In medias res

The title of this "first" blog entry for Standards & Pours is a literary technique where a story starts from the middle rather than the beginning. The most famous example being The Odyssey. The story begins in the middle of Odysseus' story and we only get the beginning of the story when he retells it. The story then continues on its trajectory to the end. In the same way this first blog entry is preceded by a few previous posts simply because they were stories that could not go untold...

...OK, so maybe I was just trying to think of a fancy way to say that this blog was in the plans for a while and we've just gotten around to having it ready for public eyes.

Beverages have been a hot topic for a while. There was the rise of interest in mixology and the art of creating cocktails. More recently, well-known brands such as McDonalds and Wendy's have been introducing and tweaking beverage options.

The interest was noted, and the monthly Featured Beverage and Featured Cocktail were added to the Beverage Trends e-newsletter to showcase new and interesting things that were happening with beverages around the country. However, in the course of gathering material every month, there were times when profiling a single drink proved to be more difficult than one would imagine and a lot of things had to be cut or pushed to the side to keep the integrity of these two particular monthly features.

For example, limited-time offer drinks provided a lot of hurdles. In the summer months, chains would be coming out with competing summer flavors, but considering the nature of a "one drink per month" brief article, some drinks would lose out simply based on timing. This also was a problem with cocktails, where summer-only beverages would end up going head-to-head with each other. At the same time, when meeting with bartenders and mixologists to talk about their new menus or any new drinks, it'd be hard having to whittle down to one drink out of the six or eight I'd been presented with. All the photos and notes I took would have to be condensed into a short write up. Then after a period of abundance, a famine would hit and nothing would be usable because of "having been done before" or through trying to avoid similar flavor profile. There just were not enough opportunities to introduce all these items of information on beverages outside of the formal trappings briefs or news stories.

So rather than let interesting news and tidbits slip away, a blog seemed like a good place to chronicle my own sort of field notes to drinks as I go about learning more about them. On that note, I would like to dedicate this first entry to all the neglected and abandoned beverages I've left in my wake all the time I've worked on the Featured Beverages and Featured Cocktails.

This isn't a space for reviewing drinks, nor do I consider myself a tastemaker. However, if anything, I'm curious, and honestly it sort of is my job description as a journalist to continue to be curious and find out about things. And I'm bracing myself because the next line sounds corny even to me as I get ready to type it, but I would like to think that there are those who would like to accompany me in my continuing odyssey of doing just that.

I'm supposed to be on vacation...

Sept. 17

So after flying half way across the world to take a vacation, I found myself hurrying through a neighborhood I did not know in a country I had never been in so I could track down a cocktail lounge.

The week before I left New York for London I had been talking to Jim Meehan over the phone about the new drink menu at PDT. I had met Jim at the New York Taste of the Nation event where he represented Gramercy Tavern and mixed the Rickshaw, a basil-infused version of a gimlet.

While catching up with how things were going with the new menu, curiosity got the best of me and I asked if he happened to know of any bars that I should check out while in London.

He pointed me towards several leads, and that is how I found myself in front of The Lonsdale the same day I landed in London. I was still frazzled since I arrived in the city at 6 am and was still trying to get used to getting around the city, but with only a few minor snags I made it to meet with head bartender Charles Vexenat.

For some reason, in my head I expected a strait-laced older gentleman impeccably dressed without a hair out of place, but was met with a young man dressed in a hip t-shirt and jeans ensemble with scruffy facial hair and perfectly mussed blond hair.

The Lonsdale opened in 2003 and Charles joined the staff six month after to design the menu. Dedicated to featuring classic cocktails that originated in the United Kingdom, the menu for the award winning cocktail lounge is like a thick textbook about cocktails with its table of contents dividing the drink menu into chapters and brief introduction accompanying the sections. Each drink even comes with a note of origin. For example, Charles started me off with a Mayfair Cocktail, which is made by shaking gin, fresh orange juice and spice-infused apricot brandy. The menu notes that the drink originated in 1921 at the Embassy Club in London and explains the origin of the drink's name.

Some cocktails are grouped under "The Old British Influence," with subsections for drinks that fall under categories such as flips, punches & cups, sours and sangarees. Other sections include contemporary drinks as well as a spirit list and wine list.

Charles explained that there is a rich history of British cocktails coming from numerous influences, whether it those created in during the early 1900s to the 1950s in five-star hotels like the Savoy and Ritz or those created from influences brought back from India and the Caribbean. For instance, there are a lot of gin based drinks, then there's also rum from the British colonies. He continued that people enjoy learning about old cocktails. With the trend of people desiring fresh ingredients, old cocktails using freshly squeeze juices and infused spirits also are desirable.

When Charles moved to London from France in 2000, he began working in bars. He noticed that chefs in the kitchen worked with a system and he said he wondered, "Why couldn't we do that in the bar?" He began working to learn the bar trade in earnest and has under his belt experience working in London bars such as La Floridita and the Lab Bar, and he also worked at Tres Agaves tequila bar in San Francisco.

I mentioned that I particularly enjoyed pisco and pisco sours and Charles whipped one up. Pisco sours have egg whites in recipe, so vigorous shaking is required to reach a correct frothy level. However, Charles explained that while in Peru, he learned that rather than shaking the drink vigorously, locals blended the cocktail with a little ice that gave it a "super frothy head." He continues to travel and learn new things, such as the pisco sour technique he picked up while working with pisco distillers in Peru or working with tequila distillers in Mexico.

I learned a new thing myself that day. I learned about the existence of sangritas, little shots that accompany tequila. Usually tomato-based, the non-alcoholic shot can contain anything to create a mix of sweet, sour and spicy flavors. I couldn't get the exact recipe from the bartender who offered me a sangrita, but Charles said it was her specialty and there was a mention of Worcestershire sauce.

Mayfair cocktail(gin shaken with fresh orange juice, and spice-infused apricot brandy)

Summer gin punch

(fresh raspberries, lemon, ornage and pineapple stirred over ice with gin, maraschino liqueur and soda)

Cocktails with tea

Underneath a brown awning with just the letter “T” on it, Sanctuary Tea inconspicuously occupies a space sandwiched between two storefronts.

“We’re trying to maybe get a board or something outside to make it more noticeable,” said owner Dawn Cameron.

The food, created by Kevin Stanton, has some dishes with tea in it, the tea menu boasts several proprietary-blended teas, and mixologist Benoit Cornet has created several cocktails using the drink.

“It’s an unusual ingredient to mix with cocktails,” Cornet said. “Some teas in itself are usually not flavorful; it’s more about the aroma.”

Cornet also pointed out difficulties such as the presence of tannins or even sweetness in teas, so careful consideration is needed when deciding which teas were to be used with which spirits.

Cornet brews his teas for cocktails into concentrated shots with an espresso machine. Since tea does not last long once its made, the espresso machine creates a shot that’s “fairly concentrated and it’s instant.”

Or to get around brewing tea leaves Cornet uses powdered tea such as matcha.

Cornet said that there were currently 50 teas available at Sanctuary Tea so he’s considering creating more options, especially since he tries to use fresh and seasonal ingredients as well as herbs. Cornet said he might even try to develop a cocktail with truffle butter.


Backyard Treat
(Assam tea, white peach puree, Lambrusco)



Coral Reef
(tangerine green tea, passion fruit, triple sec liqueur, tequila, pink peppercorn rim)


Transcontinental Sunshine
(plum iced tea, Txakolina - a white wine from the Basque, vodka, guava puree)


Sourican
(sour cherry, rum, lemon, soda)


Quinitessence
(Earl Grey, gin, soda, lime)


Rise and Shine
(green tea, pear puree, vodka, lemon)


Mediterranean Bliss
(orange liqueur, white chocolate, cream, saffron)