Daily Archives: July 28, 2016

Alcohol, liqueur

Paris Green

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Chartreuse

WHEN I WAS in ninth grade, I read a book called The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.  It’s a collection of really cool science fiction short stories, one of which is called The Fox and The Forest.  It’s about a couple who travels back in time to escape from what they consider a horrible existence as scientists working on weapons for the war that their future civilization is fighting.  It was a very interesting tale, but as a ninth grader, I was confused by the very last sentence in the story:  She pointed to the closet, where there were 67 bottles of chartreuse, cognac, creme de cacao, absinthe, vermouth, tequila, 106 cartons of Turkish cigarettes and 198 yellow boxes of fifty-cent pure Havana-filler cigars…  I didn’t know what chartreuse was, so I asked my English teacher, Mrs. Crawley, to explain it to me.  She told me that chartreuse was a color that was a combination of green and yellow sometimes called Paris Green.  At the time, that explanation made absolutely no sense to me at all.  When I recently read the story again, I understood the sentence, but I didn’t understand why my English teacher didn’t tell me what chartreuse really was.  I find it hard to believe that she didn’t know that it was more than just a color.  But what if she didn’t know?  I can now answer the question for her and she can enjoy this new-found knowledge while she’s enjoying her retirement.

So, what is chartreuse?  Chartreuse is a French liqueur composed of distilled alcohol flavored with 130 herbal extracts.  The name is derived from the Grande Chartreuse Monastery where it was originally produced.  There are several types of Chartreuse, the two most common being Green Chartreuse and Yellow Chartreuse.  Green Chartreuse is 110 proof while the sweeter and milder Yellow Chartreuse is 80 proof.  Chartreuse has a very distinct characteristic flavor.  It’s sweet, but turns both pungent and spicy.  Although the flavor is complex, anise is easily discernible as one of the key ingredients.  There are several cocktails that include Chartreuse as an ingredient.  A Chartini is three parts gin and one part Green Chartreuse.  The Trois Roses de Grenoble is four parts Yellow Chartreuse two parts whiskey, and one part gin.  My favorite of all the Chartreuse cocktails is The Bijou.  It’s equal parts Chartreuse, gin and sweet vermouth with a couple of dashes of orange bitters.   It is mesmerizing.

The history of Chartreuse dates to 1605 when Francois Hannibal d’ Estrees presented the monks at the Chartreuse monastery with an ancient manuscript titled An Elixir of Long Life.  The recipe described in the manuscript was so complex that only bits and pieces of it were understood for quite some time.  What was known gave the monks the idea to use it for medicinal purposes only.  In 1737, an exhaustive study of the manuscript was undertaken by Frere Jerome Maubec.  He succeeded in unraveling the secrets of the manuscript and the Chartreuse Elixir was produced for the first time and distributed as a medicine.  Today, this original formula is still produced by the Chartreuse monks and is known as Elixir Vegetal de la Grand-Chartreuse.  It’s made from plants, herbs and other botanicals and is 71% alcohol by volume or 142 proof.

The elixir was so tasty that it was more often consumed as a beverage than as a medicine.  Recognizing this, the monks adapted the recipe to make a milder beverage.  In 1764, what is known as Green Chartreuse was introduced.  Upon its release, it became remarkably popular and its availability was no longer restricted to the area surrounding La Grande Chartreuse.

During the French Revolution, members of all religious orders were ordered to leave the country.  The monks of Chartreuse fled in 1793.  In 1810, Emperor Napoleon ordered all secret recipes of medicines to be sent to the Ministry of the Interior.  The current recipe holder, Monsieur Liotard, submitted the secret manuscript.  It was returned to him marked Refused.  Apparently, it was so complex that the Ministry deemed it unusable.  The original manuscript changed hands several times during the revolution, but was eventually returned to the Chartreuse monks.

In 1838, the sweeter and milder Yellow Chartreuse was developed.  After that, nothing exciting took place until 1903 when the monks were once again expelled from France.  They fled to Spain where they built a new distillery in Tarragona and continued to produce their liqueurs.  By 1929, the monks had regained possession of the Chartreuse trademark and had resumed production of Chartreuse in France.  Then an avalanche destroyed their distillery in 1935, so a new one was built in Voiron.

Today, only two monks are entrusted by the Order with the secret of producing Chartreuse.  They are the only people who know the ingredients and know how to prepare the ingredients for incorporation into the base wine alcohol.  What is known is that there are 130 herbs, plants, roots, leaves, and other bits of vegetation that are soaked in alcohol for an unknown length of time, then distilled and mixed with distilled honey and sugar syrup and aged in large oak casks.  A small portion of this liquor is selected for special treatment.  It is aged for an extra length of time and after the chief distiller declares it ready for bottling, it is packaged and marketed as V. E. P. Chartreuse (Viellissement Exceptionnellement Prolonge).  It’s actually packaged in one liter reproductions of bottles used in 1840.  Each of these bottles is numbered, sealed with wax, and packaged in a carefully fitted wooden box.

So, there you have it Mrs. Crawley — Chartreuse: numbered, waxed, and packaged.  Yes, I know that Chartreuse is a color, but it’s also a delicious beverage made from a super secret recipe.  I hope that you knew that, but if not, I hope that I get an A on this essay.  Just remember that Chartreuse is best served neat.  It can also be enjoyed chilled, but do not shake it in ice to chill it.  Instead pour it into a metal shaker and place the shaker in ice to allow the properties of transference to chill the chartreuse so that it doesn’t get diluted.  And even though you’re retired, please drink responsibly.  Chartreuse may be delicious, but it does pack a significant punch.

Alcohol, Legends, liqueur, Liquor, Myths, Wine

Urban Legends

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alligator

THERE AREN’T MANY things more amusing to me than urban legends.  I’m always fascinated by the things people will believe without ever verifying the facts or challenging the common sense that we were all born with.  We’ve all heard an urban legend before.  Even Santa Claus himself is part of urban lore.  There is one legend in particular that always makes me laugh.  It states that the modern image of Santa that we are all familiar with was created by the Coca-Cola Company.  This hardly makes sense to me, but there are many who believe it.  The image of the Santa that we know is a hybrid, descended from St. Nicholas, whose outward appearance and history were created and shaped by many people over the course of many, many years until he morphed into the familiar jolly old fat man in a red and white costume who lives at the North Pole and delivers gifts to little girls and boys on Christmas eve.  It should make perfect sense that what we know as Santa Claus existed long before Coco-Cola began adorning their cans with his image.

What does this have to do with bartending?  I’m glad you asked.  A friend suggested that I look at some urban legends related to drinking.  You’ve probably heard some of these stories yourself and you’ve probably thought that, taken with a grain of salt, they must be true.  Let’s have a look at a few to find out what is fact and what is fiction.

The first one is probably the most often quoted urban legend with respect to alcohol.  The story goes that one of the ingredients in Jägermeister  is deer blood.  This rumor usually traces back to two facts.  The first is that the label of a Jägermeister bottle has a picture of a stag on the front of it.  The second is that Jägermeister is German for a phrase that loosely translates to master hunter.  Combine this with the fact that Jägermeister boasts having one or two secret spices in the recipe and you could understand how this rumor spread to every corner of the globe.

Jägermeister is made with 56 herbs, roots, and spices.  These ingredients are ground and reduced to macerates by being steeped in cold water and alcohol for approximately three days.  The resulting extract is filtered and then stored in oak barrels for at least a year before being bottled.  If blood were one of the secret ingredients, the brewing process could not be easily or accurately reproduced because it would break down, rendering each batch unusable.  If that isn’t enough to convince you that there is no blood in Jägermeister, keep in mind that there is no way on Earth that the U. S. Department of Agriculture would sanction the sale of a product that has deer blood in it.

Sulfites are another misrepresented entity in the bartending world.  It’s rumored that the sulfites in American-made red wine cause headaches/hangovers.  They are cited as the reason that when Americans drink American wines, they tend to drink white wines because they have no sulfites in them.  This is amusing on many levels.  First, there is no documented medical or scientific study to suggest that sulfites cause headaches/hangovers.  Second, red wines contain lower levels of sulfites than white wines.  Third, although it is not required to be listed on the labels, many imported wines contain higher sulfite levels than domestic wines.

Here are some other facts.  Europeans have been making wine for hundreds of years.  They invented the art of using additives to improve wine.  They spent hundreds of years studying the effects of sulfur in wine.  Most notably, they discovered that you can’t make good wine without using sulfur.  Combine that with the fact that we, Americans, learned everything we know about wine making from European wine makers and we, like them, have endeavored to improve upon their work.  The bottom line is that ALL wine contains sulfites.  Our bodies even produce sulfites on a daily basis.  If you eat shellfish, guacamole, sushi, pizza, or cheese, then you’re consuming more sulfites than are found in most wines.

So, unless you are actually allergic to sulfites, you probably don’t have to worry about them being in your wine.  Why European wines don’t cause headache/hangovers is an easy question to answer.  Most Americans visiting Europe do so on vacation.  This equates to a more relaxed atmosphere free of the daily stresses of their normal lives.  Consuming wine under these conditions as opposed to drinking under the stress of kids, pets, and the daily grind probably makes all the difference in the world.  Just a theory, but you are welcome to put it to the test the next time you’re in Europe.  When you’re back at home, try consuming those wines again.  The results of your experiment should be interesting.

The last urban legend I’d like to tackle this week is the use of copper pennies to defeat the breathalyzer test.  I’ve heard this one a million times and I know that it doesn’t work, but there are so many out there who believe that it will get them out of a DUI.  The rumor is that the high copper content of pennies helps negate the results of a breathalyzer test.  Two things make this urban legend false.  The first is that since 1982, pennies have been made of 97.5% zinc with only a coating of copper.  The second is that no matter how many coins you put in your mouth, it will not hinder the chemical reaction that the breathalyzer is designed to measure: the reaction between the amount of alcohol on the breath and the contents of the magic vial inside the breathalyzer device.  Stuffing too many pennies in your mouth may keep you from being able to use the breathalyzer properly, but eventually, the police officer is going to make you spit them out.  Before you ask, burping doesn’t hinder the test either.  You can burp to your heart’s content, but it will not help.  Neither will Certs, Tic Tacs, ice, mustard, celery, peanut butter, raw potatoes, salted peanuts, Diet Coke, or candy made from ginger.

So, there you have it — a few urban legends debunked.  This  post was not an attempt to make fun of anyone.  It was meant to get at the truth about some of the more common urban myths related to alcohol.  I hope that you’ll walk away feeling more enlightened about the ways of the world.  I also hope that you’ll pass this information along to those who aren’t as enlightened as we are.

Alcohol, Liquor, Tequila

Tequila

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tequila

NOT LONG AGO, I did a series of articles on American-made liquors.  It was an interesting exercise because it gave me a chance to sample some really cool liquors that I wouldn’t have taken the time to try otherwise.  Recently, someone pointed out that I didn’t talk about American made tequila.  There was a reason for that omission.

Tequila is a Blue Agave-based distillate made primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, located about 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara, and in the highlands of the Jalisco, both located in Mexico.  For the Blue Agave impaired, this particular agave plant grows in high altitude in sandy soil.  It is known by several other names, including maguey, mezcal, and tequila agave.  Tequila is produced by removing the heart of the blue agave when it is twelve years old.  At this point, the plant can weigh as much as 200 pounds.  The red volcanic soil that surrounds Jalisco and Guadalajara are well suited for growing this particular plant.

The reason that I didn’t cover American-made tequila is that Mexico has claimed exclusive international rights to the word tequila and threatens legal action against tequila manufacturers in other countries.  This suggested that a search for American-made tequila might be in vane.

Although the Aztecs were the first to produce a fermented agave-based beverage, Tequila as we know it first appeared in the sixteenth century near what is now known as the city of Tequila.  During this time, the Spanish had begun to explore this particular region.  As their supply of brandy began to dwindle, they began to distill an agave-based spirit.  Historians would later declare this to be the first distillate produced in North America.  It wasn’t until the late 19th century that tequila was exported to the United States.

The tequila that we enjoy today is most often about 40% alcohol by volume, although there are some that can be as high as 55% ABV.  These are usually diluted with water to reduce its harshness.  Some of the high-end brands are distilled to 40% ABV or 80 proof without the addition of water as a diluting agent.

There are two basic types of tequila: those made from 100% agave and those labeled as mixtos.  Mixtos tequilas use no less than 51% agave with other sugars used to make up the remainder.  Glucose and fructose are the most commonly used sugars.  There are five categories for bottled tequila: Blanco or plata, Joven or oro, Reposado, Anejo, and extra Anejo.  Blanco refers to a clear un-aged spirit that is bottled immediately after distillation.  At most, it is aged for two months in stainless steel or neutral oak barrels.  Joven is a blend of silver tequila with Reposado and/or Anejo and/or extra Anejo tequila.   Reposado is aged for at least two month, but less than a year in oak barrels.  Anejo must be aged for a minimum of one year, but less than three years in oak barrels, while Extra Anejo is aged for at least three years in oak barrels.  This last category was established in 2006.

For those tequilas that are aged in oak barrels, there are certain guidelines that must be followed.  The oak barrels should come from the U. S., France or Canada and should be white oak.  In some instances, the oak is charred in order to impart a smoky flavor.  Barrels used to age other liquors such as Scotch, whiskey and wine are often sought in order to give the finished product a distinct flavor.

One of my favorite tequila stories involves doing shots of tequila that contained worms.  I recall being in a bar in San Diego where you could down a shot of tequila with a worm in it in order to receive a t-shirt touting your glorious deed.  Contrary to popular belief, tequila does not come with a worm in it.  There are certain mezcals that are sold that way, but this was apparently a marketing stunt perpetrated in the 1940’s that continues to this very day.  In actuality, the worm is the larvae of a moth, Hypopta agavis, which actually lives on the agave plant.  Finding one of these larvae on the plant during processing is a sign of infestation, which signals a lower quality product.  So, avoid these products at all costs.

Quite a few of us have experienced the tequila shot.  The rim of the shot glass is usually salted and there is generally a slice of lime to accompany your shot.  To consume the shot, you first lick the salt, then gulp the shot of tequila and suck the slice of lime.  You would be ridiculed in Mexico for doing this because in that part of that world, tequila is generally enjoyed straight.  My favorite way to enjoy tequila is in my favorite margarita.  For those who have not seen this recipe before, it appears at the top of my cocktail favorites list.  It’s called the St. Rita.  To make it, pour two parts Tequila Blanco, one part St. Germain liqueur, and 3/4 part freshly squeezed lime juice in a shaker.  Fill the shaker with ice and shake vigorously.  Strain the contents into a rocks glass filled with ice.  Garnish with a lime and enjoy.  This is another great cocktail for the summer months and a perfect way to enjoy your favorite tequila.

So, there you have it — tequila un-shot.  Some of my worst nights as a pre-twenty-five year old were spent trying to figure out why tequila was not my friend.  These days, I’m happy to be able to say that I survived those years mostly unscathed and with a brand new appreciation for this once evil liquid.  As always, when enjoying your favorite blue agave-based distilled spirit, please drink responsibly.