Bibulo.us - We plead the 21st.

Delicious drinks and a deeper understanding of ingredients are among the happy benefits of becoming a cocktail nerd. One sorry side effect, though, is a profusion of bottles, some of which one has no intention of ever sampling again. While we are strong advocates of having a wide collection of ingredients, enabling experimentation and the pleasure of introducing guests to new flavors, there's a limit to how many and, more importantly, how long bottles should reside in anyone's house.

Now we aren't talking about the fine furniture of a bar, those lovely bottles of good whiskey or rum which you can enjoy an ounce or two at a time for years; we've got our eye on the perishables: the flowers, not the dining table. There are also some other categories deserving of a bit of Discardia, so let's get specific about all of them and their recommended fate.

1. Nasties
Let's face it. Not everything tastes good. This is the first category to move out of your life. Sometimes you hear about a weird new spirit or liqueur (more often the latter) with which you want to experiment, but you discover when you try it that you never want it to pass your lips again.
If you won't drink it or serve it soon and frequently to guests, send it on to someone else. If it goes beyond 'not to my taste' into the realm of 'purely dreadful', pour it down the drain and spare the world from its horribleness.

2. Frail flowers
Anything under 25% ABV is only going to last so long. You should be keeping it in the fridge. If it hasn't already gone off, start using it up at a faster pace and clear that space for a fresh bottle. Good vermouth is delicious on the rocks and often responds nicely to an orange twist. Liqueurs can be used to make Italian sodas. Try an ounce in a pint glass, topped with soda water and stirred. While you're at it, mark today's date in permanent marker on the label of each of those bottles and make a note in your calendar three months hence to purge anything still lurking weakly around.

3. Bits and bobs
There are ingredients which are fine, but not your favorites. The ones which you're always reaching past to get that beloved bottle. Consider using some of these up in making a punch for your next gathering of friends. Even a delicate one like Limmer's Gin Punch can often tolerate some careful mixing of compatible different brands. Get David Wondrich's wonderful book on punch and start being a fabulous (albeit deviously backbar clearing) host.

4. Too Good to Drink
Yes, it's good to extend your enjoyment of truly excellent spirits, but when you're down to the final few servings of something it's time to enjoy more not less. Life is uncertain and the survival of things contained in glass even less so; go ahead and have the good stuff. Figure out some unfulfilling expense you can cut (Do you really watch Netflix or cable enough to be worth that money?) and divert those funds toward replacing it with another spectacular bottle.

For more on this theme, check out these ideas from Jacques Bezuidenhout: Taming Your Liquor Cabinet and Throw a Clean-Up Party.

[We are delighted to welcome Lance for a guest post, the advice in which we heartily endorse.]

Here's the best way I know of to expand your repertoire of drink. Sure, there will be some regrets in there, but you'll also end up exploring new vistas and make new friends along the way.

1. Find a 'favorite' bar. This can be one you just wander into, or one attached to a restaurant. What's important is that it's not too busy, but it's not empty, either. You'll know it when you see it. It should have a wide, vast, unruly, impossible collection of liquor easily visible. Hundreds of beers on tap? Only if you want to learn more about beer. Avoid "themes" unless, again, you want to explore that theme (e.g. tequila bars, tiki bars, sake bars and the like).

2. Sit at the bar. At the bar. Not near it. Not standing. Sit on a stool at the bar.

3. When asked "what'll you have?" answer, "I'm in the mood to explore, if that's okay." If the bartender is a good bartender - meaning this is his or her only job and they love it, they should immediately smile. This is an opportunity to show off, or provide something special, or introduce someone else to something they love. If that doesn't happen, and they frown or sigh or look put out, this isn't the bar you're looking for.

4. They should respond with, "What do you like?" What that means is "Based on what liquor?" So you answer "gin" or "vodka" (boooooring) or "whiskey" or "tequila" or whatever. You could also say, "Surprise me," and they should be okay with that. If that doesn't happen, and you end up with a Martini, this isn't the bar you're looking for.

5. At some point, share your name and ask theirs. Who knows, you may become a regular here. Names are nice to know, and also nice to share with visitors, as in "Go to this bar and ask for Janet. She'll do you right."

6. Having settled on a liquor, what else do you like? Sweet? Bitter? Herbal? Fruity? Something like this drink, but nothing like that drink? Are you allergic to anything? Like, what about egg whites? Basil? anything that should be ruled out, rule it out. You're not offending anyone, the bartender wants to make you happy.

7. Then sit back and leave yourself in their hands. Tip well. If you like it, say so. If you don't, say so. Ask to see the bottle(s). Ask for a straight taste. Watch as they make the drink so you can make it yourself if you want to.

This isn't something you're likely to do while awaiting a table or if you're in a hurry. This is a drop-in and hang-out thing. Shoot the shit with the bartender. Introduce your friends. Relax. Sip. Enjoy.

    At an innovative and acclaimed restaurant near you there is a jar of house-made brandied cherries at a dessert chef's prep station which are used to create a delicious chocolate-cherry bread pudding. Ten feet away on the restaurant's bar is a similar container of brandy with cherries in it. That bottle is intended for the dessert's companion cocktail. Between the two stands the bar manager – but not the pastry chef – being cited for violation of California law.

    The scene is fictional, so far, but the legal discrepancy is all too real. In the state of California the health and safety of the public as it relates to booze is the charter of the department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. By their definition – as issued in a May 2008 industry advisory, which was largely ignored – the process of changing the character of an alcoholic beverage through maturation, as in the case of the cherries sitting in the brandy, or fermentation, potentially by something like adding citrus and sugar to vodka to create limoncello, is considered “rectification” and as such is not permitted without a Rectifier’s license. Here’s the catch: no one who serves these beverages is allowed to get one.

    What could this mean legally? According to the ABC, no bar would be permitted to do anything but “the simple mixing of alcoholic beverages with other ingredients for immediate consumption.” For fans of infused spirits, classic cocktails, or the current bartending renaissance in general, it’s as if all a foodie’s favorite restaurants were told they could only serve raw food. Salad and sushi are nice and all, but some of us would like a broader spectrum of choices. For once the vodka advocates and the artisanal cocktail snobs are marching arm in arm together in indignation.

    However, once you dig deeper than the ABC’s own statements the situation is clearly more complex than it has been painted. According to the statutory definition in section 23016 of the California Business and Professions Code, a “’Rectifier’ means every person who colors, flavors, or otherwise processes distilled spirits by distillation, blending, percolating, or other processes.” There is no reference to any exemption for immediate consumption. Without that exception, unless this section is understood to refer only to those who rectify for the purpose of resale not for the purpose of consumption, then all cocktail making is illegal. Without that exception and unless it only applies to rectifying for resale, anyone who blends distilled spirits is rectifying and must be therefore be licensed, but as other parts of the law clearly state (see tied house laws like sections 23368, 25500 and 25505) those who serve can’t be rectifiers. Clearly that over-reaching result was not the intent or the state would never get any revenue from cocktail bar liquor licenses. Rectification regulations must refer to the act of rectifying for resale and not to bar service, but the legal challenges to defend this position and remove the ABC’s “immediate consumption” interpretation have not yet taken place.

    For the moment we are left with the ABC’s current “loophole” of immediacy and its side effect of chilling legitimate, long-time bar practices that have not been demonstrated to pose a public health risk. From its beginnings the craft of good bartending has included knowledge of spirits, responsible hospitality, and a prodigious memory for recipes, but it has also called for a deep understanding of all the ingredients of a good drink and the ability to create variations on them. That the exercise of this knowledge results in exceptional experiences is a matter of ample evidence; just look at any recent list of not-to-be-missed intoxicating beverages in our fair city and you’ll find examples which are prohibited under the current state interpretation of the law because of their extremely local, hand-crafted ingredients. This despite the probability that those bartenders most likely to be crafting such things are also those most likely to be following the precepts of a San Francisco bartender of over 100 years ago, the honorable William “Cocktail” Boothby, whose Ten Commandments for mixologists included “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” Not bad for a guy working in the late 1800s. Combine his philosophy of care toward your bar’s patrons with modern knowledge of health and safety practices and you’ll find Bay Area bartenders producing safe ingredients to support the ‘quality over quantity’ drinking style they encourage and which in a sane world one would expect to see supported by those intending to protect the public from abuses of alcoholic beverages.

    So what to do to solve this problem? As ever, drink responsibly and speak out in favor of businesses, organizations, and laws promoting safe fun. While you can, enjoy the most creative creations of our city’s talented bartenders and brace yourself for the possibility of a stretch of simpler drinks while we wait for the legal wrangling to resolve itself into better policies.

    There is a merciful exception to all this hard liquor news; bitters – crucial ingredient of many fine drinks – from what we can see, are not subject to this prohibition. According to the state Board of Equalization, who managed alcoholic beverage matters prior to the creation of the ABC in 1955, “Angostura bitters used as flavoring is too concentrated to be fit for consumption as a beverage. As such, Angostura bitters is not ‘fit for beverage purposes’ under the definition of an alcoholic beverage.” It seems unlikely that other bitters – be they Abbott’s, orange, or chocolate-chili – would be treated any differently. So take heart, cocktailians, all those former infused vodka drinkers are going to be searching for a new taste sensation. Should we tell them that the trendy “new” recipe they’re sipping had its origins in San Francisco a century ago? Shhh, no need to rectify that mistake.

On May 21st a scientist attempting to locate gin's gravitational pull would have found many orbits drawn to the vicinity of Absinthe Brasserie & Bar due to the powerful influence of the twin suns, Beefeater Master Distiller Desmond Payne and Plymouth Master Distiller Sean Harrison.

These two gentlemen shared observations on gin in general and their specific products in particular while the small crowd enjoyed a bright little opening cocktail featuring Beefeater 24 called the Twinkle Toes (created by Jeff Hollinger and named by Jackie Patterson for its sprightly effect).

As we tasted the gins neat - with a drop of water, on our distillers' advice - Mr. Payne spoke on the non-industrialized nature of juniper farming. "It's a business of men hitting bushes with sticks". He also emphasized the importance of using botanicals wisely with traditional techniques saying "It's an exploration, not a colonization."

The food, from executive chef Jamie Lauren, was delicious and the drinks very tasty. We began with a Kampachi crudo amuse paired with a Martini Cocktail (with Beefeater) and a Marguerite Cocktail (with Plymouth). The first course - asparagus with burrata, roasted peppers, charred onion vinaigrette, wild arugula and speck - was paired with a Sensation (using the Plymouth and mixed by Steven Liles).

Our entree, a sublime slow cooked pork confit, was paired with an original drink by Jeff Hollinger, Desmond's Harlot. The drink is named for Mr. Payne's statement "Gin should be like a whore; it should go with anything" and, per Jeff, may be casually referred to as a "Dizzy's Ho" when not at a white tablecloth event. It consists of Beefeater gin, Plymouth sloe gin, cherry gastrique, Angostura bitters, Hellfire tincture, rosemary, and soda. It is unclear if one of Mr. Payne's other comments during the tasting, ostensibly about finishing flavors, might also bear on this general principle: "A good gin has to keep its tail up."

New-to-Absinthe pastry chef Luis Villavelazquez (known to Bibulo.us to be a gin fan as well as formidable force in the kitchen) showcased his skills in the form of a dessert of Japanese Kabosu Lime Parfait with green tea biscuit, tobacco foam, and grapefruit. This was paired with an original drink from Jackie Patterson using Beefeater 24 gin, lemon blossom & black pepper infused Dolin Blanc vermouth, and Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur. This exotic and wonderful mouthful was dubbed "Hey Jealousy" by Absinthe bar manager Jonny Raglin.

Jacques Bezuidenhout closed us out with a nice Pink Gin and everyone left with a smile.

We really must advise anyone in the area to get on Absinthe's mailing list to be alerted of these occasional dinners. They'd be worth it for the food alone, but the drinks are fantastic, the price reasonable, and the company top drawer, even when you aren't as lucky as we were this time to be seated across from the ever enjoyable master distiller of Beefeater.

We got a sneak preview of this event from our New Year's Eve companion at Montgomery Place, Galliano brand ambassador Agostino Perrone of London. After the great tasting notes we got from him, we've been very eager for these reformulations to reach our shores.

As we and the other cocktail nerds & barfolk of San Francisco learned at Taverna Avetine earlier this month, only the Authentico - now reformulated to its original higher proof under the guiding hand of the Lucas Bols company - and the coffee-based Ristretto are available in the U.S so far. We eagerly await their Balsamico and its use in the hands of bartenders and chefs. It is created from a must concentrate of grapes, with a reduction of raspberry, cooked sugar and acetic acid to complete the flavor.

Galliano Authentico is sweetly herbal with strong vanilla notes. It's herbal & spice ingredients include green anise seed, fresh juniper berries, achilea moscata (yarrow), lavender, sage, cardamom, cloves, artemesia (wormwood), iris, cinnamon, and vanilla. As Ago put it "It's not so much a taste, more a sensory happening."

As we began tasting the liqueur alone and in cocktails mixed by some of San Francisco's finest, he walked through the key elements of staging a cocktail: simplicity & classic combinations with a twist, travel & experiencing other cultures, matching the glassware to the drink, shape, color, garnish; all these things that lead to balance and a great experience.

The key to using the new Galliano L'Authentico is balance. Too much and one is thrown back to thoughts of children's vitamins or cough syrup. A light touch and brightening things up with fizz, from sparkling wines or soda, is a good place to start with this ingredient.

Our evening began with the Italian Spritz Punch (6 oz Galliano L'Authentico, 6 oz Aperol, 2 bottles Prosecco, built up in a bowl over a large ice block and garnished with orange & lemon wheels and raspberries) and moved on to the Maggiore Collins (1/2 oz Galliano L'Authentico, 2 oz Bols Genever, 2/3 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 oz simple syrup, built in an ice-filled glass and garnished with a lemon wedge and a cherry).

 We also got to sample the Autentico Martini (1/2 oz Galliano L'Authentico, 1 1/3 oz London dry gin, 1/3 oz Tio Pepe dry sherry, 5 dashes Bitter Truth Celery Bitters, stirred and strained into a chilled glass, with a lemon peel) and the Silver Cobbler (1/2 oz fresh red apple, 4 green grapes, 1 barspoon vanilla sugar, 1/2 oz Galliano L'Authentico, 2 oz Gancia Bianco Italian fortified white wine, 1/2 oz Calvados, muddle the first three ingredients in a julep cup, fill with cracked ice, pour in other ingredients, stir and decorate with fresh fruit and mint).

Sure all those fancy new drinks are nice, but you know what? Not long after the launch, we went up to Harvey's on Castro Street and had a good old Harvey Wallbanger with the new formulation and it was just fine - a lot more interesting than an ordinary, boring Screwdriver certainly. Maybe the drinkers of the 1970s weren't completely without taste after all.

(Hot tip: if the top of that big tall bottle is purple it's a) old and b) not the restored L'Authentico formulation. Have something else.)

We fans of the classic cocktail love our strong, spirit-driven drinks, but not everyone enjoys the taste of alcohol and many people don't or don't want to drink as much of it or any at all.

A good host - whether at home or in a professional setting - should be able to provide the same pleasant experience of the perfect beverage for a guest anywhere along the spectrum from "straight up, no chaser" to teetotaler.

Jeff Hollinger wrote about this beautifully in his book The Art of the Bar in the short sidebar on serving kids at events (starting on page 60).

Look back at your Jerry Thomas and Harry Johnson bartenders' guides of the 19th century and remind yourself how much coverage there is of the drinking world beyond the booze. Start making yourself something special in contexts where you're thirsty and an alcohol-centric drink isn't appropriate. Build your repertoire and explore new ingredients. What juices go well with which garnishes? Sweet or spicy is easy, but what to make for that Manhattan and Martini loving friend when he's taking a break from the booze? Try building up from your mixers, garnishes and other non-alcoholic ingredients as well as working down from spiritous cocktails to create temperate versions.

You'll find there are good resources out there for non-alcoholic drinks - the best cocktail manuals always include a section on them - and helpful new books from a cocktailian's perspective such as Natalie Bovis-Nelsen's Preggatinis: Mixology for the Mom-to-Be. Just as when you first began learning cocktail standbys, teach yourself a half-dozen non-alcoholic or "virgin" drinks covering a spectrum of tastes and available ingredients which you can use to make your guests feel well cared for, regardless of their alcohol intake.

Next, push yourself to a higher skill level by filling in the middle ground with a half-dozen shims - remember the shim? - which you learn by heart, and bring these low-alcohol cocktails into play whenever a little less kick is appropriate: between rounds on a long evening, as the first round while the appetizers have only just begun to circulate and people have empty stomachs, as the designated driver's one drink before switching to non-alcoholic choices, on a second social evening in a row when the first turned into a bender, or just to keep yourself level any time extra balance is needed.

Mix it up for everyone!

Proving with their sophomore effort that the excellent Bols Genever launch last October was no fluke, Lucas Bols brought San Francisco a great event in their new Classic Cocktails Series. Stephan Berg of The Bitter Truth was the guest this time providing not only his knowledge on "The History and Influence of Bitters" but also a set of tasting samples which few others could have assembled.

These events are invitation-only, but have no fear, they are very likely to benefit you directly when you get a cocktail from any of the wonderful bartenders who attended. Herr Berg was very generous with his knowledge and the small tasting cocktails which accompanied the lecture were instructive, tasty, and occasionally inspirational. Not that there was any lack of knowledge, taste, and inspiration to be had among the attendees either; as with the prior event, the guest list was a who's who of great San Francisco bartenders and cocktailians of various stripes. Add to that the wonderful setting of Bacar Below, with Carlos Yturria, Katie Darling, and Kevin Diedrich mixing drinks & serving us, and delicious appetizers from the Bacar kitchen, it would be difficult to come up with a better way to spend a Thursday afternoon. Joe's going to be even more sorry he had to work and miss out once he reads this!

Before my brain could settle down from the bartending power surrounding me (seated as I was between Neyah White and Jeff Hollinger), our host Tal Nadari, VP Marketing & On Premise Specialist for Lucas Bols in the U.S., kicked things off while we enjoyed the first taste of the the afternoon, the Brandy Cocktail (1862 Jerry Thomas recipe). Bols Genever, rather than squandering their promotional dollars on something superficial, have decided instead to sponsor a series of informative talks and tastings in categories around Bols Genever and classic cocktails. Four talks are currently planned for New York and San Francisco (of which this was the first), including an upcoming one featuring Wayne Collins on English classic cocktails. (I predict some delicious summer bar specials with a notably anglophile slant coming our way). With only a moderate amount of effusive praise, Tal introduced Stephan and we settled in to be edified.

Stephan is from Germany and along with offhandedly but thoroughly pointing out all afternoon the surprising number of other Germans involved in the history of bitters, he brought a refreshing European perspective in his commentary. We should enjoy our good fortune it seems; he said it's hard to find so many bars in Europe who make their own bitters as we have here in San Francisco. He came to the craft of bitters creation out of his interest in classic cocktails and old cocktail books. He did not find it reasonable to be restricted to only Angostura bitters when all these other varieties were referenced in recipes and, as George Bernard Shaw noted, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. Thus we now are blessed again with a great variety of bitters from The Bitter Truth, as well as from the similarly stubborn minds of Fee Brothers, Gary Regan, Bittermens, and others.

Bitters defined the category of the cocktail in old times and their role up until the passage of the Pure Food & Drug Act in 1906 was at least implied to be medicinal, if not right out claimed as a miraculous cure. Stephan showed delightful and outrageous 19th century advertisements for bitters as we sampled our first unusual taste of the day: Chartreuse Elixir Vegetal, dripped onto sugar cubes. It certainly tasted as though it could cure us of many ills. Lovely stuff.

Though some bitters were made by doctors or apothecaries and included potentially beneficial ingredients, most were at best a laxative and at worst the work of a complete quack. Still, with limited other medical resources available (even aspirin didn't hit the market until 1899), the use of bitters was widespread. A bottle of early brand Drake's was pervasively present in saloons everywhere and so perhaps cocktails were inevitable.  "If there's something in your bar, eventually you'll start mixing with it."

At this point in the proceedings this adventurous spirit was demonstrated by many in the room being willing to taste some actual, over a century old Hostetter's Stomach Bitters. (Herr Berg is a kind and generous man indeed). I found the drop I tried to be very bright, almost minty.

There were many brands of bitters, but one fewer than many might think. The 1862 Jerry Thomas book How To Mix Drinks just has a typo; there never was a "Bogart's" bitters. It's Boker's, and Thomas himself corrected it in a later edition. Cited also in Harry Johnson's Bartenders' Manual from 1888, Boker's was the bitters for cocktails in the 19th century.

Next we tasted The Bitter Truth's own Celery Bitters, which won Spirit of the Year at the 2008 Mixology Bar Awards. These are recommended for Bloody Marys as you might guess and tequila drinks, but the tones of lemon, celery seed, combined with something ethereal and floral suggest many more possibilities await. (A little research in Google Books doesn't point much of the way, yielding only the