Two Drink Minimum; The After 5 Cocktail Blog

Last spring, I took my wife and daughters on a 4-day Disney cruise – and almost every day since, my home mailbox has runneth over with catalogs, brochures and magazines from high-end cruise lines. (Are all these upper crusty companies aware that I’m a cheapskate who purchased an off-season package w/ an inside stateroom – no window, just a round mirror?)

Regardless, my new favorite magazine from all this high-end junk-mail is Virturoso Life, “The Traveler’s Guide to Inspired Pursuits” (aka “Vacations You’ll Never Afford”). This month’s issue has a good story about boozin’ – “The American Cocktail Revolution,” which traces the history of the cocktail, and also details how we Americans (and our bars) have lost our sauce-superiority to a new breed of “handmade” European cocktails.

The culprit? Cheap cocktail mixes and artificial fruit juices and sweeteners. While our spirits have certainly improved – Absolut Vodka, Patrón Tequila, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Grey Goose Vodka, Cruzan Rum – our cocktail mixes haven’t.

So nix the mix? Yup. Think about it next time you’re out at your favorite bar or restaurant: all those those trendy, hyper-sweetened martinis; or the 31 flavors of margaritas; or the wacky red, white and blue festive cocktails with the sparklers and swizzle straws. They’re all tasty, sure, but so’s Kool-Aid on hot day.

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And think about it when you’re entertaining at home: It’s one thing to buy margarita mix. It’s another thing to buy bottled lemon and lime juice. And it’s quite something else to pick ripe lemons and limes from a neighbor’s tree and squeeze your own margaritas. C’mon – you ponied up $60 for the bottle of Patrón tequila; Why ruin it with cheap margarita mix? It’s like grilling up a beautiful porterhouse steak, then smothering it with ketchup.

The magazine story mentioned a few other tips for cocktail mixing I thought I’d pass along:

For drinks like mojitos
and mint juleps, try using sugar cane juice (guarapo) or raw sugar in lieu of standard sugar. It takes away any sickening sweetness, and adds a more complex and textured flavor to your cocktails.

Try using fruit juice ice cubes in place of standard ice. This prevents “water-down” as your ice melts, and it can also change/enhance the drinking experience as you sip. For example, cranberry ice cubes in a glass of vodka and orange juice will transform the cocktail into a Madras as the ices melts.

Got any fresh or handmade cocktail tips you’d like to share with us? Please do!

Written by Trevor Pitchford

James Bond: “Vodka martini.”
Bartender: “Shaken or stirred?”
James Bond: “Does it look like I give a damn?”

Casino Royale, 2006

Cheers to the latest James Bond movie (I just watched it on DVD), especially the new dark and edgy tone, and its welcome lack of goofy one-liners, cartoon stunts and throwaway bimbos. What also caught my attention was 007’s loose cannon inexperience as a secret agent. (Casino Royale was Ian Fleming’s first Bond book, and Bond’ first mission.) In the movie, greenhorn Bond makes a lot of mistakes – gets the %$&* kicked out of him, loses the girl, and apparently doesn’t even know how to order a martini yet (see above).

Which got me to thinking about this whole “Shaken, not stirred” martini catchphrase that’s developed over the last couple of decades. Does it really make a difference? If you line up two martinis side-by-side – one shaken, one stirred, both from the same recipe – how many people could honestly pick or prefer one over the other?

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I gathered two of my drunken friends and we put it to the test. Using the classic “dry vodka martini” recipe from later Bond appearances, I shook one, stirred the other, and served.

“I thought we were drinking beer,” said my old college roommate. Some things never change.
“The shaken martini is definitely colder,” the other, more successful friend, said. This, we attributed to the ice swishing around in the shaker before I served.
“The stirred martini tastes more diluted, if that makes sense,” the old roommate said. I had mixed both martinis the same strength, but we all agreed that the stirred martini had a weaker, vermouthy taste to it.
“These crackers are good,” said the old roommate, referring to the saltine palette-cleansers I’d put out for between sips. “They’re salty, but not in a starchy, dehydrating way like pretzels can be.” I made a mental note never to invite him back for serious drink studies like this.
“I like the shaken martini best,” said the successful friend, interrupting the doofus. “It’s very cold, like a martini should be, and it tastes more completely mixed.”

We all three agreed that the shaken martini tasted better, though it wasn’t a night-and-day conclusion. It took several swigs, back and forth, and some discussion before we could put a finger on the differences between the two.

If anyone out there can put some science behind our findings, I’d love to hear why one is better than the other, or if anyone prefers their martinis “stirred, not shaken.” And if you have any thoughts about saltine crackers, please keep them to yourself.

Written by Trevor Pitchford

 

 

While
having dinner with my brother in law Zak last Friday night at the Mexican joint
Palapa above his house, we were looking through the menu and I asked, “Do they
have mixed drinks here?”  He responded, "Beer and wine but they have
a margarita served with 40 proof
tequila… 40 proof tequila, is that strong enough?” He said, “Or is that
like one of those winearitas that some restaurants, lacking a full liquor
license, try pass off as a margarita.” The whole conversation reminded me of my

Tiquila_belt_2

youth living as a ski bum in Aspen and not being old enough to buy anything but 3.2 near beer. What a joke that was. You get a better buzz off a garden hose.

So is 40 proof worthy of
consideration when you’re used to the warm hypnotizing glow of lets say, a
Patron or a Cuervo 1800 margarita. Well…no. Patron tequila margaritas are made
with tequila that is 80 proof. This might explain why they are so good. In beer
and wine the alcohol content is expressed as a simple percentage of the amount
of liquid in the bottle. Beer ranges in alcohol content from 3.2 to 6 percent
with most US beers averaging about 4.5 percent, even less with those flimsy light beers.
Wine can hit as high as 20 percent but its typically in the 9-14 percent range.
With liquor, the number 80 proof basically means the percentage of alcohol
content then multiplied by two. For instance, in the case of the 80 proof
Patron tequila that means it’s 40% alcohol. So our 40 proof margarita at Palapa
is actually only 20% booze. Just a hair above what we get in wine. I love the
creative marketing here. Would I rather drink a 40 proof tequila margarita over
a winearita? If forced to pick than yes but not without dolling it up with my binocular
flask that I forgot.

 

So
there is the proof- wine does equal Tequila, as far as the buzz factor goes.

 

Anyway
my carnitas burrito came with a Dos Equis beer. Decision made. "Waiter, do
you have a Tres Equis?"

 

 

Does the world need another blog?

No.

Great. Okay. So why are we starting an After 5 cocktail blog? Well, it’s a long story – and blog entries are generally not very long, so we’ll have to abbreviate:

About six months ago, one of our customer service reps at After 5 received a phone call from a guy who’d just purchased one of our

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He was calling us on his cell phone, standing in the liquor section of his local grocery store – asking us how to mix a martini!! Now, sure, he could’ve just asked the supermarket sommelier or the closest 16-year-old stockboy, but instead he chose to dial 800# information, request our phone number, and ask us. Why??

“Because I want to know how to make the best martini, not just any martini,” the guy said. “Don’t you guys have a favorite After 5 martini recipe?”

It’s an interesting question. (And the answer is yes, by the way.) But are we some kind of authority on cocktails? Keepers of the Holy Grail of booze? Sauciers of the sauce? Hell, no. We all have our favorite spices and vices, but nothing here is definitive.

But the community of After 5 customers, on the other hand – now that would be a very fun and knowledgeable bunch. We’ve always thought of After 5 as a great big cocktail party
– and our customers as the friends we’d like to have at that party. So let’s throw open the doors and get to know each other. With this blog, let’s start some conversations and exchange some ideas on cocktails, wine, beer, eating, entertaining, relaxing, celebrating, recovering, and celebrating some more.

We’ll keep it topical, seasonal, spontaneous, random and fun – and just like a great party, you’ll never know what to expect. Be sure to share your opinions, knowledge and wild experiences with us – and come back often, because we plan to update regularly.

Written by Trevor Pitchford