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The Cocktail Chronicles: Navigating the Cocktail Renaissance with Jigger, Shaker & Glass
Di Paul Clarke
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The cocktail seemed an unlikely candidate to start either a revolution or a renaissance, but somehow over the past decade it has managed to become the center of both. After being off the radar for half a century, the crafted cocktail is now celebrated everywhere from the corner bar to week-long festivals that draw thousands. As fascinating as today’s artisan-driven or tech-savvy craft-cocktail bars can be, there’s also a need for cocktail comfort food—exciting drinks easily prepared by non-professionals that have the benefit of being delicious. Written by Paul Clarke, the executive editor of Imbibe, with a foreword by Jim Meehan, The Cocktail Chronicles is an enlightening field guide to the cocktail renaissance. It’s not a lab manual for taking the cocktail experience to a molecular level; nor is it an historical thesis tracing the forebears who mixed the drinks we enjoy today. Instead, The Cocktail Chronicles is mixology for the masses. It’s a collection of approachable and easily replicable drinks that all share the same thing: a common deliciousness and a key role—fully explained in Clarke’s engaging manner—in the ongoing and thriving cocktail renaissance.
Azioni libro
Inizia a leggereInformazioni sul libro
The Cocktail Chronicles: Navigating the Cocktail Renaissance with Jigger, Shaker & Glass
Di Paul Clarke
Descrizione
The cocktail seemed an unlikely candidate to start either a revolution or a renaissance, but somehow over the past decade it has managed to become the center of both. After being off the radar for half a century, the crafted cocktail is now celebrated everywhere from the corner bar to week-long festivals that draw thousands. As fascinating as today’s artisan-driven or tech-savvy craft-cocktail bars can be, there’s also a need for cocktail comfort food—exciting drinks easily prepared by non-professionals that have the benefit of being delicious. Written by Paul Clarke, the executive editor of Imbibe, with a foreword by Jim Meehan, The Cocktail Chronicles is an enlightening field guide to the cocktail renaissance. It’s not a lab manual for taking the cocktail experience to a molecular level; nor is it an historical thesis tracing the forebears who mixed the drinks we enjoy today. Instead, The Cocktail Chronicles is mixology for the masses. It’s a collection of approachable and easily replicable drinks that all share the same thing: a common deliciousness and a key role—fully explained in Clarke’s engaging manner—in the ongoing and thriving cocktail renaissance.
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The Cocktail Chronicles - Paul Clarke
THE 
COCKTAIL
CHRONICLES
NAVIGATING THE COCKTAIL RENAISSANCE
WITH JIGGER, SHAKER & GLASS
PAUL CLARKE
Foreword by Jim Meehan
Text © 2015 by Paul Clarke
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electric or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
Publisher: Paul McGahren
Editor: Matthew Teague
Art Director: Lindsay Hess
Illustrator: Andrew Vastagh
Layout: Maura Zimmer
Copyeditor: Kerri Grzybicki
Spring House Press
3613 Brush Hill Court
Nashville, TN 37216
ISBN: 978-1-940611-17-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015941304
Printed in the United States
First Printing: June 2015
The following manufacturers/names appearing in The Cocktail Chronicles are trademarks:
A. Monteaux, Aalborg, Abbott’s bitters, Absinthe Marteau, Absolut, Adam Elmegirab, Al Wadi, Alberta Distillers, Amargo Chunco, Amaro Averna, Amaro Montenegro, Amaro Nonino, Amer Picon, Anchor Distilling Junipero, Angostura 1919 rum, Angostura bitters, Anis del Mono, Aperol, Appleton Estate Signature Blend, Ardbeg, Atsby, Auchentoshan, Averna, Aveze, Aviation Gin, Avuá, Aylesbury Duck, B.G. Reynolds, Bacardi 8, Bacardi Superior, Banks 5 Island, Banks 7 Golden Age, Barbancourt, Barsol, Becherovka, Beefeater, Bénédictine, Benton’s bacon, Big Gulp, Bigallet China-China Amer, Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters, Bittermens Amer Nouvelle, Bittermens Amère Sauvage, Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub, Bittermens Xocolatl Molé bitters, Black Grouse, Blenheim, Blue Bottle, Blue Gin, Boker’s Bitters, Bols, Bonal Gentiane-Quina, Bonzer, Booker’s, Boulard, Branca Menta, Braulio, Briottet, Buffalo Trace, Bulleit, Bundaberg, Bushmills, Busnel, Byrrh, Campari, Campo de Encanto, Caña Brava, Carpano Antica Formula, Chairman’s Reserve, Chartreuse, Chateau du Breuil Fine Calvados, Chef’n FreshForce, Chichicapa, Christian Drouin, Cinzano, Citadelle, Clear Creek Distillery, Coca-Cola, Cocchi Aperitivo Americano, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, Cockspur, Cocktail Kingdom, Cointreau, Combier Liquer d’Orange, Compass Box’s Asyla, Crème Yvette, Cruzan Single Barrel Rum, Cuisinart, Cynar, Daiquiri Dude, Dale DeGroff, Del Maguey’s Chichicapa, Del Maguey’s Vida, Demerara rum, Denny’s, Diep 9, Dolin, Don Julio, Drambuie, Dubonnet, Edouard, El Dorado, El Jolgorio, Emile Pernot Vieux Pontarlier, Evan Williams, Facebook, Famous Grouse, Fee Brothers, Fee Brothers Orange Bitters, Fernet-Branca, Fever Tree, Fidencio, Flor de Caña, Ford’s Gin, Fortaleza, Forty Creek, Four Roses Yellow Label, Germain-Robin, Giffard, Giffard’s Abricot du Roussillon, Giffard’s Triple Sec, Gran Classico, Great King Street, Green Spot, Hamilton’s Jamaican Pot Still Black Rum, Hamilton’s rum, Hangar One, Havana Club, Hayman’s, Hayman’s Old Tom, Hendrick’s Gin, Herbsaint, Hidalgo, Highland Park, Highland Park 12, Hine and Hardy, House Spirits, Huber’s Starlight Distillery, Imbibe, Imbue, Imbue Petal & Thorn, iPad, iPhone, Jack Rudy Cocktail Co., Jack Rudy Tonic Syrup, Jade, Jägermeister, Jameson, Jarritos, Jim Beam Distillery, Karlsson’s, Knob Creek, Kold-Draft, Krogstad Festlig Aquavit, Kronan Swedish Punsch, Kuhn Rikon, La Favorite, Laird’s 100-proof, Laird’s Applejack, Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, Laphroaig, Larceny, Leblon, Lillet blanc, Linie, Louis Royer Force 53, Lustau, Luxardo, M&Ms, Macchu Pisco, Maker’s Mark, Maraska, Marie Duffau Napoleon Bas Armagnac, Martell VSOP, Martin Miller’s, Martini & Rossi, Martin’s Index of Cocktails & Mixed Drinks, Metrokane, Mezcal Vida, Milky Way, MixologyTech, Mrs. Butterworth’s, Neisson, No. 3 Gin, Noilly Prat, North Shore Distillery’s Private Reserve Aquavit, Nouveaux Orleans, Novo Fogo, Nux Alpina, Ojen, Old Ballard Liquor Company, Old Grand Dad, Old Overholt, Olmeca Altos, OXO, Pacifique, Pall Mall, Peach Street Distillers, Pedro Ximenez sherry, Percocet, Pernod, Peter Heering Cherry Liqueur, Petite Canne, Peychaud’s bitters, Pierde Almas, Pierre Ferrand, Pierre Ferrand 1840, Pierre Ferrand Ambre, Pisco Porton, Plantation, Plantation 3 Stars, Plymouth, Plymouth Gin, Plymouth Navy Strength, Plymouth sloe gin, Polarfleece, Powers, Prosecco, PUG Muddlers, Punt e Mes, Pür Likor Williams Pear, Purkhart, Q Soda, R. Murphy Knives, Rachel’s Ginger Beer, Ramazzotti, Ransom Old Tom, Red Breast, Red Bull, Redemption Rye, Regan’s bitters, Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6, Rhum Clement’s Canne Bleu, Rhum J.M., Rittenhouse, Ron Cooper’s Del Maguey, Rose’s Lime Juice, Rösle, Rothman & Winter, Rothman & Winter’s St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, Russian Standard, Sagatiba, Salers, Sazerac, Scarlet Ibis, Schmallet Wood Mallet, Siembra Azul, Siete Leguas, Sipsmith, Slingshot, Slurpee, Small Hand Foods, Small Hand Foods Yeoman Tonic Syrup, Smith & Cross, Soda Stream, Sprite, Square One, St. George Spirits, St. George Spirits Botanivore, St. George Spirits Firelit Spirits Coffee Liqueur, St. George Spirits Spiced Pear Liqueur, St. George Spirits Terroir, St. Germain, St. Raphael, Studebaker, Stumptown, Stumptown’s Holler Mountain, Subaru, Sur la Table, Sutton Cellars, Sutton Cellars’ California vermouth, Suze, Talisker, Tanqueray, Tapatio, Teeling’s, Templeton Rye, Tempus Fugit, Tequila Cabeza, Tequila Ocho, The Bitter Truth, The Botanist Gin, Tobala, Tomr’s Tonic, Toschi, Total Tiki, Trader Joe’s, Trader Vic’s, Trimbach, Trinidad, Uber Bar Tools, Uncouth Vermouth, Unicum, Usagi, Vago, Velvet Falernum, Verte Suisse, Vollrath, VSOP, Vya, W.L. Weller, Waring, Whistle Pig, Wild Turkey, Winnie the Pooh, WMF Loft, Wray & Nephew, Yarai, YouTube, Zapaca, Zyliss
To learn more about Spring House Press books, or to find a retailer near you, email info@springhousepress.com or visit us at: www.springhousepress.com.
Praise for
THE COCKTAIL CHRONICLES & PAUL CLARKE
Paul Clarke began writing about the cocktail renaissance when it was still wishful thinking, and has been covering it ever since. I challenge anybody to find somebody who knows it better or, just as important, somebody who can explain it more clearly or genially. He is the ideal guide.
—DAVID WONDRICH, author of Imbibe! and Punch; Esquire drinks correspondent
The most indispensable cocktail guide in years. Paul Clarke’s serious authority never gets in the way of his pleasure. This is the guy you want behind the bar with you.
—JONATHAN MILES, former New York Times cocktail columnist
"Whether celebrating the rebirth of The Last Word or comparing an aperitif to Boom Boom Mancini, The Cocktail Chronicles is a decade-in-the-making document of Paul Clarke at his finest. He nails that sweet spot of drinks writing, appealing to veteran bartenders and cocktail geeks while expertly demystifying matters for those eager to learn more."
—BRAD THOMAS PARSONS, author of Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All
"It’s not often that a new cocktail book holds my attention, but I wasn’t surprised that Paul’s did. The Cocktail Chronicles will serve as a wonderful homage to what is perhaps one of the most pivotal times in the history of cocktails."
—AUDREY SAUNDERS, owner of Pegu Club, New York City
"The Cocktail Chronicles is not just an engaging inquiry to the classics, but a unique eyewitness account of the contemporary craft-cocktail revolution. It’s a lot to drink in, but Paul mixes it perfectly and serves it with a smile."
—JEFF BEACHBUM
BERRY, author of Potions of the Caribbean
"The Cocktail Chronicles is an insider’s guide to the classic and modern drinks, spirits, bars, and bartenders driving the current cocktail renaissance, from a writer who has been on its front lines for the past decade."
—CAMPER ENGLISH, cocktail journalist and publisher of Alcademics.com
The Cocktail Chronicles blog was such a big part of my education. This book is long overdue, and will be required reading for the next generation of bartenders.
—JEFFREY MORGENTHALER, bar manager at Clyde Common (Portland, Oregon) and author of The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique
This book is not only valuable, it’s necessary. And while it’s replete with cocktails, at Paul Clarke’s hand, the writing always wins.
—TED HAIGH, Dr. Cocktail,
author of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails
Few people have followed the cocktail revolution as closely as Paul Clarke. And to follow his journey—and look at where it all began, where it’s been, and where we’ve ended up—there’s no more entertaining way of discovering all the details than by reading this fine tome.
—GAZ REGAN, author of The Joy of Mixology
CONTENTS
Foreword by Jim Meehan
CHAPTER ONE:
NOTES FROM A RENAISSANCE IN PROGRESS
About the Drinks
Basic Cocktail Technique
Glassware
CHAPTER TWO:
NOT FORGOTTEN
Familiar classics and back-from-the-dead obscurities
Cocktail Essentials: Gin
A Taste Apart: Honey
Cocktail Style: Drinks of God
Cocktail Essentials: Applejack & Calvados
Cocktail Style: A Not-Quite-Perfect Gentleman
Cocktail Style: The Julep & The Smash
A Taste Apart: Sloe Gin
A Taste Apart: Amer Picon
A Taste Apart: Champagne
A Taste Apart: Lost and Found
Cocktail Essentials: Aperitifs
A Taste Apart: Orgeat
Cocktail Style: Drinks of Empire
A Taste Apart: Grenadine
A Taste Apart: Curaçao & Triple Sec
A Taste Apart: Apricot
Cocktail Essentials: Brandy
Cocktail Style: The Flip & the Fizz
A Taste Apart: Absinthe
A Taste Apart: Sherry
A Taste Apart: Pineapple & Raspberry
Cocktail Style: New Orleans
Cocktail Essentials: Whiskey
CHAPTER THREE:
MUSES & BRIDGES
Five enduring classics and the drinks they’ve inspired
Daiquiri
Old Fashioned
Manhattan
Martini
Negroni
CHAPTER FOUR:
STAYING POWER
Contemporary cocktails—and a few that just might be built to last
A Taste Apart: Falernum
Cocktail Essentials: Tequila & Mezcal
A Taste Apart: Swizzles
Cocktail Essentials: Rum
Cocktail Essentials: Cachaça
Cocktail Essentials: Bitters
Cocktail Essentials: Vodka
Cocktail Style: In Praise of Difficult Drinks
A Taste Apart: Jam
A Taste Apart: Amari
Cocktail Essentials: Pisco
Cocktail Style: The Triumph of Tiki
Cocktail Essentials: Aquavit
CHAPTER FIVE:
BOTTLES, TOOLS & TIPS
Ice
Cocktail Gear
Liquor Cabinet
Cocktail Kitchen
Resources
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Base Ingredients Index
Index
RECIPES
CHAPTER 1
NOTES FROM A RENAISSANCE IN PROGRESS
Corpse Reviver #2
Corn ’n’ Oil
CHAPTER 2
NOT FORGOTTEN
Gimlet
French 75
Howitzer
Alaska Cocktail
Leave It To Me
Claridge Cocktail
Sleepy Hollow
Ephemeral
Holland Gin Daisy
Gaby Des Lys
Brown Derby
Bumble Bee
Last Word
Hanky Panky
Creole Contentement
Sherry Cobbler
Blood and Sand
Hotel Nacional Special
Nacional
Champs Elysees
Pago Pago
Diamond Back
Coin Toss
Rob Roy
Bobby Burns
Picon Punch
Lucien Gaudin
Applejack Rabbit
Diki Diki
Syncopation
Newark
Widow’s Kiss
Remember the Maine
Pisco Apricot Tropical
Mint Julep
Prescription Julep
Georgia Mint Julep
Brandy Smash
Black Jack (original)
Black Jack (Meehan)
Black Jack (Shoemaker)
Savoy Tango
Champagne Cocktail
Airmail
Twentieth Century
Twenty-First Century
30th Century Man
Attention
Aviation
Lion’s Tail
Doctor Cocktail
Bijou
San Martin
Cameron’s Kick
Tom Collins
Appetizer á l’Italienne
Chrysanthemum
Bonal & Rye
Coronation
Quinquina Cocktail
Milk Punch
Japanese Cocktail
Army & Navy
Supreme
Clover Club
Pink Lady
Whiskey Sour
Gin & Tonic
Pegu Club
El Presidente
Jack Rose
Charlie Chaplin
Self Starter
Floridita Cocktail
Don’t Give Up the Ship
Sidecar
Bombay Cocktail
Brandy Scaffa
Burnt Fuselage
Ritz Cocktail
Rose
Gin Fizz Tropical
Apricot Flip
Gin Fizz
Silver Fizz
Colleen Bawn
Morning Glory
Absinthe Cocktail
Absinthe Drip
South Side
East Side
Periodista
Journalist
Bamboo Cocktail
La Perla
Rickey
East India Cocktail
Prince of Wales
Blinker
Absinthe Frappe
Cocktail à la Louisane
Creole
Roffignac
Vieux Carre
Bywater
Seelbach Cocktail
Liberal
Sazerac
Dixie Cocktail
Kentucky Buck
Paper Plane
Rapscallion
Toronto Cocktail
Tipperary
CHAPTER 3
MUSES & BRIDGES
Daiquiri
Floridita Daiquiri (aka Daiquiri #4)
Hemingway Daiquiri (aka Daiquiri #3)
Daisy de Santiago
Boukman Daiquiri
Winter Daiquiri
Trinidad Hook
Nuclear Daiquiri
Old Fashioned
American Trilogy
Oaxaca Old Fashioned
Walnut Old Fashioned
Improved Holland Gin Cocktail
Manhattan
Reverse Manhattan
Boothby
Marconi Wireless
Brooklyn
Saratoga Cocktail
Greenpoint
Little Italy
Moto Guzzi
Black Manhattan
Uptown Manhattan
Martini
Martinez
Tuxedo
Turf Club
Kangaroo Cocktail
Fitty Fitty
Negroni
Americano
Boulevardier
Negroni Sbagliato
Agavoni
Continental
Contessa
White Negroni
Kingston Negroni
Chocolate Negroni
Negroni Swizzle
CHAPTER 4
STAYING POWER
Añejo Highball
Pliny’s Tonic
Royal Bermuda Yacht Club
Chartreuse Swizzle
Revolver
Red Ant
Jasmine
Jaguar
Maximilian Affair
Nouveau Carre
Aguamiel
Paloma
Harrington Cocktail
Malecon
Old Cuban
Queen’s Park Swizzle
Dolores Park Swizzle
Bramble
Cosmopolitan
Clint Eastwood
Ace of Clubs
Land’s End
The Getaway
’Ti Punch
Unique Bird
Caipirinha
Batida
Honey Fitz
Fort Washington Flip
Tommy’s Margarita
Margarita
Albazam
Sawyer
Trinidad Sour
Penicillin Cocktail
Who Dares Wins
Theobroma
Moscow Mule
Vodka Espresso
Gypsy Cocktail
Ramos Fizz
Benton’s Old Fashioned
Falling Leaves
Northern Spy
Marmalade Sour
Breakfast Martini
Italian Buck
Bitter Giuseppe
Black Rock Chiller
Red Hook
The Slope
Cienciano
Pisco Bellringer
Division Bell
Naked & Famous
Mai Tai
Donga Punch
Test Pilot
2070 Swizzle
Three Dots and a Dash
Zombie (1934)
Jungle Bird
The Graduate
Brave Companion
Réveillon Cocktail
Trident
Single Village Fix
Gin Basil Smash
Louie Louie
Cumberland Sour
FOREWORD
Paul began writing about drinks on his blog, The Cocktail Chronicles, and for Imbibe magazine in 2005. That same year, I was hired by Audrey Saunders to tend bar at the Pegu Club, and by Food & Wine magazine to edit their annual cocktail book. I’d tended bar for 10 years by that time in my career, and helped edit the Mr. Boston Bartender’s Guide, but my professional journey may as well have just begun.
A movement—some call it a renaissance—was taking shape in bars across the country, fueled by the same ethos that chefs, winemakers, brewers, distillers, and baristas were pioneering in their workplaces. With the hangover of the fruit-flavored, Martini–fueled ’90s still ringing, history–minded cocktailians—a fancy term for people who can name more than three brands of bitters—began to question what a bar and bartender should and could be. Interestingly, many of those driving the dialogue weren’t bartenders.
At the time, the Internet was still taking shape, and thanks to chat groups in online forums, like–minded enthusiasts from all over the world found each other. Two notable domains from the city of Seattle were Robert Hess’s DrinkBoy and Paul Clarke’s Cocktail Chronicles. Spurred on by the exploits of local bartenders such as Murray Stenson and Jamie Boudreau, they used their skills as writers to document their experiments, share their resources, and shed light upon their brethren across the World Wide Web.
A handful of books were published around this time to cement their platform: Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh; Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century by Paul Harrington; and The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff. Without sounding melancholy or maudlin, each of these traced the history of the cocktail back to the 19th century, and documented the author’s efforts to recreate and source historic ingredients and recreate old recipes that begged more attention from modern audiences.
This was happening at a time when chefs were centering their menus around local ingredients; craft–beer brands were hopping; American winemakers were capturing international acclaim; and baristas were taking Italian coffee culture to new heights. Ingredient-driven cocktails prepared with fresh produce and premium spirits just made sense—so much so, that a Portland, Oregon–based magazine called Imbibe was founded to celebrate liquid culture
in full–color splendor, with Paul as one of the founding contributors for their debut issue in 2006—which brings me to the author of this timely tome.
With the hangover of the
fruit-flavored, Martini–fueled
’90s still ringing, history–minded
cocktailians—a fancy term for
people who can name more than
three brands of bitters—began
to question what a bar and
bartender should and could be.
No one’s had a better vantage to chronicle the transformation in American cocktail culture than Paul Clarke. This will date me, but if I had to compare The Cocktail Chronicles to an album, it would be the Singles soundtrack: a peerless mixtape for a forgettable movie, appropriately set in Seattle, which launched the careers of bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Smashing Pumpkins.
Every time I listen to it, I’m transported back to a formative period of my life; reading Paul’s book has the same effect. History is tricky, in that its author decides what we should focus on, blurring other angles of the story. For this reason, I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about Paul’s version, which nimbly portrays the handiwork of bartenders, bars, ingredients, and recipes from cities all over the world.
Each story reinforces not only his mastery of the material, but underscores his relationship with makers of all types whose stories are documented with an intimacy only a select few possess today. And unlike many writers, who vet their perspective by sticking to the popular narrative, Paul sheds light on the work of world–class working bartenders such as Boston’s Josey Packard and Chicago’s Stephen Cole, whose brilliance tends to fly under the radar of journalists who don’t have their fingers on the pulse.
Ever diplomatic, Paul pulls for the West Coast like a presidential candidate establishing his voting record. (The fact of the matter is the vast majority of the country’s national media outlets are headquartered in New York City, which skews most coverage to the handiwork of the cocktail world’s capital city.) He’s done an admirable job of documenting the contributions of Left Coast bartenders, distillers, and entrepreneurs without his perspective feeling regional in any way.
Left leanings aside, the quality of his writing carries the book. Paul’s playful sense of humor, sharp wit, and practical approach to the subject make it impossible not to cheer his choices on. He’s critical where it’s crucial—in matters ranging from spirit selection, recipe proportions, and environmental concerns—and judgmental without lecturing. His writing steers clear of polemicism, shirks fussy recipes and didactic perspectives, and reinforces the importance of having fun behind the bar; but at no point do you feel like he’s casual about the subject after loosening his critical tie.
In addition to being a fantastic history, The Cocktail Chronicles is an excellent collection of recipes with everything the reader needs to begin or complete their cocktail education. The author writes for enthusiasts using analogous art forms and pop–cultural phenomena outside the realm of mixology to speak more clearly about those in it. For this, and so much more, I am grateful to Paul for enriching the art of mixing and serving drinks in this lively resource, and heartily cheer him on to continue chronicling his exploits.
— Jim Meehan,
author of The PDT Cocktail Book
CHAPTER 1
NOTES FROM A
RENAISSANCE
IN PROGRESS
Not every revolution requires an insurrection, and not every renaissance begins in salons, galleries or cloistered chambers. The cocktail seemed an unlikely candidate to start either a revolution or a renaissance, but somehow over the past decade, give or take, it has managed to find itself at the center of both.
How unlikely? On a certain level—a big level—it’s just a damn drink. But today the cocktail is celebrated at week–long conferences and festivals that draw thousands. The resurgence of the craft cocktail (for lack of a better term) may have started just over a decade ago in faux–speakeasies in New York, London’s lux cocktail lounges, and San Francisco’s culinary crucible, but today you can order a Last Word at a bar named after the once–forgotten cocktail in Livermore, California (or at bars named for similar purpose in Edinburgh, Christchurch, San Antonio, or Ann Arbor); drink fresh and imaginative riffs on the Old Fashioned or the Tom Collins at an airport bar in Atlanta; or—at the New York City franchise that opened in 2014, anyway—sit back with an Aperol Spritz or a Tommy’s Margarita in the uber–Americana environment of Denny’s.
Mirroring the wider culinary movement that’s been building steam for decades, craft–cocktail bars (and the bartenders and writers who inhabit them) are digging in the depths of the drink’s rich (but often shoddily detailed) history. At times, they come back bearing precious nuggets—the Bijou, the Boulevardier, and the felicitously named Corpse Reviver #2, among others. And sometimes, these finds go beyond simple recipes. Techniques and skills have been garnered from the past, dusted off, and deployed in contemporary bars—sometimes with modern–day embellishments and modifications drawn from the molecular–gastronomy kitchens of Wylie Dufresne, Grant Achatz, and Ferran Adria.
Such creativity fuels the renaissance part of the equation. And the revolution? Prior to the resurgence of the cocktail’s popularity, the liquor world was dominated by an ever-expanding variety of flavored vodkas and suspicious mixtures designed to appeal to the booze market’s lowest common denominator (usually, the 21–to–34–year–old club-goer who’s unashamed to ask a perfect stranger for an Adios Motherfucker or a Red–Headed Slut). That’s still around, of course—for every teenager who just downloaded a Velvet Underground album, there are thousands of others shelling out for Taylor Swift—and the same rules apply in the drinks world, with sales of whipped cream–flavored vodka eclipsing those of artisanal mezcal by a depressingly enormous margin.
But the cocktail resurgence has changed the way we buy and sell booze. Like ocean liners, the massive liquor–company leviathans are slowly shifting course, recognizing the unexpected and unprecedented surge of demand for cocktail–centric spirits like rye whiskey, complexly flavorful vermouths, interesting gins, and tequilas with a sense of character.
Meanwhile, changes in state liquor laws mean there are now scores of small distilleries popping up in almost every state in the country, making local whiskies, gins, and brandies. These distillers’ share of the market is still quantifiable in peanuts, and much of their new liquor is, admittedly, not yet ready for prime time. But these distillers are looking at the experiences of craft brewers and winemakers who, decades earlier, ventured down similar paths.
Some are preparing for the long haul, aiming over time to not only make good booze, but revolutionize the way liquor is made, sold, and marketed. Crass consumption is increasingly out, the garishness of artificially inflected booze about as welcome among craft distillers and bartenders as a Hummer at a Sierra Club conference. Spirits with a sense of virtue are still scarcer than ivory–billed woodpeckers, but there’s a prevailing sense that a shift is occurring. If and when that fully happens, the liquor store and the local bar may be fully part of the modern food landscape—places where conversations about ethics and sustainability no longer seem out of place, and where the liquor selection is as locavore as the fruit at the farmer’s market.
A dozen–plus years of Prohibition
failed to stamp out America’s
taste for ardent spirits, but it
did change the way we drink.
Renaissance and revolution—and all because of a damn drink.
As with any popular movement, the cocktail renaissance (or resurgence, or revolution—none of the nomenclatural hats fit perfectly) involves a cast of thousands, with leading figures such as New York’s Pegu Club–owner Audrey Saunders its Leonardo, and writers such as
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