For every cocktail, a song

Somehow (probably by not owning a functioning television) I missed the whole Bacardi Mojito song/dance craze until someone told me about it a couple of weeks ago. Here it is on YouTube. It's catchy as all get-out so I can see why it's popular. It even has it's own dance moves- let's all do the muddle! I was looking for it today and found this dance video of young kids doing it- at what looks like summer camp or a middle school talent show. A girl plays the bartender in the corner and the kids all do synchronized club moves on stage. OOPS. I'm sure some people on Bacardi's PR staff are jumping out of tall office windows right about now. Today I received a press release for a new branded song- "Caipirinha" by Jinga Boogie, which is sponsored by Leblon. The bottle shows up in the beginning and end of the video, and the record label is listed as "Leblon Productions". It's not a bad idea, since so many people can't pronounce "caipirinha"- and now they can sing it. Some of the lyrics are funny: "You muddle me like ice in your glass My essence changing, you’re crushing everything I want to be reborn in you I want to be new!"

Then later... "You've been with me all this time- I have this inner faith in you You're like sugar to my lime!"

Another history lesson

It's been a long time since we had a new episode of Drunk History, but it was so, SO worth the wait. [via LiquorSnob]

digital absinthe

Slate has a video on absinthe, from someone who doesn't know anything about it.

Video, audio, paper, and web whisky

I just discovered the many whisky videos- most of them appear to be interviews- on WhiskyGuild.com. Scroll down. Also, if you're not listening to the WhiskyCast podcast, it's time to start. Last week they had an interview with Jonny McCormick, who wrote an article for Malt Advocate magazine about buying your own cask. Malt Advocate's publisher and editor John Hansell also has a great blog, on which Feb 24th's entry says he's boycotting writing about Irish whiskey until after St. Patrick's Day. I'll make no such promises.

Video Bartender: On the Irish Whiskey Trail (2006)

This is part of an ongoing project reviewing every booze DVD on Netflix. Wow! Who knew whiskey could be so boring? On the Irish Whiskey Trail leads us through Irish and Irish whiskey history and production, and takes us to visit the Jameson, Bushmills, Middleton, and Locke's whiskey distilleries. On the way there are three full musical interludes during which we're treated to a traditional Irish song at a much higher volume than the rest of the video, while being shown countryside slides. While the Scotch Whisky Trail DVD was pretty entertaining and got me psyched for my upcoming visit to Scotland, this one was painful to watch and got my psyched for the ending. Going with the theme, I next watched Great Irish Drinks (2003), a DVD that purported to visit the same distilleries as On the Irish Whiskey Trail. As it turns out, it not only visited the same distilleries, it used the same footage, and in some places the same voice-over narration. But either it was a better and more lively edit or I was just in a better mood, because I enjoyed this one more than the first.

Video Bartender: Summer Quenchers (2000)

This video turns out to be an extension of The Entertainer, which I reviewed previously, with the same bartender Kyle Branch on the same faux-marble bar, pouring some new and old drinks tending towards the fruity, summer sort. There are more than 50 drink recipes demonstrated, broken up into classics, martinis, premium quenchers, coolers, custom blends, lemonades, Long Island teas, and summer specials. Bonus features include a tour of shakers, garnish, flavor modifiers such as orgeat syrup, using a hydrometer to measure specific gravity of liqueurs (for layered shots), and types of ice. As it's so similar to the other video, I'll skip a full review. It's more of the same.

Video Bartender: Fun-to-Know: Become a Professional Bartender (2005)

This is part of an ongoing series reviewing every booze DVD on Netflix. Once this video starts playing, you quickly realize it's actually titled Bartending Made Simple and is part of an at-home bartending instruction kit. At a couple points they encourage you to follow along with your booklet... which you don't have if you rented the DVD from Netflix. The video is an hour-and-a-talk tutorial on how to work at a bar without knowing many recipes. There are (apparently) 15 must-know drinks in the manual, then you should be able to remember others such as vodka tonics, because the ingredients are part of the name. (They remind you how easy this makes it several times.) They give tips such as setting-up the speed rack, bartending myths, and to make sure you have a neat and clean appearance. They say you'll be trained on the cash register, soda gun, and specific glassware to use for certain drinks when you get to work, so they skip those parts. Then the video leads us through several customer scenarios to show you questions they might ask at the bar. I'm not sure who the intended audience for this video is- people who can just walk into a bar and get hired as a bartender without experience, but are nervous about it and want some video training in advance?

Video Bartender: Art of the Drink Vol 1: Bar Essentials (2005)

This DVD is lead by Anthony Caporale, host of the Art of the Drink podcast. It's essentially a filmed class instruction, with six students learning and mixing together. Unlike most videos I've seen so far, it's not just one dude lecturing and mixing drinks with the recipe at the end, which can get repetitive no matter how animated the host. Caporale focuses more on technique than recipes (though there are many demonstrated recipes in the bonus segments), instead concentrating on the tools and terminology barriers between the bartender and bar patron. For example, he tells students what the speed rail is and why they're called well drinks from the bartender's side, and also how to order drinks on the rocks, up, or neat to be a better bar patron. I learned a few bar-side tidbits (like how to use the speed pourers, which isn't as obvious as I thought) while maintaining my drink nerd cred catching the few innocuous mistakes in the video. This mix of instruction would be good for people who mix a lot of drinks at home but may not know their way around bar terms when they're out, or give people who go out to bars a lot but feel lost at home better tools to replicate drinks. So I'll call this a good video for crossover drinkers.

Drunk history

Via LiquorSnob, Funny or Die has a hilarious set of Drunk History videos, in which someone gets loaded and tells a story of historical importance, which is then acted out by comedians like Michael Cera and Jack Black. Some of the audio is NSFW, so wear your headphones.

Video Bartender: Great Scotch Whisky (2006)

This DVD introduces Scottish and scotch history, then takes a tour of some scotch and Irish whiskey distilleries. The majority of the video is a visual tour of whisky distilleries, yet it's not quite as educational as going on the actual tours. In other words, I didn't learn anything from watching it. The DVD visited the distilleries of Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenfarclas, and Bushmills, and maybe a few others that I didn't write down, with lots of countryside scenery images thrown in for good measure. Overall, it's a fine Sunday afternoon PBS-while-cleaning-the-house video, but nothing that will blow your mind. Later I watched Rick Steves' Ireland and Scotland 2000-2007. Steves only visited one distillery, plus the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh. He spent a large amount of time touring Scotland and driving on country roads, as well as hanging in pubs in Edinburgh. While not a whisky video, it was a nice introduction or warm-up for those going on a whisky tour of Scotland. And on that note: I'm going to Scotland!!! I just signed on for a seven distillery tour with DISCUS in May, and I'm very, very happy about it. But the more I look at these video tours, the more it feels like I won't be seeing as much of the country as I want. We're just hitting Highland/Speyside distilleries (Only seven? But there are 40! What about Islay? Can we spend more time in Edinburgh?) and I'm trying to resist the temptation to go nuts and extend the trip for too much longer. Damn that Rick Steves for making it all look so cool.

Go Watch Wondrich

David Wondrich's appearance on Conan O'Brien is here. Go to the episode for Friday, Jan 11, and it's the fourth segment. It's pretty darn funny. Some quotes from Conan:

"That is going down into my lungs right now, and eating them." "Why are you putting an egg in that drink?" "I don't like this drink but it looks cool."

Video Bartender: Fun-to-Know: Drinks and Cocktail Mixing

I've Netflixed other DVDs in the Fun-to-Know series before, and some are pretty awful. The house cleaning tips, in particular, features sexy girls getting soapy and not really cleaning anything. Entertaining, yes. Educational, no. This one, Fun-to-Know: Drinks & Cocktail Mixing, did not feature sexy bartendresses covered in sticky grenadine, but bartender Thomas Bitler showing us how to make drinks. It's divided into sections on "mixed drinks," shooters, blender drinks, and non-alcoholic drinks. Most of the drinks he demonstrates are mind-numbingly simple- vodka tonics, gin and tonics, rum and Cokes, etc., that you need only read the name for the recipe. The video is also short on explanation or much instruction. The pieces of wisdom he imparts are such nuggets as how the Long Island Iced Tea gets its name from the color of the drink, who Shirley Temple was, and this gem: "Do not dip your hand into the ice- it WILL get cold." Then there are a few problems with a few of the drinks- he calls for "sweetened lime juice" (read: Rose's) and bottled sour mix. He demonstrates four different martinis- one each of vodka and gin for each of "dry" and "extra-dry" where he shows you how to swirl the bottle of vermouth around the glass without pouring any in. That said, there isn't too much wrong with the video (other than his Cosmopolitan recipe, which is basically a Cape Cod served up) for the non-cocktail snob crowd. (Then again, I think Rose's should be made illegal.) Still, even if you're too lazy to squeeze limes and like your Manhattan served on the rocks, there isn't anything on this video you needed to see rather than just picking up a recipe book instead.

Video Bartender: The Entertainer

A long time ago, I decided to add every bartending and liquor DVD available to my Netflix queue. Well, they all finally hit the top of the line and I'm getting them in the mail. I did the same thing with wine DVDs about six months back, thinking I'd get a story out of it (no sale so far...) to great success. But as I don't think anyone will want to buy reviews of cocktail DVDs, I'll post them here instead. Project! Here is the first. The Entertainer, 2004 Kyle Branch, who writes a recipe column for Tasting Panel Magazine, hosts this video with a name that couldn't be any more misleading. It's not about flair or technique, it's just instruction. The 50+ cocktails he demos are divided into sections based on the type of cocktails made. Branch stands behind a fake bar that looks like rented office furniture while fake cocktail lounge crowd noises and elevator jazz play in the background. High-production it ain't. Most of the cocktails ain't things I would drink either- the Blade Runner (a type of pousse cafe) in the Classics section, sour apple and chocolate martinis in the section of that name, strange drinks like the Pink Floyd in the Premium Quenchers section, and a whole bunch of drinks in the Shooters and Long Island Teas section too terrible to name. More than being horrible drinks, I think they're just quite dated- consider how much we've all learned about drinks between 2003 and today. All those bad things said, this isn't a bad video. Branch clearly knows what he's doing (he's obsessive about wiping liquid off the bar top) and has made these drinks many, many times before. (I spent the whole time wondering where he works- high-end college bar? Upscale nightclub? Poolside bar? Vegas?) He even uses a wide variety of good bar glasses and about ten different vintage shakers. The segments are him narrating while making each drink, with occasional bits of extra advice like how to core an apple and crack ice. Heck, if you memorized all these drinks and how to make them you might be able to bluff your way into a job at the average bar. It's not a bar I'd want to drink in, though. Amateur and home bartenders may learn quite a few tips or improvements to their techniques. College students will learn a ton. Drink nerds will get less out of the video, recoil at every use of blue curacao, and bemoan the lack of explanation in some areas. These days, it's not so much about how, it's about why.

Tequila Thrills!

Here is a video of a bottle inspection on the labeling line at Partida, or as I like to call it, the most boring 16 seconds you can spend in a tequila distillery. Enjoy!

Mixing New Orleans cocktails

Thanks to Todd Price on eGullet who pointed out these videos. In them, Chris McMillian of the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans demonstrates how to make some famous local cocktails. In the Ramos Gin Fizz video he tells us that some people add a couple of drops of vanilla to the drink, and also shows that for egg white drinks such as this one, you should first shake the drink without ice, then add ice and shake it more. Good info here. In the Sazerac video we learn not just how to make it, but this piece of trivia I hadn't heard before: When absinthe was made illegal, it was also illegal to use the word absinthe on the bottle. Herbsaint, an absinthe substitute, is not coincidentally a near anagram of the word 'absinthe' (just with an extra 'r'). He also has videos up for the Pimm's Cup, Margarita, and the Martini.

Pear Necessity

If you've enjoyed Alberta Straub's "Cocktails on the Fly" videos, make sure to check out the newest one, "Pear Necessity." Hilarious!

Online Bartenders

Probably not news to regular blog readers, but here is a short thing I had in today's Chronicle:

Cocktail experts mix it up online

Most of the bartending videos on sites like YouTube are poorly executed cocktail pouring demonstrations or useless tips like how to mix up a Scotch on the rocks. But in with all the bad advice, you can find a few experts to trust.

Robert Hess of DrinkBoy.com has a show called the Cocktail Spirit airing on SmallScreenNetwork.com that mixes his extensive knowledge of cocktail history with bartending advice, taking eight minutes to make a Champagne cocktail because of all the talking.

And if you've been missing local bartender Alberta Straub after her departure from the Orbit Room, you can find her online at CocktailsOnTheFly.tv. She brings the same kooky attitude and complicated recipes to videos that she did in person behind the bar, so you can watch her demonstrate making the hibiscus-flavored juice she prefers to cranberry, or yelling "There's no such thing as an appletini!" while repeatedly slamming the citrus press against the cutting board.

-- Camper English

Drinking with Tony

In today's Chronicle:

Mix it up with a video bartender

In the age of YouTube and other online video sites, you can find a lot of free drink mixing advice in live action form. Unfortunately, much of it is bad advice. (Google "How not to make a mint julep" for a spectacular example.) On the other hand, if you're willing to shell out twenty bucks for the new DVD "Modern Mixology," you may actually learn something useful. Tony Abou-Ganim, who spent time at Jack Slick's Balboa Cafe and helped open Harry Denton's Starlight Room before going on to host "Raising the Bar: America's Best Bar Chefs" on the Fine Living Network, leads this slick video production with a smooth jazz soundtrack. While most how-to-bartend demonstrations cite the recipe and pour the drink at a hyperspeed bartender pace, an eager Abou-Ganim takes his time and focuses on mixing styles, garnish techniques, and product education while reviewing 20-plus classic cocktails.

$19.95 at www.modernmixologydvd.com

-- C.E.

Now that's a spicy tequila!

Tommy's Mexican has a program where if you drink four shots of Julio's habanero-infused tequila and hold it for 15 minutes (without puking and only drinking beer or water) you get your name etched onto the bottle and a free membership into the tequila tasting club. Only 17 people have achieved this so far. Here's a YouTube video of someone attempting that feat.

Whining and Dining

So far there are only two of them, but I love these Whining and Dining videos. Brenda and Brenda (Cintra Wilson and Nancy Balbrier) sample wine and cheeses, then compare them to celebrities. Note: the audio on the second one is not safe for work.