The post American Beauty appeared first on THE RITUALS.
]]>AMERICAN BEAUTY
.75 oz. brandy (Pierre Ferrand cognac)
.75 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin)
.75 oz. orange juice
.25 oz. white crème de menthe (Tempus Fugit)
1 oz. port (Taylor Fladgate 10-year-old Tawny Porto)
A few drops of grenadine
Brian: Check out this laundry list of ingredients: vermouth, brandy, orange juice, port, grenadine!
Eric: That sounds atrocious.
Brian: And crème de menthe!
Eric: There is no way this can be good. Who thought this was a good idea?
Brian: I found a Russian site where this Russian guy—
Eric: Is it in Cyrillic?
Brian: No, it’s written in kind of a phonetic English, saying things like, “I like way, it tastes good cause of how you do.” He loves this drink. And somebody else, maybe Difford or somebody else does a little different version of this drink and this Russian guy liked that too. I will send you the link. Another thing: This guy put his American Beauty into a martini glass; he didn’t put it into an old fashioned glass.
Brian: I’m supposed to float this port on top? This is senseless.
Eric: Don’t you think that the port is going to be heavier than what’s already in there?
Brian: Yeah, it really bothers me.
Eric: It’s a fool’s errand.
Brian tries and fails to float the port on top of the drink. The dark red liquid sinks into the murk. Brian, accepting his fate, adds a few drops of homemade grenadine and lifts the glass to his lips.
Brian: Oh, God, smell that mint. I’m already questioning this.
Eric: Why don’t we just move on and fake the review? We don’t have to do this, you know.
Brian silences Eric with a dirty look. He drinks.
Brian: Oh. Oh.
Eric: How is it?
Brian: Oh.
Eric: Is it horrible?
Brian: I don’t like that.
Eric: (drinks) It’s terrible. Throw it away. ¡Fuera!
Brian: Do you want to taste it again?
Eric: Yeah, sure. (smacks his lips) I’m getting bottom notes of toothpaste.
Brian: Toothpaste!
Eric: It could be we have a crème de menthe problem. We should find that Russian guy and interview him.
Brian: Should we photograph this in the bathroom because it tastes like toothpaste?
Eric: Let’s score it first. We know it is bad, Brian—we know that the American Beauty is bad. But how bad is it? What are some of the other drinks that have gotten zeros?
Brian: I wasn’t going to go zero.
Eric: Our Absinthe Suissesse got a 1. For comparison.
Brian: But that’s because we didn’t have the proper tools. I feel like this is a solid 2.
Eric: I give it a 0.5. For bravery. The first problem with this is that it has orange juice in it.
Brian: And crème de menthe!
Eric: Have you ever had a glass of orange juice right after brushing your teeth?
Brian: I have now.
SCORES: Brian Solid 2, Eric 0.5
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]]>ACT III
“AMERICAN BEAUTY”
A cold feeling of hopelessness descends upon the two men in the kitchen. Or maybe it’s just the advancing chill of night as the sun retreats behind the earth.
The counter is littered with bottles and spent fruit.
One man recites the next recipe in the ancient bartending guide to the other man.
AMERICAN BEAUTY
.75 oz. brandy (Pierre Ferrand cognac)
.75 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin)
.75 oz. orange juice
.25 oz. white crème de menthe (Tempus Fugit)
1 oz. port (Taylor Fladgate 10-year-old Tawny Porto)
A few drops of grenadine
Brian: Check out this laundry list of ingredients: vermouth, brandy, orange juice, port, grenadine!
Eric: That sounds atrocious.
Brian: And crème de menthe!
Eric: There is no way this can be good. Who thought this was a good idea?
Brian: I found a Russian site where this Russian guy—
Eric: Is it in Cyrillic?
Brian: No, it’s written in kind of a phonetic English, saying things like, “I like way, it tastes good cause of how you do.” He loves this drink. And somebody else, maybe Difford or somebody else does a little different version of this drink and this Russian guy liked that too. I will send you the link. Another thing: This guy put his American Beauty into a martini glass; he didn’t put it into an old fashioned glass.
Brian: I’m supposed to float this port on top? This is senseless.
Eric: Don’t you think that the port is going to be heavier than what’s already in there?
Brian: Yeah, it really bothers me.
Eric: It’s a fool’s errand.
Brian tries and fails to float the port on top of the drink. The dark red liquid sinks into the murk. Brian, accepting his fate, adds a few drops of homemade grenadine and lifts the glass to his lips.
Brian: Oh, God, smell that mint. I’m already questioning this.
Eric: Why don’t we just move on and fake the review? We don’t have to do this, you know.
Brian silences Eric with a dirty look. He drinks.
Brian: Oh. Oh.
Eric: How is it?
Brian: Oh.
Eric: Is it horrible?
Brian: I don’t like that.
Eric: (drinks) It’s terrible. Throw it away. ¡Fuera!
Brian: Do you want to taste it again?
Eric: Yeah, sure. (smacks his lips) I’m getting bottom notes of toothpaste.
Brian: Toothpaste!
Eric: It could be we have a crème de menthe problem. We should find that Russian guy and interview him.
Brian: Should we photograph this in the bathroom because it tastes like toothpaste?
Eric: Let’s score it first. We know it is bad, Brian—we know that the American Beauty is bad. But how bad is it? What are some of the other drinks that have gotten zeros?
Brian: I wasn’t going to go zero.
Eric: Our Absinthe Suissesse got a 1. For comparison.
Brian: But that’s because we didn’t have the proper tools. I feel like this is a solid 2.
Eric: I give it a 0.5. For bravery. The first problem with this is that it has orange juice in it.
Brian: And crème de menthe!
Eric: Have you ever had a glass of orange juice right after brushing your teeth?
Brian: I have now.
SCORES: Brian Solid 2, Eric 0.5
Discussed:
-Don the Beachcomber
-Cinnamon liqueur from the Canary Islands
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]]>The post Amer Picon Cooler appeared first on THE RITUALS.
]]>1.5 oz. Amer Picon (substituted Amaro CioCiaro)
1 oz. gin (Bombay Sapphire)
.5 oz. cherry liqueur (Cherry Heering)
1 tsp. sugar syrup
1 tsp. lemon juice
Club soda
Combine with ice; shake well. Strain. Add ice and club soda.
Eric: Amer Picon is no longer available so we’re using a substitute, Amaro CioCiaro. It takes an ounce and a half of CioCiaro—of Charo. That’s half a Charo on the “Love Boat.”
Brian: “Coochie, coohcie, coochie, coochie, coochie!”
Eric: It takes the fake Amer Picon, it takes the Windex (points at a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin). It takes the Cherry Heering, half ounce of Heering. Teaspoon of sugar syrup, otherwise known as simple syrup. Tablespoon of lemon juice, and—
Brian: Teaspoon.
Eric: Teaspoon, sorry. Whew, nice save, that was close!
Lacking a proper highball glass, Brian instead strains the cocktail into a small Hite glass. Hite is Korea’s most popular beer—South Korea, that is.
Eric: Hey look, Hite. Nice choice. Do you think we are the first people ever to drink an Amer Picon Cooler out of a Hite Glass?
Brian: (suddenly defensive) I like Hite.
Eric: I like Hite too. But I prefer Cass because it’s harder to find.
Brian: I’m not a big OB fan. OB is the Budweiser of Korean beer.
Eric: There are these places in Korea, the OB Mart, which are bars run by OB where you can get your dried squid and your cheap drink on. Look, it has started to leak out!
Brian: (defensively) It said “shake well!”
Brian sips. Eric watches closely.
Brian: I like it. I really like that.
Eric: It smells delicious.
Brian: Yeah.
Eric: (drinks) It is delicious, holy moly. I love that.
Brian: Have we ever spoken these words before?
Eric: “Holy moly?”
Brian: No, “It is delicious.”
Eric: It does sound strange to utter these words. It’s as if we are right at the dawn of language itself.
Brian: The Cherry Heering is really subtle.
Eric: But it’s there.
Brian: It’s bitter, it’s sweet, is it sour enough? I don’t really understand what the lemon juice is doing. Then you’re adding sugar syrup when you already have a sweetish amaro. Your sweetening it up a little more, and you’re putting a little bit of sour in. So you’re—
Eric: Do you think it’s too sweet?
Brian: No, I don’t actually. I just didn’t think that would be as good as it was.
Eric: Who knew? I give that an 8.
Brian: Whoa. Just blazing.
Eric: Yeah, 8. What are you going to do about that?
Brian: I was going to say 7.5 because I don’t have Cherry Heering or Amer Picon—
Eric: Sounds like a personal problem. This is delicious.
Eric: This is more dangerous than the Ambrosia for Two because I felt the Ambrosia for Two was slightly hostile.
Brian: Hostile?
Eric: I felt a little bit of pushback from that drink.
Voice From the Other Room: “Pushback.”
Brian: I could see that—
Eric: Wait, did you hear that? Somebody said “pushback.”
Brian: Yes, I heard it too. It’s in the other room now.
Eric: I see, it’s mockery. The peanut gallery is going for mockery.
Brian: Typical.
Eric: There was some pushback, but this… I’m sorry, I can’t concentrate now. By the way, We have a very short list of… I’d say there are only three cocktails that we have scored over a 7—
Brian: Which I love because that’s our entire cocktail book.
Eric: Yeah, three recipes.
Brian: I need to write this down. The Alaska, the A-1 Pick-Me-Up, and now this, the Amer Picon Cooler.
Eric: Why is it a “cooler?”
Brian: Because it’s a refreshing highball with—
Eric: Did you see that movie “The Cooler” with William H. Macy?
Brian: Yeah, it wasn’t that good.
Eric: It was terrible. Did you work on it?
Brian: No I did not.
Eric: That seems like a movie that you would have worked on. I don’t even know what that means.
SCORES: Brian 7.5, Eric 8
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]]>The post Ambrosia For Two appeared first on THE RITUALS.
]]>Two men in early middle age make cocktails while their wives consort in the living room.
One man, Brian, consults a bartender guide.
A recipe awaits.
AMBROSIA FOR TWO
3 oz. brandy (Pierre Ferrand cognac)
3 oz. apple brandy (St. George California Reserve)
Several drops of raspberry syrup (DIY)
Champagne (Martini & Rossi Asti)
Combine the brandies and the syrup with ice; shake. Strain into two pre-chilled wine glasses. Fill each glass with champagne and stir.
Another man, Eric, lurches forward.
Eric: You just put 34 drops of red raspberry syrup in. The recipe says “several drops of raspberry syrup.” Now this is a recipe for 2, so 17 and a half drops per person. I would say that is several, wouldn’t you?
Brian: I would say that is several.
Eric: At what point does “several”— (loses interest) ahh, never mind, it’s pointless…
Brian: Let’s say your definition of several is 5. Are 5 drops of raspberry syrup going to make a dent in the 6 ounces of brandy that are in there?
Eric: If it’s pretty strong raspberry syrup. Is it pretty strong raspberry syrup?
Brian: Would you like to taste it?
Eric: I would.
Eric tastes Brian’s homemade raspberry syrup and approves. Laughter from the living room. Both men turn sharply.
Brian: This is a big drink to start the day off with.
Eric: It is almost 4:00. Cheers.
They clink glasses.
Eric: Man, you look tired.
Brian: This is dangerous. The champagne kills all the alcohol taste that is in there.
Eric: The champagne is a cloaking device. I also note that the raspberry syrup is still invisible, in spite of your 35 drops.
Brian: I’m trying to drink this but it’s so weird.
Eric: You think the syrup is a color thing? This drink does have a beautiful color; it looks like a nice lambic or something. I don’t know a thing about lambics, however. Okay then, it looks like a nice beer. But the problem with this drink is not the raspberry syrup, it’s the champagne. Champagne drinks are problematic for me.
Brian: Yeah, I’m not a huge champagne guy either. Still, I think this needs more of it.
Eric: Of course it does.
Brian finishes off the Ambrosia, smacking his lips ambigiously.
Brian: I like it. I would give it a 5.
Eric: As you know, I tend to roll more negative. I give it a 4 and a half. I don’t hate it; I just think it lacks ambition. What does it need?
Brian: This drink needs to be superchilled. It needs to be cold. (points) That warms up, you’re dead.
Eric: You know what, this is a drink that would be good for a summer afternoon—oh, sorry, that that is what we say about everything!
Brian: Maybe you put dry ice in, so that you keep it cold but you don’t add any water to it.
Eric: Because then it looks like the Munsters.
Brian: Well yes, there is that whole thing that happens.
Eric: What if you put a cinnamon stick in it?
Brian: I think it’s a bad idea.
Eric: What about 3/4 of an apple?
SCORES: Brian 5, Eric 4.5
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]]>The post “Amer Picon Cooler”: Kitchen Sink, Act II appeared first on THE RITUALS.
]]>ACT II
“AMER PICON COOLER”
Passage of time. The sun clicks downward in the sky.
The two men in the kitchen, Brian and Eric, address the next recipe in the ancient bartending manual.
This is what it says:
AMER PICON COOLER
1.5 oz. Amer Picon (substituted Amaro CioCiaro)
1 oz. gin (Bombay Sapphire)
.5 oz. cherry liqueur (Cherry Heering)
1 tsp. sugar syrup
1 tsp. lemon juice
Club soda
Combine with ice; shake well. Strain. Add ice and club soda.
Eric: Amer Picon is no longer available so we’re using a substitute, Amaro CioCiaro. It takes an ounce and a half of CioCiaro—of Charo. That’s half a Charo on the “Love Boat.”
Brian: “Coochie, coohcie, coochie, coochie, coochie!”
Eric: It takes the fake Amer Picon, it takes the Windex (points at a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin). It takes the Cherry Heering, half ounce of Heering. Teaspoon of sugar syrup, otherwise known as simple syrup. Tablespoon of lemon juice, and—
Brian: Teaspoon.
Eric: Teaspoon, sorry. Whew, nice save, that was close!
Lacking a proper highball glass, Brian instead strains the cocktail into a small Hite glass. Hite is Korea’s most popular beer—South Korea, that is.
Eric: Hey look, Hite. Nice choice. Do you think we are the first people ever to drink an Amer Picon Cooler out of a Hite Glass?
Brian: (suddenly defensive) I like Hite.
Eric: I like Hite too. But I prefer Cass because it’s harder to find.
Brian: I’m not a big OB fan. OB is the Budweiser of Korean beer.
Eric: There are these places in Korea, the OB Mart, which are bars run by OB where you can get your dried squid and your cheap drink on. Look, it has started to leak out!
Brian: (defensively) It said “shake well!”
Brian sips. Eric watches closely.
Brian: I like it. I really like that.
Eric: It smells delicious.
Brian: Yeah.
Eric: (drinks) It is delicious, holy moly. I love that.
Brian: Have we ever spoken these words before?
Eric: “Holy moly?”
Brian: No, “It is delicious.”
Eric: It does sound strange to utter these words. It’s as if we are right at the dawn of language itself.
Brian: The Cherry Heering is really subtle.
Eric: But it’s there.
Brian: It’s bitter, it’s sweet, is it sour enough? I don’t really understand what the lemon juice is doing. Then you’re adding sugar syrup when you already have a sweetish amaro. Your sweetening it up a little more, and you’re putting a little bit of sour in. So you’re—
Eric: Do you think it’s too sweet?
Brian: No, I don’t actually. I just didn’t think that would be as good as it was.
Eric: Who knew? I give that an 8.
Brian: Whoa. Just blazing.
Eric: Yeah, 8. What are you going to do about that?
Brian: I was going to say 7.5 because I don’t have Cherry Heering or Amer Picon—
Eric: Sounds like a personal problem. This is delicious.
Eric: This is more dangerous than the Ambrosia for Two because I felt the Ambrosia for Two was slightly hostile.
Brian: Hostile?
Eric: I felt a little bit of pushback from that drink.
Voice From the Other Room: “Pushback.”
Brian: I could see that—
Eric: Wait, did you hear that? Somebody said “pushback.”
Brian: Yes, I heard it too. It’s in the other room now.
Eric: I see, it’s mockery. The peanut gallery is going for mockery.
Brian: Typical.
Eric: There was some pushback, but this… I’m sorry, I can’t concentrate now. By the way, We have a very short list of… I’d say there are only three cocktails that we have scored over a 7—
Brian: Which I love because that’s our entire cocktail book.
Eric: Yeah, three recipes.
Brian: I need to write this down. The Alaska, the A-1 Pick-Me-Up, and now this, the Amer Picon Cooler.
Eric: Why is it a “cooler?”
Brian: Because it’s a refreshing highball with—
Eric: Did you see that movie “The Cooler” with William H. Macy?
Brian: Yeah, it wasn’t that good.
Eric: It was terrible. Did you work on it?
Brian: No I did not.
Eric: That seems like a movie that you would have worked on. I don’t even know what that means.
SESSION STATS
SCORES: Brian 7.5, Eric 8
Discussed:
-Magnolia House
-Beer queso
-Chicken wings
-Hipsters
-Flintridge Proper
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]]>The post “Ambrosia For Two”: Kitchen Sink, Act I appeared first on THE RITUALS.
]]>ACT I
“AMBROSIA FOR TWO”
A warm summer afternoon. A kitchen.
Two men in early middle age make cocktails while their wives consort in the living room.
One man, Brian, consults a bartender guide.
A recipe awaits.
AMBROSIA FOR TWO
3 oz. brandy (Pierre Ferrand cognac)
3 oz. apple brandy (St. George California Reserve)
Several drops of raspberry syrup (DIY)
Champagne (Martini & Rossi Asti)
Combine the brandies and the syrup with ice; shake. Strain into two pre-chilled wine glasses. Fill each glass with champagne and stir.
Another man, Eric, lurches forward.
Eric: You just put 34 drops of red raspberry syrup in. The recipe says “several drops of raspberry syrup.” Now this is a recipe for 2, so 17 and a half drops per person. I would say that is several, wouldn’t you?
Brian: I would say that is several.
Eric: At what point does “several”— (loses interest) ahh, never mind, it’s pointless…
Brian: Let’s say your definition of several is 5. Are 5 drops of raspberry syrup going to make a dent in the 6 ounces of brandy that are in there?
Eric: If it’s pretty strong raspberry syrup. Is it pretty strong raspberry syrup?
Brian: Would you like to taste it?
Eric: I would.
Eric tastes Brian’s homemade raspberry syrup and approves. Laughter from the living room. Both men turn sharply.
Brian: This is a big drink to start the day off with.
Eric: It is almost 4:00. Cheers.
They clink glasses.
Eric: Man, you look tired.
Brian: This is dangerous. The champagne kills all the alcohol taste that is in there.
Eric: The champagne is a cloaking device. I also note that the raspberry syrup is still invisible, in spite of your 35 drops.
Brian: I’m trying to drink this but it’s so weird.
Eric: You think the syrup is a color thing? This drink does have a beautiful color; it looks like a nice lambic or something. I don’t know a thing about lambics, however. Okay then, it looks like a nice beer. But the problem with this drink is not the raspberry syrup, it’s the champagne. Champagne drinks are problematic for me.
Brian: Yeah, I’m not a huge champagne guy either. Still, I think this needs more of it.
Eric: Of course it does.
Brian finishes off the Ambrosia, smacking his lips ambigiously.
Brian: I like it. I would give it a 5.
Eric: As you know, I tend to roll more negative. I give it a 4 and a half. I don’t hate it; I just think it lacks ambition. What does it need?
Brian: This drink needs to be superchilled. It needs to be cold. (points) That warms up, you’re dead.
Eric: You know what, this is a drink that would be good for a summer afternoon—oh, sorry, that that is what we say about everything!
Brian: Maybe you put dry ice in, so that you keep it cold but you don’t add any water to it.
Eric: Because then it looks like the Munsters.
Brian: Well yes, there is that whole thing that happens.
Eric: What if you put a cinnamon stick in it?
Brian: I think it’s a bad idea.
Eric: What about 3/4 of an apple?
SESSION STATS
Scores: Brian 5, Eric 4.5
Discussed:
-The meaning of “several”
-Ambrosia fucking salad
-House made pineapple gomme syrup at Belcampo
-Sound bath, Palm Springs
-Sensory deprivation tank, Pasadena
-Apple brandy in your bourbon old fashioned
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]]>The post A Day in the Life of an Apprentice Distiller appeared first on THE RITUALS.
]]>St. George Spirits occupies a large airplane hangar on a former naval base in Alameda, California. It is the oldest craft distillery in the United States and one of the most experimental. To get an idea of its range of expression, one only need to take inventory of our collective liquor cabinet at the Rituals—all three gin variations (Terroir, Botanivore, and Dry Rye), green chile vodka, rum agricole, pear brandy, apple brandy, raspberry liqueur, absinthe, and their NOLA Coffee Liqueur count among our faves. We traveled to the Bay Area to pay a visit and were immediately confronted by 20 tons of dry-farmed organic Bartlett pears from Colorado, waiting patiently to be crushed and fermented with champagne yeast and distilled into St. George’s flagship spirit, their delicious pear brandy.
Although most of the glory in craft spirits goes to the master distillers (in this case Lance Winters), we thought it might be interesting to learn more about those who toil in the background without recognition. We spoke with one of these unsung heroes—St. George Spirits’ apprentice distiller James Lee—about what it’s like working in the trenches. Full disclosure: Mr. Lee and office “minion” (yes, that’s her official title) Katie Cavenee gave us a three-hour tour of St. George Spirits and let us sample some of the greatest hits from their personal spirits collections.
The Rituals: You started homebrewing in college, right? So how did you get interested in spirits?
James Lee: My friend Chris [Jordan] and I went to a bar in Santa Cruz called 515 that carried some St. George products that we no longer make: the Qi liqueurs, which were tea liqueurs. There’s a Qi White which was white tea and honey and then Qi Black which was lapsang souchong tea and brandy, with a little bit of honey and orange. At that time I was 21 or 22, drinking Irish car bombs and adios motherfuckers and all those terrible drinks that you drink in college, so this was my first introduction to spirits in a broader sense.
The bartender told us about St. George Spirits and we looked them up on the Internet and discovered they did tours and tastings so we decided to check them out. We thought it was amazing and we kept going back, taking other friends with us. That was in 2007, probably right before they released the absinthe [the first legal absinthe in the U.S. for 95 years].
The Rituals: How did you start working for St. George?
James Lee: Chris graduated and moved back to the Bay Area and got a job in the tasting room at St. George in 2009. I was still in Santa Cruz but any time there was anything fun going on he would always invite me to the distillery. So I got to know everyone who worked there and when I moved back in 2010 they basically just asked me if I wanted to work in the tasting room. So I poured tastings, gave tours, and worked events, and when Chris eventually transitioned from the tasting room position to production, I would go out and talk to him and figure out what was going on out there. My boss noticed that I was out there way more than in the tasting room so in 2012 they offered me a production apprentice job and that’s what I have been doing ever since.
The Rituals: Can you break down what St. George is like, personnel wise?
James Lee: In production there are three people on the floor doing the everyday work: myself as the production apprentice, Chris (who used to be a production apprentice and now is the assistant distiller), and our coworker Brad [Joyce] who started as our intern but has become a full-time employee basically as a cellar rat. Above us our direct supervisor is Dave Smith, who is vice president of St. George Spirits—I think Blender and Distiller is his official title. And above him is Lance [Winters], the owner and master distiller. Chris, Brad, and I are doing all of the everyday work distilling. We basically start on the fermentation side and go all the way until the product is ready to be bottled. So proofing, distillation, barrel aging, blending, stuff like that. Everyone wears a lot of hats so if someone is sick you’re helping load trucks and build orders. If we need help cleaning tanks, the warehouse guys will help us.
The Rituals: What’s an average day like?
James Lee: I get in at 9:00. If the stills aren’t already fired up I turn on the boiler and get the pots filled with whatever we are working on. Right now we are working through some Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale that we’re turning into some whiskey. Once that’s going, there are other projects we’re working on, usually getting something ready for bottling or something we just distilled needs to go down to barrel so we need to proof it down a little bit—make sure it’s the right barrel proof—then get that into barrels. Making sure everything is labeled. And then a lot of cleaning.
Usually there are three or four projects going on. Last week we were reorganizing all of our barrels just for better functionality. We’re prepping botanicals for infusion next week. Yesterday Brad, Dave, and I drove up to Mendocino to load up a flatbed truck with Douglas fir from our source up there, drove back, and then today we ran it through a wood chipper, then infused it with GNS [grain neutral spirit] to start the process for making the Douglas fir distillate that we use for the Terroir gin. It’s pretty labor intensive but it’s a lot of fun.
Actually, the scale of it blows my mind sometimes. Who else gets to handle a 10,000 gallon batch of vodka? The most vodka a person usually sees at one time is a handle [1.75L]. It’s mind-boggling.
The Rituals: Do you have any creative input?
James Lee: We’re really busy right now, but if anyone wants to experiment and try something and put in the time, then Lance and Dave will help them get a project off the ground. I remember bringing in ten buckets of persimmon that I wanted to ferment and distill because I had never seen a persimmon brandy—and they gave me time on lab stills and helped me out. It’s funny because I was talking with Jörg [Rupf, the founder] one day when he was visiting and he said, “Oh yeah, I did persimmon brandy once. It wasn’t very good.” But he still encouraged me to try and make something better than he did. Everyone is open to ideas and experimentation and trying things. We always say, “There is the right way, the wrong way, and the St. George way.” We’ll usually do something at least three times and fail at it before we figure out how to get it right. These days, though, we’re so busy working on the day-to-day stuff we don’t get a lot of time to play around.
The Rituals: Has your palate changed since you’ve been working here?
James Lee: I definitely can distinguish more flavors now. I used to be like, “Oh, this tastes like whiskey,” and I thought people who had tasting notes like chocolate and burnt almond and leather and cigars were kind of ridiculous—but over time you learn. Sometimes you get weird flavors in whiskey. There’s this strawberry candy note—like the Brach’s hard candy strawberries that you get in the grocery store—that comes through a lot. We’ve developed a language amongst ourselves at the distillery so that we can communicate with each other in a way that’s not so esoteric.
The Rituals: Do you have any distilling ambition yourself?
James Lee: There are lot of people who think because they distill at home [Editor’s note: It is illegal to distill spirits of any kind without a license in all 50 states] that they can run a distillery—the same way that home brewers sometimes think, “My beer is delicious; I can open a brewery!” But it’s not as easy as just making a good product. There is a lot of more that goes into it. When I first started at St. George and got into distilling it sounded like a cool idea, but I’ve seen all of the work and the money that goes into starting a distillery, and the laws—especially in California—are slightly discouraging. It’s like opening a restaurant—one of those things you throw a lot of money at and hope to break even. We’re very fortunate that we are doing so well here, because I know in Portland (where the laws are much more favorable towards distilleries) they had a huge boom of distilleries opening, but more than half of those have closed already.
The Rituals: Any advice for people trying to get into this industry?
James Lee: It’s a weird industry to get into. There are not a lot of easy direct paths to it. Everyone at St. George has different background. Chris was a biology major, Dave majored in English, and Lance was a nuclear engineer in the Navy before he was a brewer. I don’t even have a degree. So we come from all over. We like to refer to ourselves as the Island of Misfit Toys.
If you want to learn about distillation, definitely talk to people, go to distilleries, show that you’re interested. One way is to start in another part of the beer and wine industry to gain knowledge. Any kind of biology or chemistry background is definitely helpful. If it’s really what you want to do you will find a way to make it happen. I would have never thought I would be a distiller but it’s super fun. I love it.
The Rituals: Okay then, what’s your least favorite aspect of this job?
James Lee: Cleaning tanks! It’s pretty hard work. But it’s also rewarding because you can see the physical result of your work when you get inside and power wash a really dirty tank. Although we don’t have to worry about sanitation and infection to the degree that a brewery has to, we definitely have to worry about cross contamination of flavors, especially with absinthe or funky beer.
The Rituals: How about your favorite aspect?
James Lee: One of my favorite parts is just knowing that I had a hand in seeing these things to fruition. This physical object here that I can put on a table—I helped make this. That’s super awesome. I’m excited to be here for a long time and know that in the next few years there will be whiskey that I have distilled in the blend. I love whiskey. It’s crazy to think about it—you know, you start with the grain, then you taste the beer, and then you taste the white dog. And then you taste it every year to see how it’s changing. And finally one day it goes into a bottle.
The Rituals: It’s like having a kid, right? If your kid went into a bottle and you drank it.
James Lee: Exactly.
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]]>AMBER CLOUD
1.5 oz. cognac (Hennessy)
2 Tbs. Galliano
Combine with ice, shake well. Pour over crushed ice.
Nope. The drink looks great but the Cognac and the Galliano are like a cheating couple in a bitter divorce battle.
Eric: “Ughhh, amber cloud…”
Me: “The name must mean what your brain feels like after having one too many of these.”
With that last statement I think the AMBER CLOUD is perfectly named. It’s an avoidable drink.
Scores: Eric 1.5 “The .5 is because my crushed ice looks so good,” Brian 2.5 2.
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]]>The post Ambassador appeared first on THE RITUALS.
]]>AMBASSADOR
2 oz. Tequila
Orange Juice
Pour the tequila into glass, add ice and orange juice. Add 1 oz. of sugar syrup to sweeten.
Eric and I debated the use of sugar syrup to sweeten this. The syrup is not actually in the ingredients list. Is it and option? Do people like their tequila and orange juice sweetened? The recipe also doesn’t state how much orange juice to use. Is this a tequila highball or do we use a smaller amount of OJ? We go with three ounces of OJ and don’t sweeten it. After my first sip of tequila and orange juice I emphatically state, “This tastes like college.” And with that I have named this cocktail, COLLEGE. We then try it sweetened but not with the full one ounce of sugar syrup. Guess what, the drink is worse. I’m not sure that there is a way to make tequila, OJ, and sugar syrup taste good unless the sugar syrup is flavored like in a TEQUILA SUNRISE.
Scores: Eric 3, Brian sweetened 3 non-sweetened 4
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]]>AMARANTH
1 oz. rye
1 dash bitters (any kind)
Powdered sugar
Club soda
Combine the rye, bitters, and a dash of powdered sugar in a glass. Stir well. Add ice and fill with club soda.
Eric rehashes our figure skating analogy from previous posts. Do I like you or did you put in a good effort? Rating artistic merit is totally objective, so when attempting to rate a drink that is another drink with the slightest modification it’s problematic. Here they have taken a whiskey highball added a dash of any kind of bitters (this option could put the drink on either ends of the good/bad spectrum) and powdered sugar. The club soda tamps down the bitters but keeps the sweetness from the sugar.
We both like this drink but its only ambition is its name because ultimately it’s a sweet rye whiskey highball. Amaranth is the most ambitious name. It’s like some pretentious person coming into a poetry class, “I’ve got a poem it’s called Amaranth!” But then the poem is just a play on roses are red. Roses are red, grain is brown, look at me like that and I’ll give you a frown.
New names for this drink could be Bitter & Sweet High & Rye, or the Sweet High Rye.
Scoring: Eric 6.5, Brian 6.
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