Posts Tagged ‘Bars/Taverns/Saloons’

The following are all excerpted from the The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender's Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy by Jim Meehan. For more on this upcoming bible for cocktail afficionados, read the previously posted review of The PDT Cocktail Book by Christine Sismondo here.

Author Jim Meehan told me himself that the first recipe, the Benton's Old Fashioned, is currently the most popular cocktail at PDT (Please Don't Tell) his well-celebrated New York City speakeasy cocktail bar. He also provided us with a recipe for his bacon-infused bourbon, recipes for his French Maid cocktail and the housemade ginger beer the French Maid includes, plus a recipe for the Little Bit Country cocktail. Enjoy!

The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender’s Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy; By Jim Meehan; Illustrations by Chris Gall; Sterling Epicure; $29.95; 368 pages

Benton’s Old Fashioned

(Don Lee, Winter 2007)

2 oz. Benton’s Bacon Infused Four Roses Bourbon
.25 oz. Deep Mountain Grade B Maple Syrup
2 Dashes of Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with one large cube.

Garnish with an orange twist.

Benton’s Bacon Infused Bourbon

1.5 oz Benton's Bacon Fat
750 ml bottle of Four Roses Bourbon

On low heat, warm bacon fat in a small saucepan. Stir until it becomes molten, about 5 minutes. Pour liquid fat into a large, non-reactive container. Pour bourbon into the container with the fat. Stir. Cover and let stand for 4 hours. After 4 hours, place the container in the freezer for two hours. After 2 hours, remove solid fat. Strain through a terry cloth or cheesecloth. Pour contents back into the original bottle and label.

Yield: 24 oz.

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Prognostication is tricky, but this one is a no-brainer: Jim Meehan’s PDT Cocktail Book is destined to become a must-have for every serious bartender in North America, quite possibly the world.

The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender’s Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy; By Jim Meehan; Illustrations by Chris Gall; Sterling Epicure; $29.95; 368 pages

It’s a bold statement, we know. And by October, when the book comes out, readers may have forgotten that we’ve gone out on a limb. But if we’re correct, which we surely will be, we’ll be right there to say I told you so. Here’s why:

First, Jim Meehan is one of the world’s foremost authorities on cocktails. Full disclosure: I’ve had drinks with him a few times, at the back table of his famed speakeasy cocktail club, PDT (Please Don’t Tell) in New York City. Trust me, you’ve heard of it. It’s the one you get into through a phone booth in a hot dog shop.

Somebody told, at some point. Well, in fact, a lot of people, since PDT remains one of New York’s hottest bars and on a Saturday night, the scene in the hot dog shop can actually be quite desperately insane, filled with folks who seem to think their lives will cease to have meaning if they can’t get in.

Now, there are many faux-speakeasies which have opened up since. Some have even earned the name "speakcheesy." PDT isn’t one of those, since it distinguishes itself by having some of the very best cocktails we have ever had the pleasure to sample. Which brings me to my second point:

The cocktails at PDT are something very special, indeed. Better still, his book is going to reveal the recipes

For 3 cocktail recipes from The PDT Cocktail Book (Benton's Old Fashioned, French Maid and Little Bit Country) plus a recipe PDT's Benton's Bacon Infused Bourbon and housemade Ginger Beer, click here.

Aside from the bartenders of the world who will want to do PDT homage nights and make the drinks for their own customers, there are throngs of people who went to the bar one night, tried something great and wanted to reproduce it at home.

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Last night I attended the book release party for America Walks Into a Bar: A Spirited History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops (Oxford University Press, June 2011) by Christine Sismondo. The book is also available here at Amazon.ca.

If you're a regular reader of That's the Spirit, or a follower of Toronto cocktail culture, you're probably already familiar with some of the finely crafted words of booze scribe Christine Sismondo, author of the previously published Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken and Stirred History.

Christine Sismondo talks tavern with Marc Glassman, artistic director for the This is Not a Reading Series (TINARS).

Christine talked briefly about her book and the history of American bar culture, deftly answered questions from the crowd and autographed copies of her freshly printed new book. All, I might add, with wit, grace and an ever-present cocktail in her hand (or within reach, at the very least).

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