KegWorks Blog

The first seminar we attended at Tales of the Cocktail was called “Rum’s Punch: A spirited view of rum’s rise, fall and return.” Rum aficionado Wayne Curtis, author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails, moderated the session. He began by detailing the history of rum, including the widely varied processes of making rum from basic ingredients (sugar cane, molasses) to distillation.

Panelist Jeff “Beachbum” Berry then enlightened us on the rebirth of rum in the 20th century, mostly due to cocktail visionary Don the Beachcomber and the dawning of the Tiki movement. Rum is the main ingredient in Tiki drinks. I’ll get into more about Tiki in a future post, though I will say that for whatever reason Jeff Berry was my favorite of the “cocktail personalities” I met at the convention. Must be the laidback “Beachbum” attitude. Or maybe it’s because he appealed to my love of zombie movies by spending hours in a make-up chair for some sweet photos that appear in his new book.

The other seminar we attended on Thursday was called “Lost Ingredients: obtaining (or making) rare ingredients for even rarer cocktails.” Moderated by Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh, “Lost Ingredients” highlighted what he referred to as the “holy trinity” of rare spirits: absinthe (illegal in the U.S. up until very recently), Crème Yvette (a violet flavored liqueur), and Pimento Dram (rum and all-spice combination available only in Jamaica).

Panelist Chuck Taggart was the resident Pimento Dram enthusiast. He told the a humorous story of his introduction to the sweet Caribbean concoction involving Ted Haigh letting him taste it, savor it, and instantly get hooked. The punch line was Dr. Cocktail’s playfully mocking revelation that it is in fact a lost ingredient nearly impossible to procure.

An undaunted Mr. Taggart then embarked on a long journey full of trial and error in attempt to replicate the spice flavor that originally enamored him. He brought the fruit of his labor to the seminar for attendees to sample, garnering near universal approval.

If curiosity has gotten the best of you and you’d like to take a stab at making a lost ingredient, here’s Chuck’s personal recipe for Pimento Dram, which he distributed at the seminar and is also printed in the July/August issue of Imbibe Magazine.

Chuck’s Jamaican Pimento Dram No. 3

2¼ cups 151-proof Demerara rum
½ cup whole dried allspice berries, crushed
3 cups water
1½ lb brown sugar

Crush allspice berries in a mortar and place in 1-liter jar with rubber seal. Cover with rum and steep for at least 10 days, agitating the maceration daily. Pour through a fine strainer, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquor as possible, then pour the strained liquor maceration through another strainer line with a coffee filter (it will take a while).

Make simple syrup by heating water and brown sugar until sugar dissolves, then allow it to cool. When cool, combine with the rum maceration and age for at least one month. Decant and enjoy. This will fill two 750 ml bottles.

Check out Chuck’s website for a cocktail recipe specially crafted to take full advantage of his Pimento Dram’s unique flavor.

Other ingredients that were discussed in the session included Batavia Arrack, Amer Picon, and Falernum. Joe Fee of Fee Brothers spent some time discussing Falernum and his role in revitalizing the once-fading ingredient. He also took advantage of his time at the podium to introduce Fee Brothers new grapefruit bitters, eliciting a round of applause from the audience.

If the seminar taught me one thing, rare ingredients once thought to be gone forever probably won’t be lost for much longer due to the diligence, patience and resourcefulness of many in the cocktail industry.

This may not be an issue for some readers, but what do you do with a partial bottle of wine left over from dinner? I freeze it! Yes, I freeze it in ice cube trays and make wine cubes. Then next time you are cooking and need a quarter cup of wine to complete your recipe or to make a sauce, you can just reach into the freezer, grab a wine cube and throw it in the pan. You’ll save time and wine. Works great with both red and white wine, just watch out that you don’t mix up the white wine cubes for ice cubes.

Dave and I recently returned from our trip to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail, a cocktail geek-fest and many people’s excuse to start drinking at 10 a.m. When I say geek I mean it in the most endearing way, as I too am a geek in my own right, just not a cocktail geek. I’m simply trying to convey how passionate these people are about cocktails.

Before I get into a series of posts detailing some of our adventures, let me reiterate I am a cocktail newbie. Normally, if imbibing I prefer a beer. Although that fact hasn’t changed since the trip, I did learn a thing or two about “mixology” and got to experience some new tastes along the way.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon and settled in at the historic Hotel Monteleone, which conveniently was also hosting the cocktail convention. We started with a round of Louisiana’s own Abita beer while circumnavigating the room at the hotel’s Carousel Bar (which, I was pleased to discover and you may have guessed, is a fully functional rotating carousel).

Check out the picture to get an idea of the ornate grandeur of the Carousel Bar. That’s me with Bombay Sapphire promotional model and former Buffalonian Jodie, a graduate student at LSU in Baton Rouge and still very much a Bills fan. Not pictured: my angry wife.

Our experience in the Crescent City really kicked off with a walking tour of the French Quarter, which took us down Royal Street, past Jackson Square and back up Chartres Street with many stops along the way. I especially enjoyed the tour because our guide shared a great deal on the rich history of the Quarter in the presentations he made at each stop.

One of the more interesting tales involved 19th Century French apothecary Antoine Peychaud. You may recognize that name from the bitters bearing his name, still available today. The story involved Peychaud unwittingly creating the original cocktail, the Sazerac. Served in a small eggcup called a coquetier (ka-kuh-tyay), some people believe the word ‘cocktail’ is the result of Americans mangling the French pronunciation.

Another stop afforded the opportunity to try the famed and mysterious Green Fairy cocktail. The knowledgeable bartender filled us in on the history and mystique of Absinthe, the much-maligned main ingredient in a Green Fairy. She even passed around wormwood samples to examine. For everything you could ever want to know about Absinthe, check out this comprehensive website.

Our final stop on the tour was a 200-year-old bar called the Napoleon House on Chartres Street. Dave ordered us a couple of Pimm’s Cups, the cocktail synonymous with the renowned bar. Here’s the exact recipe they use:

Fill a tall 12 oz glass with ice
Add 1¼ oz Pimm’s #1 and 3 oz lemonade
Top off with 7up
Garnish with slice of cucumber

Other recipes for the drink use club soda or ginger ale instead of 7up. Our tour guide explained that in New Orleans they use 7up for that extra touch of sweetness. It was a nice, refreshing beverage to combat the oppressive heat of New Orleans in July. The cucumber was an interesting flavor accent that really came through as you got to the bottom of the glass. Highly recommended.

That was day one. At this point, we haven’t even attended a seminar yet. Check back again soon for more highlights of our long weekend in New Orleans.

Do you hate when you pick up your drink at the bar and the napkin sticks? A quick trick I learned was to sprinkle salt on the napkin or coaster before setting your drink on it. The salt soaks up the moisture between your glass and your napkin or coaster. Try it next time you’re enjoying a pint of your favorite beer.

It’s your bar. You make the rules.

Whether you want your buddies to stop by for an hour or hang out all night – it’s up to you. No lines. No tabs. No ego-tripping bartenders. Shirts and shoes are optional. It’s your bar.

KegWorks has everything you need to get draft beer in your own home, from kegerators to conversion kits, taps to towers. So kick back, relax, and pour yourself a cold one. Staying in has never sounded so good.

Check out our page in Draft Magazine, a publication for beer enthusiasts young and old. If you haven’t gotten your hands on a copy yet, you should!

Bar foot rails not only make your bar look nicer, but they make it a lot more comfortable too. KegWorks sells only the highest quality bar rail parts. And with experts here to help, your home bar projects become an almost simple task. We’ve set up a great guide to add foot rails to your home or commercial bar in 3 easy steps:

Tools You’ll Need
• Electric Drill / Electric Screwdriver
• Hack Saw / Cut Off Saw
• Phillips Screwdriver
• File
• Channel Lock Pliers

STEP 1: PLAN
Before your order, you’ll need to make a simple sketch of your foot rail.

STEP 2: ORDER
You’ll need to order tubing, brackets and end caps. If your bar rail will be turning a corner, you’ll need an elbow too.

STEP 3: INSTALL
Installing bar foot rails is easy. Take a look at the diagrams and instructions below:

First, loosely assemble the foot rail by sliding the tubing.

Next, attach the brackets securely to the wall in the first straight section.

Finally, secure the finials, elbows and end caps. Done and done!

For more detailed instructions, click here for our Step-by-Step Bar Rail Installation Guide. Ready to find out what bar rails we have to offer? Click to view our Bar Rail Parts.

Recently featured in the Santa Barbara News Press Scene Magazine are some of KegWorks’ top tools for bartending. Whether you’re a professional bartender or you play one at home, these accessories can make the arduous job of tending bar quite a bit easier, so they’re always great to have on hand.

Black & Tan Spoon
One helpful gadget, especially around St. Patrick’s Day, is the Black & Tan Spoon. It’s used to make layered beer drinks, like the classic Black and Tan (hence the name) or Half and Halfs. Easier to use than any regular spoon for these treats, the Black & Tan Spoon can almost guarantee perfect layered results every time. What’s more, it has a crook in its handle which lets it easily rest on top of the pint glass, so you don’t have to worry about trying to keep it steady in a rush.

Cocktail Shaker
A favorite of bartenders everywhere is the Cocktail Shaker. Mixed drinks can be stirred up and chilled all at once with a few flicks of the wrist, and then easily strained into a glass. The cocktail shaker is a time saver, and mixes up cocktails much more than just stirring alone ever could.

Margarita Glass Rimmer
If you’ve ever tried to decorate a glass rim with sugar or salt using your hand or some devised contraption, you know it can be a difficult task. That’s where the Margarita Glass Rimmer can really come into play. This three-compartment tray holds your margarita salt and sugar, and the third compartment has a sponge for filling with water. A quick spin on the water sponge, and your rim is ready for a dip into sugar or salt, whatever you fancy.

Cocktail Muddler
This tool brings me back to the days of muddled Old Fashioneds - a favorite poolside drink of my parents - and watching Mom mash oranges and maraschino cherries to a pulp before adding the spirits. The muddler is used to crush fruit, mint leaves or other things of that nature to open up and release their flavors for a better tasting, more opulent drink. A more modern cocktail that’s best created with a good muddling is the Mojito.

Bottle Opener
It may be a simple tool, but most bartenders would say it’s indispensable. The bottle opener is arguably the quintessential element of all bar tools, helping to get hundreds of bottles of beer to patrons faster and easier than trying to do it all by hand ever could. You’ll find bottle openers in all shapes and sizes, but the professionals usually choose one that’s flat with a rubbery grip.

Those are just some of the many bar tools that make tending bar a bit easier and a lot more fun. Stay tuned for more tricks of the trade coming soon!