The Daily Reviewer | Jeffrey Morgenthaler

How to Vomit on Your Keyboard Ten Different Ways

Mar 5, 2010 8:55am

This appalling affront to the craft that so many of us have worked hard trying to restore over the past fifteen-plus years has been making the rounds on Twitter, but I thought I’d share it here with all of you. Browse at your own risk, my advice is to...

Cognac

Feb 3, 2010 11:43am

To get to the town of Cognac, France, you have to fly into the airport at Bordeaux, nearly two hours south. You spend a good hour on the freeway, which looks pretty much like any freeway in the world, until eventually you see an exit marked “Cognac”. You then...

Dry Vermouth Sangaree

Jan 14, 2010 7:12am

If there’s one thing I hate about living in the Pacific Northwest, it’s the stretch of time from late October until late June, when the sun makes only the most occasional of appearances. I typically pack on an extra 10-15 pounds during those rainy months, party due to over-consumption...

How to Make Your Own Grenadine

Dec 10, 2009 7:15am

While this is a topic that has been covered by pretty much every cocktail blog under the sun, I haven’t yet written about it. Why? Well, for one, I’m lazy and never got around to it. But after having made various versions of grenadine for years at...

How to Cut Someone Off

Dec 2, 2009 7:40am

For many years before this whole cocktail thing really took off, I worked in dive bars. Really crappy dive bars where people would visit – often nightly – for what appeared to be the sole purpose of getting very, very drunk. These bars were loud, they were obnoxious, and...

Repeal Day is December Fifth

Nov 24, 2009 1:03pm

Wow, I apparently thought it was still late-October or something, because it came as a complete surprise to me today that my favorite drinking holiday in the whole world is next weekend. I guess that between keeping my nose to the grindstone at work and traveling extensively lately, it...

Egg Nog

Nov 10, 2009 12:15pm

Well, folks, it’s time of year again. I repost this recipe every year because I’m a man on a mission. You see, I love egg nog, but I can’t stand the thick, gelatinous goop they sell at the grocery store. Even if you were to cut it with...

Art of the Cocktail

Nov 2, 2009 11:34am

I’m back from Europe and getting ready for Art of the Cocktail next weekend. No, I’m not talking about the book by Philip Collins. Nor am I talking about this blog by Darcy O’Neil. I’m also not referring to Anthony Caporale’s long-running video series. No, this Art of the Cocktail...

Follow Along with My European Misadventures

Oct 21, 2009 10:09am

I’m leaving in about an hour to head to the airport and ship off to Europe, so if you have any interest in learning more about what a small-town bartender does from hour to hour as he stumbles across a continent in search of the perfect cocktail, then please by...

The Solera Club

Sep 18, 2009 12:29pm

You may or may not have known this, but I like making cocktails out of wine. Or things that were once wine. Or things that were made from wine. However you want to say it, I like making cocktails out of wine. So when I saw...

Ask Your Bartender: Running a Tab

Sep 4, 2009 4:10pm

(I couldn’t find an appropriate photo, and I wanted to get this out there before I head to work tonight. Sorry – JM) Hey Bartender I went to the bar last night with a coworker, whom I was treating to drinks on my tab. When we got the bill, it was...

The On-The-Fly Competition

Aug 5, 2009 8:30am

It’s six o’clock at night in New Orleans and I’m sweating, hard. Not because of the heat outside, but because I’m inside, on a stage with a microphone in my hand. Eight of the best bartenders in the country are lined up behind me, hundreds of people are seated...

The Black Dog at Tales of the Cocktail

Jul 15, 2009 7:14am

My good friends over at Embury Cocktails were kind enough to stop by the Boca Loca luncheon at Tales of the Cocktail this year, and captured me on film while Jason Rowan grilled me after a late night and an early morning of prepping for the lunch. Here’s the recipe: 2 oz...

Tales of the Cocktail is Almost Here

Jul 5, 2009 4:30pm

(Gosh, they look happy.) Anyway – it’s July, which means that it’s that time of year, to take a week-long reprieve from the steamy swelter of Oregon and head once again to the cool lazy breezes of New Orleans. Tales of the Cocktail is a week of cocktail seminars, workshops,...

One Small Change to the Lineup…

Jun 25, 2009 8:17am

Ah, Tales of The Cocktail. The greatest yearly gathering on earth for cocktail enthusiasts, bartenders, students of mixology and aficionados of fine liquors. Also, a logistical nightmare for those who have to plan the hundreds of events spread over those five days in New Orleans. Shortly after to agreeing to...

Xante Pear Liqueur (Not A Sex Toy)

Jun 5, 2009 8:30am

I absolutely hate it when someone sends me a box full of sex toys in the mail. Sure, it might sound like fun to some of you (you know who you are), but receiving a big box of free sex is much more trouble than it’s worth. Believe me....

Norwegian Wood

Jun 1, 2009 12:55pm

“Here, see if you can make me something with this”, the liquor rep taunted as he dropped a bottle of aquavit on the bar. If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I don’t really work that well under pressure. I try, but it literally...

Just a Quick Aside…

May 15, 2009 12:13pm

Hey folks, if you’re reading this post, then you’re officially a reader of this website. And that means that I could really use your help. In order to lure potential advertisers over to the dark side that is my, uh, sidebar, I need to prove to them that my website...

New Imbibe Video: Citrus Garnishes

Apr 23, 2009 11:15am

Just when I think I’ve run out of things to say, my friends over at Imbibe Magazine drop me a note telling me that there’s a new video up, and it’s almost like the content writes itself. Post from: Jeffrey Morgenthaler. Follow me on Twitter.New Imbibe Video: Citrus Garnishes Post from: Jeffrey...

Spring Cleaning

Apr 13, 2009 12:32pm

It’s been busy times here in Portland, but I thought I’d take a break from all the hot bar-managin’ action to post a aggregated update of what’s been happening in my world lately – loose ends, mostly: Last week I attended the Grand Marnier/Navan Mixology Summit in Vail Colorado. One...

Ask Your Bartender: Protestant vs. Catholic Whiskey

Mar 27, 2009 7:30am

Hey Bartender My South Side Irish Chicago Dad always told me that Jameson was the Catholic whisky and that Bushmills was the whiskey made by “the damn Protestants”. Now this character I met at the bar is trying to tell me it’s the other way around. Help! Who do I...

My Turn in the Barrel

Mar 20, 2009 6:00am

Hey, here’s a fun way to illustrate karma. If you’ve, say, built a large web presence upon a not-so-generous string of public criticisms of bar-related web videos [1, 2, 3, 4], then one day somebody will ask you to appear in a series of videos yourself. That’s what happened last...

Elements Eight Rum

Mar 16, 2009 8:29am

The list of increduble experiences I had last fall while attending (and speaking at) the Bar Convent Berlin is a mile long, but up near the top of the list is the afternoon chat I had with Andreas Redlefsen, owner of St. Lucia’s Elements Eight rums. Elements Eight is virtually unknown...

How to Make a Caipirinha – The American Bartending School Way

Mar 6, 2009 1:29pm

Speaking of great cocktails made with cachaça, let’s take a moment before the weekend and see what our old friends at the American Bartending School would do when confronted with a bottle of the stuff. In this segment, we’ll learn how to make the Brazilian classic, the caipirinha (kai-peer-EEN-ya) 1....

Caneflower

Mar 2, 2009 2:30pm

With my recent move to Portland and consequent adjustment to a new work environment, new living situation and new selection of great bars and restaurants to explore, I’ve been a little lax on the new drink recipes. Fortunately I have my cruel taskmasters at Boca Loca Cachaça to keep me toiling...