Big Day - Thursday, December 8th

The setting - Hilton Hotel & Executive Tower, Portland

BarSmarts Advanced final exam day - 8:30am - 5:30pm

The feeling (thank you, free cocktails) - nausea, butterflies, heart palpitations, headache

For the 4-5 weeks that I studied for BarSmarts Advanced, I pictured final exam day to involve a small group, nothing more than 30 people. To my shock, there were about 150 people testing, mostly from Portland. The back row where I sat had a mixologist from Dallas, mixologist from Seattle, and yours truly, a producer from Los Angeles. To my right, were a few people involved with BarSmarts on the business side. I felt right at home (minus the hangover bit).

Lucky for my hangover and I, we had the pleasure of attacking a 5 spirit tasting session. There’s nothing like a pot-still single malt whisky to get you feelin’ super good in the morning.

The highlight of the morning session - David Wondrich’s Orange Punch, a hearty Bloody Bull, and a second round of punch. All I wanted was a Super Big Gulp sized Bloody Bull to set my discombobulated head straight.

The first half of the day consisted of seminars with the BAR team, tasting and sampling. Afterwards, we had a short lunch break (in which everyone broke out their workbooks to study up on cocktail recipes).

The first part of the exam consisted of a 100 question multiple choice and true/false test. 15 of the questions focused on a blind tasting of spirits. All in all, I felt pretty confident about the written exam.

The second part of the exam consisted of a practical exam, wherein you are paired with a judge and asked to make 3 drinks within 8 minutes. My judge was Doug Frost - but I’m pretty sure my rattled nerves accounted for me calling him Paul - doh!

That was the least of my worries, because once that stopwatch went off, I felt like I went into the danger zone - the zone in which you separate from your body and watch yourself frozen in time. Surreal, really. I heard drinks called out to me - Muddled Old Fashioned, Dry Martini and Sidecar - yet my hands refused to move. I was in a dream, watching myself, hearing myself giggle and crack jokes and make small talk, all while the 3 lonely drinks awaited longingly for my attention.

Somehow, someway, these drinks were finally made. They were made in time. Doug was extremely encouraging and his energy was soothing for my rattled nerves. He softly questioned my decisions and lightly guided me on the right path. (Thank God). Doug - you are the sweetest man ever. Thank you.

What next? I should receive my final results within the next two weeks. Let’s hope I passed. And if I didn’t - I learned an invaluable lesson: try not to let your nerves get the best of you, they can get in the way of progress. Progress is moving forward. Progress is making a drink. Progress is making a drink that’s drinkable.

Last week I headed to Portland for the BarSmarts Advanced class. On my Southwest flight, I was greeted by a magazine focusing on winter cocktails from 5 leading mixologists. How’s that for synchronicity?

Arriving a night early, I was just in time to check out a release party for Jim Meehan’s new mixology book: PDT.

The night was a smashing hit - thanks in part to the clever cocktails concocted by no other than the man himself - David Wondrich, as well as a few other talented troops. Here’s a recipe from the book for my fave drink of the evening:

The Weeski - created by David Wondrich, New York, 2003

• 2 oz. Jameson 12-Year-Old Irish Whiskey
• .75 oz Lillet Blanc
• .5 oz Cointreau
• 2 dashes House Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with an orange twist.

Met some really cool cats at the event, even managed to meet some of the BAR team, including David Wondrich, Steve Olson, and Paul Pacult.

And yeah, I enjoyed those free cocktails a bit much.

::sigh::

As part of my BarSmarts advanced mixology program, I am required to have quite a few tasting sessions of a variety of liquor categories. I decided to tackle the Scotch tasting session at Pint’s Pub. And why not? Pint’s Pub offers a fantastic short trip around Scotland in 4 delightful stops:

Islay: Bowmore Legend

Campbeltown: Springbank CV

Highland: Tamdhu 10 yr

Lowland: Auchentoshan Classic

All this glory for an affordable $17. Soooo worth it. I even learned about a new area to look further into - Campbeltown. I’m liking the flavor profiles they got goin’ on. Complex, but not insanely peaty to make you think you’re sucking on a band-aid.

I highly recommend stopping in. The owner is amazingly friendly and knowledgeable, and I even hear that the scotch writer Michael Jackson peeks in time to time.

Scotch tasting at Pint’s Pub

It’s hard to stay cooped up indoors when the brilliant Denver sun insists on shining its beams into the living room, taunting you to get outta your pajamas and get outta the house. The Arkitekt had one wish while in Denver - to check out the recently opened Clifford Styll museum. Once I was promised a visit to the world famous Pint’s Pub, I was on board for an arty farty date (I would’ve been anyway, since I’m an arty farty graphic designer, but the mention of fine liquor always helps with the motivation).

Last week I took a trip back to Denver to visit family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday. In the midst of dealing with the chaotic frenzy of socializing with family, The Arkitekt and I snuck away to pick up some much needed supplies at Davidson Liquor.

I seriously ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ throughout every aisle, just beside myself with the sheer sweet variety so expertly curated. And get this - on Thanksgiving Day, the store staff was cheerful and helpful, speaking into their earpieces to find me Orgeat syrup on the quick. Try getting that kind of help at BevMo! Pssssht.

I decided to make one drink for my mom’s 14 guests on Thanksgiving, in honor of my brother Cameron - “Cameron’s Kick”. I first found out about this drink on the menu at The Tar Pit in Hollywood and had the good fortune to try it recently. In a word - delicious. And while hanging out at The Tar Pit with The Arkitekt and a good friend from Tucson, I re-united with an old friend from Denver. How’s that for a small world?

I digress…

Here’s the recipe from The Cocktail Chronicles (which is a blog I love, btw):

Cameron’s Kick

• 1 ounce Scotch (blended, please — Famous Grouse works well)
• 1 ounce Irish whiskey
• 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce orgeat

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange twist.

I used Black Grouse blended scotch and Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey (first time purchase, and not bad!) and amazingly found Trader Vic’s Orgeat Syrup (score!).

I am happy to report that my brother Cameron actually liked the drink (which is fantastic, because he’s usually into rum and coke..and not a whisky drinker by any means). My sister-in-law was also a big fan. Sadly, my mom was too stressed to even think about having a sip of a cocktail! ::sigh::

Yours truly made the cocktail at least five times…and happily snuck in sips of each drink. I gotta test the goods, ya know.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to sneak in much studying for my upcoming BarSmarts mixology exam that day. But I’m making up for it now!

Hot Toddy

Manhattan

The Waragi distillery project in Uganda has been fully funded! And get this, after posting it, the next day the project came to a close. Amaaaaazing. I know that it wasn’t through my solo efforts, however, I did get a fellow cocktail lover to join my Kiva team. How’s that for social media making the world a better place?

Check out the original post here.

With some research, I’ve chosen a new initiative to find supporting team members for.

Emmanuel is requesting a loan to buy sugar cane to make a local brew. Age 52, he hails from the Kyenjojo district and is a father of 10 children, ranging in age from 2 to 30. He lives with his children and their mother in a semi-permanent house. Having acquired his initial capital from the sale of part of his land, he used the money to plant a sugar-cane plantation of six acres. He dreams of building a permanent residential house and educating his children.

Let me tell you why this is relevant to my mixology education. This week I’ve been learning about all sorts of spirits from God’s Green Earth - and ohhh how glorious a week it has been. To put it super simply, rum is a distilled spirit that comes from sugarcane. Refining sugar  creates the byproduct of molasses, used in the distillation process of Rum. Additionally, Cachaça and rhum agricole come from sugarcane.

Before you head out to La Descarga tonight to have a Cuba Libre, please consider joining my Kiva team to make some sweet sugar cane dreams happen.

Brought to you by your friends at Drinkify.

“The Soulja Boy”

• 6 oz. Cough syrup
• 6 oz. Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

Serve on rocks. Stir vigorously.

shakeandstrainblog asked: Awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!