Ordering Martinis

From the Facebook Fan Page:

Q: Anthony, I'm having trouble figuring out about what exactly I like in a martini (and if it is a martini). I like being able to drink a chilled vodka (with olives) with no "aftertaste". I simply love being able to sip on the drink and taste that vodka, I like it to be smooth.

I'm from Oklahoma, so I can't tell if the bartenders around here don't know if I'm just not wanting a martini. The way I understand it, vermouth makes it dry, so I don't want that, but without it, its just vodka. So should I order a shot of vodka chilled with olive garnish?

I've been following your resources for quite a while, and I just think you do such a great job, I really feel like I'm getting the full story and richness of alcohol's culture when I listen to you. So keep up the good work, we really appreciate it.
-David S.

A: Couple quick things: to be a "real" martini it's gotta have both vodka (actually gin is more traditional, but vodka is more popular) and vermouth. Otherwise, as you said, it's just a glass of chilled vodka with olives. Now having said that, a glass of chilled vodka with olives is exactly what some people want.

Second, removing vermouth makes it dry. So, while a traditional (or wet) martini has about 4 parts vodka to 1 part vermouth, a dry martini usually has just a dash of vermouth.

Now to get what you're looking for (and you're by no means alone in this taste preference) you'll need to order an extra dry martini (translation: no vermouth at all). More precisely: an extra dry Grey Goose martini up with olives (translation: Grey Goose vodka chilled and strained into a martini glass with no vermouth, no ice, and olives as a garnish as opposed to a twist).

Any decent bartender will be able to transform that order into exactly the drink you want. If they get it wrong, go to a different bartender.

Thanks for the feedback!

Storing Liquor & Other Essentials

Q: Love the show. I just discovered it & I've watched every episode (ok, almost - I think there are 6 I've not gotten to yet). I don't make many cocktails at home and I don't entertain often. I'm curious if there are any special precautions or steps to take to store liquor, liqueur, bitters etc? I'm wanting to stock up my bar for the times I do entertain, but not throw the money away if it's all going to go bad before I use it. Thanks, keep up the good work.
-Ben

A: Great question -- I'm gonna post this on the blog as well. Storing liquor is painless: just keep the bottles tightly capped and most liquors can be kept for decades (fruit flies are your main adversary here, and caps defeat them nicely). Same for bitters and nearly anything with an alcohol content greater than about 20% (40 proof). Low-alcohol liqueurs (30+ proof) will be fine as well. Mixers need to be refrigerated once opened (and even then are only good for about a week), and that's also a good idea for Rose's Lime Juice and Grenadine (though both will do fine at room temp for weeks, even opened). Wine should be finished off within about 24 hours of opening the bottle unless a vacuum or nitrogen re-corking system is used. My standard setup for infrequently used bars is as follows (all can be kept at room temp except where noted):

-Full liquor/liqueur selection, tightly capped.
-Good wine selection, unopened.
-Single-serve grapefruit, pineapple, orange, and tomato juice cans (all usually easy to find).
-12-oz. cans or bottles of cola, diet, lemon-lime, ginger ale, seltzer, and tonic.
-Cranberry juice and lemonade/sour mix either in an unopened bottle or single-serve cans if you can find them.
-Bitters, capped.
-Grenadine and lime juice, refrigerated if opened.
-Salt, pepper, sugar.

Unfortunately, you have to buy fruit and other garnishes fresh, though maraschino cherries, olives, and cocktail onions will keep for a while in the fridge (actually, I think maraschino cherries and cockroaches will be the only things around after a nuclear war). Believe it or not, ice is usually where people come up short when hosting impromptu parties. Hope that helps, and thanks for the feedback!

Cheers for Children

Last night, I attended the Cheers for Children fundraiser for the Children of Bellevue Hospital in New York City as the celebrity host of the event's drink contest sponsored by Ty Ku liqueur. (Obviously, these folks have a different definition of celebrity than the one I'm familiar with.) The event was held in a really cool club in Chelsea call the Pink Elephant, which I'd never been to before. Pictured above is the bartender who was making the winning cocktail, the Ty Ku Lychee Martini. If you get a chance, you should check out this new sake-based liqueur -- it's got a unique taste, and mixes well with tropical and Asian ingredients. It was a terrific evening with terrific cocktails, all focused on a great cause!

AOTD Makes the Digg.com Homepage!

So my good friend Steve Daniels wrote on my Facebook wall this morning to let me know that our Flaming Zombie episode (AOTD 25) made the Digg.com home page today! Dave and I set that as one of our major goals back when we started the podcast, though I must admit we thought it would be a long shot. Thanks to Steve and all you fans for helping us make this a reality!

Pics From The Green Room

The new bar in The Green Room at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport, NY. Opening Gala, June 16, 2007 (courtesy of Newsday).

The John W. Engeman Theater in Northport, NY. Opening Gala, June 16, 2007 (courtesy of Newsday).

Props From the Motherland

Just got this terrific e-mail from a fan in Brazil (home of the Caipirinha) and thought I'd share it with you:

Hey Drink Artist,
I'm from Brazil and I'm a pirate fan. You've made a very good caipirinha on the podcast and since you are an expert I believe that you know what Grog is. So I would like to recomend you making a caipiríssima or caipirinha, but instead of stirring, shaking it and adding some mints in there. It tastes way better then stirred in my opinion. Other things we have in here are caipiroska, which is made from vodka and we go on making up other caipir- names changing the drink or the fruit. My favorites are shaken caipiríssima (which I call grog) and kiwi caipirinha.

Just a little culture now, caipirinha is short for caipira, that's equivalent to hillbilly but the reason for naming the drink that way is actually a mistery.

I just saw your video podcast for the first time and I'm loving it, keep up man! Hope you give the Grog and Kiwi Caipirinha (or caipiríssima) a try.
-LipeCau

Some great info there, and rest assured we'll be doing an episode on grog soon!

iTunes Featured!

Well, after almost a year of vidcasting and several straight months in their top 10 Food Podcasts, iTunes has finally seen fit to add Art of the Drink to the Food Home Page Featured list! We were really starting to think they didn't love us....

Thanks to all our fans who came through with great reviews for us -- we really think this turned the trick!

Episode 42: Espresso Martini

Anthony visits Bean Traders in search of the perfect espresso and transforms it into a martini.



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If you enjoy Art of the Drink, please look us up on iTunes and write a review -- thanks!

Episode 41: Master Bourbon Tasting Class

Join Anthony in a Bourbon Tasting Class hosted by Master Distiller David Pickerell!



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Download the full tasting class!

If you enjoy Art of the Drink, please look us up on iTunes and write a review -- thanks!

AOTD on JoeBartender.com

Check out our interview with JoeBartender.com, the coolest bartending mag on the web!

Episode 38: Maker's Mark Distillery Tour

Anthony takes you on a guided tour and shows you how Bourbon is made by the masters!



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If you enjoy Art of the Drink, please look us up on iTunes and write a review -- thanks!

Art of the Drink 34: Bill Samuels Jr. Interview

Anthony visits Loretto, KY, and talks with Maker's Mark president Bill Samuels Jr.



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AOTD Hits iTunes Top Five Food!

I just found out that Art of the Drink is now Number 5 in the iTunes Top Food Podcasts list, beating out everything else out there except a few long-running broadcast radio shows now being co-distributed as audio podcasts...which also makes us the Number 1 video podcast in the category! As iTunes is the definitive go-to place for podcasting, this is pretty unbelievable. Thanks for all of your support, and stay tuned for more!

January Update

Been a couple weeks since our last AOTD episode, so I just wanted to give you all an update on what we've had going on and what's coming up. The plan was to take the first week of January off, and then post the episodes we shot during our trip to the Maker's Mark distillery as a special three-part series running through the end of the month. But as Bobby Burns says, the best laid plans etc....

Turns out we got way more footage than we expected, and we liked it so much that we're cutting it several different ways: you'll get the original three planned AOTD episodes in our normal six-to-eight minute format, but you'll also be able to download special extended versions of each. We'll start with an incredibly entertaining and informative interview with Maker's Mark president Bill Samuels that will take you through the entire history of American whiskey production by a man who saw most of it first-hand. Then we move into the distillery for a behind-the-scenes tour, including the famous wax hand-dipping line. Finally, we sit in on a Bourbon Tasting Class taught by Maker's Mark Master Distiller Dave Pickerell that will put most wine courses to shame. If you've ever wanted to learn how to appreciate fine spirits, please don't miss this one!

Needless to say this is all taking a bit longer than we expected. Plus, I'm getting ready for the move to New York at the end of the month (new studio, baby!), trying to work the bugs out of my recent ill-timed heart surgery on my main computer (new motherboard, processor, hard drives, and RAM -- so why didn't I just buy a whole new box instead?), preparing to speak at the upcoming Business Podcasting Expo this Friday, and just to keep things interesting had to go and catch the absolute worst case of food poisoning in my adult life last weekend (three days vanished into thin air).

So you really didn't need to know most of that -- especially the last one -- but I feel we've established a bond at this point, no? Bottom line is, bear with us just a bit longer and we're gonna get some really great stuff out to you as quickly as possible. And of course we've got barrels of great new drinks, classic cocktails, history, and techniques coming up throughout the year!

Keep up those e-mails, contest entries, and requests, and we'll keep the drinks flowing! Salute!

AOTD Wins Best of 2006 Award!

I just found out that "Art of the Drink" won Lulu TV's award for "Best Instructional Vlog of 2006!" Thanks to all the people over at Lulu for putting together such a great site -- if you haven't visited them yet, check it out!

A Taste of Schnapps

Coming soon!

AOTD in December

In December, Art of the Drink is back in the studio with our December DrinkArt Girl, Tracy, bringing you the perfect menu of festive drinks for your holiday parties!

Week 1: Anthony shares his fantastic Candy Cane Martini recipe!

Week 2: We'll update the traditional Hot Toddy with fresh ginger and green tea!

Week 3: Anthony introduces you to Egg Nog's nearly-forgotten relative, the Syllabub!

Week 4: AOTD rings in the New Year with a classic Champagne Cocktail!

And be sure to stay tuned in 2007 as we present a whole new lineup of recipes, road trips, and of course DrinkArt Girls!

Art of the Drink 27: Rick Lyke Interview

In this episode of our AOTD On The Road in November series, Anthony interviews beverage writer Rick Lyke.



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AOTD On The Road

With the coming of the holiday season, AOTD will be bringing you a series of special on-the-road episodes for the month of November. For the first two weeks, we'll be coming at you live from the 2006 World Beer Festival in North Carolina. Then it's off to Memphis to kick off some truly special holiday entertaining episodes with my family. Come December, we'll be back in the studio with plenty of unique drinks to help you through all those Christmas parties and into the New Year! Enjoy the holidays, and keep those e-mails coming!

Shake and Roll

Question from the Forum (thanks to Romial): "I'm just recently attending bartending school and we went over martinis tonite. The teacher told us to put the strainer on the mixing cup and shake it back and forth and frost the tin that way. I said that I saw video clips online doing it up and down and mixing harder and he said that was mainly for when you don't have a blender, and if you mix it hard up and down it'll water the drink down a little bit more. Can you clarify if there is a difference?

"Also, we did highballs the night before and I know from your podcasts that you don't like to serve any drink without at least rolling it first. But instead of us doing that, they just had us build them in a certain order and that's it. No mixing at all except for what the liquids do themselves. What are your thoughts on this?"

A: Cool -- so here's the scoop: Not sure exactly what you're describing when you say your instructor is frosting the tin with the strainer on, but I'm going to assume it's more akin to stirring or swirling the drink. The key, though, is that the drink is being agitated with ice until the tin is frosted. Once that happens, you know the temperature is correct, so the technique you're being taught is fine. Both should result in the same amount of melting (minimal if you use enough ice), since both are taking the drink and the ice to the same temperature.

I'm a big fan of shaking for several reason. First, it's the easiest way to get things right for beginning bartenders. Second, it's quicker than stirring, again especially for the beginner. Third, it aerates the drink better, and an aerated drink will have a more intense flavor since the bubbles carry scent to your nasal passages while you drink it. Last, shaking cracks the ice and leaves mini ice flakes in the drink which help it hold temperature longer.

Is shaking the only correct way to chill a drink? Definitely not, but it is the way I recommend 90 percent of the time. Some guests will specifically ask for you NOT to shake their drink (I had a Maker's Mark rep as a regular who would send back Manhattans if they were shaken because she liked to see her bourbon presented nice and clear), and you should definitely accommodate those people, but the vast majority prefer their drinks as cold as possible and want them to stay that way as long as possible. For that, shaking just can't be beat.

As for shaking being able to substitute for a blender, that's definitely true (a post blender, actually, which is the kind they use in soda fountains and ice cream shops) and one of it's advantages -- you need less equipment if you can master shaking. I'll be doing some upcoming episodes on stirring because you should have that club in your bag as well, but it's a bit more advanced and used much less frequently.

On to highballs -- we haven't covered them in the podcast series yet (although the Presbyterian comes close), but I have an episode planned just for this classic cocktail. As a sneak preview, your instructor is correct: one of the defining characteristics of a highball is that it is NOT mixed, and if you notice I didn't mix the Pres. The cool part is why they're not mixed, and for that you'll have to wait for the episode.