I love whiskey. I love it straight, I love it in my Manhattans and Old-Fashioneds. It’s a spirit with a long, sometimes-sordid past, inextricably linked to the dark days of prohibition. Perhaps no single variety of whiskey is as associated with this bygone era as Templeton.

I love everything New Orleans.  The city, the people, and especially the food and drinks.  The Vieux Carre is another one of those classy and elegant cocktails, not to mention a New Orleans original inspired by the French Quarter.  You get spicy rye flavors, mellowed with Cognac, a little vanilla and spice from Carpano, and some honeyed sweetness from the Benedictine.  Try one out for yourself! 1 oz. Rye Whiskey 1 oz. Cognac 1 oz. Carpano Sweet Vermouth .5 oz. Benedictine (for less sweetness, use only a barspoon) Dash Angostura Bitters Dash Peychaud’s Bitters Combine all ingredients to a mixing glass and stir. Strain into a nice coupe glass and garnish with a lemon twist.  

What could be better on a Sunday afternoon, after NFL playoffs are over, than watching sixteen of SF’s best females duke it out to see who has the fastest hands in town? Absolutely nothing. Together with Ananas Consulting, LUPEC SF, and Rye On The Road, Speed Rack is rolling into the Brick and Mortar Music Hall on Sunday, January 8th at 3pm.  A national tour, Speed Rack is traveling through ten US cities to find the fastest female bartender in the land and to raise $75,000 for breast cancer research and awareness. Here’s how it works: sixteen top female bartenders (we’re talking ladies from Rye, Hotsy Totsy Room, and Bourbon and Branch) compete head to head in timed trials. If you watch the video on Speed Rack’s website, you’ll see there’s a whole lot of show-womanship and bragging going on. A panel of judges will then score each competitor on [...]

Personally, I think prohibition was one of the worst and best times in U.S. drinking history.  Yes, you weren’t legally allowed to drink, which totally sucked, but at the sametime, some of the best cocktails creations came out of the drought.  The Scofflaw Cocktail is one of them.  It was created over at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the mid 1920′s and the name was intended to coin someone who enjoyed ducking into a Speakeasy or two to get away from the law. 1.5 oz Rye 1 oz Dry Vermouth 3/4 oz lemon juice 3/4 oz Grenadine Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and add ice.  Shake and strain into a fancy martini glass and garnish with a lemon twist. Note:  Make sure you don’t use the syrupy grenadine.  Pomegranite-based grenadine is what is meant for this cocktail.  There’s plenty of recipes online, but Small Hands sells [...]

The Sazerac is one of America’s greatest cocktail creations. Yes, I said it.  It’s a timeless classic that people still order from me today and it’s one of those cocktails I drink at home frequently.  Originally imported Cognac was the main ingredient in the recipe.  As the phylloxera beetle devastated European vineyards, Brandy and Cognac increased in price and New Orleans bars didn’t want to pay the steep prices.  Where could bartenders turn to?  Local Rye and Bourbon Whiskies were being produced and the spicy character of the Rye Whiskey fit the bill. 2 oz Rye Whiskey 1/4 oz (Bar Spoon) Absinthe Sugar Cube 3-5 Dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters Lemon twist for garnish Take a mixing glass and combine the sugar cube and bitters.  Muddle the two and mix them together.  Grab an old fashioned glass and pour the Absinthe into the glass and swirl it around to coat the inside.  [...]

Rye whiskey symbolizes the American colonial spirit. For all their puritanical pursuits, when the colonists weren’t busy with the sordid details of colonizing, they were making booze. Those hailing from Ireland and Scotland, while not uniquely familiar with the magical art of distillation, were both experienced with the process and disposed to consume the elixir. Being practical, and based on necessity, the colonists used what grains were on hand and American whiskies closely interrelated with localized agriculture and farming. Pennsylvania and Maryland were among the first colonies and the new locals distilled rye whiskey because the grain — similar to wheat and barley — was bountiful.  This differed from those that later settled in Kentucky where there was plenty of corn available. There, bourbon was born, cobbled together, than codified. But that is another story. Both styles of American whiskey were popular and you could expect to have both styles [...]

Old Flirty Bastard: 1oz gin (209 or Plymouth) 1oz Rye (Michters or Bulleit) .5oz lime juice .5oz vanilla simple syrup 2 dashes scrappy’s lavender bitters Fresh spanked mint Add all ingredients to mixing tin, and shake vigorously. Double strain into a coupe, or martini glass. One or two large pieces of ice if desired. Garnish with mint sprig This cocktail certainly lives up to it’s name. It has a classic feel, hence the “old,” and it is nothing if not flirty. You don’t have to be a gin or rye drinker to enjoy this, and while it packs plenty of punch, it is very easy to drink, and goes well with most foods because of it’s balance and complexity, but is more suited for lighter fare such as salads or chicken.

Much mystery surrounds the history of the Bulleit family and their tradition of producing whiskey. Augustus Bulleit set out to create a distinct and distinguished whiskey back in the 1830s, and after years of experimentation finally hit his mark with Bulleit Bourbon, a spirit higher in rye content than most bourbons, giving it a very different character from the corny bourbons so prevalent at the time. While transporting barrels of his bourbon from Kentucky to New Orleans, Augustus disappeared, never to be heard from again. Luckily for us, more than 100 years later the great great grandson of the same man decided to rekindle the long-lost family tradition, and did so swimmingly. He uses the same small-batch processes as his great great grandfather, utilizing the Kentucky limestone-filtered water that has made the area famous and aging in oak barrels “until it’s ready,” then bottling his spirits in a bottle that [...]