Big Start to 2014

Hello everyone!!

Took some time off from working and writing, but I would like to say Happy New Year from DrinkxXx On Me!!!

So I have some goals for myself in thus new year and one is to bring you all a blog post every day, starting today. Whether its Lifestyle, drink reviews, spirit reviews, some of my adventures in this crazy hospitality that I work in, or just if I want to shoot the Sh*t with all of my readers, you will all get something alcohol related from me. So GET READY!!

But with that being said, its been a hectic couple weeks in 2014 so far ni the liquor world. 2 BIG acquisitions happened in the first 14 days of 2014.

For one Sean "Diddy"Combs, the man behind the emergence of Ciroc, has partnered 50/50 with Diaego to acquire Deleon Tequila. Diddy is a master at marketing and getting the most out of his products. He puts his name on it and its golden. And Diageo, well, no words need be spoken about them. The strong Distribution, and access to influencers (like Combs) and marketing makes them a formidable team to push Deleon to the top of the tequila charts in 2014. Deleon is a 100% Blue agave tequila. Deleon was created in 2008, and hit the US market on Cinco De Mayo 2009. Its expressions are as follows, Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, Extra Anejo, and Leona. I'm looking forward to trying it, creating some cocktails and giving all of you a nice
review.

And just when the news of Diddy, started to quiet down, then a HUGE announcement came across all of our social media platforms...
Japan's Suntory ( which boasted the likes of Bowmore scotch and Yamazaki Japanese Whiskey) now has acquired Beam, Inc for a whopping price of $13.6 Billion dollars. Now nothing says America more than some good ol bourbon but now, 2 of the most recognizable names in whiskey, Jim Beam and Makers Mark will belong to a Japanese owner. Along with those brands, in this deal,  Suntory will have, most notably Courvoisier, Laphroaig,  and Knob Creek.

So its been some big moves made in the spirits biz to start the year off.. Cant wait to see what the rest of 2014 brings!! See you tomorrow with a product review of Wilks and Wilson, LLC..

Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist

5 Tips for gifts to give the Bartender that you love

HOLIDAY SEASON is in a full swing now, we are about 2 weeks away from Christmas, and while the bars are heating up with guests, us bartenders LOVE to receive gifts as well! So here is my top 5 gifts for the season for the bartender in your life... (hint, if anyone wants to get me any of these, Ill gladly accept)



1. Illegal Mezcal Barrel Aging Gift Set
This gift set includes 3 bottles (750ml) of Illegal Mezcal Joven, a 3 liter barrel, Barrel Aging instructions and a cocktail booklet.
http://www.drinkupny.com/Ilegal_Mezcal_Barrel_Aging_Gift_Set_p/d0022.htm


2. Cocktail Books! Who doesn't love a great read on these cold winter nights. While there are many many worthy publications, the one that stands out this season is one of the new kids on the block, " Apothecary Cocktails- Restorative Drinks from Yesterday and Today" by Author, and good friend of mine Warren Bobrow.  This cocktail book features 75 traditional and newly created cocktail recipes that are medicinally themed.
http://www.amazon.com/Apothecary-Cocktails-Restorative-Drinks-Yesterday/dp/1592335845


3. What bartender doesn't love new shiny things?? Be sure to check out Cocktail Kingdom for all your favorite bartenders new tools, toys, and gadgets!! My personal favorites, the Yarai Mixing Glass, the Copper collection, the silver collection, and the wide array of bitters bottles.
http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/


4.  The GEAR!!! We all like to look nice, especially behind the bar looking approachable and neat is a must. And the Chef wear brand  keeps myself and hundreds of my counterparts looking mighty dapper. If you act now, they are doing free shipping for a limited time..
http://www.chefwear.com/index.asp


5.  AND the one thing that you can always get your favorite bartender for the holidays, "drum roll"...... SPIRITS!!!! Its a wide array of tasty spirits for that bartender that you love, but for some of us who are whiskey lovers, I was doing a little research and found a gem of a Japanese whiskey that just hit the states. Hakushu Heavily Peated is now available, and is different from the Hakushu 12 year that has been available for awhile now. After reading the review on Men's Journal, this seems like it will be on the wish list of Scotch whiskey lovers all over!
http://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/drinks/japans-subtle-peaty-whiskey-20131204


So hopefully these tips will help you find something for the drink slinger in your life, and if not maybe you found something for yourself!!

Be sure to watch our posts starting tomorrow where the " 12 days of Christmas" cocktail series will start. This will be a fun Boozy time!!!

Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist

New Cocktail-- Blood on the Leaves

The Blood and Sand cocktail was a classic cocktail created in the 1920s. It was a scotch cocktail with Cherry Heering, sweet vermouth, and Orange juice. It was aptly named after Rudolph Valentino's bullfighter movie Blood and Sand. Its one of my favorite cocktails, but I thought about doing a twist on it with Pama Liqueur. Pama Liqueur is a liqueur that consists of Pomegranate liqueur, vodka, and a touch of tequila. Its bottled at 34 proof so it can be an essential modifier in a wide array of cocktails

So I been playing around with it and I came up with this very tasty riff on the classic Blood and Sand....

Blood on the Leaves

Blood On the Leaves

1oz Pama Pomegranate Liqueur
.75oz Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel
.5oz Coochi Americano
.5oz Passion Fruit juice
.25oz Mint Syrup
2 dashes Bitter Truth Creole Bitters

Combine all Ingredients in a shaker, shake hard and strain into a chilled cocktial glass.

So next time you get yourself a bottle of Pama, try this cocktail out and let me know what you think...

Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist

A Perfectly Scary Cocktail

Since its Halloween I decided to share with all of you one of my favorite "spooky" cocktails.. I don't  celebrate the holiday but if I had to pick out one drink to enjoy today it would be the Corpse Reviver 2.

Great Classic cocktail that was originally meant to be a hangover cure( along with its predecessor the Corpse Reviver, which is a Cognac based cocktail.) in a sense to "Revive the body" after a long night of drinking. Its a very delicate blend of a Botanical spirit, Fortified wine, citrus, Orange and Absinthe liqueurs. So imagine how this drink will attack every part of your palette. This is one of my favorite cocktails and is considered a "Classic Cocktail" So without any further adieu, I give you my version of the  Corpse Reviver 2.

Corpse Reviver 2

1oz Few Spirits Gin
1oz Lillet Blanc
1oz Cointreau
1oz Fresh lemon Juice
Absinthe Wash
Cherry Garnish

Combine all ingredients in a shaker glass. Shake hard for 15-20 seconds.  Wash your glass with 2 or 3 drops of absinthe( St. George Spirits Brand preferred). Swirl it around, then strain your cocktail into the glass. And Garnish with a cocktail cherry.



So while most tonight will be enjoying candy and scary movies, Ill be in my kitchen making a few of these and enjoying a quiet evening at home. This honestly to me is one of the perfect cocktails to be used as an aperitif, or a before dinner drink. It really is smooth, elegant, and wakes up your palette.  You should make yourself one and tweet of Instagram your cocktail with the hash tag #DrinkOneTeachOne to @MrMixologist and let me know how it turns out..

Until Next time
Mr.Mixologist

Top 10 moments of Portland Cocktail Week

Portland Cocktail Week.... 1 word. WOW!!! I spent some of last week in the state of Oregon with about 200 other bartenders from all over the country. This was a great event to learn, associate, drink( we are bartenders) and generally remember why we chose this profession. This was my second time at PDXCW and this event has really set the bar for events in the future. So instead of just giving you a long recap of the entire week, I want to share with all of you my personal Top 10 moments from the week. Some will have visuals included.. Well the visuals that i can share.. lol

So here we go....

10. Winning 2nd Place in the Templeton Rye Shoes and Cue Horseshoe tournament.
Never played Horseshoes before, but drank plenty of Templeton and myself and my teammate Toki made it to the finals.

9. Swig and Swine 2013
The Bon Vivants did it again!! Always a great party, always for a good cause. Trashcan punch and plenty of Pig. AND all proceeds go to charity. I think Im going to gather all my Pig and Punch and Swig an swine t-shirts and have them framed.

8. Hale Pele
No other words be spoken.. Great Tiki Bar in Portland run by my main man Jesse Card.


7. Education
2 days, 8 classes. lots and lots of information. My course was "Beyond the Bar" TOok classes on sponsorship, Brand Ambassadorship, Dealing with the Press, Making cocktials on Camera, just to name a few.

6. Hennessy Dinner
The Uptown Billards Club was turned into the Hennessy House for the evening, where my Bar Major group enjoyed a 4 course meal paired with 4 cocktails made with the different expressions of Hennessy Cognac.

5. Rum Club shenanigans
Hanging with my "Superfriends" group of bartenders. the 6 of us shut down this great Portland cocktail bar 2 nights in a row. Thank you rto Adam and the rest of the team there for the cocktails.

4. Bar Mashup
1 night, 4 bars. We traveled by limo and Party bus between 4 bars in one night. Oven & Shaker, InterUrban, Hale Pele, and St. George Mobile Libation laboratory. Not to mention we shut down Rum Club after... EPIC night!!

3. Man I love them Strippers
 Im sure we paid a few ladies college tution over the past week, lol and I wont name names but we sure enjoyed our after school wind down time at Union Jacks, Sassy's and Mary's to name a few....


2. Field Trip Day
On the 3rd day we all had field trips to choose from. Mine was sponsored by Talisker and I had the opportunity to learn how to navigate and sail a sailboat. A once in a lifetime opportunity and I truly enjoyed being out on the water for 3 hours watching fighter jets fly above, and sailed right into Mount Hood. A religious experience

AND THE NUMBER 1 MOMENT OF THE WEEK WAS..............................

1. Murray Stenson
We had a service class and Mr. Murray Stenson was once of the speakers. If you don't know who he is, google him. He is a very instrumental person in the service industry and he got a standing ovation upon walking up to the podium. I even got the opportunity to chop it up with him for a moment and felt like I knew him forever. Great, GREAT person.


So that didn't even begin to touch how great of a week I had, or even all the things we did., This was just a few of the highlights for myself that stood out. I cant wait until next year to go back again.. Cheers to everyone I met last week and to my old friends who reconnected with me. I cant wait to see you all again!


Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist

Cocktail Thought of the Day- National Vodka Day

Welp, its here. October 4th is National Vodka Day. So to all you Vodka lovers out there I raise my glass to all of you. Let's celebrate early, and celebrate often today. For some of my readers that are just discovering Vodka, I'll share with you a few tidbits and Vodka facts that you might not have known. I know  you probably thinking Vodka is easy, Vodka is a spirit that isn't that complex, but its the opposite. Vodka is labeled as a neutral grain spirit because the process of making it is fermenting and distilling grain which could be a myriad of things including Potato, Rye,  and Wheat. One of the most popular Vodka's today, Ciroc, is distilled from Grapes which makes its taste very distinct. Vodka is usually distilled a minimum of 3 times, and in some cases I've seen Vodka's distilled 10 times and more. Now once its distilled, the filtration process begins, most of the time thru Charcoal. Now Vodka requires no aging process and is ready to drink, BUT you still have to add water to bring it down to a bottling  proof. Most vodkas are bottled at 80 proof, which translates to 40% ABV, or Alcohol by Volume.


Now the fun thing about Vodka is, while it really doesn't have a certain taste( I tend to joke with my clients that  Vodka is the cocktail world's whore, it just goes with everything.. hahaha... but I digress) but each brand of Vodka has some little nuisances and subtleties about them. Here are some of the tastes I got from some of the most popular vodkas on the market today, and while I'm not a big Vodka guy I own all of these in my home bar/lab....Needless to say its been a great day in the lab tasting spirits. I must say this, when you taste you might get some different flavors. I learned from the great Steve Olsen, that when you are tasting spirits, there really isn't a wrong answer. Everyone's palate is different, some mature, some not, and everyone will pull something different out of what we are tasting.

• Belvedere- Citrus, a little Vanilla, Melon, Cherry
• Hangar One- I get all citrus.. Orange, Lime, Lemon. But a smooth clean taste
• Absolut- Dried fruit, and very Floral. 
• Square One- 1 word.. Delicious. Made from organic Rye so very rich and full, spicy,dried fruit, and earthy
• Ciroc- Smooth clean taste,  and grape

Vodka is still the worlds most popular spirit, with over 200 different brands and more and more popping up everyday. And we haven't even touched on the countless flavored vodkas that are on the market. But for today we are just going to celebrate the essence of pure Vodka. So go out today and get yourself a Martini, Moscow Mule, or a Vodka/Tonic and enjoy what truly is a great spirit...

Cheers,

Until Next Time

Mr.Mixologist

Chicago Independent Spirits Expo

Happy Thursday folks! I'm just climbing out of bed after a WONDERFUL night at the Independent Spirits Expo at the Chicago Hilton last night. All I can say is wow. A fun night filled with tasting some excellent spirits, and chatting it up with some of the industries finest. 

Last years event had 80 suppliers and over 400 independent and artisan spirits from all over the world. This years was no different  I tasted thru the entire event and was pleased with everything I was able to sample. From some of my favorite spirits, Like Few Whiskey, ANYTHING from the St. George portfolio, Diplomatico, and Del Maguey, to some newer brands that I haven't had the opportunity to try. 

One standout to me was the Barrel Aged Gin from Smooth Ambler Spirits. WOW is all I can say.  Their Barrel aged gin uses their award winning Greenbrier Gin as the base distillate and is aged 3 months in Oak barrels. This is a complete sipper. To me, it still tastes like a London Dry Gin but I get some peppery notes on the finish so it feels like a Rye whiskey. So my palate was very happy with this spirit!  Check out the video of the distillery here: 

Also at this years indie spirits expo was the authors round table  and my good friend Mr. Warren Bobrow was one of the speakers. Warren has been featured on this blog in the past and now my main man is releasing his 1st cocktail book, "Apothecary Cocktails: Restorative Drinks from Yesterday and Today." Had the opportunity to have some conversations with my friend this week and even got to thumb thru the book as well. Needless to say this is not just a cocktail book. Back at the turn of the century, most would go to their local apothecary and would get prescribed something herbal that includes some sort of spirit for all your ailments. Without giving to much of the book away, there are some great recipes in there that were used for Medicinal purposes. It will be a must own for anyone in our industry and for cocktail enthusiasts as well.  You can pre-order this book by following this link...  http://www.qbookshop.com/products/212140/9781592335848/Apothecary-Cocktails.html


So to all that was able to experience the Indie Spirits Expo, I'm glad to have ran into you and we all had a good time. To any who missed it, DO NOT MISS NEXT YEAR!! 

Cheers,

Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist