*The Sour Family*

Learning to Drink By Family - The Sour

Yikes! That definitely might be the type of face you’d make when you try something uncomfortably sour. Well let’s be honest, nobody can make that face. It looks like he’s trying to eat his nose off. Regardless, it is definitely NOT the face you would make upon tasting a well-balanced Sour Family Cocktail!

In a cocktail yoga class, this bad boy is definitely the most flexible of drinks. You can slap all kinds of different spirits and modifiers to create concoctions beyond your wildest dreams. Let’s start with a breakdown of the drink in its simplest form:

- 2 oz. of a Spirit

- 3/4 oz. Lemon

- 3/4 oz. of a Sweetener (Simple Syrup, Honey, etc.)

- To make it a Traditional Sour, add egg white (Whip first)

- Shake and strain into a sour glass and add the garnish

Yeah… that’s reaaaaaaaaaal nice. The options are virtually endless. Now I know what you’re probably thinking, “Egg whites? In my cocktail? Thanks for the salmonella asshole.” I promise you, by using the freshest, highest-quality ingredients you will not get any diseases. Not to mention, those 2oz of alcohol and citric acids from the Lemon kill 99.9% of bacteria anyway. Now if you knock down one too many of these and catch something from a random hood rat you took home from the bar; also not our fault. Anyway, back to egg whites. So when you use egg whites in a sour, it becomes a “Traditional” sour. So if you see the word traditional in a sour recipe, get ready for some egg white action.

On to the purpose of the whip, also known as a “dry shake.” So when you are performing a whip, add your ingredients into your shaker, including the egg whites, and before you add ice, give that thing a helluva shake! This dry shake creates something called an emulsion. Technically, emulsification is the process by which physical agitation of the egg white causes protein structures to unfold and allow oxygen molecules to fill the space between the proteins. The proteins eventually re-bond near the surface of the cocktail and as the liquid settles small air pockets give the cocktail it’s signature frothy and rich texture. However, it very difficult for the protein structures to unfold and allow emulsion to occur when the ingredients are cold, so do not forget to whip the sour into shape before adding ice. For more on emulsification see Herald McGee’s On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (pg. 100).

Once whipped, add your ice (Kold draft or Tovolo if you have any) and shake again to lower the temperature of the cocktail. Your ingredients are already mixed, so you are merely chilling your cocktail, so no need to over shake. Strain the ingredients into your pre-chilled sour glass and garnish with your favorite topper… Do not forget to serve with a smile!

Alright, enough egg talk. Let’s move on to some recipes! Here’s an old favorite at El Dorado that I’m sure you’ve tried, and if you haven’t, you better order it on your next visit. It will make your day! I give you the Gold Rush:

- 2 oz. Bourbon

- 3/4 oz. Lemon

- 3/4 oz. Honey

- Shake and Strain

- We here at El Dorado prefer to strain this cocktail over rocks into an Old Fashioned glass. But if you’d prefer the Sour glass that’s perfectly acceptable.

Definitely one of my favorite cocktails, the Gold Rush is a people pleaser. Now let’s try an egg white cocktail. Huzzah! Let’s do the Bermuda Sour from our good friend Sam Ross of Milk and Honey, NY. Thanks Sam!

- 2 oz. Rum – Goslings

- 3/4 oz. Lemon

- 3/4 oz. Simple Syrup (1:1 Sugar to Water)

- Egg Whites

- Orange Wedge (Give it a short muddle if you’d like and are using smaller ice cubes)

- Whip (Dry Shake), Shake, and Strain into a sour glass

- Garnish with a dash of Angostura Bitters

When adding your egg white you can either use one egg, crack it and ease the egg whites into your shaker (my preferred method) or use about 1/2 oz. of pasteurized egg whites (available at any grocery store or market). Using an actual egg definitely adds to the experience, but is more time consuming for you speedy bartender extraordinaires.

That’s all she… he… me... I… wrote! Until next time, cheers!

Learning to Drink by Family Volume 4

Author: Steven Tuttle (El Dorado Cocktail Lounge)

Editor: Justin F. Fortier (El Dorado Cocktail Lounge, The Industry Research Group)

*The Old Fashioned Family*

Learning to Drink by Family - The Old Fashioned

















With the rapidly progressing era that we live in today, the present turns into the past and in an instant the here and now; is the then and there. From sports and technology, to clothing and music; sometimes it’s nice just to remember the “Good Ol’ Days.” And speaking of them "Good Ol’ Days," let's talk about the Old Fashioned cocktail family. From the glass it comes in to each individual ingredient, this is by far one of my favorite families.

I remember the first time I made this drink... The Boss says “ You start with some of that bitters, (what ever that is?) and some sugar; grab me a Splenda over there in that sugar caddy. Now add one of them bright red cherries and an orange.

"Well, I don’t have an orange so just use a lemon. Mash all that together and pour some whiskey on it. Put it all back in a tin and shake the life out of it. There you go. Pour that into your glass and you've got yourself an Old Fashioned."

Now I could be way off here, but if you would have seen the gentleman’s face that ordered the drink, you'd thought somebody peed in his Cheerios that morning. Saddest man I’ve seen to this day.

Anyhow, the point I’m getting at here is that there are many ways to make this cocktail. Nobody is right or wrong and it would be an outlandish claim to say, “I know the real way to make an Old Fashioned”. That would be like saying I invented the unicycle (even though I did). We at El Dorado tend to take a different approach to building this wonderful beverage... we leave out the Splenda;

El Dorado’s Recipe:

-3 strong dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters

-1 bar spoon of simple syrup (equal parts water:sugar)

-2 oz. of your favorite whiskey,

-Stirred & garnished with an orange peel.

































It doesn’t stop there. As we learn more about different spirits, and ingredients; the variations seem to be endless. This fashionably old family just seems to keep growing. Not to mention, each one is just as good, if not better than the next. All it takes is those 4 components.... spirit, bitters, a little sweetener, and a thorough stir. Find the right balance and you've found yourself true happiness; Bold statement?... Yes Indeed.

Learning to Drink by Family Volume 3

Author: Matthew Stanton (El Dorado Cocktail Lounge)

Editor: Justin F. Fortier (El Dorado Cocktail Lounge, The Industry Research Group)

**Side Car Family**

Learning to Drink by Family - The Side Car:

Oh cocktails, how you do me so right. There are so many incredible compositions of flavor that often it is hard to decide where to start. We here at El Dorado offer up a selection of our favorite cocktails we have savored over the years. But where do all these delicious concoctions stem from? Well my friends, here is one delicious family that is a staple root in the cocktail family tree. According to David A. Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, it is one of the six basic cocktails.

Coincidently, I believe it was the cunning Matthew Stanton who shook up my first Sidecar. Hopefully it was on a super busy night where the last thing he wanted to do was mix up a precision cocktail rather than dump me a shot glass full of Jameson. Regardless of the situation, he crafted it perfectly as always, crossing all the t’s and dotting the… lower case j’s.

The Sidecar is a real thing of beauty. Composed of Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice, I find it faster to take one of these things down then to prepare it (Maybe that’s a different issue : /). Here at El Dorado we use the following specifications for this wonderful work of art:

- 1 1/2 oz. Cognac

- 1 oz. Cointreau

- 1/2 oz. Freshly squeezed lemon juice

- Shake and strain into a chilled sour glass

- Lemon twist (sugar rim on request)

So what’s the big deal about this cocktail family? Not a cognac fan? Prefer the “beachy cocktails” in the San Diego sun? Well aren’t you in luck. Because lying under the Sidecar Family umbrella is the Margarita. BAM. See what I did there? Beach… Umbrella… Sun… Margarita… Quite possibly the most famous tequila cocktail. Nothing quite beats a sunny San Diego sunset with a freshly (and properly) made Margarita. So how are these cocktails at all related? What makes a cocktail a part of the Sidecar Family? I thought you’d never ask.

This family strips down ingredients and proportions. The proportions of both cocktails (and of Sidecar Family cocktails) consist of 1 1/2 oz. of the base spirit (Cognac/Tequila), 1 oz of orange liquor (Cointreau/Grand Marnier), and 1/2 oz of lemon (with lime partially and sometimes fully replacing lemon). The cocktail is garnished with a sugared rim versus a salted rim. By only swapping out a few of the ingredients you are tweaking the flavor and appearance dramatically while keeping the overall structure and integrity of the cocktail.

So be it a social night with close friends sipping down classic Sidecars or a relaxing day on the beach watching the waves over Margaritas, this family will no doubt open up your eyes to a tasty realm of cocktails! In fact, I’m going to stroll behind the bar right now and mix up one of my favorite variations developed by Anthony Schmidt of Noble Experiment : The Rogue Monk. Here is the recipe… if any one asks you didn’t get it from me:

- 1 1/2 oz. Scotch

- 1 oz. Benedictine

- 1/2 oz. Lemon

- Dash of Peychaud’s Bitters

- Shake and strain into a chilled Sour glass

- Lemon Twist garnish

Cheers!

Learning to Drink by Family Volume 2

Author: Steven Tuttle (El Dorado Cocktail Lounge)

Editor: Justin F. Fortier (El Dorado Cocktail Lounge, The Industry Research Group)