced clam juice/tomato mixture called Clamato that has tainted the cocktail in the eyes of Americans. Well fret no more Caesar lovers, ditch the Clamato and make this drink the right way!

A brief timeline of the Bloody Caesar’s evolution:

44 B.C. (Rome): A group of forty Senators, who called themselves the Liberatores, assassinate Gaius Julius Caesar in Rome’s Theater of Pompey on March 15^th (the Ides of March). The killers, including his close friend Marcus Junius Brutus, stab the Dictator 23 times. Rumor around the Forum has it that Caesar’s last meal was Roman style clams.

1623 (London): English playwright William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar published in the First Folio and popularizes the phrases “Beware of the Ides of March” and “Et Tu Brute.”

1924 (Paris): According to cocktail lore, Pete Petriot invents the Bloody Mary at the legendary Harry’s American Bar. Like the traveling master bartenders of today, Petriot goes on to work the Savoy Hotel in London and the St. Regis Hotel’s King Cole Bar in New York. Due to the lack of available vodka in the 1930s, the drink is made with gin and dubbed the Red Snapper.

1969 (Calgary, Canada): Bartender Walter Chell, of the Owl’s Nest bar at the Calgary Inn, is asked to create a signature cocktail for the Inn’s new Italian restaurant, called Marco’s. Chell takes the Bloody Mary formula and adds mashed up clams, in addition to a variety of spices like Cayenne pepper. Ecco! The Bloody Caesar is born and becomes one of Canada’s most popular cocktails.

M.Wells enhances Mr. Chell’s creation by adding lime juice, Sriracha spicy Thai hot sauce, real clam juice, pepper, plus paprika in addition celery salt on the rim. The ratio of tomato juice to claim juice is almost 1:1 which creates tomato water like consistency with a clam brine edge. The combination is salty without the thick tomato juice density, which makes it savory on the palate and is sure to sway Bloody Mary haters to revisit the genre.

I used locally produced Bootlegger 21 Vodka from Prohibition Distillery. This vodka is made from metro area grown grain and made in small batches in the Hudson Valley. Bootlegger 21 received a gold medal at the 2010 New York International Spirits Competition.

The Bloody Caesar
Prepared as per Sarah Obraitis of M. Wells Diner

5 cups of tomato juice
4 cups of clam juice
1 tbsp of Worcestershire
1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce
Juice of 2 limes
Salt and Pepper

Tools: Mixing tin, bar spoon, jigger, chilled pint glass, pairing knife

Dust the rim of the glass with paprika, celery seed and pepper. Add 6 oz. of this mixture to 2 ounces of vodka. Combine remaining ingredients in a mixing tin and roll the mixture back and forth. Do not shake as that will break up the consistency of the tomato juice. Once chilled, strain into pint glass over ice cubes. Garnish with lemon wedge. Makes 10 servings.

Sarah informs me that this week M. Wells adds pickled clams frozen in the ice cubes to the mix. This will add an entirely new dynamic to the drink as the ice melts. The diner will also add cocktail service from the folks behind nearby bar Dutch Kills.

*Got a cocktail question? Reach Fredo on twitter @loungerati, email me at fredo(at)loungerati(dot)com, or simply comment below!

**Fredo Ceraso is the editor-at-large of the lounge lifestyle blog Loungerati.com. He is head cocktailian and a co-producer of The Salon parties. Fredo is a member of the USBG New York chapter and rolls drinks at many Lounge, Swing, Jazz Age, & Burlesque events in New York City.

***Payman Bahmani will return in April for his weekly Happy Hour column and is honored to have Fredo tend the bar while away.

“Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”

“Certainly, monsieur.” The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

“Gosh, that’s certainly a drink,” said Leiter.

Bond laughed. “When I’m…er…concentrating,” he explained, “I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink’s my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I can think of a good name.”

—Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

James Bond could do many things exceptionally–and simultaneously–well. His ability to disarm a nuclear weapon while driving a stickshift Aston Martin down a narrow cliffside road at 100 mph while dodging machine gun fire from enemies in an approaching helicopter while simultaneously pleasuring a Bond girl in the passenger seat, all with nary a millimeter’s shift in the fold of his always crisp-white pocket square, has helped forge Bond’s image as the epitome of the fictionalized ideal man. If you’re an American male college grad looking to upgrade your game by learning the gentlemanly arts, chances are you’ve taken a few pointers from 007, be it his personal style, flair with the ladies, or cool temperament in sticky situations.

But of all the things Bond is emulated for, there’s one which leaves much to be desired: the way he took his cocktails. Sure, the man is to be commended for his willingness to consume high alcohol spirits while on a risky assignment. Hell, most people won’t even have a beer during lunch. And he’s also to be commended for being mindful about the types of drinks he enjoys depending on the occasion, time of day, etc. But his choice of cocktails, and particularly his preferred method of preparation, need not be emulated.

Take the ultra-dry, “shaken, not stirred” vodka Martini. Many serious cocktail drinkers (men and women) consider this a drink for pussies (in a previous post I mentioned how Bond’s preferred Martini has become the false standard bearer for Martini preparation). I mean, if you’re going to drink a Martini, then have a real one, with gin. When I’m behind the stick, not a night passes without at least one guy ordering an “ultra-dry, ice-cold vodka Martini, shaken,” in the most hyper-masculine voice he can muster. Unfortunately what he doesn’t realize–what they never realize–is that he’s basically asking for a flavorless, massively watered down beverage. I mean, do you really think your 10oz. steakhouse Martini glass is all liquor?

Now it’s been pointed out to me by my friend, style maven, cocktailian extroardinaire, blogger, and all around swell guy Fredo Ceraso of Loungerati that Bond’s drinking decisions were an elaborate part of his cover, and enabled him to blend in the scene while remaining alert enough to execute the mission. Most guys, however, are on a mission to get laid, and not commit espionage, so ordering Martinis a la Bond is just a foolish display of faux grown-upness, like the little girl who dresses in her mother’s oversized clothing and imagines herself as a grown woman in front of the mirror.

So you might be asking why I’m featuring one of Bond’s cocktails if I find them so disagreeable? The answer is that in the world of cocktails, minor adjustments can be the difference between the sublime and the second-rate, and that’s what I intend to show here.

007 eventually settled on the name Vesper for the cocktail he described, naming it after Bond girl Vesper Lynd. As it stands, it’s a recipe for a very dry and flat tasting drink. Sure you get flavor from gin, but the Lillet (which is not the same as the Kina Lillet asked for; Kina Lillet’s not been available for quite some time) is hardly noticeable. And then it’s shaken, which further waters down the drink and destroys the last thing the drink had going for it, it’s mouthfeel (texture).

Vesper
3 oz gin
1 oz vodka
1/2 oz Lillet Blonde (Kina Lillet’s no longer available; Cocchi Americano even better choice if you can get it)
lemon peel for garnish

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe or Martini glass and twist lemon peel over and into drink.

Now let’s set upon improving this drink. You could certainly start by stirring it instead of shaking, but we would still need to go further. David Wondrich, of Esquire magazine, recommends flipping the gin and vodka proportions, so that it’s 3 oz vodka to 1 oz gin. At first glance this seems counter-intuitive since we’re trying to bump up the character of this drink, not make it more bland by increasing the proportion of the most tame ingredient, the vodka. But Wondrich reasons that the gin tramples the Lillet, so switching the gin and vodka proportions allows the Lillet some room on stage to play out its role. After having tried this version, I still think it could be elevated a touch more by adding a few dashes of orange bitters. The bitters add much needed depth as they play up the gin and Lillet and give some backbone to the vodka.

Improved Vesper
3 oz vodka (I recommend Purity, a Swedish vodka made from winter wheat and barley)
1 oz gin (I recommend Beefeater Winter if you can get it)
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc (Cocchi Americano would be an even better option if available)
4 dashes Bitter Truth Orange Bitters
lemon peel for garnish

Stir! Stir! Stir ingredients in a mixing glass filled with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail coupe or Martini glass and twist lemon peel over and into drink.

It helps to use a vodka with some character, which is why I chose Purity. Karlsson’s is also a good choice but it’s potato-based, and Bond was actually onto something when he mentioned that a grain-based vodka would be slightly better in this cocktail. I also really like the unique botanicals in the new Beefeater Winter gin offering (cinnamon, nutmeg, pine, in addition to traditional juniper), which stands up excellently in this cocktail despite the single ounce portion.

Mais n’enculons pas des mouches.

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

As if little $1 yogurt cups of vodka to-go weren’t amazing enough, I have also found oversize ketchup type packets of vodka at corner stores in Tel Aviv! These are also $1 and will fit in by beach bag even easier. I just pick up a bottle of cold seltzer on my way down to the sand, and I’m all set!

One of the many funny little things I love about Israel is that in almost every convenient or corner store, you can find little cups of vodka to go. In the same place you would find your diet coke in the mini-fridge near the check-out, you will find these portable quadruple shots of vodka for 5 sheckles (about $1.25).

They come in the type of plastic cups with the peel back foil lids that you find on airplanes filled with water mid-flight. Amazing! ‘Sunset Beach Picnic’ just got a whole new meaning.

**Erin Gleeson is a photographer based in NYC, but she is spending a month this summer in Israel. She shoots food for magazines, newspapers and cookbooks and teaches photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. You can see more of her work at www.eringleeson.com

This past Sunday I had rare the opportunity–via my cocktail consulting and event company, Life’s a Cocktail–to use the power of mixology to help the forces of good, serving up cocktails in the name of marriage equality as a vendor in the first ever Illegal Wedding Fair.  The event was held in an amazing West Village townhouse called 632 on Hudson (which notably housed MTV’s Real World 2001 cast), and featured a number of other wedding vendors willing to take a stand on this pressing issue. 

Umamimart’s own Erin Gleeson and Vanessa Bahmani also pitched in on the effort, both as co-organizers of the event and as vendors via their wedding photography company, E & V Weddings, where they set up their signature wedding photo booth featuring a vintage turn-of-the-century 8×10 camera.

The massive townhouse venue also has a basement ”speakeasy” space, which is where I was assigned to dish out my drinks.  Although the lack of air conditioning in the basement made it feel hotter than the Devil’s ass crack, which in turn wreaked havoc on my ice, I still managed to turn out a couple of crowd pleasers. 

I created two cocktails specially for the event.  I called one the Summer of Love (above right, pink), made with fresh strawberry-rhubarb puree, vodka, and seltzer.  The other I named the Gay Hemingway (above left, light golden color), which was a marriage equality-inspired variation on the Hemingway Daiquiri. It consists of vodka, fresh grapefruit juice, Lillet, apricot liqueur, and honey.  Initially my idea was to use a light rum in the Gay Hemingway, like the Hemingway Daiquiri itself, but Absolut was kind enough to sponsor with some bottles, so a switch was made at the last minute–and luckily, it worked fine.

Summer of Love
1 oz vodka
1  1/2 oz strawberry-rhubarb puree (recipe provided below)
1/2 barspoon fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 tsp)
seltzer to top

Combine the puree and vodka in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake hard and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Top with seltzer and stir. Serve with a straw if you have one on hand.

Strawberry-rhubarb puree
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, stemmed
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup boiling water
4 stalks rhubarb, sliced about 1/4-1/2 inch thick
1/4 tsp almond extract

Place strawberries, brown sugar, boiling water, and almond extract in a blender and puree until smooth and combined.  Pour into a square baking dish and add the rhubarb, stirring to assure even distribution.  Bake uncovered at 300˚ for about 40 minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes to make sure the rhubarb cooks evenly.  Once the rhubarb has softened, remove from the oven and puree in a blender.  At this point you can allow the puree to cool and use as is (which is what I did) or strain it if you prefer a thinner consistency.

Gay Hemingway
2 oz vodka (can also be made with a light rum)
1 oz fresh grapefruit juice
3/4 oz Lillet Blanc
1/4 oz apricot liqueur (I used Rothman & Winters brand)
1/4 oz honey syrup (2 parts honey diluted in 1 part water)

Combine ingredients in an ice-filled shaker. Shake it like big Papa’s belly on a boat during a hurricane. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass and enjoy. Then do as Hemingway would and have about 16 more.

Every now and then you’re fortunate enough to be a part of an event that matters beyond the dollars and cents, and this was one of those opportunities. And regardless of whether actual political change was made (it wasn’t), it was no less refreshing to see other like-minded businesses using their enterprise as a tool for progress.  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.

**Photo credits: Erin Gleeson Photography and E&V Wedding Photography

Photos by Mike Brandeberry and Kayoko Akabori.

‘Tis true: there lives a kickass distillery named St. George Spirits, just east of San Francisco, right across the Bay Bridge, in a little town that bleeds into Oakland, called Alameda, in California.

A group of us went a few weeks ago and experienced it in all its glory– we learned about St. George whiskeys, eau de vies (fruit brandy), absinthe and their line of Hangar One vodkas. What an amazing afternoon! By far the most educational Umamiventure yet.

St. George started in Emeryville in the 80s before moving to Alameda. They occupied a spot on the reputable Rosenblum Cellars Winery estate down the street and then eventually moved into their current home, which is an old Naval Air Base. That in itself was reason to visit– the space is so industrial and sexy, with clear views of the city right across the water. Bay Area Holler!

YOKO
Going to St. George Spirits for my first Umamiventure in the U.S. was like having a morning cup of coffee on a clear sunny day. It was a perfect beginning for many Umamiventures to come.

Getting to the distillery was a bit of a challenge, but luckily I didn’t give up. Truthfully, I have never been a real vodka fan so when I got slightly lost on the way to St. George, I asked myself ,”Is this really worth it?” But as soon as I saw the faces of fellow Umami-ers, I felt a huge sigh of comfort.

KAYOKO
Yoko, thank god you made it. You would’ve been so sad for missing it!

KAYOKO
I made a reservation for ten of us for the tasting, which started at noon. The woman I spoke with on the phone, Andy, was so hilarious and accommodating that I knew we were guaranteed a great time. You need to call in advance for large groups, so make sure to do that.

JAMES
The tasting room was lively, but also relaxed.

KAYOKO
A flight of 12 tastings is only $10. TWELVE! That is more than generous. If you want to try the absinthe, it’s $15. Definitely do the absinthe.

We tried two fruit brandies (aka eau de vie); five vodkas (St. George distills vodka under the name Hangar One); one whiskey; two tea liqueurs (under the name Qi); and two more fruit liqueurs. They use organic fruits for all their infusions, which they seep into the alcohol for anywhere between a few weeks, to months, depending on what is being distilled.

The tasting room is set up with bars across both sides of the room. We got our very own bartendress, Sasha, who was so informative and took us through each tasting, explaining the distillation process and answering all our random questions (like, what the hell is an eau de vie???). So special.

IDO
Our booze-vixen Sasha was delightful, pouring perfect pours (and splashing liquor and water all over the place!).

My favorites of the tastings? Straight vodka. Buddha’s Hand Citron infused, and maybe the Pear eau de vie.

YOKO
The eau de vies and vodkas were a treat, but I am not sure if I would get hooked. Some were a bit too sweet for my taste (i.e. the Mandarin Blossom). But our bartender, Sasha, was great and she explained to us what a Buddha’s Hand was, in addition to the amount of fruit it took to make one bottle of Fruit-Infused vodka. Although I wasn’t crazy about the vodka, they earn mucho points for their passion in the production and serving process.

ENRIC
The eau de vies were very pop and likeable– almost like a mosto in terms of thickness and sweetness but with a subtle alcohol punch that I can imagine can work quite well on a hangover day.

KAYOKO
The Buddha’s Hand-infused vodka was so tart and sharp. The fruit is basically all rind, so it cuts right into your mouth, but not in any over-powering way. It was subtly sweet, with a unique citrus distinction.

ENRIC
I personally liked more the vodkas with citrus rather than the berry-based (except the kaffir lime vodka which was too in your face).

KAYOKO
Agreed, Enric– the lime one was just too potent. I actually use it at the bar at my work, and it really overwhelms all other flavors in anything you add to it.

Like Ido, among my favorites was the straight vodka. It was so dangerously sippable! I know Paystyle calls vodka the illegitimate, bi-racial stepchild of the liquor world, but I could definitely get used to drinking this straight, or on the rocks.

JAMES
I enjoyed the range of vodka that was offered, the infusions were remarkable. I wish maybe they had something to eat to cleanse the palette between tastings though.

LIZ
First of all I would like to give vodka two thumbs up. Oh, vodka you are always so good to me and hardly ever leave me with a hangover! I especially liked tasting the fruit brandies and infused vodkas here. They were really good.

YOKO
My favorite drink was their single malt whiskey. I never thought I was a whiskey fan, but this blew me away. The smell of the casks released themselves in my nasal and throat passages — it was unlike any whiskey I have had. Maybe it was the freshness? Maybe it was because they distill them in such small batches? I am certainly not a whiskey-aholic, so although I don’t know much about it, I just knew this was rocking my taste buds. Apparently, the oak casks lend an aroma of vanilla and cocoa to the whiskey, respectively.

YOKO
By this point, my Asian face was turning similar in color to the Fraser River Raspberry eau de vie we had a few tastings ago. But never mind, I was going to finish my whiskey, dammit! The golden, deep, swirly liquid was definitely something I was getting lost in, as I was staring into the last drops of my serving, wondering “how much is this stuff?” I soon knew the answer as I wandered into the check-in area where they had a 750ml bottle of it selling for $60. Steep (but understandable).

KAYOKO
I too, was super bummed when I saw the pricetag for this whiskey. I will need to save my pennies so I can get myself a bottle soon.

ENRIC
Loved the black tea liqueur: had way more attitude than the meh-too-subtle white tea liqueur.

IDO
It was nice that, unlike wine tastings that are all about subtlety, these were punchy, in-your-face-flavors. You either like ‘em or you don’t.

KAYOKO
ABSINTHE!

KAYOKO
St. George was the first distillery in the U.S. to start making absinthe when it was first re-legalized. It tasted of potent herbs and the drinkability really delighted me. It numbed my mouth! Sasha suggested that we wait for the ice to melt a little, so the absinthe can expand and grow. Watch how the liquid goes from clear to foggy, and the particles moving, dissolving, and evolving. It’s chemistry in action!

IDO
I might have included the absinthe in “likes,” but I didn’t get to enjoy the whole glass (driver).

KAYOKO
The tasting lasted an hour, with the tour promptly following at 1pm. Suddenly, about 50 people flooded in, and we spent the next hour being ridiculously entertained and schooled by our guide Andy. She was by far the best part of the entire afternoon– wicked smart, witty, hilarious. And HOT! Loved this girl.

ENRIC
Loved the vodka-vixen attitude. Very tongue-in-cheek and such a refreshing change from boring wine tours. Racier comments, more tight black pants, more non-PC drunkard culture, more WTF.

KAYOKO
Andy with the distillery guardian, the shark from the movie Deep Blue Sea. Oy.

Where all the distillation happens. Intensification columns and its short and stubby Oompah Loompah counterpart.

Whiskey, bourbon, ports. Aging is a beautiful thing.

Bottling machine.

LIZ
This place rocks. It was way out in Alameda but it was really cool to see where everything is made. The distillery is actually a LOT smaller than I expected it to be. They seem to run a pretty tight ship though.

IDO
A rockin’ Umamiventure it was. How the hell’d they end up with a hangar on the water? I want one too!

KAYOKO
Thanks everyone for coming out! What a fantastic event, worth going again and again for the tasting and tour. I highly recommend to everyone to try to do their tasting BEFORE the tour. I was adverse to the idea at first, but the tasting room was WAY more mellow than the state it was in when we were leaving the tour.

Special thanks to Andy and Sasha from St. George– you made the day so special!

ST. GEORGE SPIRITS
2601 Monarch Street
Alameda, CA
Main: 510.769.1601
Tasting Room: 510.864.0635
Tasting Room open Wednesday-Saturday, noon-7pm, Sunday noon-6pm
Distillery tours every Saturday and Sunday at 1pm

*Umamiventures are organized monthly, traveling far and wide to find good, cheap grub off the beaten path. Umamiventure #23 will be at Sammy’s in NYC on Sat. 2/20. Please come out!

**Become a Facebook Fan of UM 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

It’s mid-January and by this point many of you are off to the races as far as your resolutions are concerned. You’ve detoxed, cleaned up your diet, and are hitting the gym as frequently as a Playboy bunny who’s about to be cut from the squad.

However if you’re like me, 2010 didn’t really start off with a sprint to the gym, but rather a slow crawl to the yack-box. In fact I’m already breaking a resolution to not blog at work. And if you really are like me, and you don’t care too much for colonics and kale and banana smoothies, but want to feel like you’re at least taking some steps in the right direction to renew and rejuvenate your body, then I have the perfect elixir for you.

It’s called The Detox, and with it’s potent yet tasty blend of vodka, lemon juice, honey, rosemary, and chiles, it’s sure to kill any toxins (even the good ones) living inside you, and it tastes good to boot. Best of all you won’t need a yoga mat nor a gym membership. All you’ll need are a few key ingredients and your trusty cocktail shaker–and how often has your shaker, under my steady guidance, steered you wrong? Riddle me that if you will.

The Detox
2 oz vodka (I used Martin Ryan)
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz honey-rosemary syrup (see recipe near bottom of this post)
dash cayenne pepper
For the rim: cayenne, puebla chile powder, and date sugar (recipe below)

Glass: cocktail glass
Tools: shaker, strainer

Rub a lemon slice along the outer rim of the cocktail glass and dip it in the chile and date sugar mixture. Pour the other ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain, enjoy, and repeat until your system is fully cleansed.

To make the rim mixture simply blend together 3-4 tbsp date sugar (found at most health food stores) with 1 tsp puebla chile powder and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. If you’re spice averse you can exclude the cayenne pepper on the rim, since there’ll already be a dash of it in the cocktail.

Although I am not a vodka hater, in the world of craft mixology vodka is often treated worse than a biracial illegitimate stepchild. However I chose vodka in this cocktail for many of the same reasons it is hated: its purity and lack of dominating flavor which enable it to act more as a blank canvass in a cocktail than as a flavor component. I used Martin Ryan vodka because unlike most vodkas which have their souls distilled out of them, this still retains a bit of the spirit and essence of its origin distillate base, Oregon grapes.

So who needs all those new age detox diets and such when you have so many cleansing botanicals in one cocktail, right? Here’s to a starting the year on a healthy note. 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!

**Paystyle was born in Tehran and grew up in Los Angeles (aka Tehrangeles) before moving to Brooklyn with his wife and co-pilot Vanessa Bahmani who provides the stunning photography of Pay’s cocktail concoctions. Return every Wednesday for his weekly Happy Hour column.

Perhaps you were thinking that the cocktails presented here in Happy Hour are too fussy. And perchance you wondered if there are drinks you could make that could astonish your tastebuds without inducing exhaustion from the process. You do, after all, have lots to do until the end of the year–plan the Thanks-stealing menu, prepare the food, tidy up the home for the guests, do your gift shopping, etc, etc, etc.

Well sometimes those same thoughts cross my mind as well. To that end, I thought this week would be a great opportunity to share some drink recipes that pair wonderfully with your dearth of free time–drinks I created that are simple combos of a soda and a spirit. A couple of them are so simple that you could let your guests make their own while you do your thing in the kitchen, and a couple involve just a little more prep time (but still not much) if you find yourself up for it.

And you need not worry about measuring with too much precision either, as all the recipes call for the amount of spirits you find most suitable–for me about an ounce of liquor does it, as I like to keep them light and refreshing. Best of all you won’t need any shakers or other paraphernalia other than something to stir with. Just remember to use quality sodas (no artificial flavors, colors, or corn syrup).

Grape & Grain (above left)
Rye whiskey (Old Overholt is a great inexpensive choice)
Grape soda (used Fizzy Lizzy)

Fill highball glass with ice and pour in the whiskey. Top with the soda and give a light stir.

It’s really amazing how the rye and grape soda combine in this drink to produce the distinct flavor of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on rye bread. You really have to try it for yourself.

The Double Apple (above right)
Laird’s Applejack
Apple soda (Fizzy Lizzy or Martinelli’s sparkling cider works well)
Fee Brothers Rhubarb Bitters

Fill highball glass with ice and pour in the applejack. Add a dash of the bitters, top with soda, and lightly stir.

Caribbean Cherry (above right)
Anejo rum (El Dorado 15 Yr is magnificent here)
Cherry soda (used Sparkling Italian Cherry soda from Whole Foods’ 365 brand)
Splash of lime juice

You know the drill by now. Rum to taste and soda to top. Don’t forget the splash of fresh lime.

Although you can use a light rum, a quality aged rum like El Dorado 15 takes the drink into another stratosphere. Equally important is the soda you use–as with all the recipes here–as the flavor of real cherry juice is essential.

Improved Greyhound (above left)
Vodka
Grapefruit soda (Fizzy Lizzy makes a great unsweetened soda)
Rosemary-honey syrup (recipe below)
Fee Brothers Grapefruit Bitters

Same routine as above with the addition of 1/2 ounce of rosemary-honey syrup and a dash of the bitters.

This is the fanciest that it gets, which is not really fancy at all. The rosemary-honey syrup recipe below takes about 15 minutes to make, as you’ll see below. And you can batch everything except the soda ahead of time for easy service for guests.

Rosemary-honey syrup
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup honey
3-4 tablespoons dried rosemary

Put rosemary and water in small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain out the rosemary and mix the honey with the water until completely diluted. Pour into a bottle and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

These drinks are all essentially highballs, which are basically drinks comprised of a spirit and a mixer (traditionally soda water). They are simple recipes with big rewards. They allow you to create intriguing flavor combinations in a short of amount of time, and will have your guests regarding you as a mixological wiz in the process.

Nowadays there are so many new, interesting flavors of artisinal sodas on the market that you can easily come up with a combination of your own. Besides, it’s high time your soda received a serious upgrade, and trust me your guests and your tastebuds will both be thankful for it. 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!

**Paystyle was born in Tehran and grew up in Los Angeles (aka Tehrangeles) before moving to Brooklyn with his wife and co-pilot Vanessa Bahmani who provides the stunning photography of Pay’s cocktail concoctions. Return every Wednesday for his weekly Happy Hour column.