A Brief (and Ugly) History of Malt Liquor
The history of malt liquor is a history that is shrouded in racism. Call it what it is: a series of marketing campaigns that sexualized women and targeted minority communities and individuals across the United States. Racism plagues retail, distribution, and service sectors of this industry and it is important that we talk about it.
Malt liquor has been around since the 1930s. It was born of the Depression and the rationing during World War II, when brewers didn’t have enough malt to make beer. By the mid 1960s, malt liquor companies had begun advertising specifically to a BIPOC clientele, and over the next two decades, that advertising grew more and more raunchy.
In the mid 1980s Colt 45 brought on Billy Dee Williams as a spokesperson. His famous tagline was “The power of Colt 45, it works every time,” with ads showing Williams holding a can of Colt 45 with a woman touching him suggestively. In 1986, the first poster for a new malt liquor called Midnight Dragon featured a black woman dressed in red, garters showing, straddling a chair and sipping a 40 through a straw. The caption read: “I could SUCK! on this all night.”
Couple these campaigns with the fact that for the money, you get more alcohol for your buck as compared to a beer (3.5% vs 5.6%-8%), and you’ve got a drink made for inner city youth.
40s were first introduced beginning in the mid-80's and cited as a "retailer and consumer convenience." Store owners took to them for their shelf space appeal, taking up less space than your standard 6 pack.
In the wake of their introduction to the market, national malt liquor consumption has increased to 82.9 million 2.5-gallon cases in 1992 from 73.6 million in 1989, according to the Jobson Publishing Corporation's Beer Handbook, which predicts sales of 97.8 million cases this year.
And the reason for the sales? More alcohol for less $$.
Today in 2021 we see malt liquor taking the form of White Claw, Smirnoff Ice, FourLoko, Truly, Vizzy, Bud Light Seltzer, Corona Hard Seltzer… we can go on but you get the idea.
The hard seltzers many of us throw back today are brands that were built upon the exploitation of minority communities, and over time marketing shifted to target all young Americans. The hard seltzer market hit the ground running in 2018 with $500 million in sales. This year? $4 Billion.
Winter Reading for Beginners
Recommended Reading
Drunken Botanist by Amy Steward
Imbibe by David Wondrich
Death & Company by Alex Day, David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald
Cocktail Codex by Alex Day, David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald
These books in our opinion are the best ones to up the ante on your cocktail game.
Mixology is essentially the creative side of bartending. It’s like having a degree in engineering with a focus on design - you have all the structure there from bartending, but now you’re getting creative with it and testing new spaces to see what works.
Drunken Botanist is one of Ariana’s personal favorite reference books. It teaches you where your greatest tool (spirit) is coming from and gives background on history and how it is made. The spirit in each bottle is made of something, and normally that something has roots that go back further than most people ever think about. We highly recommend purchasing a copy so you can refer to it for years to come, and you totally don’t have to read it cover to cover to get some really incredible information, but we did anyway.
What you’ll get from it: A comprehensive layout of how over 150 plants are used in the wonderful world of spirits. This will include technical stuff like genus and species and pollination process. It also will have history of when these plants first came into use as booze. It debunks myths and breaks down complexities like differences between the labels we see on whiskies, rums, and so much more.
Imbibe will give you the low down on the history of cocktails. It essentially highlights how cocktails came to be what they are today, which was truly a hell of a journey because most people who drink aren’t good at recording stuff.
What you’ll get from it: the history of bartending as a profession and the evolution of cocktails. Also don’t go crazy looking up all of the people mentioned in the book, the star of this show is Jerry Thomas.
Death & Company is the type of book that will hone your bartending skills. You’ll see that this book and Cocktail Codex have the same authors. Cocktail Codex is the intermediate mixology book where as Death & Co. is a bit more entry level.
We hope this list helps you on your path to cocktail mastery! Once you’ve conquered these books the limit does not exist on which spine to crack next.
Competitions : From 2 Bartenders Who Have Never Placed First Ever
Cocktail competitions are literally the bane of our existence. We’ve entered about 20 over the course of the last few years and every freaking time we end up drinking chartreuse and saying “we’ll get em next time.”
So take it from two losers when we say how amazing the competition life actually is.
Why do we enter competitions? Well because it’s literally all your peers making cocktails in a giant room/on a stage/in their respective kitchens to see who’s slaps the most. For the most part you’re friends with these people and competition at the end of the day makes us BETTER. Whether it be better bartenders, better networkers, better organizers, and in my specific case, a better loser, in all cases competitions offer an opportunity for growth.
So how do you get into a competition? Finding them can either be extremely easy or needle-in-a-haystack work. We use sources like shakestir.com and abarabove.com. Following liquor brands on instagram is a good way to keep you in the loop as well; they’ll normally announce right on their pages. Or if you’re lucky enough to live on Long Island you can follow the wonderful @BOOZEANDINFUSE and keep an ear out for their different competitions that take place at their kick ass hot sauce expos / taco festivals / straight up ragers of competitions.
There are Different Kinds of Competitions;
There’s the one where you come up with a cocktail, write it down, and send it in your idea to a liquor brand. If they like it they may have you come to a location and create it for them in a small quantity and if you do well you either win or advance to another round.
The liquor brands normally have these competitions to increase brand exposure, generate ideas of how to use their product, and get the bartender community involved and familiar with who they are and what they do.
There is one where you come up with a cocktail, make it for a panel of judges, and then they vote to see who’s is the best.
And then there’s the one where you make a f*ck ton of syrup, juice 3 cases of citrus, and just bang em out for hours for people who bought tickets to a room FULL of bartenders just like you. These competitions are normally judged by a panel, and in our experience there is also the “people’s choice” award. It is important to note that these competitions normally cost you the most money. From ingredients, to cups, to decor, you’re shelling out money to be there. Make sure you bring business cards and any sort of material that will make your time there worth it in the form of private gigs or new customers.
How To Prepare for Competition
Okay so you’ve entered a competition. You came up with a cocktail in conformity with rules and restrictions (please read these ever so carefully, you don’t want to get disqualified over a minor detail). Depending on which competition you’ve entered you have to get some stuff together. For all of these competitions you should have a recipe card for your cocktail (if it is blind tasting leave your name off). This can set you apart if done right. If it’s the type where you’re sending it in for review then include a method for anything you made from scratch (syrups, cordials, orgeat etc.). If you’re going for the second one, make sure you bring all your bar equipment i.e. shaker, jiggers, Yari, strainers, bar spoon, FUNNEL, garnish storage cutting board, knife, peeler and ice scoop (just in case). We also like to bring pourers and a bar mat, as well as bar rags and spray. Plus whatever ingredients you need to make your drink in a swing top bottle. If you have all this you should be good to go for a round.
** Bring extra plastic cups so you can have your rep/competitors taste any syrups or the whole cocktail that you made. This will make you new friends!
For the large scale set up we HIGHLY recommend investing in decor for your table. Our friends from Rust and Gold and Bakuto always kick ass with their displays. Make sure you have your drink recipe on display for people to see. It helps draw people to your table. Also we recommend bringing your own small trash receptacle, ice bin, cooler and a spirit of personal choice to whip out when you’re making friends or saying hi to ones you know (hint: bring fernet).
SO YOU HAVE ALL THE STUFF. Now let’s discuss mentality.
Bring Your A Game and Nothing Else Matters
Even when you have been working on a drink for a while, had multiple people test it, love it and believe in it, there’s a chance someone also made a banger. That doesn’t diminish the work you put in. We’ve lost enough competitions to know that what really matters is showing up and having a good time, networking, and cheering on the people who do win.
We are a community that knows how to talk to people, yet at countless competitions we’ve been to people get so in their own heads that they forget that we are all on the same team in the big picture. We all work long hours and late nights. We all have our regulars and favorites. We all juice or prep or stock. We all are in the same line of work. If you get anything out of these competitions it should be that there is always someone to learn SOMETHING from, even and especially when you do some out on top. Show up amped, give your all, and HAVE A GREAT DAMN TIME.
Caramelized Pineapple Syrup
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS SYRUP IS FINDING THE PERFECT PINEAPPLE.
Tips for picking it good ones:
Vibrant green leaves and greenish-yellow shell.
Smells sweet
Heavy for their size
Got you little bundle of spikes and sweetness? Good.
Once your pineapple is peeled an cut into wheels - sprinkle them with some coconut sugar and bake them on 300 degrees for 20 minutes.
While the pineapple is still hot proceed to juicing.
If you have a juicer - great juice those little golden brown discs of love. If you don’t you can use a blender and then strain the pulp out.
You should have about a quarts-worth of juice. Since you already sprinkled the rounds with coconut sugar you don’t want to go super heavy on sugar. Use 1 cup of white sugar (not coconut sugar because you don’t want to alter the color of the pineapple juice).
Badabing badaboom use this in everything and anything.
** Fun way to spice it up - order edible glitter on Amazon and add a little to they syrup for a shimmery wonderland of color **
So you wanna manage a bar?
MANAGING A BAR IS AMAZING
- you learn the ins ‘n’ outs of what it takes to make a successful cocktail program
- you get to hire and train incredible individuals that will likely become your friends
- you get the opportunity to work side by side with owners, chefs, and general management to create a cohesive customer experience
- your vision and your creativity meld into one beautiful flowing symphony with the restaurant or bar
- chances are meals are included and if your chef is half as good as the one I currently work for, you’re eating GOOD
But you have to accept the position first.
Below are the major talking points that anyone interviewing for a bar management position should consider. Management does not mean you manage people - it means you manage people’s expectations. Start with your own.
HOURS - are you working a 40 hour work week? What does your schedule entail? Do you get consecutive days off? What holidays are you giving up ? Is your schedule a mix of bar shifts and management shifts?What kind of T.O is offered? Is it paid? Who handles problems when you’re there? Who handles problems when you’re not?
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT - Unless you plan to one day buy into the bar/restaurant you are managing, there is zero reason you should be on call 24/7, 365. For your mental health and well being you should be able to enjoy your life how you see fit - hiking, traveling, dinner with friends, or even cuddling with your cat and watching movies - without your phone going off every ten minutes. The most valuable thing you are given in life when you are born is TIME. Asking these questions is a strategic part of using this asset wisely.
RESPONSIBILITIES - What falls in your wheelhouse and what does not? Will you be making the schedules for the bar team or does the GM handle that? Are you a hiring / firing manager? How often are you supposed to change your cocktail menu? What are the business owners’ expectations for their cocktail menus? What is their operational cost ? Who is in charge of paying the invoices? When is inventory done and is there a system in place? Are you creating that system? How many vendors do you deal with? Who has the final say in what cocktails make it to the menu? Who makes the syrups, juices, garnishes?
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT - The blurred lines of who does what can lead to you taking on more than you expected, becoming over worked, and then feeling under appreciated and resentful as a result. As a manager you can share ideas for improving operations, but your boss should ALWAYS have the final say. At the end of the day it’s not your livelihood on the line; leave the responsibility of the final decisions up to them.
SUPPORT - Who has your back if there is an unruly guest at the bar? Is there a list of updated contacts if the low boys go down on a Friday afternoon? Who is dialing those numbers? Who is helping you pull everything so that the weekend supply of garnishing flowers and fresh juiced pineapple don’t turn? If the POS system has a glitch, what is protocol? If someone is unhappy with their experience, how is it handled? Are you alone most of the day and night or is your boss in the trenches with the bar team when 3 bachelorette parties walk in and order 1 of each cocktail but with vodka instead? And if they can’t make cocktails are they running the floor in a way that keeps the guests happy and entertained until you can get to them in a timely manner? CAN YOUR BOSS CHANGE A KEG? (The last three of these - for the love of everything good - please do not ask them so directly - rephrase and curiously inquire.)
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT - If you are showing up every day and doing all the things discussed during the responsibilities part of this post then you should - in theory - have a smooth shift. BUT WE’RE BARTENDERS AT HEART. And we all know that things happen. If you have the right support you will be able to focus and prioritize during a hectic night, which will leave you and the rest of the staff feeling like warriors once everything is said and done. It will allow you to be the best version of yourself as an employee and fuel your fire to go above and beyond.
The answers to these questions should be one’s that you’re happy and comfortable with. Only you know what that is so be honest with yourself. ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND - you’re looking for your life to be better or stay the same. Against popular opinion it’s okay to decline a job that may steal your soul if the trade off is gaining some experience at a cool place with a well known name.
If you are the type of person who arrives to each shift ready to give your best, then you deserve a position in a healthy work environment. They’re out there - you just have to ask the right questions.
Acai Syrup (aka that purp)
So not too long ago we posted a cocktail called Acai You in Montauk (visit our insta to check it out). It incorporated an ingredient we’ve wanted to integrate for a while. So without further ado :
Acai Syrup
Make a quart of hot simple 1:1 - split it in half - then add 4 tablespoons of acai powder. Put the half with the açaí powder through a blender to make sure it’s all homogenized - then combine back into 1 quart. Bada bing bada boom. Shelf stable for a month.
Lavender Syrup In Everything
Lavender has so many uses in life; it wards off mosquitos when planted in a garden, it provides therapeutic properties in the aroma realm, and as it turns out, it’s damn good in drinks. Below is Rich’s recipe for the loveliest lavender syrup.
1 cup of dried lavender
2.5 cups water
2 cups white sugar
Bring water and dried lavender to a lite simmer and shut off immediately.
Stir and allow to seep for 10 min.
Strain out dried lavender with a tea strainer and press out any excess water from lavender.
Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
Store in a sterile glass container for up to 3 months or freeze for use after 6 months.
ARE YOU DENSE?
HELLO!
If you are here to learn about amazing syrups, skip to the next post. IF YOU ARE HERE TO LEARN ABOUT SCIENCE, PLEASE BY ALL MEANS CONTINUE. Today we’re talking DENSITY. You’ve seen sience at work in drinks like tequila sunrises, Black and Tans, White Russians, B-52 shot… the list goes on. Of if you’ve never seen it you’ve at least experienced it when you got the new barista and DD who made that first sip of your PSL smack you back into fall. The reason we are able to create these monstrosities/works of art is due to the fact that each liquid has density aka specific gravity. While there are different methods to layers, like using the back of a spoon, using the front of the bar spoon, or using the actual shaft (lol) of the bar spoon, your life will be made VOLUMES easier by using spirits that have more than 0.05 to 0. 10 value difference from each other. For a lovely detailed chart on densities of popular spirits, use this awesome chart by Cocktail Hunter.
Okay but so here’s a cool thing: if you want a spirit to weigh more, dissolve sugar into it. The more sugar you add, the heavier the ingredient will get. Want a lighter liquid? Add some water! Please be aware this doesn’t work with foams… don’t try to put a layer over your foam by adding water and then come yell at us.
For the Christmas Season, we found a shot you can test out labeled a Santa Shot. Disclaimer do not leave this shot out for Santa before he gets in his sleigh, that’s why we have the song Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.
Bad Santa Shot
1/2 OZ GRENADINE
1/2 OZ GREEN CREME DE MENTHE
1/2 OZ PEPPERMINT SCHNAPPS
In a shot glass add the grenadine, then using the back of a bar spoon, hover the spoon above the grenadine and rested against the side of the shot glass, then slowly pour creme de menthe. Repeat that step with the peppermint schnapps. Boom, you’re a pro.
It’s the Holiday Syrup
We recently had the PLEASURE of teaching a cocktail class that featured some holiday cheer. Inspired by the season, Richard put together some bomb syrups that can be used throughout this holiday season and beyond (queue “all I want for Christmas” in the middle of July).
Cherry Baby Dark Cherry Syrup
Ingredients:
1 cup dark cherry juice
1 cup white cane sugar
Half cup frozen dark cherries
Method: All ingredients and blend on high for 30 seconds. After fully integrated transfer everything into a pot. Heat over low heat for 30 minutes. Let mixture cool and strain through cheese cloth or strainer of choice.
If you own a seus vide (immersion cooker) heat at 140 degrees for two hours in sealed bag.
Gingerbread Syurp
Ingredients:
1 Medium head of ginger (roughly 200 grams)
1 cinnamon stick
16 cloves
Teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Method: Peel ginger and cut into small strips. Submerge in cool water and let sit for 30min. Take all dry spice and put on a small oven pan. Set oven to high broil and put all spices on middle rack for 4 minutes making sure to spread around at 2 min mark(This will toast spices bringing out more of the natural flavors and oils.) Take ginger after its 30 min bath and grate into small shreds. Take gingers shreds and all spices and cook in small pot with 1 cups sugar and both sugars. After about 15 minutes strain out all solids and enjoy.
Rosemary Grenadine
Ingredients:
2 cups Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice.
2 cups demerara sugar
Skin of one orange
6 rosemary sprigs
1 tablespoons molasses
Method: Toast rosemary in oven for 3 min on broil. In small pot cook Pom juice, sugar, toasted rosemary, and molasses over a medium heat until all sugar dissolves. Do not let come to boil. When all sugar is dissolved remove syrup from heat and express in the oils of one whole orange peel. To increase orange flavor leave peels in syrup or dissolve.
Nordiculously Good
Translating from the Latin aqua vitae, meaning “water of life” Aquavit was, in its earliest days, believed to have healing powers the likes of warding off disease and old age. This liqueur has a LONG history-like 1300s long. By the 15th century it was thought to cure alcoholism(?). And today it’s known to be a useful aid in digestion.
Aquavit wears many different hats depending on which region you are tasting from. The Swedish variant is usually distilled from grain and has heavier anise and fennel flavour, while Norwegian Aquavit is made from potatoes and dons cuminy, citrus peely notes. Danish Aquavit also usually uses grain as the base, but tends to profile dill, coriander and caraway.
Just as they vary in style and flavour, depending where you are, the traditions around the way you enjoy Aquavit are also vastly different. Scandinavians take their aquavit straight up, like a chilled shot, with the exception of Copenhagen in the winter, where it will usually be served with coffee. In Norway, Aquavit is usually sipped slowly to enjoy and experience its barrel-aging.
Aquavit has made its way into US bars and has the versatility all bartenders love to play with. Experience it in a Negroni riff or spritz. Of course there’s always the option to enjoy it like a Viking, just don’t forget the eye contact. Skaal!