So, should your mint leaves be crushed in a Mint Julep? According to the late Gaz Regan, the answer was a firm no, with the mint “only to serve as an aromatic garnish”. Here we check out three classic recipes from classic minds – the Mint Julep, the Old Fashioned and A La Louisiane
Tag: Gary Regan
With the passing of Gary Regan last weekend, the bar world lost one of its…
Gary ‘gaz’ Regan wrote about drinks and bartending with authority, but was never pompous and — perhaps most importantly — was never a bore.
Salvatore Calabrese is one of the world’s finest bartenders, and I say that from dealing with the man himself – for a couple of decades – and from knowing many bartenders he has trained over the years.
A few weeks ago I was in the City of Light for just one night, and I was told to try the drinks at Candelaria. The place is nestled at the back of a taco shop, it packs an earthy vibe, and the drinks there are top-notch. I gave the bartenders at Candelaria a little test, and they passed with flying colors.
I can’t remember the last time I heard mean-hearted gossip from a bartender. I’m starting to think that the men and women who hold forth from behind the stick are a breed unto themselves. Sure there are lots of big egos strutting their stuff behind bars, but that’s natural. Bartending is a look-at-me sort of a job, right?
Not long ago, I wrote about inexperienced bartenders who have been creating nonsense cocktails and taking themselves far too seriously for my liking. I’ll stand by my words on that subject, but at the same time I’ve got to say that I’m so darned impressed at the innovations in the craft that I’ve seen coming from bartenders who understand how to put ingredients together in harmonious, ingenious ways.
I was in the middle of reviewing the recipes that have been sent to me during the year when I came across a cluster of drinks submitted by the good folk at Rickhouse in San Francisco.
This article appeared in the October issue of Australian Bartender magazine. Interview by Edward Washington…
Did you notice how much that sentence annoyed you? Try this one: You should be nicer to people. Or hows about this: You should get a new job. Those statements really piss people off, right? Even when they offer good advice.
As bartenders, though, if we can do our best not to get upset, we’ll be doing ourselves, our bosses, and our customers, a huge favor. Remember that the bartender is the one person in the bar that everyone counts on. If we lose it, if we fail to understand what’s going down, if we get irrational, or out of control in any way, shape, or form, then we’re not doing our job properly.
Some customers get on your bloody nerves, right? They get right under your skin. They…