East End Bitters Debut!

East End Bitters Debut!

East End Bitters will be available @ Congress & Maynards Market

Hotel Congress & Maynards Market proudly present our very own house-made bitters: East End Bitters.

Created by mixologist Aaron DeFeo, East End Bitters combines notes of lavender, grapefruit, & ginger with earthy tones and a bitter, floral backbone provided by cascade hops.

The bitters is ideal for gin, tequila, and whiskey-based cocktails.

The new Cup Cafe drink list, soft-debuting on Monday, August 2nd, features East End Bitters in two cocktails: The Pete Martinez and Dead Western Plains.

Dead Western Plains, named after the popular local band of the same name, invokes dusty, desert vegetal flavors while in balance with just the right amount of sweetness provided by Chartreuse and agave nectar. The East End Bitters helps to bring out and compliment the Chartreuse’s floral and spicy characteristics.

The Pete Martinez is a classically-inspired drink unlike any other. Featuring High West Silver whiskey from Park City, Utah, the Pete Martinez cocktail utilizes the malty character of the oat-based whiskey balanced with sweet blanc vermouth. It is truly the gem of the new signature cocktail menu.

East End Bitters will be available at Hotel Congress begining August 2nd, and at Maynards beginning August 10th.

Bad Lieutenant 3: Tales of the Cocktail New Orleans

Bad Lieutenant 3: Tales of the Cocktail, New Orleans

Congress allows its Ne’er-do-well night manager a chance to put on a full-scale theater follow-up to the Bad Lieutenant franchise, only without a theater and no affiliation with law enforcement… It’s still set in New Orleans, only this time it’s a cocktail convention. And this time, it’s personal.

I’m sure at this point anyone who drinks has heard of ”Bad Lieutenant.” And why shouldn’t they? Drinking and debauchery are the calling cards of independent film’s answer to Dirty Harry, first portrayed by Hollywood enigma Harvey Keitel and then, most recently, by Nicholas Cage (see: Con Air) in ”Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”.

I’ll spare you the Redbox rental: it’s an awful movie. Nicolas Cage somehow finds a way to overact a character who is so over-the-top to begin with that any move he makes seems plausible. It was only natural, then, that when the Hotel Congress graciously allowed me to join hundreds of my fellow mixologists and operators at the industry’s premier conference in New Orleans that I thought immediately of Nick Cage’s escapades. ”Oh man, that’s gonna be me at the end of July: cavorting around the Vieux Carre with a host of drunken degenerates, sampling world class spirits by day and getting ejected from fine restaurants at night.”

Of course, as I sit here 30,000 feet in the air; approximately 40 minutes from the Big Easy, typing inventory into a spreadsheet, I’m a little less gung-ho. The reality that this is a work trip is setting in much more quickly than I had anticipated. Granted, this might have something to do with me forgoing sleep in order to arrive in time for some important midday seminars. Or maybe it’s that my superiors will be expecting more than just some gin-soaked stories out of this trip. Tales of the Cocktail is the equivalent of March Madness for the cocktailing world. Expert mixologists, bartenders, and spirits gurus from all across the world converge for one magic week to swap techniques, ideas, and business cards–all while experiencing the purported magic of the American Lazarus City: a place that continues to resurrect and reinvent itself, despite the economic and Act-of-God disasters that continue to befall its citizens. New Orleans apparently holds a special place in the hearts of many of its former residents and visitors. Our Cup Cafe General Manager, Steven Dunn, is probably cursing me right now for being back in his beloved city. My only experience with New Orleans is being menaced by a woman with a kitchen knife outside the hotel who happened to be a New Orleans native. Whatever. There are bad seeds everywhere. I posted an update on Facebook saying ”T-minus 12 hours until New Orleans.”. An old college friend responded, ”Hasn’t that city suffered enough?”

My arrival time of 11:35 am means I’ll miss one of the best seminars, ”Systems of the Industry’s Best Operators Revealed.”. But I will be able to catch a seminar on intellectual property rights, followed by ”The Fine Art of Negotiating a Deal.” After that, well, I guess I’ll probably try and catch up with Skybar’s Patrick O’Brien, have a drink at the carousel bar in the Hotel Monteleone, or maybe I’ll go on a hunt for some cool antique cocktail tools. Who knows? In New Orleans, anything is possible.

First Cocktail Class Recap

First Cocktail Class Recap

Each participant got the opportunity to taste and smell all eight of the herbs alongside ideal mixing spirits

I must admit, when we first began envisioning a cocktail class series back in the fall of ‘09, I was a little apprehensive. Anyone who’s ever seen the film Annie Hall probably remembers Woody Allen’s opening monologue, where he references the teachers at his elementary school: “You know, we had a saying, uh, that those who can’t do teach, and those who can’t teach, teach gym. And, uh, those who couldn’t do anything, I think, were assigned to our school.” Well, I never wanted to besomeone who couldn’t do. Management does that to a bartender sometimes… steals a little bit of that entreprenurial spirit and replaces it with company mantra, and the distance from being behind the stick can make you doubt your abilities. But this class ended up being an affirmation to me that A) I’m not incompetent, and B) There is a method to all of this mixology madness. It also helped re-inspire myself and my fantastic associates who were kind enough to help me out. There was Lars Fasel, our energetic Somm; Harold Garland, our stalwart manager and bartender from the Cup Cafe; Ciaran Wiese, the young, cocky, and talented bartender who has honed his skills with some of the best bartenders in the country; and last but not least, Patty O’Brien from Sky Bar… our “special guest.” All of them got a chance to work one-on-one with the participants behind our club and lobby bar with a smorgasbord of ingredients.

Sky Bar's Patty O'Brien helps a lovely gal understand the nuances of her herbal concoction

The class was the first in a series of six classes per year, geared at educating the general public about the craft of bartending, mixology, and spirits. Had it failed, we may have reconsidered having a six-part class series… but we had 19 attendees out of 20 spots filled (with some cancellations, so we would have actually been overbooked!). The ultimate goal for attendees will be to complete all six classes, and at least two major tasting events, to receive a diploma from the HC. This includes events such as Agavefest. Component Wine Tasting, Tucson Cocktail Classic etc.

The first part of the course was a brief overview of cocktail history (probably too brief, but that’s an extended subject for another time) and an explanation of five basic categories of cocktails. The history was mostly gleaned from various Dave Wondrich tomes (if you haven’t had an opportunity to read Imbibe! or Killer Cocktailsthen you absolutely must RUN not walk to either Borders or Amazon.com.) Then, after a tour of basic bar tools and bar techniques, we got to tasting, smelling, and experiencing the eight herbs we had to work with, along with two spirits that happen to go very well with them: gin and tequila.

Then we got behind the stick. Most of the participants were pleasantly surprised that they would actually be able to make cocktails in the class, and not just learn about them. Aren’t we the best?

Groups one and two take to the bar under the tutelage of Lars, Harold & Patrick

Two of the best liquors for herbal cocktails are tequila and gin, so naturally we encouraged everyone to use those as the base for their cocktails. There were still some vodka hold-outs, but… we can’t expect everyone to be a burgeoning Pegu Club prodigy. I do think that everyone that tried gin or tequila in their cocktails (some for the first time) were at least for the time being converted.

Guests had a blast getting their own chance "behind the stick"

We used four principle liquors: Gin (Plymouth), Tequila (Hornitos Plata), Bourbon (Beam), and Vodka (42 Below). Plymouth is great because of its toned-down juniper and stronger earthy notes. Hornitos Plata is a very neutral tequila, with all of the great agave characteristics but without the strong deliniation of place. Beam serves fine for experimental bourbon cocktails. And 42 Below is one of the most underrated vodkas on the market. Produced in New Zealand on the 42nd Latitude, 42 Below has sweet and sharp notes without being aggressive, and holds up well to potent mixers such as herbs and ginger. It also has the added benefit of being 84 proof, so the extra alcohol helps release herbal flavors (it is AMAZING with infusions).

In addition to the eight herbs (thyme, rosemary, mint, basil, thai basil, tarragon, sage, and dill) we also had a bunch of fresh fruit, because nothing goes well with herbs like nature’s sweetness.

Fresh fruit compliments herbs perfectly, but blueberries are a b*$#&h to muddle!

We divided the group into two skill sets: those who had a cocktail background and felt relatively comfortable with liquor, and those who had little to no experience, but a LOT of enthusiasm. I assigned Lars, Harold, and Patrick to the larger, more inexperienced group to make sure they got as much one-on-one instruction and hands-on bar time. The other, smaller group went with Ciaran to the lobby. Ciaran did a quick review of some basic bartending techniques and jumped right into it, guiding his peeps through classically-inspired herb cocktails.

Ciaran Wiese explains the textural nuances of each individual herb

In the end, most of the cocktails produced were fantastic. Though originally we didn’t encourage the use of other liqueurs and specialty syrups, we let everyone have a certain degree of flexibility and some people even started using more esoteric and obscure liqueurs such as Chartreuse, maraschino, and Solerno.

A delightful concoction with whiskey, sage & demerara syrup