"A winery steeped in invention...Lemelson Vineyards"

Back in the Spring of 2007, I took a trip to the Willamette Valley in Oregon to explore my new found love.  I had fallen head over heals for these delicious wines coming out of the Northwest.  These Pinot noirs tended to much softer and sexier than the heavier ladened Pinot noirs that seemed to be permeating the market in California at the time.  One of these wineries that had recently come onto my radar was Lemelson Vineyards.  The wine rep told me about a family that was full of invention and I wanted to see what they were all about first hand.

Eric Lemelson is the eldest son of noted inventor Jerome Lemelson.  He had moved to Oregon to attend Portland's Reed College.  Later he found himself attending law school at Lewis and Clark, studying of all things environmental law.  While in law school, Eric bought a farm in the hills on the eastern edge of Oregon wine county.  It had been his dream to live in the country.  During the early 90's he contacted several wine producers to learn about viticulture.  He discovered that his southwest facing slopes and volcanic soil were well-suited for winegrapes.  By 1995, he had planted two acres of Pinot noir and Pinot gris

With the help of his father Jerome, they built a state of the art winery that is 100% gravity flow.  This side profile of the winery shows on the left side where grapes are brought in and crushed.  From there the juice is then released to the next lowest platform for fermentation.  Once fermentation is complete, the wine is then released to the next lowest platform for transfer to barrel.  There are no pumps here to "bruise" the wine.  Everything flows with the help of gravity.

If you are a lover of great Pinot noirs, I would strongly suggest taking a trip the the Willamette.  The wines are spectacular and the landscape is equally as impressive.  Cheers to Eric and his amazing team for their efforts.

"this is it...The Last Word"

This Gin based prohibition-era cocktail was almost lost to obscurity until a Seattle based bartender gave it a cult re-birth.  Murray Stenson created a buzz with his "Last Word" cocktail while bartending at the Zig Zag Cafe.

According to Ted Saucier's cocktail book "Bottoms Up", the Last Word was created in the early 1920's in Detroit, where it was first served at the Detroit Athletic Club.  The cocktail consisted of equal amounts of gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and fresh lime juice.

*The Detroit Athletic Club during the prohibition era

The Last Word Cocktail
3/4 oz Tanqueray Gin
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
3/4 oz Lime Juice
Combine all ingredients into a shaker and shake with ice.  Strain into a Martini Glass

Audrey Saunders of the Pegu Bar in New York considers it amongst her bar's best cocktails..."I love the sharp, pungent drinks, and this has a good bite.  It's a great palate cleanser and it's perfectly balanced: a little sour, a little sweet and a little pungent."

Cheers to you Murray Stenson...

"Out of this world"

Literally, the Mai Tai cocktail translates to "Out of this world".  Being National Rum Day, I thought I would pay homage to this classic Tiki cocktail.

As the story goes, Victor Bergeron, owner of Trader Vics, invented this quintessential Tiki cocktail in the 1940's for some friends that were visiting from Tahiti.  One of the friends was heard crying out "Maita'i roa ae!", roughly being translated as "Out of this world!  The Best!"- hence the name.

Over time the recipe has been butchered and now hardly resembles the classic recipe.  Thank god with the re-birth of the cocktail world and the search for these classic recipes...you can find this original recipe in many "handcraft cocktail bars".  The original recipe was 2 ounces of rum, lime juice, Orange Curacao, rock candy syrup and Orgeat syrup.

It is my belief that at some point bartenders began substituting Orgeat syrup with Creme de Noyaux(a nut liqueur very similar in taste to Orgeat), which adds a red tinge to the cocktail.  Also there was in many cases a float of dark rum added to the mix which seems to coincide with the color structure of the bastardized versions of the original.  

For a fun, strong play on the Mai Tai I give you a hybrid of classic and nouveau

Mai Tai

1 1/2 oz Appleton Rum
3/4 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Pierre Ferrand Orange Curacao
Shake all ingredients and then strain into a collins glass
drizzle a 1/2 oz Tempus Fugit Creme de Noyaux and then float 1/2 oz of Meyers Dark Rum
Garnish with a pineapple wedge and Tiki Umbrella!

"Of all his beloved cocktails, only one bears his name...Hemingway Daiquiri"

The legendary cocktail connoisseur was known to imbibe many different concoctions, but this one was created for him.  The Hemingway Daiquiri, otherwise known as The Papa Doble, was invented at La Floradita Bar in Cuba in the 1930's.  As legend goes, he happened to be walking past the bar as Daiquiris were being set up.  Never one to pass up a drink, he stopped and took a sip.  "Not bad", he said, but "leave out the sugar and double the rum".  Clearly Hemingway liked 'em poured with a heavy hand.

As with most cocktails, the recipes will change slightly in measurements and as much as Hemingway did not like sugar, I find the addition of it a necessity to bring balance.

The Hemingway Daiquiri, aka "The Papa Doble"

2 1/2 oz Bacardi Silver Rum 
3/4 oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
3/4 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
bar spoon of Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
dash of Fee Brothers Grapefruit Bitters
(Shake contents well and strain into a Champagne Coupe Glass)
Garnish with a Luxardo Cherry

Cheers!

"Jack in the side pocket"

The Jack Rose cocktail is one that was popular during the 1920's and 30's.  It notably appeared in a scene from Ernest Hemingway's 1926 classic, The Sun Also Rises.  The narrator, Jack Barnes, drinks a Jack Rose in the Crillon Paris hotel bar while awaiting the arrival of Lady Brett Ashley.

There are several theories on the origin of this particular cocktail.  The most prominent of these theories is supported by Stevens Crockett book "Old Waldorf Days" circa 1931, states that it is named after the pink "Jacquemot", also known as Jacqueminot Rose or Jacque Rose, of which the Jack Rose is a corruption and with which the drink is color coordinated.

The cocktail is quite simple, three basic ingredients.  There is however one catch to do this drink justice...a fresh grenadine syrup.  The Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. makes a decent syrup and is as close to my own personal recipe.

 Jack Rose Cocktail

2 oz Laird's Applejack Brandy
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Grenadine Syrup
Garnish with a Lemon Twist

http://jackrudycocktailco.com/

"This could be the best Bloody Mary, but do you know the history behind the hangover cure?"

I recently entered my own personal spin on this classic hangover cure for Absolut Vodka and The Food Networks search for the best Bloody Mary in America.  I actually started formulating this recipe several months ago in anticipation of opening my own restaurant.  I wanted the best Mary around.  I knew my mix was right on, but what to garnish it with?  I had seen everything from a hot dog, to a burger, to a lobster tail...the combinations were endless.  Balance and presentation also had to make sense for my ultimate Mary.  As with all my classics I needed to know exactly where this drink came from and I wanted to make sure that I do it justice.

The Bloody Mary is said to have been given birth with the first tins of tomato juice from the United States in Paris right after World War I.  A barman at the Ritz Bar, Frank Meier, was mixing a Tomato Juice concoction without any booze.  Meanwhile, Ferdinand "Pete" Petiot bartender for Harry's American Bar in Paris, began mixing his "Bloody Mary" with vodka.  As the story goes, Pete would mix this drink for a woman that was regularly left waiting for her man at the bar, her name, Mary.  A comparison was made between the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots and young Mary's long, solitary hours at the bar.

With the dark days of Prohibition entering the United States, this drink didn't have a chance to migrate.  Vodka was a relatively unknown liquor during prohibition.  Then in the 1960's, John Martin, grandson of Heublein founder Andrew Martin, used the Mary as a vehicle to promote a new product, Smirnoff.  This led to an almost exclusive use of vodka in the drink, and helped to make it the "hangover cure all".

The classic Mary is a combination of several ingredients:  tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, celery seed, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and lemon juice.  The garnish is left to interpretation and imagination.  That being said...here is my hopefully award winning recipe...

Barragan's Surf and Turf Mary

(makes 2 spicy Bloody Mary's..nobody wants to drink alone)
16 oz Tomato Juice (if you use Clamato Juice you are actually making a Bloody Caesar)
1/2 oz Sweet and Sour (1/4 part Lemon Juice, 1/4 part Simple Syrup, 1/2 part Lime Juice)
1/2 oz Horseradish
1/2 oz A1
1/2 oz Tapatio
1/4 oz Tabasco
1/4 oz Worcestershire
1/4 oz Salt
1/4 oz Black Pepper
1/4 oz Celery Seed
1/4 oz Dale DeGroff's Pimento Bitters

Combine ingredients and stir well.  Salt the rim of the serving glasses and add 2 oz of Vodka per drink (if you use Tequila it is Bloody Maria, Gin it becomes a Red Snapper).  Garnish to your hearts content.

For my Surf and Turf portion I used a special 15 spice blend to season and tie it all together.  I used the spice blend with sugar to season the bacon, dusted the two mozzarella cubes on a skewer and then added salt with the spice for the rim of the glass.  I chose a leafy Celery Stalk for classic nostalgia, crisp bacon (what sounds better than bacon with a hangover), a red grape and sunburst tomato for color, mozzarella for creamy goodness and finally a jumbo shrimp to complete our surf portion.

If you think this Bloody Mary is worthy of competing on "Chopped" as the best in the nation, please click the link below, go to Vote Now, California and then choose Barragan's Surf and Turf Mary!

Thank you and Cheers!

http://nycwffbestbloody.org/

"Don't let the pink fool you...it's a classic...meet the Clover Club Cocktail"

The Clover Club was a group of intellectuals with it's roots in Philadelphia.  This group consisted of writers, bankers, lawyers and captains of industry.  The chief meeting spot was the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel.  According to the Waldorf Astoria Bar Book, the Clover Club became a staple of East Coast bars and hotels.  In its heyday the drink was described by Jack Townsend as being enjoyed by the pre-prohibition gentleman who would have fit in with those of the club, and was a "Distinguished patron of the oak-paneled lounge".  However, by the time Townsend was writing about the cocktail it was becoming unpopular, and was eventually all but forgotten.  The drink seems to have been in decline partly due to the use of raw egg whites in it.

The drink appears as early as 1917 in Thomas Bullock's "The Ideal Bartender" and is listed as... Fill large bar glass full of fine ice.  2 pony Raspberry Syrup.  2 jigger Dry Gin.  1 jigger French Vermouth.  White of 1 egg.  Shake well: strain into Cocktail glass and serve.

For my spin try this...

Barragan's Clover Club Cocktail

In a shaker combine...
2 oz Plymouth Gin
1 oz Dolin Vermouth de Chambery Blanc
1 oz Raspberry Syrup (recipe given in an earlier post...see June 29...Berliner Weisse)
1 egg white
1/2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Dry shake for 30 seconds so that egg whites emulsify.  Add ice and shake hard for an additional 15 seconds.  Strain into a Champagne Coupe Glass and garnish with three raspberries.

"Summer Sundays scream for Bellini's"

The summer months are a bartender's delight.  The amount of fruit in season is astounding.  I was not very fond of white peaches growing up, but I have become a big fan when they roll back into season.  They are essential to the Italian classic Bellini.  All too often artificial syrups and cheap peach brandies are poured along with cheap sparklings and sent out as Bellini's...it makes my stomach turn.  This classic deserves better.

The story of the Bellini is one built on the trust and the true nature of giving.  During the days of Prohibition an American playboy, Harry Pickering, had befriended a bartender, Giuseppe Cipriani, at the Europa Hotel in Venice.  Pickering's family was concerned about his "dangerous drinking playboy lifestyle" and decided to cut off his funds in an effort to get him back home.  Pickering asked Cipriani for a loan of 10,000 lire, roughly the equivalent of $61,000 in todays market.  Cipriani lent him his life savings so he could get his affairs in order.  Pickering disappeared and not a word was heard from him for over a year, until one day he appeared, ordered a drink and paid Cipriani 40,000 lire as a show of gratitude so he could open his own bar.  In 1931, Cipriani opened  Harry's Bar in Venice.  This now world famous bar became the favorite haunt of Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis and Orson Welles.

The Bellini was invented sometime between 1934 and 1948 and named after a painting done by one of my favorite Venetian Masters, Giovanni Bellini.  The drink begins with a white peach puree and is topped with the native sparkling of the region, Prosecco.  The unique pink color reminded him of a toga worn by a saint in a painting.  

          *Back in 2000 we took a family trip to Italy and Harry's Bar was on my must see list!

Barragan's Bellini Recipe

Begin with 3 ripe white Peaches.  Peel the skins off, de-stem and de-pit them.  In a food processor, puree the fruit and add a tablespoon of all natural honey to add a bit of creamy texture and another layer of flavor.  This is enough for 12 Summer fresh glasses of Classic Bellinis ala Giuseppe Cipriani!  Cin-Cin!

http://harrysbarvenezia.com/