August 2007 Archives

I learned this from my Bartending School, and I have to say, it's a fabulous way to enjoy gin.

Ingredients

Glassware: Rocks glass

1 oz. Gin

1/2 oz. Lime Juice (fresh if possible)

Garnish: Lime Wedge

Instructions

Fill a rocks glass with ice

Pour Gin and Lime Juice

Garnish with a Lime Wedge

This comfortable old pub has lots of character, with vintage posters, beautiful paintings, models of tall ships, and various musical instruments adorning the walls. Amenities include cable TV (often tuned to the History Channel if there isn't a game on), a state-of-the-art jukebox, a computer with a high-speed internet connection, and several dartboards. Just ask the bartender for the house darts if you find yourself without yours.

The bar boasts an array of bottled beer, cider and wine, and behind the bar we have favorites like Cazadores, Sailor Jerry's, Captain Morgan, Jameson's, and Bombay Sapphire. On tap there's Red Tail Ale, Trummer Pilsner, and Guinness waiting to be poured into frosty pint glasses. The bartenders here are well-versed in making shooters, with God Shave the Queen and Washington Apples being the most popular.

Music is a huge part McGrath's, and several nights a week you'll be entertained by live musicians. Check the website to see who is scheduled to play, or drop in for open mic night on Tuesdays! There's also a bluegrass jam on Mondays and an acoustic jam on Wednesdays. Then on Thursdays, we host a dart tournament open to all comers.

So come visit us at 1539 Lincoln Avenue on the corner of Stanton Street in Alameda (94501)! Relax and surf the internet or shoot some darts with me (I need all the practice I can get for my next match with Jenny)! Try our famous God Shave the Queen shooter, or a tall glass of Guinness in an imperial pint. See you soon!

I learned this shooter in my Bartending School, and it's a good thing I did, since it's very popular at McGrath's Irish Pub, where I happen to land a job!

Ingredients

Glassware: Double Shot Glass

1/2 oz. Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey

1/2 oz. Apple Pucker

Splash Cranberry Juice

Instructions

Fill a shaker with ice and pour Whiskey and Pucker

Splash Cranberry

Shake and strain into a double shot glass

May neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.

A great group of folks (I think they said they were from Merced) came into Z's last Saturday, and introduced me to this shooter. I tried one with them after my shift, and I have to say, it was pretty good. Simple to make, and very good! Thanks guys!

Ingredients

1 oz. Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey

1/4 oz. Butterscotch Liqueur

Instructions

Pour the Crown Royal into a shot glass

Float the Butterscotch liqueur on top

One of my regulars over at Z's introduced me to this bomber.  I kind of want to try it with Rumpleminz.

Ingredients

Glassware: Shotglass and a Pint Glass

1 oz. Mandarin Vodka

1/2 pint of Red Bull

Instructions

Fill the pint glass half full with Red Bull.

Fill the shot glass with vodka.

Drop the shot glass into the pint glass and consume the drink as fast as you can!

When I decided, at long last, that tending bar was how I wanted to spend my life, I knew that I would need a website. Mostly, I needed one to get a job. Business cards get lost a lot less than resumés, and a URL fits nicely on a business card. Plus, business cards get passed around! So my first stab at a site read like this: "Please Hire Me"! There were about five articles, selling myself as a good person and eager employee, and a page of contact information. That was it, and I got tired of it pretty fast.

Being a blogger (though somewhat sporadic about updates), I realized that a bartender's blog might not be a bad way to keep my website fresh. If you can believe it, I had not actually read ANY cocktail blogs up to that point. I was sure they had to exist so a quick google search later, I ploughed headlong into the world of bartender blogs. Thus, I hit the wall. 

With so many cocktail blogs out there, written by such incredible bartenders, I was discouraged. These guys (and girls) had years of experience in the industry, a great command of the language, and some attracted so much readership that companies paid them to put ads on their sites!  Discouraged is a bit of an understatement. I had just recently discovered what RSS was. How was I going to compete, or even be noticed, among these giants?! Was there anything that these guys hadn't already covered? I was tempted to just trim my site down to a literal online resume, and call it good.

Then I had the revelation that should have inspired my website from the beginning: my website is for me. If others decide to read it, that's a bonus. I started thinking about what I wanted, and from then on it became pretty clear. My website would become my dumping ground for all the knowledge and experience I would gather as a bartender. It will collect all the cocktails I discover. It will record all the tricks of the trade I pick up. It will document the lessons I learn.  In short, it will chronicle the road from brand new, fresh-off-the-street bartender to tavern owner.

Armed with that decision, things started falling into place. My fiancé found movable type and set me up with it. As a former programmer, I took to it like a duck to water. I've spent the last several days getting my site to look the way I first envisioned it. There are still a few bugs I have to work out, but over all I'm pretty happy. My next step is to build a habit of posting regularly. I do plan to jump in the pool with the rest of those cocktail bloggers eventually, but for now I'm going to focus on building up some decent content, and getting enough work as a bartender to quit my day job. If you, dear reader, insist on coming along for the ride, then welcome aboard, and thanks!

I just read about this in another cocktail blog online.  Lest I forget it, I'm writing it down to try later.  It sounds like something I'd like.

Ingredients

Glassware: Cocktail Glass

2 oz. Gin

1/2 oz. Orange Juice

1/2 oz. Dry Vermouth

1/2 oz. Sweet Vermouth

Instructions

Fill a shaker with ice and pour Gin and Juice (*wink*)

Pour Dry and Sweet Vermouth

Shake and strain into a Cocktail Glass

It seems this cocktail has recently earned the stigma of being "trendy".  But don't let that stop you.  Mixing this fun little drink brings variety to my day of pouring highballs and beer, and I appreciate it.  If you want something off the beaten path, try Mandarin or Pear vodka instead of the neutral spirit!

Ingredients

Glassware: Cocktail Glass

1 1/4 oz. Vodka

1/4 oz. Lime Juice

1/4 oz. Triple Sec

1 oz. Cranberry Juice (but I tend to use just a splash for color)

Garnish: Lime Wedge

Instructions

Fill a shake with ice and pour Vodka and Cranberry Juice

Pour Lime Juice and Triple Sec

Shake and strain into a chilled Cocktail Glass

Garnish with a lime wedge

Here's to the men of all classes

Who through lasses and glasses

Will make themselves asses!

I discovered this recipe in a digital list of drinks over 40,000 entries long. Admittedly, the name alone caught my eye, but it doesn't look half bad.  I haven't attempted this yet, but I'm writing it down because I want to remember to try it.

Ingredients

Glassware: Cocktail Glass

1 oz. Light Rum

1 oz. Blue Curacao

1/2 oz. Cranberry Juice

1/2 oz. Grenadine

Splash 7up/Sprite

Instructions

Fill a shaker with ice and pour rum and curacao

Pour grenadine and cranberry juice

Splash 7up/Sprite

Shake at strain into a Cocktail Glass

I was working in a lounge one sunny afternoon, and the usual suspects were in attendance.  Although young at heart, a few of these gentlemen are several years older than me, and they began to regail me with advice to be saved and then applied when I reach their age.

It has admittedly been almost a month since this happened, but I've enjoyed passing this advice along, and it always gets a great reaction.  For those of you who see me rarely (or may have never met me) I thought I'd finally commit this story to the digital record.  So.  Without further ado:

"When you get to be my age," he said with a merry smile, "you need to remember three things."

"First: never trust a fart.  There have been times when I thought I could sneak one out, and narrowly avoided an embarrassing emergency."

"Second: if there is a bathroom, attempt to take advantage of it."

"Third, and most important: No matter where you are or who you're with, never ever ignore an erection.  You might not get another one!"

Raucous laughter from the other gents accompanied each point along with exclamations of "True! So True!". Thanks for your words of wisdom, my friend!  It's great folks like you that let me love my job!

One of my regulars over at Z's taught me how to make his very favorite margarita.  After tasting it, I decided to write it down, mostly to remember it, but also to share it with you!  It's a bit of labor to make this but well worth the effort. I highly recommend it. Thanks Sam!

Ingredients

Glassware: Old-fashioned glass

3 oz. Herradura Silver Tequila

1 oz. Sour Mix

Lime Juice squeezed fresh from 1/2 a lime

Float of Grand Marnier

Garnish: Lime Wedge

Instructions

Fill a shaker with ice, and pour tequila and Sour Mix

Cut a lime in half and use a hand juicer to squeeze one of the halves into the shaker

Shake well and strain into an old-fashioned glass

Add a liberal float of Grand Marnier

Garnish with a lime wedge and serve next to a small glass of ice cubes

I learned this from my bartending school.  It's pretty much like a dolled up Rum Sour.

Ingredients

Glassware: Rocks Glass

1 oz. Bacardi Light Rum

2 oz. Sour Mix

Float Grenadine

Garnish: Maraschino Cherry

Instructions

Fill a rocks glass with ice

Pour rum and sour mix

Float grenadine and garnish with a maraschino cherry

I've seen B-52's with Amaretto instead of Grand Marnier, but this is the way I was taught. 

Ingredients

Glassware: Shot Glass

1/2 oz. Kahlua

1/2 oz. Irish Cream

1/2 oz. Grand Marnier

Instructions

In a shot glass layer the ingredients in the order listed above.

I read about this complicated cooler in Extra, the little magazine that Nob Hill/Raley's hands out for free every two months or so.  No doubt it was developed by an innovative bartender for some famous restaurant somewhere.  Kiwis were in season so naturally I had to try it.  It was a pretty good way to start a summer supper.

Ingredients

Glassware: White wine glass

4 oz. Australian Chardonnay

2 oz. Soda

Splash Midori

6 frozen kiwi slices

Instructions

Peel and slice one kiwi fruit and then freeze it for at least 2 hours

In a white wine glass, pour Chardonnay and soda

Add the frozen kiwi slices

Splash Midori and serve

As much as I hate to call this a martini, they seem pretty popular.  I learned this recipe from bartending school.

Ingredients

Glassware: Cocktail Glass

1 1/4 oz. Vodka

1/2 oz. Apple Pucker

Splash of Sprite/7up

Instructions

Fill a shaker with ice and pour vodka and Apple Pucker

Splash Sprite/7up

Shake and strain into a chilled Cocktail Glass

I learned this recipe from bartending school, but I have to thank Topher for making these one of my favorite shooters.

Ingredients

Glassware: Double Shot Glass

1 1/4 oz. Southern Comfort

1/2 oz. Amaretto

1/2 oz. Sloe Gin

Splash of Orange Juice

Instructions

Fill a shaker with ice 

Pour Southern Comfort and splash Orange Juice

Pour Amaretto and Sloe Gin

Shake and strain into a double shot glass

"Here's to a wet night and a dry morning!"

A friend of mine from the other job told me about this drink, which he sampled in Hawaii.  Thanks Phai, it sounds excellent!

Ingredients

Glassware: Cocktail Glass

1 oz Light Rum

2 oz Cream

2 oz Passion Fruit Juice

1 oz Coconut Syrup

Garnish: Chunk of Pineapple and a Maraschino Cherry

Instructions

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour the rum and coconut syrup

Pour the fruit juice and cream

Shake and strain into a pina colada glass

Garnish with a maraschino cherry and a pineapple chunk and serve

I learned this high-octane powerhouse from my bartending school.

Ingredients

Glassware: Hurricane Glass

1/2 oz. Vodka

1/2 oz. Gin

1/2 oz. Rum, Light

1/2 oz. Tequila

1/2 oz. Blue Curacao

2 oz. Sour Mix

2 oz. Sprite/7up

Instructions

Fill a highball glass with ice and build as follows:

Pour Vodka and Gin

Pour Tequila and Rum

Pour Curacao

Pour Sour Mix and Sprite/7up

I learned about this one from my Cocktail Calendar.  Apparently, it's listed in the Savoy Cocktail Book (written by Harry Craddock for London's Savoy Hotel).  Just the ingredients were listed so I'm going to guess at the ratios and experiment until I get something drinkable.  This one may even be worth trying!

Ingredients

Curacao, Grand Marnier, Grenadine, Lemon Juice

This glass is used for a wide range of straight-up (without ice) cocktails, including martinis, manhattens, and cosmopolitans.  It is usually a conical vessel with a stem.

Also known as: Martini Glass

Volume: At least 2 oz. and sometimes up to 6 oz. or even more.

Thanks to Amy for turning me on to this great shooter!

Ingredients

Glassware: Double Shot Glass

1 1/2 oz Southern Comfort

1/2 oz Peach Schnapps

Splash of Cranberry Juice

Instructions

Fill a boston shaker with ice and splash Cranberry Juice

Pour Southern Comfort and Schnapps

Shake and strain into glass

I heard about this one from my Cocktail Calendar.  Apparently, this was listed in the cocktail book of the old Waldorf Astoria Hotel.  Having no rye on hand, I tried this with Maker's Mark bourbon, and it was excellent.

Ingredients

Glassware: Cocktail Glass

2 oz. rye

1 oz. sweet (red) vermouth

2 dashes orange bitters

Garnish: Orange Wheel

Instructions

Fill a shaker with ice and add 2 dashes of Orange Bitters

Pour vermouth and rye

Shake well, strain into Cocktail Glass

Garnish with an orange wheel