Anthony Caporale — Director of Spirits Education

Bar FAQs with Anthony Caporale

abaker — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Bar FAQs with Anthony Caporale abaker Mon, 07/10/2023 - 09:00 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/bar-faq-wine-glass-HERO.jpg.webp?itok=UGam3Ad8 ICE's Director of Spirits Education breaks down the basics July 10, 2023

By Anthony Caporale — Director of Spirits Education

When I began training bartenders nearly two decades ago, I would open with the question, "Did you ever feel like someone somewhere gave a class on how to act in a bar and you weren't invited?"

Even among that group of service professionals, the answer was always a sea of uncomfortable giggles and nods. Since then, both the beverage industry and beverage consumers have grown exponentially in their understanding of the history and science behind cocktails and spirits, but I still start my classes with the same question and the response hasn't changed.

If anything, bar culture has become more intimidating, drinks more complex and the perception of being an outsider has increased among the average consumer. So the purpose of this blog series will be the same as that of my very first class: to demystify the bar.

Meet Anthony Caporale

So we’ll begin at the beginning, with the seemingly simplest and most basic questions I've encountered — many of which actually are neither simple nor basic. If you're new to either side of the bar, you'll gain a solid understanding of the products, techniques, tools and terminology we use. If you're a veteran mixologist, I'll try to throw in enough science and history to keep you interested and hopefully provide additional context for what you've already mastered.

In either case, please send in any questions you have, and be assured that if you have a question, someone else has the same question, so don't be shy.

That said, let's start with the most basic bar question of all.

What is alcohol?

Not a simple question in the least, as it turns out, because at the bar we use the very broad term "alcohol" to refer to just one of many chemicals classified as alcohols: ethyl alcohol, or ethanol. There are many different alcohols besides ethyl, including amyl alcohol, butyl alcohol, methyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol. They are all organic compounds distinguished by an oxygen-hydrogen functional group hanging off the base molecule, so they all have a similar chemical formula and share similar properties:

Alcohols are generally colorless (the shade of dark spirits like whiskey comes from aging in casks, which we'll be covering in a future article).
Most are flammable (the ethanol in vodka is exactly the same as the ethanol in the gasoline in your car).
They are solvents (you've probably used isopropyl alcohol, or isopropanol, to remove sticker residue).
They are toxic in varying dosages.

The only alcohol we drink, though, is ethyl alcohol (CH3CH2OH) which is the least toxic of the family. The word "intoxicated" refers to this unpleasant trait, and in relatively small quantities (about 0.55 percent blood alcohol content) ethanol can be just as deadly to us as its relatives. Ethyl alcohol also kills microorganisms quite handily, which is why it's the active ingredient in hand sanitizer. In fact, during the pandemic shutdown, many distilleries survived by simply putting the ethanol they were producing into sanitizer bottles instead of liquor bottles.

More Like This: Cocktail Rules to Live By

In lower dosages, ethanol also has psychoactive effects, which we call getting drunk. This is the primary reason many consumers today drink alcoholic beverages, though it turns out we were actually consuming alcohol for its toxicity to microorganisms much earlier, and long before that because of its caloric value. But that's also a subject for an upcoming article.

Ethanol is the only active ingredient in spirits like vodka, gin, rum, Tequila and whiskey, and they all contain about the same amount: usually 40 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) or 80 proof. Some spirits are bottled at higher ABVs, but usually by only a few percentage points. So it doesn't matter what spirit you're drinking, if the volume of liquor in your glass is the same, you're consuming the same amount of the exact same chemical — any differences are down to flavor and sometimes color.

Students are often surprised by this, and ask me why they get drunker on certain spirits (like Tequila) than others (like gin). I'll then ask when and how they drink each, and on what occasions. Common answers like "on vacation,” “as a shot" and "night out partying" for Tequila versus "after work,” “in a gin and tonic" and "happy hour" for gin explain the mystery. The difference isn't the spirit in the drink, it's the spirit of the drinker.

To take a deeper dive into spirits like Scotch, Tequila and rum, join me in one of my upcoming recreational classes at ICE. Click here to register.

Anthony Caporale is ICE's Director of Spirits Education, and consults for some of the largest beverage companies in the world. He also created The Imbible series of hit NYC musicals about the history of cocktails and spirits. Learn more at anthonycaporale.com.

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Anthony Caporale's Super Bowl Cocktails

aday — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 20:38:41 +0000

Anthony Caporale's Super Bowl Cocktails aday Fri, 01/31/2020 - 15:38 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/super%20bowl%20cocktails%20header.jpg.webp?itok=RVQaBTsN Toast to San Francisco or Missouri with team-themed drinks. January 31, 2020

By Anthony Caporale — Director of Spirits Education

Celebrate Super Bowl LIV with a Missouri Bourbon Barbecue Old Fashioned or San Francisco Seafood Michelada from our director of spirits education.

The combination of smoke and sweet is at the heart of all good barbecue, and no place knows that better than Kansas City. For San Francisco, the flavors of Fisherman's Wharf are a perfect complement to a versatile beer classic. Raise a glass for the Chiefs or 49ers with MVP-worthy mixology.

Super Bowl cocktails

Missouri Bourbon Barbecue Old Fashioned

1 star anise
2 ounces bourbon whiskey (preferably Missouri bourbon)
1/2 ounces honey simple syrup (equal parts honey and water)
2 dashes cocktail bitters

On a fireproof surface, ignite a whole dried star anise fruit.
Carefully cover with an inverted rocks glass to extinguish and let smoke.
In a mixing glass half-filled with ice, add the bourbon and simple syrup.
Stir thoroughly to chill and dilute.
Remove rocks glass from star anise and fill with fresh ice.
Strain drink into smoked rocks glass, top with bitters.

San Francisco Seafood Michelada

Ingredients

12 ounces beer (preferably Anchor Steam)
2 ounces tomato juice
1/2 ounce clam juice
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
2 dashes Tabasco
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 shrimp, poached

Directions

In a pint glass, add beer, tomato juice, clam juice, lime juice, Tabasco, sauce and seasoning.
Stir gently to mix, add ice to top.
Garnish with a poached shrimp.

Take a mixology class with Anthony at the 51�Թ�.

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Toast the Season with Eggnog's Ancestor

aday — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 20:15:42 +0000

Toast the Season with Eggnog's Ancestor aday Fri, 12/21/2018 - 15:15 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/cocktail%20header%201.jpg.webp?itok=705UnU9Q ICE Director of Spirits Education Anthony Caporale shares a historic Christmastime cocktail from his off-Broadway show, "The Imbible." December 21, 2018

By Anthony Caporale — Director of Spirits Education

Most holiday revelers are familiar with eggnog, so this season why not go back in time a bit and try the precursor to this Yuletide staple, the syllabub?

Syllabubs date back to pre-Colonial days in England, where eggs and other farm products were rare since land could only be owned by the nobility. Drinks that included milk or cream were considered to be symbols of good fortune, and so they were used to toast the same.

Originally made from wine mixed with frothy cream, syllabubs evolved into beaten drinks that were allowed to separate overnight. The liquid part of the syllabub was sucked through a spout and the foam was eaten with a spoon.

By the 19th century, the syllabub was generally made from whipping cream with sweetened wine flavored with lemon and fortified with brandy. Once this drink arrived in the United States, American farmers (who owned their own land) added eggs to increase the nutritional value and served it at parties on holidays. Thus, the modern tradition of Christmas eggnog was born!

The Imbible Syllabub

1 ounce apple brandy
2 tablespoons sugar
3 ounces milk
2 ounces half and half
1 ounce fresh orange juice
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 scrapings lemon zest
1 sprig fresh rosemary
4 ounces lager
Fresh nutmeg

In a shaker tin half-filled with ice, add everything but the lager.
Shake until the cream is thickened then add the lager.
Swirl gently to incorporate.
Strain into a wide glass.
Garnish with two shavings of fresh nutmeg.

Note: Beer, wine or cider are all traditional components that can be used. Lager keeps the alcohol content reasonable when you're using brandy and gives it an interesting flavor.

See Anthony's upcoming beverage and mixology classes. Recreational class gift cards make great holiday gifts.

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Recipe steps

Step 1 - In a shaker tin half-filled with ice, add everything but the lager;

Step 2 - Shake until the cream is thickened then add the lager;

Step 3 - Swirl gently to incorporate;

Step 4 - Strain into a wide glass;

Step 5 - Garnish with two shavings of fresh nutmeg;

When Good Bartenders Become Bad Servers

ohoadmin — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 22:45:20 +0000

When Good Bartenders Become Bad Servers ohoadmin Mon, 01/27/2014 - 17:45 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/When%20Good%20Bartenders%20Become%20Bad%20Servers_1400x680.jpg.webp?itok=JJ3MVen3 January 27, 2014

By Anthony Caporale — Director of Spirits Education

The average person can survive about three weeks without food. That same person will die after only three days without water.

Our nomadic ancestors might easily have found themselves farther than a three-day trek from the nearest water source. Even today, many people in developing countries must walk an average of almost one hour a day to bring home fresh water.

A keen sense of thirst is critical for our survival. This fact, which we all intuitively know, but rarely consider, leads directly to my Beverage Rule of Seven: since we can survive seven times longer without food than without water, beverage service needs to be seven times faster than food service to feel equivalent. For example, a 30-minute wait for food—which will seem interminable to a hungry diner—is equally distressing as a 4-minute wait for drinks. Ironically, with the advent of the mixology movement, our industry seems to have lost sight of just how large drinking looms in our subconscious.

My job regularly takes me into the best bars in the world, and while I'm consistently impressed with the cocktails, I'm almost always frustrated by the service times. I recently visited three of New York City's top cocktail bars one evening (I won't name names, but all of them were listed in the upper half of The World's 50 Best Bars), and not once did I receive my drink in less than ten minutes after I placed the order. In food time, that's equivalent to waiting 70 minutes for your meal.

Had I been dining, I'd have been out the door long before then—doubtless followed by the Chef de Cuisine with a fresh boot print on his or her derrière. I tell every new bartender I train what many veteran mixologists seem to have forgotten: bartending is not about making drinks, it's about serving drinks.

All good restaurants have target service times for each course. Fifteen to twenty minutes is common for entrées, and appetizer times are usually under ten minutes. Applying my Beverage Rule of Seven gives a target beverage service time of two to three minutes, which feels comfortable to most guests. Making a great cocktail doesn't justify pushing that service time to eight, ten, or sometimes even fifteen minutes. Too often, the focus today is on the cocktail and not the guest.

Drink recipes need to be created for cocktail menus, not resumes. The best chefs know that even the most sublime dish isn't worth the menu paper it's printed on if it can't be executed in a reasonable time (and I'm talking under real-world conditions, not when there's only one order in queue). You have to be able to deliver quickly when you're four-deep and just skirting the weeds, otherwise, you're not making money. Mixologists need to relearn that lesson. No matter how good your cocktail may be, if you can't consistently put it in the guest's hands within three minutes, the recipe isn't finished.

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