Bacchus Joins Rocky Mountain Bride’s Vendor Collective

We are delighted to announce that Rocky Mountain Bride magazine has invited Bacchus to join its 2024 vendor collective.

The collective is an exclusive guide to the best wedding vendors and venues in the U.S. and Canadian Rockies. We are honored to be featured among this amazing group of wedding professionals. The 2024 vendor collective will also highlight our parent catering company, Culinary Crafts, as well as the two wedding venues that Culinary Crafts operates, the Kimball Terrace in Park City and the Tasting Room in downtown Salt Lake City.

We are glad to see that Rocky Mountain Bride is bringing attention to Utah’s extraordinary wedding and hospitality industry. This state has earned its reputation as the ideal host for destination weddings. In fact, Utah is the only state in the U.S. to be awarded three Michelin stars and designated as an “exceptional destination” and “worth a special journey in itself.” We’re glad that people are discovering that Utah is a beautiful place to live, work, and celebrate...and to get married!

Watch for photos of our gorgeous weddings and special catered events.

Witches' Brew Cocktail

For Halloween, we’ve delved into the mystical world of mixology to bring you our recipe of the month, Witches’ Brew Cocktail.

If you remember, last year we showed you the color-changing witchcraft of the Pea Blossom Gin and Tonic. We soaked a handful of dried butterfly pea blossoms in the gin for several hours, and when we added tonic water and a squeeze of fresh lime—voila!—the colors changed like magic.

With Witches’ Brew, the concept is the same, but we’re getting a bit more adventurous. In addition to the butterfly pea blossoms, we’re going to infuse our alcohol with an assortment of edible flowers and herbs, teas, and the traditional eye of newt and toe of frog. (Those last two are optional.)

Of course, you can also make a lovely non-alcoholic version of this drink. In fact, there’s a whole grimoire of ways you can concoct your Witches’ Brew to match any color or taste you choose.   

Witches’ Brew Cocktail

(makes about 10 servings)

INGREDIENTS

• 14 oz gin or vodka

• 2 oz simple syrup

• 1 Tbsp black or green tea

or

• ¼ oz dried flower petals

DIRECTIONS

1. If using herbs or flowers, clean them thoroughly. Allow them to wilt for three or four hours to make the infusion more concentrated.

2. Place dried flowers or tea into a sealable glass container. Pour in your vodka or gin. Stir gently and seal the container.

3. Store in cool, dark place for one day, shaking the container occasionally.

4. Using cheesecloth or other fine-mesh strainer, strain all the solids out of the cocktail. Pour strained cocktail into a clean glass container and add simple syrup.

5. Serve straight or over ice.

PRO TIPS:

You can do the infusion in any kind of nonreactive container made of glass or stainless steel, but do not use aluminum.

If you’re making a mocktail version of this drink, bear in mind that you can’t just soak your flowers in non-alcoholic gin because you won’t get nearly the same level of extraction. Instead, steep the flowers in hot water just as you would tea. Pour about 7 oz of the infused tea water into 7 oz of your virgin gin, add the simple syrup, and you’re all set.

For all our edible flowers, we rely on Brickhouse Growers in Orem.  

Our favorite local gins include Madame Pattirini, Beehive Jack Rabbit, and Alpine. For vodka, our local favorites include High West, Five Wives, and Sugar House.

New World Distillery in Eden, Utah makes a tart cherry liqueur called Wasatch Blossom that can make a super fun base for a Witches Brew Cocktail. It’s on the sweet side, so we suggest adding a lemon peel or grapefruit peel to balance the flavor with a little bit of a bitter note.

To increase the intensity of the infusion, filter out the solid materials after 12 hours and replace them with fresh flowers or tea.

Milk-washed Apple Cider

I’ve never been much of a tea drinker, but I love high tea.

 I love everything about high tea, from the concept of a relaxing break in the middle of the afternoon to the tiny sandwiches, petit fours, and scones with jam and homemade clotted cream. Well, I love almost everything about it…the actual tea itself I could do without.

So, imagine my delight when, vacationing in Boston a few years ago, my husband and I stopped for high tea at a restaurant near the harbor, and instead of tea we were served an incredibly delicious apple cider! I had always been a huge fan of apple cider and had made my own for years, but something was different about this cider. I had never tasted anything so smooth, rich, and flavorful. I called our waiter over and asked how such an amazing drink had been created, but he didn’t know. “I could ask the chef,” he said, “but I don’t think he’ll give away his secret.”

 A minute later, our waiter returned. “The chef says it has cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, cloves, and oranges,” he reported. My face fell. I already included all those ingredients in my cider; clearly, that wasn’t the chef’s secret. Besides, I could tell just by looking at the cider that something unusual was going on. This cider was clear, almost transparent. Honestly, it looked almost like white wine.

 Despite my best sweet-talking and outright begging, the chef never gave up his secret. But then, years later, I stumbled onto the answer. The chef had milk-washed his cider.

What is Milk-Washing?

Milk-washing is a technique commonly used by bartenders to give cocktails a smoother, silkier taste and mouthfeel. By adding whole milk to a drink, along with citrus or some other form of acid, you cause the milk to curdle. Curdled milk may not sound very appealing but trust me; the results are delicious! As the milk proteins coagulate, they bond with the tannins or other strong, bitter-tasting chemicals already in the drink. Then, when you strain out the milk curds, you also remove all those overly strong elements, leaving behind a light, delicate-tasting cocktail.

Or apple cider.

Or practically any drink you want to try this technique on!

Speaking of different drinks, a while ago Culinary Crafts used this milk-washing technique to make an amazing cocktail for an event. I’ll share that recipe for Cacao-Bittered & Milk-Washed Antrim here.

Eat (and drink) well!

Meagan Crafts

Milk-Washed Apple Cider

(serves 16)

Ingredients:

·  1 gallon Red Barn apple cider

·  2 oranges or 3 mandarin oranges

·  5 cinnamon sticks

·  2 TBSP ground cinnamon

·  1 TBSP ground nutmeg

·  3-5 whole star anise

·  1/2 tsp whole cloves 

·  2¾ cups whole milk

Directions:

1.    Combine all ingredients except for milk in a large pot and bring to a simmer until fragrant.

2.    Strain cider into a separate container and allow to cool.

3.    Pour milk into a large container. Slowly add cooled cider to the milk as you stir gently. (It’s important that you add the cider to the milk and not the other way around! Otherwise, the milk will curdle too quickly.)

4.    After milk has been added, allow mixture to sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.

5.    Filter the mix through a fine mesh strainer to remove curds. Strain again through a rinsed paper coffee filter. The strained cider should be a pale golden color, much lighter than the original cider.

6.    Garnish with apple chunks, cinnamon sticks, or both.

7.    Enjoy!

Pro Tips:

Although much of the milk is removed during the straining process, some milk proteins and lactose will remain in the cider, so milk washing may not be a great idea for vegans or the lactose intolerant.  

Besides adding a smooth, rich taste and mouthfeel, the milk proteins that remain in the cider after you strain out the curds provide another nifty benefit as well. If you give the cider a good shake just prior to serving, you’ll get a nice frothy head on the drink. Sprinkle a little nutmeg or cinnamon over it, and you’ll give the drink a “boogie cocktail” feel.

Milk-washed cider or milk-washed cocktails can be stored in the fridge without spoiling for months. The cider can then be reheated if you prefer to serve it hot.

Casein, the main protein in milk, will bond with astringent-tasting tannins and polyphenols in alcohol and pull those chemicals out of the drink when the curds are strained away. At the same time, the curdled casein molecules will also remove other strong-tasting chemicals, softening the taste of the beverage. You can use this fact to play around with flavors that might otherwise be overwhelming such as cacao, tea, coffee, or oak. Those flavors will remain in the drink after milk-washing, but the biting, overpowering taste and mouthfeel will be gone!

Centuries ago, there were no regulations or checks on what ingredients could be used in drinks. Consequently, many beverages on the market contained some pretty nasty components. Milk-washing was an easy, popular way to purify beverages before you drank them. Following Charles Dickens’ death, bottles of milk-washed alcohol were found in his cellar.

Kaleb’s Aperol Enzoni

You’ve survived one of the hottest summers on record and managed to get the kids back to school! Now it’s time for a little relaxation. Our August cocktail of the month, Aperol Enzoni, is the perfect refreshing answer to a long, hot summer.

This cocktail is a personal favorite of our Chief Sales Officer, Kaleb Crafts . As a co-owner of Bacchus and of Utah’s premier catering service, Culinary Crafts, Kaleb has been part of the high-end catering world ever since he was old enough to scrub a pot or dry a glass. He has a passion for great food and drinks, and he loves sharing that passion with others. He’s always looking for a reason to throw a party, and this Aperol Enzoni is reason enough all by itself!

“Anytime I have fresh grapes lying around—especially if they’ve grown a little mushy and they’re not ideal for eating—I use them to make an Enzoni,” Kaleb says. “But I like to add my own little twist.”

The Enzoni

Invented in 2003 by a NYC bartender, the Enzoni has been described as “a cross between a Negroni and a Gin Sour.” A pleasant mix of bitter and sweet, the Enzoni is ideal for someone who enjoys fruity drinks but would like to start sampling the world of bitter cocktails. Crushed grapes add a delightful zing to the drink, and by changing the number of grapes, you can easily adjust the balance of sweet, fruity, and bitter to suit your taste.

“I love that there’s a lot going on in an Enzoni,” Kaleb says. “Plus, it’s just a beautiful drink to look at.”

Aperol versus Campari

The original Enzoni calls for Campari, which is a popular bitter orange apéritif from Italy. Kaleb substitutes a different orange apéritif, Aperol. Although both liqueurs are made by the same company , they are quite different. Aperol tastes sweeter and contains only about half as much alcohol.

“Since Aperol is sweeter, you may want to reduce the amount of simple syrup that you use,” Kaleb explains. “Some recipes call specifically for white or green grapes, but I use whatever grapes happen to be around the house. Red grapes taste great in this drink too, and they give it a wonderful deep color.”

Kaleb’s Aperol Enzoni

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 1)

·         5-7 seedless grapes

·         1 oz gin (We love local Utah gins Hammer Spring or Madame Paterini.)

·         1 oz Aperol 

·         0.75 oz lemon juice (about half a small lemon)

·         0.5 oz simple syrup

DIRECTIONS

1.      Muddle your grapes in a cocktail shaker.

2.      Add gin, Aperol, lemon juice, and simple syrup.

3.      Add a scoop of ice, cover, and shake.

4.      Add fresh ice to a double old fashioned glass.

5.      Strain contents of shaker into glass.

6.      Garnish with skewered grapes, a lemon slice, or a lemon peel.

Alla Salute!

Everything You Should Know about Tequila

For many of us, tequila conjures up images of crazy college kids doing shots or an old-West gunslinger knocking back a glass of high-octane rotgut, worm and all. Unfortunately, tequila has a persistent reputation as a cheap, quick, awful-tasting way to get blasted. You probably know people who will swear up and down that tequila turns them into a raging animal or—as the country song says—makes their “clothes fall off.”

In fact, tequila has become so notorious that it has its own category of jokes:

·         “One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, FLOOR!”

·         “Trust me, you can dance.—Tequila”

But does tequila deserve its reputation as the bad boy of booze?

In honor of National Tequila Day this July 24th, it’s time to take an honest look at Mexico’s iconic spirit. In this blog, we’re going to separate the facts from the myths and teach you everything you should know about tequila…or at least we’ll give it a shot!

What is (and is not) tequila?

To legally be called “tequila,” a liquor must be made either in the town of Tequila or somewhere within a specific five-state area of Central Mexico. The term “tequila” is a “denomination of origin,” meaning that it refers to a product made in a certain place and following certain guidelines. Other alcohols with denominations of origin include scotch (which must be made in Scotland), bourbon (which can only be made in the U.S.), and champagne (which can only be made in the Champagne region of France).

Tequila is made by fermenting the sugars in agave, the same plant used to make mezcal and agave spirits. To avoid confusion, let’s get those terms straight.

AGAVE SPIRITS

In its broad sense, “agave spirits” are any kind of alcohol made by fermenting the sugars of the agave plant. In that sense, both tequila and mezcal are agave spirits.

But when you see the term “agave spirits” on a bottle, it probably just means that the alcohol was made in the U.S. and therefore cannot be considered “tequila.”

MEZCAL

Mezcal is a broad category of liquors distilled in Mexico from fermented agave. Technically, tequila is a type of mezcal, just like champagne is a type of wine. However, mezcal and tequila are different in significant ways. First, mezcal can be made from any of nearly 30 different types of agave, whereas tequila is made from only one type, the blue agave (Latin name, Agave tequilana Weber var. azul). Second, when mezcal is made, the agave hearts are cooked underground in pits lined with hot rocks, whereas for tequila, the agave hearts are usually steamed. Third, mezcal typically has a smokier flavor due to the underground cooking process.  

Although mezcal has taken longer than tequila to catch on in the U.S., it remains extremely popular in Mexico. In fact, a popular Mexican saying is "Para todo mal, mezcal, y para todo bien, también; y si no hay remedio litro y medio," which means "For all bad, mezcal, and for all good, as well; and if there is no remedy, a liter and a half!"

FUN FACT TO HELP YOU SOUND LIKE A TEQUILA AFICIONADO:

Tequila is not made from a cactus! Although the agave plant looks spiky, it actually belongs to the same plant group as Joshua trees and other yuccas.

What are the different types of tequila?

The three most popular types of tequila are called blanco, reposado, and añejo. Their main differences have to do with how long they are aged in wooden barrels as well as their resulting color and taste.

Blanco.

Also called plata, silver, or white tequila, blanco is considered to be the purest type of tequila for showcasing the essence of agave. Because it is bottled immediately after distillation (or aged in barrels for no more than two months), blanco retains the clear agave flavor and looks colorless in the bottle. Depending on where the agave plants were grown, you may also notice hints of citrus or pepper. A quality blanco is great for sipping on its own, or blanco is ideal for making most tequila cocktails.

The subcategory of joven (a/k/a gold or oro) tequila, is basically just blanco with something added such as caramel coloring or a bit of reposodo to give it a golden appearance. Other additives may include sugar, glycerin, or oak extracts.

Reposado

The word “reposado” means “rested,” which makes sense because reposado tequila is allowed to age from two months up to one year, usually in oak barrels that were previously used in the US to age bourbon. The barrels add resins and tannins to the tequila, which changes its nose and flavor. The longer the aging process goes, the less the tequila tastes like agave and the more it picks up hints of caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, chiles, or sweet woody flavors.

Añejo

Añejo, meaning “old” or “vintage,” is tequila that has been aged in barrels for 1-3 years. (Tequila that has been aged even longer than that is called extra añejo.) The extended aging process gives añejo its deep, bold tannic notes of chocolate, hazelnut, coffee, or black tea. Preferred by many as a sipping tequila, it is not the right tequila for many cocktails. The extra time and care to produce añejo tends to make it pricey. Purported to be the most expensive bottle in the world, the Tequila Ley .925 Diamante is worth $3.5 million! (Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the bottle is pure platinum and white gold and decorated with 4,100 white diamonds.)

Which tequila should I buy?

To choose the right tequila off the shelf, you need to know what you’re planning to use it for.

If you’re going to sip and savor it the way tequila is popularly enjoyed in Mexico—possibly with a tangy sangrita chaser—then it makes sense to buy a higher quality tequila like Don Julio 1942, Clasa Azul Plata, El Tesoro Añejo, or Patrόn Extra Añejo. But if you’re just going to take shots or use it in cocktails, a mid-quality tequila like Espolòn Tequila Blanco or Teremana Reposado will do just fine.  

Although rating tequilas is somewhat subjective, it can be useful to consider the opinions of tequila enthusiasts. Check out this list of “30 best tequilas” or this ranking of store-bought brands. Brands that have earned solid reputations include Casa Noble, Clase Azul, Fortalenza, Patrόn, Don Julio, El Tesoro, El Taquileño, and Casa Dragones.

Whatever brand you buy, make sure it’s made with 100% blue agave. If the label doesn’t mention that it’s 100% agave, then it’s probably just a mixto, meaning that only 51% of the sugar has to come from agave. The rest may come from sugar cane, beets, or even corn syrup. Mixto tequilas are okay for frat-boy parties, but we don’t recommend them, not even for a cocktail.

One other detail to look for on the label is the word “tahona.” A tahona  is a two-ton volcanic wheel that was traditionally used to crush the cooked agave fibers prior to fermentation. Using a tahona is a messy and laborious process, which is why most tequila producers have replaced them with modern machinery. But tequila made with the traditional tahona tends to have a richer taste and preserves more of the agave aroma and taste. It’s worth trying a tequila made the old-fashioned way to see if you prefer it. Certain tequilas, like Siete Leguas Reposado, even use a blend of the tahona and more modern milling methods to create a taste that’s definitely worth trying!

What cocktails should I make with tequila?

Up until forty years ago, it was practically impossible to find a good tequila in the U.S. But since the 1980s, importers have been bringing better and better tequilas into the country, and bartenders have gone nuts coming up with fun and creative new cocktails.

The OG tequila cocktail, of course, is a classic margarita. That’s still great, but so are its variations like the skinny, spicy, mezcal, mango, or cadillac margaritas. You can look online for delicious recipes for palomas, tequila sours, tequila sunrises, Mexican mules, bloody Marias, el diablos, or siestas. For a traditional drink from Jalico (the Mexican state where Tequila is located), try the cantarito, which is tequila with grapefruit juice, grapefruit soda, lime, orange juice, and salt. Or you can combine tequila with vodka, gin, and rum to make a Long Island Iced Tea. (There’s no way a cocktail with that much alcohol should taste so good!)

If you’re looking for something light and refreshing to beat the summer heat, try our agave-sweetened version of ranch water. You won’t be disappointed!

Will tequila turn me wild or make my clothes fall off?

Okay, we know we’re going to ruffle some feathers when we say this. But does tequila make you a “different kind of drunk” from other types of alcohol? The short answer is, no.

But the long answer is a little more complicated.

Ethanol, the ingredient in booze that makes you tipsy, is exactly the same chemical in beer, wine, gin, tequila, or any other type of alcohol. So, if you drink 0.6 ounces of ethanol in a shot of tequila, it won’t affect you any more or less than drinking 0.6 ounces of ethanol in a glass of wine or a can of beer.

That said, bear in mind that every alcohol has a different concentration of ethanol: tequila is around 50% ABV (alcohol by volume), while vodka has 40-95% ABV; whiskey, gin, and rum are around 36-50%; wine is around 15-24% and beer is way down around 4-8%. So yes, if you drank the same volume of tequila as you drank of most other alcohols (say, a full glass of each), then the tequila would make you more intoxicated just because it would contain more ethanol.

Also, there are other ingredients in a drink besides just ethanol and water, and those different ingredients can have a slight effect on the ways the body reacts. Alcohol that’s mixed with fizzy water, for example, will be absorbed into the blood stream a bit more quickly than alcohol that’s only mixed with water or fruit juice.

Still, by and large, alcohol is alcohol is alcohol. 

The myth of tequila

So why will so many people swear up and down that tequila makes them feel wild and sexy, or that wine makes them feel chatty and social, or that beer makes them relax?

There are two likely reasons.

The first reason has to do with what researchers call “alcohol outcome expectancies..” These are beliefs that drinkers hold about what will happen if they drink a particular kind of alcohol. As human beings, we tend to see what we expect to see and feel what we expect to feel. If we go into a situation believing that a certain drink is going to make us feel more social (or excited, or relaxed), that expectancy can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over time, those expectancies can have a powerful effect on the ways we experience alcohol. Interestingly, many people start forming their alcohol outcome expectancies as children, long before they have any personal experience with drinking!

The second reason has to do with where, when, and why people drink. If you tend to order tequila when you go out partying and taking shots with friends, but you prefer sipping a gin and tonic when relaxing at home, what kinds of experiences are you learning to associate with each drink? Imagine if, instead, you always took shots of gin at parties but you sipped tequila slowly at home. Eventually, you might swear, “Tequila makes me relax, but gin makes me crazy!”    

Does tequila give people headaches?

Technically, yes, tequila does give people headaches (or worse) when they drink too much, too quickly, without giving their bodies a break. The same is true of any kind of alcohol.

When they wake up with a pounding headache after a night of drinking, people don’t tend to blame it on the friends who kept goading them into drinking “one more” shot. They don’t blame themselves for not drinking enough water, not eating enough food, or not cutting off the tequila sooner. Of course not. They blame the tequila.

Does tequila help with weight loss?

You may have heard this one.

A few years ago, there was quite a stir after Mexican researchers published a study that found that mice lost weight when they were fed a diet with agavins, which are natural sugars produced in agave plants. Media outlets heard about the study and started claiming that tequila might help people lose weight since it, too, is made from agave.

Sadly, it was another example of the media reporting science they don’t really understand. Remember, the rats in the study weren’t fed tequila; they were fed water with agavins in it. Like any kind of sugar, the agavins that start out in agave plants are broken down into ethanol during the process of making tequila. By the time tequila is bottled and shipped, there are no agavins left in it. So even if it turns out that humans (like mice) can lose weight by consuming agavins, that doesn’t apply to tequila.

Sadly, similar claims that tequila can help control blood sugar, prevent diabetes, and provide other health benefits are also based on misunderstood science. On the bright side, raw agave does seem to have real health benefits, so maybe the agave syrup that you add to our ranch water recipe can actually be good for you!

What’s with the worm?

Despite what you may have seen in movies and commercials, there are no brands of tequila that contain a worm. The Mexican government prohibits the bottling of worms, insects, or any other animals in tequila.

However, there are certain brands of mezcal that are bottled with a “worm” inside—or rather, they contain the larva of a certain moth that lives on agave plants. Why would mezcal distillers put a “worm” in their bottles? Good question.

One theory says that a bottler in the mid-1900s started the practice because he thought it would improve the flavor. (We can’t endorse any drink whose flavor can be improved by adding a moth larva.) Others have said that the “worm” is just a marketing ploy, or that it’s visual proof of the mezcal’s potency. Some even claim that the “worm” has aphrodisiac and magical qualities, but we don’t feel qualified to evaluate those claims.

Can tequila be used to make diamonds?

There’s one last tequila legend that’s worth mentioning: can tequila be used to manufacture diamonds? The answer, surprisingly, is yes!

A team of Mexican scientists were experimenting to see if they could produce diamonds from acetone or various forms of alcohol. When they poured 80-proof tequila blanco over a silicon or stainless-steel substrate and then heated the vapor, the evaporated tequila left behind a thin film of diamonds.

"[O]ne morning on the way to the lab, I bought a pocket-size bottle of cheap white tequila and we did some tests," said one of the researchers. "We were in doubt over whether the great amount of chemicals present in tequila, other than water and ethanol, would contaminate or obstruct the process, it turned out to be not so. The results were amazing.”

These tequila diamonds aren’t large or suitable for jewelry, but they are actual diamonds with potential value in commercial uses. Plus, they make a great little party story.

There you have it; everything you need to know about tequila…or at least enough to be able to “talk tequila” at your next party.

Have a wonderful and responsible National Tequila Day!

July Recipe of the Month: Agave Ranch Water

We should warn you, agave ranch water just might become your favorite summer cocktail!

In honor of National Tequila Day—which is coming up on July 24th—we’re sharing our take on a modern tequila classic. Ranch water is a super-simple cocktail with only three basic ingredients: blanco tequila, lime juice, and Topo Chico mineral water. No one knows for sure where the original recipe came from, but we’re excited to share our modest improvement, agave simple syrup. The beauty of blanco tequila is that it retains a lot of the pure essence of the agave plant it’s made from. Adding a little agave syrup punches up that agave flavor while also allowing you to make your ranch water the perfect amount of sweet!

Although we list exact measurements in this recipe, feel free to eyeball it. The cocktail is very forgiving, and practically any proportions you come up with will be delicious. Try leaving out the syrup at first, then gradually mixing it in to taste.

 Agave Ranch Water

INGREDIENTS (Serves 1)

                3 oz blanco tequila

                1 lime for juice (plus more for garnish)

                Topo Chico mineral water, chilled

                Splash of agave syrup

DIRECTIONS

Fill a highball glass with ice.  Add tequila and lime juice. Top off with mineral water and a small splash of syrup. Stir. Keep adding syrup to taste. Garnish with lime wedge or slice.

 PRO TIPS

• No need to buy a super-expensive brand of tequila for this drink; a mid-level tequila like Casamigos or Espolòn is perfect!

• You can use any brand of mineral water, but Topo Chico really is excellent in ranch water.

• If you want more of a margarita vibe, rim your glass with Tajin before you add ice.

• To kick up the heat, muddle a slice or two of jalapeño in your glass before adding the ice.

Salud!

Shaken or Stirred?

Super-spy James “007” Bond famously orders his martinis “shaken, not stirred.” But another fictional character, President Bartlet from the show West Wing, claims that Mr. Bond has it all wrong. “Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth,” Martin Sheen’s character opines. “James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it.” So what’s the right way to mix a martini? Shaken or stirred?

Or is there a better way?

SHAKING VERSUS STIRRING

When you’re mixing cocktails, the method you use depends on how you want your drink to feel, taste, and look.

Temperature: Martinis (like many other cocktails) have to be served ice-cold; otherwise they can taste overpowering. Either shaking or stirring can get a cocktail cold, but shaking does it much faster. For example, it takes about 12 seconds of shaking to chill a martini to the ideal temperature of 20°F. By contrast, it takes a full 20 seconds or more of stirring to reach the same temperature. If you’re ordering your drink at a busy bar, a bartender who is rushing to serve a line of impatient customers may not take the time to stir your drink completely.

Maybe this is the reason James Bond insists on his drinks being shaken: he doesn’t want a busy bartender to serve him a martini that, temperature-wise, is less than ideal.

Taste: The downside to shaking a martini is that it causes more ice to melt, which dilutes the drink. Additionally, some connoisseurs believe that shaking a gin martini can “bruise” the gin and give it a sharper taste. However, both of these objections are matters of personal preference. Some people like their martinis watered down, and some don’t taste anything wrong with shaken gin. It’s up to you.

In James Bond’s case, maybe he wants his drinks diluting so that he can better keep his wits about him. But if he’s really all that concerned about staying sharp, perhaps he ought to cut back on the enormous amount of alcohol he consumes!*

Appearance: There is a general consensus among bartenders that if you’re making a cocktail where all the ingredients are clear (like a martini, Manhattan, or negroni), you should stir it. Shaking a drink will mix in air bubbles, which make the drink look cloudy. Shaking will also chip off small pieces of ice that further cloud the drink’s appearance. On the other hand, when you’re mixing a drink with opaque ingredients like eggs, milk, or fruit juice, shaking can give the drink a nice bubbly frothiness.   

To sum up:

·         If you want your cocktail watered down, shake it.

·         If you want it to stay crystal clear, stir it.

·         If you want it cold, either method works, but make sure you stir for at least 20 seconds.

But Is There a Way to Get the Best of Both?

Yes! There is a way to make your martinis cold, concentrated, and clear.

Leave your gin or vodka in the freezer prior to mixing your drinks. Chill your glassware as well. (You can also chill your vermouth and olives in your fridge, but don’t make the mistake of putting those in the freezer.) By chilling all your components first, you can make your martini as cold as you like while also having complete control over how concentrated you want your drink to be. Since this method doesn’t use ice at all, you don’t have to guess how much ice has melted. All you have to do is add exactly enough cold water to suit your taste.  No ice, no ice chips, no guesswork, no fuss. Perfect!

Earnest Hemingway, who was almost as famous for his drinking as he was for his fiction, reputedly made “the coldest martini in the world.” He would pre-chill his glasses and ingredients, including the Spanish cocktail onions he liked to use for garnish. (He also made huge ice balls by freezing water in tennis ball tubes.)

*A Little (Sad) History

Bond’s famous drinking habits seem to have been modeled on the habits of his author, Ian Fleming. Over the course of the fourteen Bond books that Fleming wrote, Bond consumes, on average, 52.6 standard drinks per week—the equivalent of seven and a half glasses of wine every day. Considering that his alcohol consumption was almost four times over the recommended amount for men, Mr. Bond was certainly living dangerously.

But Fleming’s own drinking eclipsed that of his famous character. Fleming reported drinking as much as a bottle of gin per day, the equivalent of nearly four bottles of wine!

Sadly, Fleming passed away at the age of 56 from heart disease.  

Popsicle Cocktails

When we were kids, ice-cold popsicles were the perfect way to beat the summer heat.  Why not give that childhood treat an adult update: Popsicle Cocktails?

For your next summer party, let your guests pair their favorite cocktail with a choice of fruity, frozen confections. Spike the lemonade with vodka, whiskey, or rum, and it will go beautifully with a raspberry or cherry popsicle. Dip a watermelon popsicle into a classic margarita or mojito, or pour prosecco over any flavor of popsicle and you’ll have a cool, refreshing blast from the past!

Whatever your summer drink of choice is (daiquiri, sangria, aperol spritz, gimlet, frosé, etc.), there’s a flavorful popsicle that can make it even more fun and refreshing.