Category: bars

Gamsei, A Hyperlocal Molecular Mixology Bar in Munich

I've been bursting waiting for the Saveur 100 issue to come out so I could write more about Gamsei, a bar I visited in Munich this fall and included in the January issue of the magazine.

The story is now online at Saveur.com, with a lot more info below.

Gamsei comes from Matt Bax, the founder/co-founder of Der Raum and Bar Americano in Melbourne and Tippling Club in Singapore.

From the write-ups of Gamsei, it sounded like a place with a lot of rules (you have to wear slippers inside, no sugar in the drinks, no photos allowed) but much of that was either incorrect or more like a general policy than a rule.

The seating in Gamsei is on bleacher-style steps on either side of the central "bar", which is more of a low counter like you'd find in a science lab. Those slippers are for people who sit on the upper levels, so their muddy/wet shoes won't drip on the people below them.

I had also heard all about the hyper-local vision of the bar but not about the high-tech aspect of it. I was expecting a simplistic Japanese take on in-season cocktails, so the rotovap and liquid nitrogen came as a pleasant surprise.

Really, what Bax has done is just taken the idea of preserving local bounty and given it an exciting update. The bartenders forage in the forests (he said he checks with a plant expert to make sure certain things aren't poison before using them) and buy stuff at farmers' markets in season and use them fresh or preserve them using old-world techniques like fermentation, syrup-making, kombuchas, drying, etc. as well as new-world techniques like running infusions through the Rotavap so that they never spoil and flash-freezing other ingredients with liquid nitrogen.

As mentioned in the story, my favorite drink was the Lindenbluten, a local "lime blossom" (not the citrus tree) leaf and flowers frozen into an ice cube, and that ice cube used to chill and flavor house-carbonated local vermouth. Simple, elegant, beautiful. (But a terrible picture, sorry.)

At service, you get a mix of simple-looking drinks as well as some of the tricks you might expect from Bax – liquid nitrogen, beer foam, a drink in a flask. I had one that came with a a puff of cotton candy ("candy floss" to our European friends) that you use to sweeten a cocktail made with caraway liqueur, brandy, and riesling.

That puffy thing is cotton candy that you add to the cocktail to sweeten it.

All-in-all, the philosophy isn't that complicated and the rules aren't that strict. It's a unique set-up for a cool bar concept. Absolutely worth a visit when you find yourself in Munich. (And Munich is pretty darn worth a visit on its own- I've gotta get back there soon.)

Here's the menu from that day:

The arrows direct you from lighter starter drinks to richer heavier ones.

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January 14, 2014
SF Bar Write-Ups: Mikkeller Bar, Brass Tacks, The Cavalier
For the website WorldsBestBars.com I write up new (good) bars opening in San Francisco. For November I covered:
- The Cavalier, a fancy hotel bar/restaurant downtown
- Brass Tacks, the Hayes Valley bar in the former Marlena's
- Mikkeller Bar, a downtown beer bar where the staff are actually nice
Check out the write-ups here.

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December 19, 2013
High-Tech Bar Equipment on PopSci.com

In a slideshow for Popular Science, I wrote about ten pieces of bar equipment you not know about as they're hidden behind the scenes.

The story includes equipment used by some of the world's most innovate bartenders and includes equipment including rotovaps, machine-engraved ice, sous-vide cooking, and many others.

Check it out on PopSci.com!

December 3, 2013
Breakfast Cereal in Cocktails is as Pretty Big Thing

In my latest post for Details.com, I took a look at the multitude of ways that people are using breakfast cereal in cocktails.

Initially I thought I'd only find it in a few places but I think there are more than a dozen mentioned in the story and they're located everwhere from London to Bordeaux to Miami to San Diego. Some folks are serving them up in bowls with a spoon, while others are infusing cereal into milk or directly into liquor.

Check it out over at Details.com.

November 22, 2013
ABV, A Forthcoming SF Bar from Dalva, Beretta Folks

Coming not-so-soon (January most likely) in the former Tokyo GoGo spot on 16th Street in the Inner Mission of San Francisco will be the bar ABV.

ABV is a partnership between Erik Reichborn-Kjennerud (owner of Dalva, Dalva Hideout), Ryan Fitzgerald (former Beretta bar manager and Del Maguey Mezcal brand ambassador), and Todd Smith (bartender at Dalva Hideout, distributor rep with Pacific Edge, founding Bourbon & Branch bartender).

The specifics are likely to change a bit as they transfer the liquor license and build out the space, but here's what I learned in a meeting with the partners:

The concept is a bar that will offer about 10-15 cocktails and around the same number of small plates dishes, also priced around the same as each other (ten bucks more or less). So, like at Beretta, if you are having great drinks there you may as well order something to great eat as well.

The goal with the food (they're hiring a consultant chef to work out specifics) is to have high-quality, regularly-rotating, finger-friendly foods that will probably include some pickles and something fried, but not jalapeno poppers or standard pub fare like that. Food will be served until late; probably 1AM, and they are considering opening in the early afternoons, seven days a week.

The space won't be completely gutted for the rebuild, but they will make the kitchen smaller and remake the bar bigger; extending it to be the focus of the space. You shouldn't expect to too many bar design elements that they feel have become cliched, liked reclaimed wood and bare Edison bulbs. Seating will be primarily at high-top tables and shared tables in the back, to avoid that situation where people at low tables have standing bar patrons' butts in their faces. It will not be a lounge. They'll have some sort of table service and a doorman checking IDs, but not a host stand or typical restaurant reserved seating.

The drink program doesn't have a specific direction outside of "things that we like," according to the partners. "We're not trying to have every single whisky or tequila," says Reichborn-Kjennerud, though with Fitzgerald's mezcal affiliation you should expect to see a fair amount of that.

The team spoke mostly about what they are planning to avoid: barrel-aged cocktails, bottled cocktails, cocktails on tap; things they feel are more gimmicky than practical. "There's not going to be a uniform and it's not like everyone is going to wear a certain kind of hat." That said, they will have "great ice".

Cocktails will reflect their personal preferences and those of the bartenders who work there. Smith says, "A few years ago I was really into boozy drinks, but lately I've been enjoying lighter aperitif-style drinks, so for example you should expect to see some of that." The plan is for a good portion of the drink menu to change fairly regularly.

As time goes on, they plan to have a themed night or two, educational programming likely to take place in the balcony area, and perhaps some different food at brunch. They mentioned a quality soundtrack as a focus, but also that it could be radically different from night to night depending on who is working (as it is at Dalva Hideout currently).

The key words for the bar are "comfortable" and "affordable" they say. "We're not trying to reinvent anything," says Fitzgerald.

My overall impression is that they're trying to create a casual-but-quality themeless bar with great music, easy-and-delicious food, and amazing cocktails, reflecting the preferences and tastes of the owners. It's fair to say that's that goal of most people opening up a new neighborhood bar these days, but in this neighborhood with these owners, our expectations probably should be raised to match.

As ABV will be the second-closest cocktail bar to my house, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep you updated on its progress.

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September 3, 2013
A Dramatic Video About Ice from The Aviary

Here's a video from Chicago's molecular mixology bar The Aviary with cool slow-motion shots of ice.

And here is an index of all of the ice experiments on Alcademics.

November 1, 2012
Correct Cocktail Carbonation
In this weekend's story in the San Francisco Chronicle, I wrote about bartenders carbonating cocktails– to order, in bottles, on tap, and in one case with nitrous oxide instead of carbon dioxide.

Let's look at the ways bars in the story (and a few places I didn't have room to mention) are carbonating:

Citrus
- Starlight Room avoids fresh citrus, saying the carbonation gives it a touch of vinegar tingle, like juice going off.
- Jasper's Corner Tap uses fresh citrus, but makes the bottled cocktails daily.
Champagne
- Chez Papa uses nitrous oxide to charge ingredients that will go into champagne drinks.
- Spoonbar uses CO2, and throws the sparkling wine into the Perlini shaker along with the other ingredients.
Gin & Tonic
- Brasserie S&P uses homemade tonic syrup, charges it with water in iSi canisters, and uses the canisters until they're empty. They say this better integrates the syrup with the fizzy water than just adding a syrup to water in the glass.
- Tradition uses homemade tonic syrup but puts it in a bottled G&T.
Long Island Iced Tea
- Rye (this cocktail is sometimes a nightly special) uses cola syrup plus all the booze and carbonates the drink to order.
- Tradition barrel ages the liquor, adds cola syrup, and makes a bottled cocktail with it.
On Tap
- Spoonbar adds already-carbonated Mexican coke and spiced rum to a keg, and charges it with another CO2 tank.
- I'm not positive, but I think other bars mentioned in the story that are making carbonated cocktails put non-carbonated ingredients mixed together in a keg and it pours out with carbonated water, much like a soda dispenser in a restaurant.
It seems bars are all still figuring out the 'best practices' for carbonating cocktails, and that makes it all the more exciting for drinkers.

p.s. You can also find carbonated cocktails in the Bay Area at Elixir, Garcon and The Hotsy Totsy.

Read my story in the San Francisco Chronicle here.
August 27, 2012
Best Business Bars in Entrepreneur Magazine

I contributed a few write-ups to Entrepreneur Magazine's annual Best Business Bars story. It is the July issue, hitting newsstands now.

I wrote about Azucar Lounge in San Francisco, Drago Centro in Los Angeles, and ROOF at TheWit in Chicago.

Pick it up at the newsstand or read it online here.

June 27, 2012
Bars in Japan: Observations
Here are some observations about bars in Japan from my trip with Suntory whiskies.
- You can smoke in bars in Japan. Bars were all a little bit smoky, but none of them I visited were smoky that your eyes hurt.
- When you enter a cocktail bar and most other types of bars, they give you a hot wet towel to wipe your hands. Even the low-end bars give you a wet-nap version of this. This is lovely and I'd like to see some bars in the US do it.
- For many bars it's seated customers only. You pop your head in and ask if there is room before entering.
- A lot of cocktail menus don't list the drink ingredients, only the name, even for original creations. What good is that?
- When barhopping at home, I can have just one drink at each bar. In Japan I noticed that my hosts always steered me toward a second drink. I think that it's impolite to leave after just one.
- Understanding Japanese gets easier after the third drink. However, it gets really hard again after the tenth.
- Japanese people can drink a lot. I have a healthy layer of fat and yet all of my skinny Japanese hosts kept up or surpassed me nightly.
- Bars have a cover charge.
- Almost every bar offers some food. A snack is often included in the cover charge, but they offer much more. Thus you can go barhopping without eating first -you're going to be eating at every place you go.
Thanks Japan, you are awesome!
November 25, 2011
Bars in Japan: Miscellany

On my five-day visit to Japan with Suntory whiskies I hit 21 bars by my count. I am talking about them in groups. Next up: The Rest of Them.

The difference between the various styles of bars is subtle and I'm defining them as I see them. I'll be describing whisky bars, cocktail bars, highball and standing bars, and pubs/clubs/dives. This is that last section.

Rippongi Nouen is actually a restaurant but it's notable because they serve highballs with flavors like ginger and rosemary.

The restaurant has big glass cubes in the back that have (or used to have, can't tell) herbs and vegetables growing in them.

The tasting menu had some great food. I think they picked this place not just for the drinks but for its vegetarian tasting menu.

(Everyone gets their personal smoking grill in one dish.)

One Shot Bar The Door (I'm not sure if it's called The Door or One Shot Bar) is located in Kyoto. I didn't see much of the bar downstairs as we were in a private room upstairs with our shoes off on with tatami mats having a great conversation. It has a short cocktail menu, mostly of classics. I ordered a Martini.

Three Martini Bar in Yokohama is full of good. The walls are lined with vintage whisky decanters and ice buckets and they were playing a soundtrack of yacht rock. Good vibes all around.

(Mmm, tequira.)

Our hosts gave us a few reasons why it's called Three Martini, but I only remember one of them. "Three" in German is spelled "dreit" as in "dry." In exchange, I told them that in America it might refer to the three-martini lunch or Dorothy Parker's "two at the most" rhyme.

Anyway, we ordered Moscow Mules and the three Martinis.

For bar snacks they had several options including fried sugar(!*!*!*!).

Eagle Bar in Shinjuku area of Tokyo looks like a speakeasy gentleman's club with patterned wallpaper, wooden walls, and carpeting. To enter you walk down a flight of stairs to find a room with the main bar. Walk down another flight of stairs (two storeys below the street) and there is another small bar room where we sat.

We sat at the bar. It has low barstools so your feet are touching the floor. While a couple to our right were working their way through the cocktail list, we stuck to highballs.

Bigri Bar is located in Golden Gai, the neighborhood of tiny bars I mentioned previously.

You enter in a set of incredibly steep stairs into a room that looks like a kitchen in a studio apartment.

I think this is what is called a "mama-san bar" as the owner is an older lady who serves drinks and also cooks you (not exactly good-looking) food from behind the same bar counter.

(Hand-knit cocktail coasters. Adorable.)

Track Bar is an uber-hipster bar that wasn't filled with hipsters at the time we visited. They have a wall of 33" records and a DJ spinning them. There were mason jars full of help-yourself snacks. But it still operated like a cocktail bar – you ask when you walk in the door if there is enough seating before entering.

It seems like a whisky bar but I saw cocktails being made as well. I ordered a highball, and their house style at this bar is to serve it in a frosted glass without ice.

November 24, 2011