Blog

Camper English Wins Best Cocktail Author at Tales

I'll post more when I can get to a computer (I lost my power cord) so long story short: Hooray for Me!

I win the best non-book cocktail author award last night at Tales of the Cocktail.

That is awesome.

July 24, 2011
World Class Round-Up on DiffordsGuide.com
I was in New Delhi all last week working both on reporting on the Diageo Reserve World Class Global Finals here on my blog and helping Simon Difford and his (ass-kicking) crew write a special edition of the online magazine and produce the official book that will come out later. Still working on that, actually.

Over at DiffordsGuide.com, take a look at the write-ups on:
- Short bios of all 32 World Class Competing Bartenders
- The "gurus" and their challenges: Gary Regan, Salvatore Calabrese, Peter Dorelli, Dale DeGroff, and Daniel Estramadoyro. Read here.
- Quotes about the winner, Manabu Ohtake.
- A few hundred drink recipes.
- The launch of the new Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle.
- And a highlight video.
Plus there are a few thousand photos to look through in the galleries. Or click on the photo gallery link on the top of DiffordsGuide.com.

(Winner Manabu Ohtake of Japan. Image by DiffordsGuide)
July 19, 2011
Tequila is the New Vodka; Tequila is the New Scotch in LA Times Magazine

I've brought up one side of this topic before here on Alcademics, but now both sides are in a magazine.

In today's Los Angeles Times Magazine I have a story on tequila, looking at how brands are being produced and marketed – some like vodka; others like scotch.

As our preference for 100 percent agave tequila grows, it’s no surprise that brands are now popping up to take advantage of that trend. But what is really interesting are the niches tequila is carving out: Some are being bottled in sleek vessels complete with the same marketing and mystique that seems to be inspired by premium vodkas, while other new tequilas are promoting the artisanal, historical and romantic notions of the agave spirit, akin to scotch whisky—even if the brands were created within the last week.

It's a whopping 1,000 word story. Please give it a read and let me know what you think.

(Photo: BRIAN LEATART for LA Times Magazine)

July 3, 2011
How to Pick Potatoes

Earlier this month I visited Cape Bjare, Sweden to learn about Karlsson's Vodka. Karlsson's is made from a blend of seven heiroom "virgin new" potatoes. This means that the skin hasn't fully developed into the brown stuff we recognize here in the States.

In Sweden, restaurants serve these little tiny potatoes as a delicacy (I ate my weight in them while I was there) and Karlsson's uses the slightly larger ones to make their vodka.

But they wouldn't let us drink it until we helped make it, so off we were to the fields to pick potatoes.

Potatoes grow in clumps, and are planted in raised mounds of dirt for easier harvest. Virgin potatoes must be harvested when the plants are still flowering. The harvest is done mostly mechanically, but hand-sorting is required.

We piled into potato trucks and took on the task of sorting potatoes. The machine pulls up the clumps of potatoes, chops off the vegetation, and puts all the round things onto a conveyer belt. Our job was to pull out the undesirable round things: rocks and potatoes with brown skin.

After our job was done, the potatoes were off to the cleaning plant. They are washed and buffed and sorted according to size.

And in the case of Karlsson's, they're fermented and distilled and blended. More on that part later.

For a live action shot of potato sorting in the truck, watch the video below.

June 30, 2011
Camper English: Penthouse Model

In the June issue of Penthouse, I have a travel story about my trip with Dos Equis to Playa Del Carmen. You can read the original posts here on Alcademics in part one, part two, and part three.

I've written for Penthouse previously, but this is the first time I've appeared in its pages as a super sexy model. Check me out!

Hot stuff, right?

June 21, 2011
Carved Ice Balls: Starter Molds

Here's a method that gets ice balls started using the cooler method for making clear ice. This comes courtesy of Dave Michalowski, for I saw it on his Facebook page and asked if I could steal his pictures to share. Thanks Dave!

He says, "I am using the round containers for the ice balls. I got them at the Container Store and they work perfectly. I believe they are three inches across and will snuggly fit into most old fashioned glasses. I saw off the end off the cylinder so the air doesn't get trapped in the bottom."

Dave carves his spheres from the cylendars using a Japanese paring knife, something I've not been brave enough to try yet.

An index of all of the ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.

June 21, 2011
The Humble Potato and the Dangers of Monoculture

Recently I watch the documentary The Botany of Desire on Netflix, based on the Michael Pollan book of the same name. Of the four plants they focussed on, one was the potato. And as I was planning a trip to visit a potato vodka distillery, I decided to take notes.

The Origin of the Potato

Potatoes originate in the Andes mountain in South America and were first domesticated 8000 years ago. There are more than 5000 potato varieties in the Andes region.

The potato in the wild is poisonous, but over time people bred out the more poisonous ones. Early Peruvians grew many varieties of potatoes depending on the altitude/direction of the hill.

Potatoes were grown by Incas. Spanish conquistadores brought them back to Europe.

The Potato in Europe

In Europe potatoes grew well in poor soils in northern countries, wet areas where grains were hit or miss. The potato provides an immense amount of food per acre. It may have helped the industrial revolution to happen, as less people were needed in the fields to grow it.

The Irish planted almost exclusively one strain of potato. In 1845 a wind-spread fungal spore brought by a ship spread across the whole country and turned the potatoes black within weeks. The Irish potato famine lasted for 3 years and killed many people. Monoculture = bad.

The Potato in America

Each year Americans consumer 7.5 billion pounds of French fries. Russett-Burbank is the potato variety used to make those fries everywhere in the world- and in particular by McDonald's. Pollan says “Monocultures on the plate lead to monocultures on the land.”

When you have a monoculture it essentially stops evolution of that plant, while the pests who want to prey on the plants continue to evolve. And once one finds a way to get one plant, it have access to all of them.

Monsanto has genetically engineered potatoes to kill the potato beetle, its main pest. People started planting them, and McDonald’s used them in the late 1990s but after consumer pressure and a potential PR problem, they phased them out. This effectively killed the genetically engineered potato. That said, corn, soybeans, and cotton are all genetically engineered by Monsanto.

But when growing a monoculture, you have to choose between using lots of pesticides or using genetically engineered crops. The solution, says Pollan, is not to grow monocultures.

I fear for agave.

June 20, 2011
Tales of the Cocktail Preview: The Chainsaw Shift

This is a preview of a seminar that will be given at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, which takes place July 20-24, 2011.

The Chainsaw Shift

There are two seminars this year at Tales about setting up an ice program. I'm pretty sure this one will be the only one with chainsaws though. The other, How to Build a Cutting Edge Ice Program, is part of the professionals series, though both seem geared toward professionals.

I was treated to a preview of sorts of this seminar in San Francisco, as Andrew Bohrer came down and gave bartenders a demo of cutting a huge block of ice into workable blocks at Heaven's Dog.

For those of you who saw this post on Alcademics in August 2010, the below is a repeat of that post, and hopefully a preview of what we'll witness at Tales.

Note: there is some NSFW language in the videos along with chainsaw noise.

First they started with the giant block and shaved off slices.

Then they cut those slices into rectangles

Then they cut those rectangles into cubes.

Then Andrew Bohrer demonstrated cutting an ice cube into an ice sphere using the shaving method.

Then he showed how he makes shaved ice by shaving ice.

Then he showed how he takes a big chunk of ice and with a knife can reduce it down to cubes.

Then Amanda Womack shows how she cuts ice spheres- by tapping at the outside with a knife rather than shaving.

An index of all of the ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.

The Details:

Time: 10 AM to 11:30 AM
Date: Friday the 22nd of July, 2011
Venue: La Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom, Hotel Monteleone
Moderators: Andrew Bohrer
Panelists: Anu Apte

The Chainsaw Shift is about offering to you a shift in thinking about the buzz phrase, “ice program.” The Chainsaw Shift is the lowest waste, highest quality way to have an, “ice program,” as well as being the simplest way to do so. This seminar is a shift in thinking on how bartenders treat their most essential and common ingredient: ice. Quality ice allows the bartender to reevaluate and reimagine every step of the drink making process and brings new joy and beauty to the simplest cocktails.

This seminar will cover the basics of safely and efficiently processing 300 lb. blocks of crystal clear ice with the aid of carpenter’s tools and a trusty chainsaw. We will also discuss and demonstrate techniques for cutting ice to improve aesthetics and quality of every cocktail. Examples will include in-glass ice sculptures, crushed ice, shaved ice, cracked & cubed ice for mixing and carving spheres, diamonds and other shapes. The Chainsaw Shift will never replace the ice machine; rather it will make every bartender into an ice machine.

June 10, 2011
All About Orris: Harvest in Tuscany

In Tuscany on a botanical trip with Bombay Sapphire, we learned how the orris root is grown and processed to use in the gin.

Orris root is the rhizome of the Iris flower. Here in Tuscany they are grown on sloping hills between rows of olive trees. Nice space.

These iris flowers are not grown for their beauty, unlike other iris varieties, but for the quality of their rhizomes.

The rhizomes are bulbs on the base of the plants. Skinny roots shoot off the rhizomes. These are cut off.

The plant tops, with a tiny portion of the rhizome attached, are replanted.

The orris is then hand peeled.

Then it is left out to dry in the sun.

Later it is aged. The floral aspect comes out only after this, when it is extracted into gin or perfume.

June 3, 2011
Picking Juniper Berries in Tuscany: A Photo Album

In May I visited Italy to learn more about the botanicals used in Bombay Sapphire. From Tuscany they get both the juniper berries and orris used in the gin.

In the rolling hills of Tuscany at high elevations where there are few trees and many wildflowers are found the juniper bushes.

They're kind of ugly, sprawling little bushes.

They're full of clusters of berries- more than I'd expect. We were there during the off season, so not many are the blue color of ripe berries.

Juniper is harvested by hand, using wide round baskets and short sticks.

They stick the baskets beneath a branch and whack it with the stick so that the blue, ripe berries fall off but the green, unripe ones do not.

Some of the needles stick to the berries. Any green ones that get in are sorted out later.

I tried it, but wasn't very good at it.

But then again, there weren't actually any ripe berries to harvest at this time of year.

June 2, 2011