Some friends gave me as a present Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Fantastic book. What’s remarkable is Haigh’s research – how to obtain those ingredients for vintage drinks, what liquors have changed their recipe over the years, or what obscure terms like gomme syrup refer to. It’s a must have, though less as a bartending guide or reference for recipes than for a sensibility. It’s as much about bringing quality of spirits back as reviving forgotten recipes.

One thing that struck me was his manifesto in the opening. After lamenting the lack of knowledge among (most) professional bartenders, he writes:

We, as modern consumers, also still have some work to do. As a culture, we are quickly forgetting how to gain acquired tastes. If something taste bitter or sharp it is bypassed for an easier-to-contemplate taste sensation. The majority of modern drinks are designed to utterly hide any tang of alcohol, much less the sharp piquant acquired taste of gin – and it’s not just gin we’re talking about either. It’s brandy, whiskey, and tequila, too.

One of the major beefs I have – you may already have noticed – is the stifling fashion these days for clear, sweet vodka cocktails. It’s not simply my purism about what gets called a martini. And it’s not a snobbery about fruit or sweetness per se. The reason I detest this trend is that it treats spirits as simply a neutral basis for whatever flavor, natural or artificial, people want to toss in.

What gets lost are the spirits themselves. Consider the range of flavors and qualities that spirits at their best bring to the cocktail:

• Body: Brandy, whiskey, and aged rum all have a warmth and mellowness. Isaac at DC Drinks explains: it’s the oak aging. “While it’s a normal part of developing the drinker’s palate to start with the colorless and odorless stuff,” he writes, “once you’ve had a taste of the complexity imbued by oak its hard to return to the watery, clear substances.”
• Herbal notes: I wouldn’t go as far as Isaac in eschewing all clear liquors. Gin is probably my favorite basic spirit; it’s highly distilled, but I love its dryness and its juniper flavor. It never ceases to surprise me in its ability to support other flavors in a cocktail. Liqueurs like Chartreuse or amaro have the complexity of oak-aged bourbon, just not its mellowness. Pimm’s even simulates the color and body of an aged spirit despite being made from gin.
• Complexity: Even fruit liqueurs gain from well-crafted production. Whereas cheap liqueur and even infusion can reduce fruit flavors to a two-dimensional axis of sugar and acidity, a good fruit-based spirit is a reminder that fruit flavors are more than sweet and tart. Some, like Cointreau, give a whole bouquet of aroma to what would otherwise be simply “orange” flavor. Others, like maraschino liqueur, take the fruit into unexpected directions.

Why should one bother going through the trouble to acquire tastes? Because it lets you enjoy the taste of the spirits instead of covering them up. Because drinking for the flavor can be a part of drinking more moderately; as Haigh notes, the oversized cocktail came part and parcel with the neutral spirits trend. Because an inspired flavor combination, made with quality ingredients, is more sophisticated than something which needs the special glass to tart it up.

Of course, even with effort, not all tastes can be acquired. No matter how I try Fernet-Branca - with tons of soda, smothered in lemon; mixed with other amaro; or in some vintage Fernet-Branca cocktail - well it still tastes awful to me. But for every Fernet-Brance, there’s a maraschino liqueur or a Campari… something that’s odd or offputting at first but that soon I grow to love.

Home bartending principle number two: Mind the Cheapest Ingredient

I’ve been thinking about Mike’s list of cost-saving tips and they’re pretty good, but the one I’d quibble with is a biggie:

Don’t buy the expensive stuff. In fact, much of the time, it’s no better or even worse.

I see what he’s saying. Some liquor is expensive because of marketing and brand status. The clear liquors in particular fall prey to this. Bottom or mid-shelf vodka, gin or rum can be perfectly fine. For the dark liquors and liqueurs you are going to see a quality difference, often a huge one. Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark; 2-year aged rum and 8-year; cheap cognac and expensive – you’re almost drinking two different spirits depending on how much you pay.

My response is to compromise with mid-shelf liquors, ones that hover in the mid-20s-to-30 dollar range a fifth. I spend more on Cointreau and Grand Marnier and save a little on the cheaper clear spirits. It’s enough to ensure decent quality but not so much that you’ll be counting the dollars for each sip your guest takes.

The price difference is especially crucial when you’re making cocktails rather than mixed drinks. With cocktails, unlike mixed drinks, there’s nothing except the booze.

That’s why I’m increasingly fond of the rule that you ensure the quality of the cheapest ingredient. It’s all about the least common denominator: a low-quality liqueur or mixer can quickly negate the advantage of an expensive bottle of spirits.

• Don’t get cheap liqueurs/schnapps in plastic bottles unless your liquor comes in plastic bottles. I go to great lengths to avoid using Hiram Walker products in anything.
• Spend the extra bucks for Cointreau. Bottom-shelf triple sec can be fine on occasion (pitchers of margaritas, for instance), but most of the time it makes cocktails sickly sweet.
• Don’t get generic tonic water (there’s a difference) and, please, never serve your company diet tonic water, no matter what low-carb diet you’re on. It’s happened at the fanciest of South End parties, to my horror. The same goes for Coke, etc.
• Don’t use bottled lemon juice, lime juice, or any substitute for fresh ingredients. I realize it’s common for bars to make margaritas with artificial sour mix, but to me that’s the same as making a screwdriver with Tang. When possible, squeeze citrus juice fresh.
• Avoid mixes of all kinds. It’s not hard to make drinks from scratch.

Where you draw the line will depend on your budget and your taste, certainly, but there’s no reason to combine top-shelf vodka with Triple Sec.

Home bartending principle number one: rely on signature drinks.

Everyone who entertains and is not a teetotaler knows – or should know – the value of a well-stocked bar. Having a handful of liquors, a few mixers and a couple of garnishes on hand allow you to accommodate the majority of cocktails or mixed drinks your guests might desire.

Sometimes, however, we don’t live up to this ideal. Stocking a full bar and keeping it stocked can be an expensive enterprise, after all. Sometimes we entertain while on vacation, away from home. Most important, there are times when bartending by the drink is impractical. We have hostly duties or the final details of dinner to attend to, and the last thing we want to do is juggle requests for manhattans, cosmos and white Russians.

In these instances, a single drink on hand saves trouble. If a thematic or seasonal cocktail is presented to them, most guests are happy to follow with whatever is on offer; wine and beer on reserve can keep the others satisfied. The challenge of the home bartender is to choose a drink that will serve as a focal point for the meal, party or gathering – a signature drink or an old standard with a twist.

What do I mean by signature drink? It should be memorable, the sort of thing that guests will remember and associate with you and your event. Cosmopolitans can be just the thing after a day at the beach, but in general along with apple martinis and white Russians, they’re probably too overexposed to seem special for an evening occasion. On the other end of the spectrum, more obscure drinks with stronger liquors can sometimes be hard sells; don’t make a batch of Rob Roys unless you’re reasonably sure that your crowd likes blended scotch. Go for crowd-pleasing yet not cliched; simple yet dramatic.

I’ll be giving ideas for such drinks in this blog. As an example of what a simple cocktail can achieve for a party, let’s start with a blood orange sidecar. Sidecars are my favorite cocktail, so I’m sure I’ll have more to say about them, other recipes to give. But my friend Rebecca suggested using the blood orange to give deep-red color and almost purfumey touch to this great-for-winter cocktail. The fruit is in season now, and what better way to note a special occasion than with seasonal ingredients? The sugared rim adds a nice dramatic touch for company, too.

For value and body, I recommend a decent but not fancy full-bodied brandy; the Spanish brand Fundador always works well for me. The three-citrus punch of Rose’s and juice orange in addition to blood orange may seem like overkill but since blood oranges are sweeter and less acidic the balance is needed. (You’ll find them stingy on the juice, too; the high number in my recipe reflects that.) I tested the recipe with the more classical lemon juice, but the result didn’t seem to gel right and tasted thin, like a failed cosmo.

Cointreau is expensive, but don’t - simply don’t - use regular triple sec here. With a cocktail tittering on the edge of a fine sophisticated-fruity diving line, triple sec will push it straight into cloyingly sweet territory.

For fruity drinks like this, shaking really chills the cocktail and shows off the flavors well. Note the recipe is for four drinks, but depending on your math skills, you can pare it down to one… or mix in larger batches for a more crowded party. If going the latter route, put all ingredients in a pitcher then refrigerate (no more than an hour or two in advance). When mixing, just stir, pour into a cocktail shaker, shake, then strain into cocktail glasses.

Blood Orange Sidecar
Makes 4 cocktails

5 jiggers brandy
2 jiggers Cointreau
1 jigger Rose’s lime juice
juice of 3 blood oranges
juice of 1 regular orange

First sugar the rims of 4 cocktail glasses by rubbing the rims with the flesh of any citrus fruit, then dipping the edge in granulated white sugar. Set aside; you can chill in the freezer if you like.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour in ingredients. Shake, then strain into the glasses. Garnish with orange twist.