Inner Circle

The importance of Techniques

2009-07-07T05:55:00Z

Hello Everyone!

Recently, I’ve been thinking of new tendencies, trends, in both the bar and kitchen methods, (as I’m starting to see more and more often “barchefs” or “molecular mixologists”)

Not so long ago, cocktail recipes were sustained by pillars named ingredients; proportions worked as a”link“between them, and the mind behind the very fact of creation, was the Mixologist. After that every bartender could replicate that recipe and create the same drink over and over again…

But nowadays I’m starting to see not only that less cocktails are created, but also, I’m beginning to observe that, that importance, is based now more and more often on the techniques and the methods (through Molecular Mixology for instance…..) rather than the Ingredients or the creation process…

I strongly belief we should work creatively on structures in a mixology way, having also stabilizers, gelatine or soy lecithin in mind, as any other ingredient in a recipe, in order to create a new experience; Instead of focusing on techniques and pushing ingredients and creation process into the background.

West Coast

2009-06-16T03:37:00Z

Hi,

So am picking up where I left off. After my great week in Canada, I took my imaginery surf board and went to Galifornia (as Arnie would say).

In LA I met Christophe to go to the Chrysalis charity ball that Grey Goose was sponsoring. Yes, lots of celebs bla bla bla...the charity I felt is great cause as it gives people that are genuinly looking to reinsert themselves in the "system" with tools to build their confidence in doing job interviews. Those might be ex inmates, drug addicts or people that basically have had a more difficult path of live. That though do not include people living in the streets. Chrysalis will have volunteers help and create email access among other things to assist jobless people find a job. They are not a job agency and will not find jobs for people, but assist them finding one. On the evening, they had some people that did manage to find a job through them, and let me tell you that their life stories were moving. Felt very fortunate of where I am as well as being able to hear about their reinsertion into a steady life. If you want to know more: http://www.changelives.org/news2.html

After, I had this event with Danielle Frank who is the Bacardi sales' rep out there. She wanted to have a mixology event with some of LA's finest. The format was simple, I told her to get all the fruits, spices, herbs and liqueurs that she could find and we would then just have a cocktail jam with the Sporting Life (Cocktail association based in LA) Turn out was great, we were on the patio of the SLS hotel (designed by Philip Stark), it was sunny LA and all we had set up the floor with a few stations and all the ingredients sourced. I have to thank Eric Tecosky (Dirty Sue) and Marcos Tello (Varnish - LA) for their help in setting the event. As soon as the "mixologists" arrived, it was cocktails galore, everyone got a shaker and made it happen. Some really interesting drinks cames out that and I have to say that some of the drinks made by those guys were not the tipically strong and sweet drinks we know US folks to serve. All the startenders of LA made the trip and the support was great and we even had the attendance by other brands, the Beefeater and Canton ambassadors came and were making drinks. Told the local team, we should do more of those. There was no presentation, just get your shaker and here we go. Event lasted about 3 hours, we had made some bar kits for the guys to take, and they took more than were supposed to, my special barspoon disappeared, and yes I AM MAD!!! Why do bartenders steal equipments??!!

Then with Francois (as he arrived on the previous night) we took a car and drove down to San Diego, Thelma and Louise style, amazing drive. When we got there, we met Natalie who is Danielle counterpart in SD. Same format and get the shakers ready. We had a brand presentation and a tasting there on the patio, but it was windy so the presentation was not the best performance FT and I had given. I guess you have to deal with the force of nature. Event was the same, mixology and get the drinks flowing. I found that the guys there, were using a lot of Tequila (yes, we did not bring only Grey Goose its more genuine) and chilis, could that be because of their vicinity to Mexico ( miles) hmm I wonder...Good drinks overall.

On those events, if I have to say what stole the show, is the steam juice extractor that Francois got for me. When we were in Paris,it was already a big hit but our Galifornian friends were completely mesmerized by it, should have bought share in the product before showcasing it! Now they are all buying it. That find proves to be revolutionnary.

In San Franciso after that, the agenda was interviewing for a US ambassador. We saw 5 very interesting people, all with their own qualities and very different. Results to follow...

If I have to say what is the trend there at the moment, it seems they are sooooooo much into their organic food and local brands. I was fortunate to buy the book called Artisanal Cocktails by Scott Beattie from Cyrus restaurant Napa Valley. This genius bartender has for the past few years spent a lot of his time with local farmers and only gets locally produced seasonal produce. From his book, he has been able to develop a strong understanding of what quality ingredients are. He is I would say very influencial in the bay area (as they call it) and would defo recommend to buy his book. This is just a following from what the culinary offering is in SF. If you go to the Ferry building, you will see the food marketr with amazing fruit displays. Classics are also big in the city but in places that only want to serve classics are suffering from low turnovers. A lot of people are saying that in difficult times, it is probably not wise to have a bar where drinks take 15/20 mn to be served. They are basically not making the $$$ so some predict the future closure of some of America's best speakeasies. It would be a shame as those bars do very good quality cocktails and it is an experience drinking there. The bartending community in SF is huge and very influencial on the rest of the US and would defo recommend you go for a visit, great city.

Let me know if you want to know more as this is getting long.

Cheerio

Dimi

Canada tour

2009-06-07T23:55:00Z

Hi,

Well let me tell you that I am quite annoyed as I have just wrote this once already, but the connection dropped and lost it all so have to start again. I could do better with my time...

Anyway.

Just spend a week in Canada doing coast to coast in 5 days and 4 cities, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. Firstly, I am very pleased as for the first time it was not 6 million below 0 and quite warm which I did not think was possible.

I had an interesting week out there, the reason for my trip is the Pour Masters' program.

Here is a quick explanation of the PM program. This program was put in place to support the best of the Canadian trade and help them develop with the support of Global. My role in this as it is the 3rd year, is to visit the market and do brand training as well as cocktail training. To keep them excited about the programme, we have a competition and the finalist gets a trip to Paris/London. You have met the first winner at the conference last year, David Wolowydnik.

Now was then the first edition and had to try 49 cocktails this year with the help of guys at Montgomery. When I try all cocktails from those different cities, it is a great opportunity to assess the trends in one market and compare city vs city.

So now, I want to share with you my learnings from Canada.

First of all, I would like to say how nice all the trade are in that market, none of that bartenders arrogance thinking they know it all. In every city you will go, they will always be extremely warm and welcoming. Then, there has been a considerable improvement from the first year. The first year the cocktails were very sweet and did not seem to have structure nor balance. Now things are on the rise...

Vancouver has a very close bartending community. They all seem to be hanging out together and know each other very well. They all pretty much see David as the best mixologist in town (if such a title nowadays still exists). However, David is that good. Highly recommend you watch him entertain the guests (at his restaurant called West), he has class, knows his craft and inspires the city. I can see a very strong appreciation for classics which gives them a great foundation for creating cocktails. I wonder if the vicinity to Seattle and Portland could influence that somehow? Would this explain why I find them quite creative in flavour matching but better in twisting classics? And that is the flavour of the day it seems. . This year's cocktail submissions on the other hand had a lot of cucumber and sake, those 2 flavours came back regularly and was interesting at times and not delivering at others.

Calgary is only a short distance from Vancouver in Canadian standards: 10 hours' drive or 1 hour's flight. There are influenced by Vancouver, but the cocktails there are in their infancy. The demand from customers is growing which challenges the bartender and that gets his creative juices flowing which is a good thing. There is still a lot of work to be done there, need to really make sure that they understand cocktail structure for example. Cocktails there were also somewhat sweet and in some cases missing character.

Montreal has on a few guys that are potentially great bartenders. A gentleman from Vancouver called Brad is working there and he seems to have shown the Matrix to a few of them. Those have developped a great hunger for it and are educating themselves on the subject. I feel though sometimes, their execution lets them down and they fall short. I feel on the other hand, there is more creativity in flavour matching in Montreal than Vancouver but for now, Vancouver is more polished. There were in Montreal a few disasters, in the submissions, but the flavours that came back were fresh kiwi, Grey Goose La Poire and Melon liqueur. Not sure on the melon liqueur...but remember the Canadian palate is also quite sweet.

Toronto is in between, quite creative, and I will say that Frankie Skolarik from Barchef is strongly influencing that. He was Pour Master for the first 2 years and has now opened his new bar. If you happen to be in the neighbourhood, do pay him a visit, quite an experience! Or Google it, or simply wait until Trevor films it next week and edits it. The rest of the Toronto bar scene is a bit all over the place, some guys were telling me classics are starting to interest a few, and some don't and do just very bad drinks. I am not sure of the appreciation of good cocktails in that city by customers there are a few places but for a city as Toronto do I suspect not enough or do I expect too much? and that is strange as the food on the other side is quite amazing. Some of the cocktails though were using ingredients I have not seem before on the Canadian bar scene such as homemade rhubard syrup.

Here you go a little (sorry if its long) view of the Canadian bar scene. I have to say I am glad of their improvement, but the road is looooooooong before the London standard can be reached.

Ciao for now...

dimi

Iconic Imbibers - Pop Culture

2009-05-04T18:41:00Z

Iconic Imbibers: a bi-weekly profile of some of history’s most famous and infamous drinkers. This week we feature the present day pop culture hall of shame:

Icons are symbols, signs that give us a calculated amount of information in an abbreviated form. Traditionally when celebrities have become icons, we only knew the carefully chosen information that those individuals agreed to share with the public and the information was usually self serving. The difference between icons of the past and those of the present day are not that extreme. There have always been ups and downs with those who have been randomly picked to be extraordinarily famous or fortunate and in the public eye. However in 2009 those eyes are now equipped with the technology that was rarely available in the past to record their every move and this has taken away their ability to control the direction of their image and in some cases brand.

Where does the act of imbibing come in? Well, cocktails and spirits owe a great deal to the icons of celebrity culture. Whether it is a high profile politician, a Hollywood starlet or an athletic superstar, one can never underestimate the power of a celebrity endorsement. Over the years soliciting someone with high visibility to become the spokesperson for a particular product has become the norm. Our culture has chosen to associate actors, artists and athletes including Sean Connery (Dewar’s), Andy Warhol (Martini), Ratief Goosen (Grey Goose), respectively, and countless others for their coveted ‘star power’. If you think about it, product placement and celebrity association have gone hand in hand with booze for hundreds of years and for the most part they have had a positive effect.

So, is an Iconic Imbiber a good thing? It could be. But there is always risk involved when you have influence and are under the influence. Becoming an icon has its challenges, and sometimes a drink in moderation can help one to deal with those challenges. Unfortunately in some cases icons end up spending too much time at the bar and then find themselves spending time behind bars. This week Iconic Imbibers brings you a list of the ten Pop Culture Icons least likely to be pegged as a celebrity ambassador for our industry:

1. Charles Barkley (NBA Hall of Famer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ievwM-2iA

2. David Hasselhoff (Televison Star of Knight Rider and Baywatch) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3JAp7vMuo

3. Amy Winehouse (Singer and Songwriter) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRoeZ8-TBr4

4. Paula Abdul (American Idol Judge) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt5-wn3fvlw

5. Mel Gibson (Hollywood Actor and Producer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YHccyFZKPU

6. Nick Nolte (Movie Star) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CVykdnlef4

7. Mike Tyson (Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=231JV8URYDE

8. Shoichi Nakagawa (Former Japanese Finance Minister) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odpgopHigUU

9. Nicolas Sarkozy (President of France) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1HCFHjLndQ

10. Barney Gumble (The Simpsons Animated Character) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eSemNkw_yI

Iconic Imbibers - Comedians

2009-04-21T17:18:00Z

Iconic Imbibers: a bi-weekly profile of some of history’s most famous and infamous drinkers. This week we feature an eclectic collection of the world’s best known comedians.

Comedians are famous for their comedy, but they become legendary for their vices. When you consider that so much of their time is spent in watering holes crafting their jokes in front of an audience of laughing (or heckling) drinkers, it is natural that they indulge in a drink or two before and after a night on stage. Some comics for example write material inspired by the act of drinking while others create a character whose personality is not complete without a reference to a cocktail or the visual of a drink in hand.

Interestingly, the stand up is not only a type of comedian but also a type of bar. Sometimes comics can be found alone on stage bombing, and other times they are alone at the wood getting bombed. In contrast, after a day of shooting movies together, comedic actors will celebrate with shots of their favourite spirits, choosing to drink in packs, forming their own social circles (ie. The Rat Pack).

Most will agree that a memorable night out watching comedy often involves slaking a few tasty beverages and sharing a lot of laughs. Regardless of what type of comedian or comedy lover you are, there is one thing that everyone agrees on, comics are always a lot funnier after you have had a few sips of your favourite cocktail, which is why we tip or tipple our glasses to the comedian. Here are a few clever quotations popularized by some of the funniest people in showbiz who have slaked their way to comic immortality:

W.C. Fields:

“I exercise extreme self-control. I never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast.”

“I drink with impunity…or anyone else who invites me.”

“Now don’t say you can’t swear off drinking; it’s easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.”

Steven Wright:

“I made wine out of raisins so I wouldn’t have to wait for it to age.”

George Carlin:

“One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.”

Steve Allen:

“Do not allow children to mix drinks. It is unseemly and they use too much vermouth.”

Mae West:

“I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry Martini.”

Dean Martin:

“I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re

going to feel all day.”

“If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt.”

“I’ve stopped drinking. Now I just freeze it on a stick and eat it like a popsicle.”