Seen in a Bar - March 09 Edition

I've been spending more time in bars, and less time at the computer, lately. A couple of things I've seen recently that were notable:

Indiana and St. Germain - a rep for the largest distributor in Indiana was out telling people about St. Germain today and I crossed paths with her at a nice restaurant in the NW corner of the state. Only thing is, she told the restaurant owner and bartenders that it was a PEAR liqueur (and her boss, who was with her, reiterated it). When I asked her if there was elderflower in it (trying to give a hint but be nice about it), the response was "it tastes like pear, and besides, no one knows what elderflower is anyway." Interesting.

St. Patrick's Day in Chicago - a relatively new Irish bar in the River East/Gold Coast area of Chicago was charging a cover charge just to get into the bar and drink/eat after the downtown parade on Saturday March 14th. No band, nothing special going on, just doing it because they could, I guess. As a restauranteur, maybe it's smart - work less for the same money, perhaps. It seemed a little exploitive to us, given the economy and the occasion, so we moseyed on down the street and found another place that just wanted to take our money for our beer and food, thankyouverymuch.

March Mix-Off - Illinois USBG

Last night, the Illinois chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild convened at Nacional 27 for our monthly meeting and cocktail mixing party. It was a great time, as always. Here are a few highlights and pictures.

USBG IL Updates
We (finally) got emails yesterday with the results of our Master Accreditation level one tests. We were the guinea pigs for this first-ever testing program for mixologists, intended to follow the Master Sommelier program.

About 25 of us took the test over two weeks ago, and afterward, everyone had many questions. There were some errors on the test itself, and some poorly worded questions - suffice to say, there were issues. Hopefully they sorted all that out before the next group took the test (in Las Vegas at the Bar Show). Luckily, I passed so I won't have to find out!

We covered some other upcoming events, most notably the Illinois finals for the World Cocktail Competition is scheduled for March 31st at Boka. Should be another fun competition, and the winner goes to San Francisco to compete in the national competition.

This Month's Sponsor: Tru Organic Spirits
My friends Melkon Khosrovian and his wife, Litty Mathew, make Tru Organic Spirits out in Los Angeles. They kindly sponsored this month's session, and Melkon brought along his organic vodkas & gin for us to taste and use. Melkon gave a brief presentation about their upcoming bitters challenge at Tales of the Cocktail this year, and also about their spirits.

Cocktail Competition
Our monthly competitions are typically not as rigorous as formal competitions, and this one was no exception. Most contestants were aiming for a pre-dinner drink, and brought along all their ingredients, per the instructions. But since we were working in his bar, Adam Seger also offered his full array of syrups, fruits and mixers, which is one heck of an offer.

The competitors included Adam Seger from Nacional 27, Benjamin Schiller from In Fine Spirits, Daniel de Oliveira from Boka, Cristi DeLucca from The Drawing Room, Chris Bloom, who is a member-at-large (and a lawyer by day), and Martin from Maxwell Street Trading.

This group came up with a wide array of cocktails and used a broad range of ingredients. Four used Tru Gin as their base, while two used the straight vodka. Only one used any egg, and three used Aperol, while one used miso and rice wine vinegar. Benjamin even created some homemade gelées with Aperol and Tru Gin, and a fun (and novel) presentation for his garnish (in picture at far right).

The winner, in a very close decision, was Chris Bloom. The judges said his drink had the edge based on aromatics. Congratulations to Chris!

Here's his recipe:

Puesta Del Sol, by Chris Bloom

1½ oz Tru Organic Vodka

¾ oz Aperol

¾ oz Wild Turkey American Honey Liqueur

¾ oz Lime Juice

Orange Bitters (Regans)

Garnish: One blood orange slice, one long lemon curl and dried, grated Seville orange zest

Combine Vodka, Aperol, American Honey, Lime Juice and 3 dashes of orange bitters. Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass rimmed with dried orange zest. Place Blood orange slice on top and twist lemon peel across glass.

Here was Chris's description of the drink: "Puesta del sol means sunset in Spanish (literally 'place the sun' - - as you place the orange slice to float on top of this drink). Hopefully it reminds you of a summer sunset on a beach relaxing at the end of a beautiful summer day."

Afterward, it was off to the Drawing Room for more cocktails and conversation. A blast, even if I did get home at 3:15 am (yawn).

Lab Created Flavorings

It's just so wrong I had to blog it. A few minutes ago, I received an email from a flavoring company. I get them periodically - there are lots of flavoring companies out there, and they often call us to try and sell their wares. Rest assured, we do not use any flavorings in any of our spirits, we only use actual ingredients. This sets us apart from most of the other spirits companies in the United States - the big brand flavored vodkas, for example, are virtually all flavored with flavorings from a lab.

So what was in this offending email? It was an introduction to a class called Grain Flavor 201. Seriously.

Natural/Unnatural Flavorings
From our limited exposure to them, we've learned that flavor companies can engineer just about any flavor you want. They can use "natural" ingredients, to make "natural flavors," which only means they are derived from things that exist in nature (and may or may not contain any of the ingredient for the flavor you were after). For example, "natural lemon flavor" may or may not contain any part of an actual lemon (usually it doesn't, and bears more similarity to things used in floor cleaners, etc. - mmmm, tasty).

These flavor labs also create artificial flavors, which are often cheaper too - the sky's the limit on your options, if you're okay with the words "artificial flavors" on your product.

There's Grain Flavor Too?
I know spirits are flavored with these lab-created flavorings, and I've read books about how fast food companies use flavorings to make their food taste like something. But I didn't consider a grain flavor. When I shop at the local grocery store, I wasn't imagining that my breakfast cereal, and hell, even my bread are probably flavored with these things too. Wow. Welcome to the world of processed foods.

Think about that the next time you see "natural flavors added" or "artificial flavors added" on a label. As for me, I think I'm going to start having eggs for breakfast instead of cereal (organic, free-range eggs from a local farmer of course - let's not get into the egg topic).