There once was a man named TikiGeeki

TikiGeeki is taking a final bow at the curtain.  Please read the full details at The Spirited Geek:

http://blog.spiritedgeek.com/2011/12/12/there-once-was-a-man-named-tikigeeki/

The Business of Cocktails, Such a Pain

The cocktail world has been abuzz lately over the recent news of a legal battle involving a very well known tiki bar in New York called Painkiller, now forced to change its name to PKNY, and the rum brand Pusser's Rum.  Like Prince, "the artist formally known as", Painkill... excuse me... PKNY was sued by Pusser's to preserve their trademark of the Painkiller cocktail because the bar was not only named after their intellectual property, but also didn't serve the cocktail using Pusser's Rum.  As part of the settlement, the bar had to change its name and forfeit their domain name.  News of this broke rather subtly (let's face it, no newspaper is going to cover this one page one), however, as the Internet is want to do, quickly exploded in a wildfire of bartenders banding together in outrage over Pusser's actions and the concept of copyrighting cocktails in general.  I first became aware of the matter when I was invited/added to the Facebook group, Bartenders Against Trademarking of Cocktails.  Formally they were known as Bartenders Against Pusser's Rum, but quickly changed their name to a more generic cause as they were contacted by the companies involved and asked to refrain from direct attacks on the matter.  There were a couple dozen members when I joined, now the group numbers well over 700 as I write this.

Numerous people have blogged about this including RumDood and TheCocktailGeek, adding in their perspective as well as a great summary of the affair of cocktail copyrighting.  I'd like to add in my perspective on the matter as I have been pulled into numerous conversations on the topic, even receiving a phone call within minutes of posting to the Facebook group and having a half hour conversation on the topic with the very spirited Erik Trickett, creator of the group and one of my personal beloved bartenders at 320 Main, my local hangout.

The Legality of the Painkiller

Pusser's has made a formal statement of what they did, and why, in response to the backlash that has occurred.  It is a good read to hear their side of the matter.  In short, they acquired the rights to the Painkiller and legally needed to respond to the use of their property to prevent said property from being forfeited, especially as they will be bringing other Painkiller related products to market.  They attempted to reach a deal with the bar, but after a year finally had to take them to court as no agreement could be reached.  The bar agreed to change their name and forfeit their domain name among no longer serving a cocktail called a Painkiller without using Pusser's Rum, among other agreements.  The bar will now be called PKNY. As far as I know they will serve a cocktail inspired by the Painkiller that uses different rums.

The History of the Painkiller

The Painkiller, a famous tiki cocktail, was invented by Daphne Henderson at the Soggy Dollar Bar, according to Pusser's. Though according to Beachbum Berry on page 78 of Beachbum Berry Remixed, it was invented by George and Marie Myrick in 1971.  It preceded the Pusser's Rum brand by nearly a decade, and it wasn't until in the 1990s when Pusser's gained permission and trademarked the Painkiller globally, becoming the official rum of the Painkiller.  It is also noted by Beachbum Berry that a blend of Mt Gay and Cruzan was originally used, not Pusser's.  The recipe itself is really nothing more than a Piña Colada with orange juice added, but is a tasty cocktail and a great intro into tiki cocktails for non drinkers.  As such it touches into a very large market and is a valuable property to own.  In many ways, its like owning the Piña Colada, but then having a cooler name to market with.

My Take

Battling over cocktails and cocktail rights is nothing new.  Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic battled it out in the courts to determine who was the rightful creator of the Mai Tai.  Trader Vic won, but it is now considered general knowledge that Don created the Q.B. Cooler which Vic tasted and tried to imitate which became the Mai Tai (see Beachbum Berry and the history of the Mai Tai in Remixed).  Bacardi famously went after bars for not serving the Bacardi Cocktail with Bacardi. The Dark N' Stormy can only be made, and called such, if you use Gosling's Black Strap Rum.  Cocktails are big business.  It's a multi-billion dollar business and companies fight for their brand to be recognized and used by the bars and consumed by the patrons.  If you can make your mark in the world, it translates to huge profits.  Just think of how much more profitable Red Bull is now.  In fact, in the history of Red Bull, their guerilla marketing consisted of trash cans outside of bars being filled with empty Red Bull cans.  What?  You're not drinking Red Bull?!  Now Red Bull and Vodka is a bar staple.  Fucking brilliant.

The legality of a brand to own an invention which aids in their ability to profit is pretty much the basis for our current legal system.  If you own a product and you create a method by which your product becomes desired... you should have the legal right to protect yourself from other companies using your method to sell their product instead.  That seems only fair.

Cocktails are, however, a little trickier to work into the mix, pardon my pun.  Here you have a creation with a unique flavor profile... a subjective profile.  Among cocktail enthusiasts it is something that is mutable and able to be experimented with to explore the very nature of the cocktail.  Adjusting one or two aspects at a time creates a completely different experience.  Many times, simply delving back into history and finding the historically accurate genesis might be that new exploration. The craft is very much like Darwinian evolution where a state of being explodes into variations and evolves into many different experiences and facets of the original pattern.  This is the religion of the bartender and mixologist... to explore and create from the foundation of what had been created previously.  Personally, I thrive on the lost history of the cocktail and the bar, but I also LOVE exploring the variations of the cocktail.

This is where I believe most in the community have felt imprisoned by this legal situation and feel a need to lash out.  A company who is trying to sell a product is dictating what you can serve and what rum can be used.  There is no evolution, no creation, no art to the cocktail, no history.  They are no longer artists, but simply factory workers stamping out the same product, one after another, dictated to by the liquor company.  Ask any bartender who loves making cocktails their thoughts on a Lemon Drop, Cosmo or Vodka and Red Bull and you'll see the light extinguished in their eyes and a simple nod with, "hey, it pays the bills."  I completely understand and support the need to vary.  Don't tell me what I have to do, I know the customer, I know his flavor profile, I want to give him the very best experience I can.  I completely understand this feeling and am glad I frequent places that care that much about a cocktail.  We all should go to places like that.

However, I also can see and understand the need to be protected from another company taking your idea and profiting from it.  If you spend millions of dollars promoting a product and another company is able to make a different version yet sell their product to consumers because of your marketing efforts, that is completely unfair.  Especially if that product has your company's name, like Kleenex, you don't want others calling themselves Kleenex and selling cheaper products... using your mindshare you've developed.  It's only natural.  This is why we have trademark, copyright and patent systems.  It allows you the opportunity to ensure your ability to profit from your ideas for a given period of time before it is open to the public and allowed to be generic.  In this respect, Pusser's has the right to ensure that their trademark for a "Painkiller", and the mindshare that a Painkiller possesses, grants them the ability to promote their brand and prevent another company from slipping in and telling customers, "Psst, if you want a Painkiller, you can use our crappy rum at half the cost. Do it. It's the same thing."

Honestly, though, I can not agree with what Pusser's has done.  Morally, I strive to find and appreciate the history of a cocktail.  The fact that a Painkiller didn't originally use Pusser's Rum is a slap in the face and effectively a rewrite of history for me.  It's a strategic business move to leverage the mindshare of a "Painkiller" to increase profits for a specific brand... a brand that had no original link to the very creation of the cocktail.  It is a selfish move that mirrors the obnoxious activities of patent trolls in the technology industry... suing companies who actually make something, to profit like a parasite.  Any other company could have claimed trademark for a Painkiller and they would have an equal legal standing... Pusser's just happened to be the first.  Another issue I have is the legal filing consisted of stating their brand had received irreparable harm from the bar known as Painkiller.  One of the most well respected and highly regarded cocktail bars in New York has caused your brand harm?!  If it was a cheap and sleazy strip club serving horrid drinks and a front for prostitution, perhaps I could see that, but a cocktail bar that is known across the country among the cocktail community?!  That's a bit of a stretch.  Probably legal jargon, but still. Ok, a successful bar that doesn't use your product makes you look bad.  Blend a better rum instead of suing for your respect.

The highest religious sanctity I hold is that of recipe and name for a cocktail.  If a Dark N' Stormy was created by Goslings and called for Goslings, then for the love of all that is holy, use Goslings or call it something else!  That is what the creator envisioned.  That is what they created.  THAT is what it exists as.  If you vary it... respect the history... respect the lineage... respect your art and call it something else!  At the very least, make sure the customer knows what the cocktail was and what you have created and educate them in the process.  Something simple like, "This is a variation on the original X..." will do just fine.  This is why I seek out fine cocktail bars and fine bartenders.  I want to know what the original was like.  I want to know what they respect about it and what they have emphasized in this libation they now present before me.  An Old Fashioned muddled with a cherry, orange slice and sugar is a far cry from the foundational root of the spirit, sugar and bitters libation that was the Old Fashioned.  If a cherry company acquired the rights to the Old Fashioned... I would become the Lutherans of the cocktail religion and hammer messages onto the doors of bars stating how an Old Fashioned should be prepared.  Don't fucking tell me what history you want to rewrite to make a larger profit from!  You will learn a harsh lesson about capitalism when I don't buy your product anymore!

I do not believe Pusser's should hold a trademark for a Painkiller.  I do not believe a trademark or patent should be transferable beyond the original creator.  I do not believe Pusser's acted correctly.  They acted legally and given our current legal state, acted accordingly, but they made a grave mistake in thinking that they owned the right of respect as well as the legal right of ownership.  The community is speaking out and will discontinue to purchase their brand as a response.  Other brands are noticing (on Twitter I saw one other brand note, "great way to bite the hand that feeds you") and will learn that legal right may not equate to good business. Legally, they may be justified, but it is nice to see a community rise up and call fowl... as its a community that determines what is just and what should be law in the first place.

If proper respect and protection had been given to cocktails, and all creator's rights had been respected, I believe Old Fashioneds would not be muddled, Martinis would not used vodka and all bars would be what craft cocktail bars are today.  Trademarks and patents can ensure quality and exacting standards are obeyed, but their power must lie within the respect of the owner, creator and history or the invention otherwise it will be abused for profit and all quality and care will be diminished.

Pusser's: You've slapped a community in the face for the sake of profit, turning your back on the craft and respecting the history of the art. For shame, sir.  For shame.

Agave: Nectar of the Gods or Satan's Syrup?

In the quest for great cocktails, the craft cocktail movement has strived to produce libations of higher and higher quality, using the finest ingredients and researching historical accuracy.  Having survived college, and sometimes high school, drinking rites, many of us have asked, "There's got to be something better than this crap, right?!"  In the quest to eliminate synthetic sweet and sour mixes, to ban Rose's sweetened lime juice from our bar, to turn our backs on flavored syrups that hint at real sugar and fruit in the same way as an extra dry martini hints at vermouth, we voyage the world looking for exotic and natural ingredients.  Sometimes the simplest ingredients are the best choice, like the pillar of the bar the simple syrup, other times we delve more exotic and tap into foreign ingredients from far off lands and their unique flavors.

Take, for example, Agave Nectar.  It has an interesting flavor that resembles a funky honey, is sweeter than sugar, can be found at every health food store, is said to not spike blood sugar levels like sugar does and is a great accompaniment in Mezcal or Tequila based cocktails.  Personally, I have found it to be a great syrup to use with very bitter, earthy, funky and smokey flavors found in many cocktail ingredients like Mezcal, Cynar and even some funky rums like Smith & Cross.  It rounds out the funk and yet still embraces it with its own unique flavors.  I've created numerous cocktails using the stuff.  I know people who use it exclusively for their tea, in their baking and even on their pancakes.  It has been touted as healthy, natural and a good sugar replacement for diabetics.

Then I was on the phone with my father, an ex-hippie and obsessive health food nut, who started talking about how the stuff is pure crap and how I shouldn't give it to my 10 year old son unless I want him to be a diabetic by the time he's a teenager.  Wait... WHAT!?!

Having a background in Physics and having worked with scientists, I know far too well that a "scientific study" is not always objective and usually supports the views of whoever is paying for the study to be done.  After all, funding is limited and scientists can't put food on their tables with theories alone.  Good reports could look only at certain aspects, and bad reports could be funded by the sugar industry wanting to defame a competitor.  It happens all the time.  So, I decided to look into this thing we call Agave Nectar and see what it is and people are saying.  This is by no means a scientific study, it is very biased with my own personal beliefs, but I will state the facts and point out my various opinions.  Ultimately I want you to look into the matter more.  Whether you believe agave nectar is good or bad, it's worth looking into, especially if you've made it a major part of your diet.  I've been shocked by what I found.  If you thought of it like honey or maple syrup, please do look into it more.

So, let's start with the facts:

• Agave "Nectar" is a marketing term.  There is no nectar from the agave plant from which agave nectar is derived.  We tend to think of a flower and the sugary nectar that humming birds feed on. Agave nectar is derived from the core of the agave plant, the pina (what's left when the leaves are removed), from breaking down the carbohydrates called inulin which is a polysaccharide.  Through a chemical process called hydrolysis the complex sugars are broken down into simpler sugars, fructose and glucose, usually involving the use of acids or enzymes. Despite the marketing on websites, the "juice" is not just simply boiled, like you do to concentrate maple syrup. Although they say its a simple process, the process is much closer akin to the production of high fructose corn syrup, getting a liquid sugar from the starch found in corn.
• "100% Pure", "Natural" or "Organic" are relatively meaningless terms to further make you feel good, but do not relate to production methods or contents. For the reasons noted above, you would expect such terms in conjunction to honey, maple syrup or cane juice, where the process of production simply involves removing water to concentrate the natural sugars or just using the raw substance as is.  This is not the case.  Not even remotely. The FDA states that agave nectar is supposed to be labeled as "hydrolyzed inulin syrup." Yet, no agave manufacturers comply with the FDA's labeling requirement. It is also common for agave nec... excuse me... hydrolyzed inulin syrup to be mixed with high fructose corn syrup. It is also common that the ingredients label doesn't mention it but simply says "agave nectar." Some brands do promote the fact they don't do this as part of the "100% Pure" label, but the FDA doesn't regulate any further than what all agave nectar companies are already ignoring.  Since "100% Pure Agave Nectar" is a HIGHLY processed product to begin with, adding HFCS can be claimed to be part of the processing method and thereby is still "100% Pure Agave Nectar."  Makes it convenient that there is no "nectar" to begin with so any end product of your process is technically "agave nectar."
• Agave nectar consists of a combination of fructose and glucose, the product of the enzyme hydrolysis.  Table sugar is about 50/50 fructose and glucose. High fructose corn syrup ranges in a ratio of about 55% fructose and 45% glucose.  Honey has about 75% fructose, 25% glucose.  Agave nectar varies from brand to brand, but has been generally noted to be about 95% fructose.  There are companies that promote lower levels of fructose anywhere between 50-95%.  Generally, however, agave nectar has a higher concentration of fructose than HFCS and honey and is common in the 95% range.
• Agave nectar is 1.4 to 1.6 times sweeter than sugar.  As part of the healthy aspects of agave nectar, it is said that because it is sweeter, you can use less, thereby consuming less calories.
• Agave nectar has a glycemic index of about 30.  The other part of the healthy aspect is that it has less of an affect on your blood sugar spiking.  The glycemic index is based on the designation of a base of 100 for glucose or white bread (if white bread is used glucose has an index of about 140), all things are rated relative to that in how it affects your blood sugar.  Higher than 100 you have immediate relative effects, lower than 100 you have less effects.  Standard sugar has an index in the 60s.  It is promoted as good for diabetics because of this.  However, this index does not study the affects after two hours and does not look into insulin response or resistance.  Fructose decreases the sensitivity of insulin receptors that allow glucose to leave the bloodstream and enter cells to create energy. The body then must produce more insulin to process the same amount of glucose. This is known as insulin resistance.  Studies suggest long term effects of high levels of fructose to aid in the development of diabetes.  The reason fructose doesn't affect your blood sugar as much is because your body can't process it like it can glucose.  Glucose can be processed by all cells, easily entering the blood system through the intestine... spiking blood sugar.  Fructose, on the other hand, must be processed through the liver.  This takes longer to break down, thus not effecting your blood sugar as directly, but over a longer period of time.  Do a Google search on "fructose and obesity" and you'll find quite a lot of studies discussing how the liver processing fructose leads to some nasty long term side effects in the health of the human body.

So let's now make some subjective conclusions (though to be fair my facts above contained some subjective comments as well) based on what we now know:

• WTF are you kidding me?!  I had no idea agave "hydrolyzed inulin syrup" nectar was that unnatural and highly processed.  In all my attempts to make quality and uniquely crafted cocktails, I would have done better to add straight high fructose corn syrup instead of simple syrup.
• Do you use 40-60% less volume when consuming it?  You should, otherwise you aren't taking advantage of one of the "healthy" aspects... lower calories from smaller portions.  In cocktails I measure in teaspoons and fractions of ounces, and rarely ensure I'm using less than normal.  I might use a little less because it is sweet, but not cutting down by half, especially with the small portions like a teaspoon in an Old Fashioned.  Especially because I rely on the extra sweetness with funky flavors.  Something it remember.
• In looking at different articles I found a Wall Street Journal reference to a nasty study where people went to the hospital during testing.  The agave in question, the dark amber, contained large amounts of maple syrup.  Gee... kind of defeats the purpose of using agave for diabetics... or even calling it agave.  Since it's not regulated by the FDA, be very careful with how much faith you place on the label and marketing.  Better yet, just don't trust it.
• A pack of Red Vines is 100% fat free.  Sweet!  They're "heathly!"  Be careful of what aspect of "healthy" something is.  Just because its low in one thing doesn't mean it's good for you.  The fact that fructose can't be normally processed by your body and must be processed through your liver tells me its treated as a complex entity or poison in your system that needs to be filtered.  Granted, so is alcohol, but do we really need our liver doing more work? Sugars processed by the liver are the most likely to be stored as body fat... part of that whole HFCS and obesity in Americans argument.  Interestingly, though, honey has more fructose than HFCS.  Looking from a fructose point of view, its worse that HFCS.  However, raw honey isn't just pure fructose and glucose.  There's a bunch of other stuff in there (minerals, vitamins, protein) that affects your body in good ways during the processing.

You can find ways to say anything is good or bad... so ultimately you need to decide how good is good and how bad is bad.  Personally, my philosophy is if its found in nature, our bodies have had more time evolving to process it.  The more refined and processed the more foreign it is to our body.  Our bodies will evolve to process it... awesome thing about evolution... but they haven't had time to do so yet.  

If you are familiar with the history of the cocktail, you'll know that after prohibition flavor in booze started to go away.  There wasn't as much aged product on the market so pushing blended whiskeys or even vodka started to be big business.  The American palate changed and the bland was offset with the sugary.  By the 70s and 80s, the Dark Ages of cocktails, cocktails were sugary chemical crap concoctions.  Thank God the craft has been swinging back to more natural and higher quality ingredients, but we still need to be wary of the economics of a consumer based industry.  You can buy HFCS with flavors added that says its honey or pancake syrup.  Tonic water, flavored syrups, all sorts of cocktail ingredients sneak in HFCS rather than simply using cane syrup or even sugar.  If you are crafting fine cocktails, you of course would go for the real and pure ingredients.  Much to my shock, agave nectar looks to be pretty much the same as a packet of "pancake syrup" (you have read the ingredients list on one of those, right? *shutter*) you might find in your breakfast combo.

I'd recommend looking more into it yourself if you use agave nectar.  Here's a great article on the ills of agave nectar from Food Renegade. Here's also a great article from New York Times on sugar just being generally bad.  Technically, our bodies get far too much of it already.

TikiGeeki's 100% Pure Mock Agave Nectar

A "healthy" alternative:

• 1 part 100% real raw honey
• 1 part 100% real maple syrup
• 1 part 100% filtered fresh water
• Dash of Angostura (or your favorite) bitters to taste 

Cocktails have some nasty health issues too.  Let's be honest.  But if you are going to make cocktails, do your part to make cocktails with good ingredients!

Tiki Caliente

Tiki Caliente is a weekend long tiki event that takes place annually in Palm Springs, usually in the heart of the heat wave that is a desert summer.  It is a smaller tiki event when compared to Tiki Oasis, but as Rory "Wildsvile Man" Snyder, the creator of the event says, "We aren't trying to be the biggest, just the best."  Originally, Tiki Oasis was located in Palm Springs and the tiki fanatics would gather each year to celebrate.  As the event grew larger and larger they needed to shift to a location that could sustain the thousands of people that now attend.  Tiki Oasis shifted their habitat to San Diego, leave a tiki void deep within the desert.  This once fertile oasis, now gone, left a sour taste in Rory's mouth.  Thus, Tiki Caliente was born.  It does not try to be Tiki Oasis, but instead, maintains the compact density that was the beginning of the Tiki Oasis of yore.  This year marked the third year of Tiki Caliente, and was bar far the largest at around 500 guests.  The first year saw 115 attendance, while last year was restricted to 350 tiki savages.  Compared to Tiki Oasis, whose numbers are about 10-20 times as many, this is a much smaller event, however, it is designed to be so.  Previously, the event was held at the Caliente Tropics hotel, but this year (due to hotel demands and concerns) the event was next door at the Travel Lodge.  Mostly Southern California tiki enthusiasts fill the poolside grounds and roam between the rooms seeking out free flowing cocktails.  It is a smaller and closer knit group (pretty much the same people as you would find at any of the random Southern Californian events), and in many ways, closer akin to what Tiki Oasis "used to be like" if you ask the veteran guests.

The event schedule is fairly simple and duplicated each of the three days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday: Vending, Music and Cocktails.  The morning and afternoon embraces casual wandering around the pool and courtyard to visit the vendors and listen to the live bands playing on a stage a mere foot or two from the pool's edge. Although water cannons were restricted in fear of electrical shortages, the pool does provide quite possibly the BEST seat in the house for lounging and enjoying the music.  In the late afternoon and evening, a few rooms have volunteered to host "room crawls" providing free cocktails for anyone willing to make the arduous trek away from the pool.  Guests are rewarded with a creative punch or other single cocktail.  Some rooms decorate for the occasion, some provide their own music.  Each room hosting in the crawl is open for about 30 minutes or so, then its off to the next room.  There are about half a dozen rooms Friday and Saturday, which by the end of it ensures everyone is in a really good mood.  Bands continue to play into the evening until about 10pm, and other rooms open up to guests as an "after party" or simply inviting friends over to hang out.  The room parties will go into the night and usually last until about 2-3am.  After a groggy morning of sunglassed wearing savages, the party continues anew the next day.

The bar in my room

Although I did not sponsor an official room crawl, I did however setup a modest bar in my room and served cocktails to which ever friends decided to wander into my room.  Friday night around 10pm, my friend Mark "Tikitastic" Holt gathered a couple people and we all headed to my room.  I did not have a punch to batch out, but hand prepped custom cocktails, squeezing the juice as needed.  Mark would disappear and moments later a new wave of people would find their way in looking for cocktails.  The majority of the people I knew from various other events (Grog, Mai Tai and his wife, Soccer Tiki and Wahoo Wahine, Dave the lead guitarist for the band Insect Surfers, and numerous others... it was quite a blur...) but it was also nice to meet new people and be able to call them friends (officially added to Facebook as so) by the end of the weekend.  Thanks to Twitter I met a couple followers and friends of followers.  I kept squeezing, mixing and shaking, and they kept drinking.  Once it was all said and done I had been creating Daiquiris, Navy Grogs, Fizzes, Old Fashioneds, Planters Punches and original Hurricanes for a solid 4 hours!  I ended the night at 2am completely exhausted but thrilled beyond belief.  The greatest thing I love about the tiki community is their sense of family and I was thrilled to be able to give something back to my friends and friends to be.

Saturday, still being drained from the cocktail olympics I performed (seriously... I was dead after...  I have no idea how people can do this for a living and pull an 8+ hour shift), I meandered between rooms and spent more of my time enjoying the fruits of others' labors... and enjoyed I did!  Its hard to deny the pleasure that is derived from a room full of intoxicated lushes.  Add in women wearing observationally enjoyable garments and you have one hell of a good time!

Needless to say I slept in late and managed to grab breakfast around lunchtime.  Sunday even more so as I woke with an hour to spare before I needed to checkout of the room, barely enough to pack my bar back up.  I had brought one bag of clothes and a modest seven bags for my bar.  Yeah, that's how I roll.  ;)

If you can't afford the increasingly onerous burden of Tiki Oasis, or if you have yet to be a part of a multi-day tiki event... Tiki Caliente is a definite must on your schedule.  Although you might have missed this year, next year will surely be even better.  It may not be larger, but chances are it will be better.  Keep an eye out for it in May/June next year.  If you do go, try to stop by my room and have a drink.  I'll be more than happy to mix you something special!

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

Did I mention there are live bands, gorgeous women and waves upon waves of free cocktails to surf through the night?! Yeah, you better be planning for next year's Tiki Caliente.

Caña Rum Bar

Nestled in an unsuspecting driveway, among unsuspecting buildings in downtown Los Angeles, is a rum bar called Caña that offers a surprising menu of rum based cocktails.  Besides their menu, which is rotated every few months, their passion for rum continues in monthly meetings of the Rum Society where three rums are chosen, talked about and tasted.  They also host other events like The Grand Rum Tasting, hosted by Liquor.com, that I had a pleasure to attend the other night.  Tables were setup with rum distillers presenting their finest brands and offering pamphlets and talking in detail about their rum, something akin to a college job fair.  Despite the neon sign on the street corner, Caña is not an easy bar to happen upon and accidentally stroll into, but if you find yourself at the Staples Center for a game, or the convention center for a conference, I would highly recommend walking the couple blocks and strolling into Caña for a couple cocktails and joining the Rum Society.

I first heard about Caña from the second time I visited The Varnish, a neo-speakeasy in downtown LA. The bartender working that night was Devon and we quickly started talking about rum, tiki and cocktails. The night ended with her telling me about a little place called Caña.  They were about to release a new menu and how she was going to get my name on the list.  I was intrigued, but sadly I was unable to attend.  The bar, though, was planted in the back of my brain as a place I needed to visit.

The second time I heard it mentioned was by the various tweets of Rumdood. He would mention their fine menu and amazing selection of rums, then one day he mentioned how the Rum Society was meeting that night and tweeted of the pleasures.  A couple more Rum Society mentions and that was it.  I had to go.  It had been far too long in the making.

The Rum Society is an annual paid membership of a mere $20, allowing you access to their fine establishment and access to these monthly rum tastings.  The Rum Society meets on the last Tuesday of every month and is emceed by the knowledgable Rumdood.  A quick introduction and you are quickly carried away to three tropical locales, usually three very different rums, but also usually fitting within a theme for the night.  His deep knowledge of their history, fermentation processes, distilling techniques and aging methods is truly fascinating.  He tries to shorten the discussion and get to the drinking, but I think that background really makes the night unique and should be drawn out even more... though I'm admittedly a bit of a geek when it comes to cocktail history.  The rum is sniffed and flavors exchanged in what he assures is a gathering of "no wrong answers".  Then sipped and a second round of thoughts on flavors and sensations exchanged.  Many times company representatives and even global ambassadors are present to further discuss their brands.  It is an elegantly snobby evening brought back down to earth by Rumdood's musings and the occasional jest from Allan Katz, the General Manager of Caña.

Allan, an incredibly knowledgable rum enthusiast, has developed an environment that is unlike most other bars.  Their location is practically a speakeasy.  The only entrance accessible through the end of a seemingly unrelated driveway. Once you pass the tent that is manned by a doorman checking your name, on a list that I admit I need to RSVP to more often and always need to explain why I forgot, you walk down a dimly lit hallway, passing massive metal studded bathroom doors and display cases of rums and cigars.  Parting massive curtains draped before you, you enter the bar and table area, still as dimly lit as the hall.  The environment feels like an old naval men's club with the memories of charted conquests and adventures on the walls.  In the back there is a door that leads out to a patio and fireplace allowing for a breath of fresh air, or smoke filled, depending on the others out there.

The menu is a collection of unique craft cocktails, most of which feature rum, though you can find tequila, mezcal and other spritis among the clipboard of fastened pages.  Their main selection is broken into three sections, Daggers, Pistols and Cannons.  As the names suggest, their potency and boldness increases as you make your way through the list.  I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoy the Cannons.

Allan, himself, is not the aged gentlemen you would expect in the varnished and dimly lit hollows of such an antique looking establishment.  With a chain and padlock necklace, he appears more like a gregarious downtown street punk about to tell you how much money you'll soon win when you find the queen under these simple cards.  However, his cocktails are staggering and he has a passion for the history and science of what he does that comes through in bold recipes.  Many of the cocktails I've had there are variations on classics.  A slight twist added to an Old Fashioned, or a downright rewrite and reconstruction of a Zombie like his soon to be released 28 Days Later.  Other cocktails combine ingredients I'd never think of, creating something truly unique.  Smoked salt was a particularly intriguing garnish to one.  When I saw it mentioned I had to try the cocktail, if for no other reason.  Every cocktail I've had there has been unique, bold, and hands down delicious.  They don't offer food, so I recommend you eat before arriving.  However, there are a number of options within walking distance if you decide to venture out after.  They'll be happy to suggest some options and point you in the right way.

The Rum Society's monthly meeting, which usually only lasts about half an hour to an hour, is a great excuse to venture out there.  It was there in the after hours of the Rum Society that I have enjoyed evenings with other cocktail and food bloggers, @tallnoe, @thirstyinla, @savoryhunter, @livethelushlife, @lushangeles, @carolineoncrack and of course @rumdood, to name just a few.  I encourage you to follow their musings of the food and bars in LA and around.  It is the kind of place you can sink into the shadows and imbibe, protected from the goings on of the outside world.

Allan manages a bar with a unique character, both in the environment, the cocktails that are served, the people that frequent its offerings and the people who craft the cocktails.  Spend some time there and you'll see why it works.  Allan had a cocktail was recently highlighted in the LA Times called the Smoking Gun. ("recently", as in "while I was writing this post", now that is good timing!)

I highly encourage you to visit Caña if you make your way to downtown LA, join the Rum Society, and come down the last Tuesday of each month for some spirit history and rum tasting.  Chances are you'll see me there too.  Introduce yourself and we'll grab a cocktail.  Tell Allan I sent you.

Caña Rum Bar is located at 714 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015.  Contact them at 213-745-7090.  Average price for their crafted cocktails are around $10-$12.  Parking can get a little interesting as the lots in the area, one just across the street, also service the Staples Center, varying from $10-20 depending on the events be hosted.  I'd recommend parking a couple blocks north at the O-Hotel.

Mark 'Award Winning Mixologist' off the Bucket List

Back in September 2010, in Internet time that's roughly when hippies were gathering at a little place called Woodstock, Blair Reynolds of the infamous Trader Tiki Syrups held a cocktail contest, the Cocktail Submitteratrix. As fate would have it, I had in my possession two bottles of his amazing cinnamon and vanilla syrups, given to me by Martin Cate after the Punch symposium at Tiki Oasis (Trader Tiki generously donated some supplies for the crafting of the epic punch, and I generously offered to take them off Martin's encumbered hands as he began to clear away the items of his presentation... I'm a giver like that).  As if by devine intervention, I quickly crafted a cocktail that I swear I heard angles singing as I sipped upon its delicate rim.

It was a variation, an interesting twist, of a basic Daiquiri: 2 parts rum, 1 part sugar, 1 part lime.  Instead of rum I used a highly under-rated spirit known as Applejack... Laird's Applejack to be specific.  To call it a brandy is a little insulting, it's closer a kin to whiskey.  The Laird family, still distilling this spirit, was the first commercial distillery granted a license in the United States.  Mr. Laird, himself, was under a certain General Washington in the army.  Washington, like almost everyone in the thirteen colonies, loved Applejack.  This was a time before the Americas had been expanded out into the flat grasslands of the Midwest, before the golden oceans of wheat had poured into the heart of the country.  Distilling wasn't performed on wheat or grains, but on an abundant commodity that literally grew from the trees, apples.  To this date, George Washington is the only person outside the Laird family that had been given the secret Laird Applejack recipe.  Although Applejack companies once dominated the East Coast, today, only the Laird family still produce this forgotten spirit, once the backbone of this country. It's a fantastic spirit.  You can substitute any recipe that calls for Calvados, the French apple brandy more commonly used, with Applejack and get a bolder result, however, because of the meat and body of Applejack, you can not substitue Calvados when Applejack is specifically called for in the recipe.  Two ounces of this classic spirit poured into my cocktail.

For the ounce of sugar that would be used, I grabbed those two bottles of Trader Tiki Syrups I had and used equal portions of each, half an ounce of cinnamon and vanilla.  The cinnamon syrup is a thick monster with a whole cinnamon stick lodged within its gooey matrix.  As you pour the syrup, be sure to hold back the stick which will lethargically attempt to escape.  The vanilla is a bit thinner, but you will want to shake the bottle before using.  The vanilla seeds that float in this syrup tend to gather at the top ridge.  Yeah, these aren't your usual syrups with their flavors legally bound within quotes when describing a "vanilla" flavored syrup or a "cinnamon"-like flavor.  These are the real thing, made from real ingredients, made for real cocktail enthusiasts.  Each batch is hand crafted in Portland, and sent to a couple distributors, but mainly available via their online store.  You'll be paying more than you might expect for flavored simple syrup, but there is nothing simple about their flavor.  Honestly, if you weren't already sitting down on a barstool, that cinnamon syrup would knock you on your ass.  I had the honor of meeting Blair Reynolds at the Drink.Write conference in Portland.  He was co-hosting a seminar on making your own syrups and infusions.  He started Trader Tiki Syrups in his home kitchen for himself and friends, annoyed with the crappy chemical syrups on the market and thought he could make better.  Word quickly grew and a business was born.  Thank God for that.  Unless I am making my own batch of infused syrups, it's well worth grabbing some Trader Tiki Syrups.  Their product line has grown far beyond basic infused simple syrups to include all Tiki foundations like Falernum, Don's Spices #2, Don's Mix, Orgeat and many others.

Now, normally, lime is the citrus of choice in any Tiki cocktail, but between the apple of the Applejack and the cinnamon, I had a feeling a different citrus was in order.  Halloween was quickly approaching and I wanted to create a cocktail to honor the holiday, and the harvest season in general.  Most "Spooktacular" cocktails for Halloween are sinful abominations and as wholesome as the mutant color additives found in most Halloween candy.  I wanted to create a cocktail I could serve on Halloween without shame.  With the volume of syrup being used, it was going to be sweet.  The Applejack pairs nicely and tones that down, but you still need a strong acid to balance.  Orange, which would have been perfect, is far too subtle for most cocktails.  The high water content and low acidity usually is lost when mixed with any spirit.  Other than a handful of awkward recipes like a Screwdriver, you don't find orange juice as a key citrus... it just can't hold its own in cocktails.  I went for tangerines.  However, you need to be especially careful, as some families of tangerines are even more bland and sweeter than orange juice.  I used Murcott.  Also known as Honey Tangerines, and often described as a cross with a sweet orange, the batch I had were incredibly sour along with sweet.  It had a body that could hold up, yet also impart some great flavor.  I have a local produce market run by a very nice family that is more than happy to let you sample their produce.  Of the Clementines and Murcotts, the Clementines were flat and almost watery and bitter.  If you can, try sampling your citrus before making this cocktail and attempt to find tangerines with bold flavor and a sour punch to your palate. An ounce goes into your shaker.  I also encourage you to use a fork and pick out the seeds from one of your spent shells and toss that in the shaker as well.  Although there isn't an addition of bitters in the recipe, the peel shaken with the cocktail will impart some oils and bitter note to help round out the flavors and sweetness.  Pour the shell in the glass with the rest.

I submitted this cocktail to the contest, calling it a Halloween Moon.  I was hoping at the very least to get it listed on his website, among the other recipes.  Officially noted in a cocktail blog would be a high honor.  After having submitted the recipe, I did what any mixologist worth his salt would have done... I promptly forgot all about it.

Some friends did have a Halloween party and I offered to guest bartend.  I spent the afternoon squeezing tangerines and racing around LA looking for a supply of syrup and Applejack.  I had some left over, but not enough for a party of dozens of guests... and these guests were heavy drinkers.  It was a smashing success!  Most people did a double-take when they took a sip.  Everyone complimented me and said it was very good.  Many came back for seconds and thirds.  They drank all my supplies.  Well done indeed.  I highly recommend a Halloween Moon at your next Halloween party.

Halloween Moon, crafted by Trader Tiki

Months passed and I received an email from Blair, he had finished sampling the contest entries, finally, and... hint hint... needed my address.  No other details were given and results would be posted shortly.  What?!?!  I actually got within the top three?!  Hot Damn!  I'm sure to be listed on his blog now.  Sweet!  My shock continued as I woke up one morning, checking tweets and blog posts and found that I had indeed won the contest and was awarded first place!

I was now, officially, an "Award Winning Mixologist."  This is where I suddenly realized I needed to emphasize this every chance I got.  Clearly, my beloved 320 Main would require I consult with them on their menu and ensure their cocktails are up to an award winning palate, such as mine.  I would need to sample Rumdood's bartending skills and offer award winning suggestions on how he might improve his offerings.  Clearly, I had much work to do now... and many, many, people to harass.  In fact, as I finish this post, Rumdood will be starting his shift at 320 Main.  I will need to remind him of these facts.  It's the least I can do.  Each one of us must contribute to elevating the cocktail community.  Being an award winning mixologist, it is my duty.

Typical conversations go like this:

"Hey, Joby!"
"Award Winning... don't you just love how that rolls off the tongue... Awwwaaaaard... Winning..."
"Fuck you, Joby."

Clearly, the world is resistant to my contributions to the world of mixology.  This will not be an easy road.  It will be an uphill battle, to say the least, but there is no one more capable of destroying this dark tyranny that looms over the bars everywhere than I.  Trader Tiki knows this as well as anyone.  I have been called to a higher purpose in life, and I will not rest.

My winnings from the contest

In the meantime, I now have this kick ass industrial Hamilton Beach mixer, the kind found at Tiki-Ti, some more of Trader Tiki's killer syrups (an important ingredient in any award winning cocktail recipe), and some Trader Tiki swizzles to place in those... yes... award winning cocktails. ;)

My award winning cocktail, Halloween Moon, can be found in the archives of Trader Tiki's website for all generations.  You can purchase said syrups there as well.  This Internet thing is just amazing.  I need to talk to him about becoming Trader Tiki's brand ambassador... I mean, an award winning mixologist like myself would make for a good brand ambassador.  I need a fez... a Trader Tiki fez.

Award winning... rolls off the tongue so nicely.  Right?!

Bartender's Cabinet: Bols Genever Gin

Genever... putting the "Gin" in Gin.

Gin and Tonic is my old stand by.  When in a bar of ill repute, it is the drink that never fails me.  It is a true and steady friend.  Let's face it, it's pretty darn difficult to screw this up.  Most bars carry the same collection of gins, tonic from the gun is universal and a lime wedge can be found even at bars that use Rose's sweetened lime juice instead of fresh lime.  When I have low expectations for the quality or skill of the bartender, I get a Gin and Tonic.  Even when I'm at home, I relax to it.  It is a white-collar working man's drink.  Simple and elegant.  Not as childish as a Vodka and Soda, nor as rough and tumble as a Bourbon and Coke.  No, it is sophisticated, yet simple.  I'd dare think of it as an atomic unit of cocktails.  You can't get more basic and still maintain some degree of the classic "cocktail" definition of spirits, sugar, water and bitters.

Now, we all know of Gin, but did you know that there are different styles of Gin?  I'm not talking about brands and their floral variations, but different families of gin.  Every bar has mainly just one family of gin, the London Dry gin.  It is the vodka-like juniper infusion you enjoy with that tonic.  However, some of the lesser well known gin styles include Plymouth, Old Tom and Genever. (I say lesser well known purely as a self-absorbed American)  There are others but these are the more well known of the lesser known gins.  As I learned of these different types, I vowed to add them to my bar and sample them... and so I did.  However, one of them, the Genever style gin, was such an odd ball that I had to take a step back in confusion when I first made a Gin and Tonic with it.

Let me just say, a Gin and Tonic using Genever style gin is foul.  It is salty.  It is funky and screams of malt.  It is quite the opposite of enjoyable when it comes to what you would expect from a good Gin and Tonic.  So, there my bottle sat on my bar shelf... collecting dust.  I would frown at it from time to time wondering why I wasted my money.

However, I kept seeing Genever gin mentioned in vintage cocktail recipes.  People kept mentioning it and referring to it in a manner of respect, not the disdain I held it in.  I would see a bottle of Bols Genever at all of the craft cocktail bars I would frequent and began to have a couple cocktails mixed subtly with Bols Genever.  I had no idea what to do with it, nor how to use it, but clearly there was something I was missing.  I needed to learn more.

320 Main, held their monthly Bartender's Cabinet meeting the other night, a closed event to bartenders from around Orange County, and I was honored enough to have been invited.  However, I was especially excited to hear this session would entail Bols Genever.  Finally!  The mysterious curtain would be drawn away and the truth would be revealed.  Indeed it was.  I had such a great time and learned a great deal, I simply had to write about it.

So, here we go...

Bols Genever

Marcos Tello

Marcos Tello is the brand ambassador for Bols Genever and presented an amazing amount of information on both Genever gin and the history and evolution of distilled spirits.  I arrived early to 320 Main, having come straight from work and greeted with light traffic.  They were preparing the bar for the event and other than the staff and Marcos, I was the only one there at that time.  Marcos immediately recognized me and we shook hands.  Not knowing he was the presenter for the evening, I thought he was dressed particularly sharply, must have just got off work.  I had first met Marcos at one of my favorite neo-speakeasy bars, The Varnish.  I had gone in Christmas Eve and spent the night is his very capable libatious hands.  I had no idea he spent the other days of the week (he works Fridays and Saturdays at The Varnish) touring bars and giving presentations on Bols Genever.  He wrestled with his gear and started setting up bottles and glasses.  It clicked.  Oh!  Hey... um... huh.  Wait.  Suddenly a vague recollection of "and began to have a couple cocktails mixed subtly with Bols Genever" might have included that night at The Varnish.  I felt like I was watching the extras on the DVD with the audio commentary turned on.  Tonight was going to be interesting.

We began the evening with a row of alternating glasses of Bols Genever poured to the very top lip of the glass and beer.  Fascinating.  What could this be?  Having sampled the malty nature of Genever before, I was thinking we would sample the flavor in relation to the hops and malt of a beer.  Perhaps that was where the true nature of this odd spirit lay?  Perhaps it should be thought of like a stout ale.  Perhaps our evening was to blow away our perception of gin as "that odd flavored vodka" and think of it more as a whiskey or tequila.

No, Genever was invented by the Dutch, who also invented the first shot and beer chaser, the kopstoot, or "headbutt."  Arms behind your back, slurp the Genever and chase it with some beer.  This was our first experience of Bols Genever to "get us ready" for the presentation.  My mind is too highly trained.  We were drinking here.  Silly me.

I'm not going to cover the full presentation.  To be honest, it was so dense with historical facts and knowledge that I don't think I could do it justice.  I'm having a Plymouth Gin and Tonic as I write this, and can guarantee I won't.  However...

As the Dutch expanded their trade routes and as Europe explored the East; distilling, Arrack (a sugarcane rum from Java) and punch made their way into Western society.  Exotic herbs and spices were being brought back.  They were being brought back to the Dutch who had an interesting drink to make use of them.  Genever is made from malt wine, malted beer that has been distilled.  Because the malt wine is quite vile it was infused with herbs and juniper.  At the time, the juniper berry was the super-fruit of its time and placed into everything for its health benefits (think today's açaí craze).  Genever, derives its name from the French, genievre, which means juniper.  The English took Genever and shortened it to Gin.  As the European empires grew, gin was their spirit that grew with them.  It was the intoxicant found in their punches and the bottles slung in their arms.  As the British Navy gave their men a daily ration of rum, the officers were given gin.  Gin was so popular, there was a time called the Gin Craze in the 1700's.  According to Marcos, the average gin consumption each day was 1 gallon for every man, woman and child.  One gallon!  Now, I don't know about your children, by my son can't drink a gallon of gin, so I would have to pick up his portion to maintain that statistic... now that's a LOT of gin being consumed.  Needless to say, gin was popular.  Well... and not so popular with others.

Gin Lane - William Hogarth

Gin, cursed Fiend, with Fury fraught,

   Makes human Race a Prey.

It enters by a deadly Draught

   And steals our Life away.

Virtue and Truth, driv'n to Despair

   Its Rage compells to fly,

But cherishes with hellish Care

   Theft, Murder, Perjury.

Damned Cup! that on the Vitals preys

   That liquid Fire contains,

Which Madness to the heart conveys,

   And rolls it thro' the Veins.

Now, when dealing with classic cocktails, one thing should be remembered: when the recipe called for "gin", chances are it was Genever.  This adds a whole new twist to the flavor profiles of classic gin cocktails.  The malty and salty flavors come out in bold ways.  Genever is not forgiving.  As Marcos said, "this is varsity mixology."  You need to know what to do with this stuff, otherwise it slaps you around.  However, when used well, it does add an interesting depth you don't normally find.  Without adding any bitters, cocktails have a bitter depth.  Now, as I sampled Bols Genever, to be fair, it was less harsh than the brand I owned, Genevieve Genever Gin.  Bols is cleaner and easier to sip, yet still has a bold malt foundation.  It is very nice.  I picked up a bottle tonight and am eager to experiment with exchanging Bols Genever with classic cocktails calling for "gin".

After our historical presentation concluded, Jason and staff at 320 Main promptly began mixing two cocktails for us to sample.  The first was a variant of a Negroni using Genever.  Negroni is a classic gin cocktail containing gin, Campari and sweet vermouth.  Jason had adjusted some of the proportions based on the new Genever flavor profile, but the cocktail was absolutely delicious.  The lemon and orange rind and their essence was a fantastic scent as you approached to sip.  As mentioned that night, sweet vermouth plays very well with Genever.  While you normally think of dry vermouth with London Dry gins, Genever doesn't play too well with it.  I've had a Negroni before and didn't think much of it.  However, a Genever variation really had me sitting up and taking notice.  I would gladly order this again.  It's well worth a try.

After that we had a Last Word.  I failed to take a picture as I was well into my schmoozing with friends phase, but it was another cocktail that was surprisingly deep for something that looked like a Lemon Drop.  The Last Word was created by the Detroit Athletic Club, during Prohibition when there weren't "bars" per say, but Athletic Clubs (*wink* *wink*).  It has equal parts Gin, Lime, Green Chartreuse and Maraschino.  Served like a Martini, it certainly was an amazing cocktail.  I have not had a London Dry gin Last Word (though I have an odd feeling I did but don't remember it too well) so I can't really say how the different taste compares, but I can say THIS version was damn fine indeed.

Having started the evening in relative wonder, I ended the evening with solid enthusiasm.  I'm a huge cocktail history buff and love the history of the bar and cocktail lineage.  Genever is the grandfather to gin, but more importantly, its the foundation for many cocktails we think we've tried.  It wasn't until the 1800's when the London Dry gin started being produced and even later when it took over as the primary "gin" when gin is used.  It would be like finding out that when a recipe called for "simple syrup" it didn't mean High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Imagine trying to find this "sugar" thing and trying the arsenal of cocktails again.  I'm very intrigued to go through my copy of Jerry Thomas' Bartenders Guide, hitting the gin cocktails and sampling them both with a London Dry as well as with my Bols Genever.

It's like an added replay value when you finish a computer game.  Congrats on finishing the game, now try it this way...

Grab a bottle of Bols Genever and re-experience gin cocktails.  Even if you never thought of yourself as a "gin person", you might find greater depth and enjoyment and find that gin really does have a place in history as an exceptional spirit worth our admiration.

(If you are a bartender in the Southern California area, please do check out The Bartender's Cabinet at 320 Main.  Their monthly meetings are a real pleasure and quite informative.  Hey, at the very least, you get a night of cocktails and food.  Can't beat that!)