Alcademics

Category: sponsors

  • Making Rye Whiskey at Anchor Distilling in San Francisco

    This post is sponsored by Anchor Distilling, makers of three rye whiskeys in San Francisco, California.

    Anchor Distilling makes three unique rye whiskies in a tiny corner of a big brewery in Potrero Hill in San Francisco. I visited, probably for my 6th time, to learn the story of how it all started and how the whiskies are made. 

    In the Beginning…

    OLDPOTREROSTRAIGHTRYEWhen you speak with start-up distillers, you realize that everyone wants to make whiskey, but whiskey takes time to age, it has the expense of barrels to age it in, and it requires space in which to age it. So most new distilleries launch vodka, gin, rum, and/or other unaged products first. That wasn't the case at Anchor Distilling, which launched an aged whiskey first and then gin later.

    "We had a huge advantage in that we were all brewers, and the brewery was bankrolling all this. We didn’t have a time table to get a product out on the market. We could go until we had what we wanted," says Bruce Joseph, Head Distiller of the Anchor Distilling Company. 

    "We were lucky that we were able to spend a lot of time experimenting. There wasn’t a lot of information out there for small-scale distilling. It wasn’t what any bourbon distillers were doing." Joseph (interviewed in May 2014) had been a brewer long before Anchor's founder Fritz Maytag had the idea to launch a distillery. 

    "I was in my early 20s when I started working here. The brewery had just moved into this building. When I started working here there were 13 employees. I thought, 'I’ll do this for a little bit' and I started working here and there was a real sense that these were a group of people on a mission: making beer that the majority of people didn’t want to drink," Joseph says. 
     
    Making products (beer, then spirits) that won't be appreciated by most people ever, and not by hardly anybody for a while after they hit the market, seems to be both a point of pride and the business plan at Anchor. 
     
    Photo 4

    The still for second distillation of whisky and genever
     
    In a 2012 interview of Anchor Brewing and Distilling founder Fritz Maytag conducted by Alan Kropf  of Mutineer Magazine (and now the Director of Education at Anchor), Maytag said his success with the beer company led to an explosion of other creative beer makers, and then it became less exciting the more other people were making equally exciting beers.
     
    "It got to where our competitors were coming out with all kinds of things including things that were kinda goofy. It got to where if you brewed a chocolate-blueberry stout people would say, 'Oh another one of those,' and I didn’t find that very rewarding."
     
    [All quotes from Maytag come from the interview with Kropf, who gave me access to the recording.]
     
    A Plenitude of Points of Differentiation
     
    Bruce Joseph was there for the beginning of the experiments with distillation. He says, "Rye was perfect for Fritz because it was historical and it was hugely unpopular. No one gave a damn about rye whisky at the time." 
     
    Not only was the choice to make rye a bold one, the choice to make it in a pot still was radical. At the time, in 1993, there were no legal pot-distilled whiskies being made in America – it was all made in continuous column stills. 
     
    Furthermore, Maytag decided on a 100% malted rye whiskey to distill.  He said, "The rules say 51% rye (to be legally called rye whiskey by US law) but the rye whiskeys don’t use malted rye- they just use rye- and probably some malted barley and some corn. Just as in Scotland they require that the single malt whiskeys be made with all barley malt mash, I thought, 'Why don’t we make rye whiskey but we’ll make it with malted rye?'"
     
    He continued, "And we thought we could steal the phrase 'single-malt.' We stole it fair and square – the Scots forgot to trademark it!"
     
    Malting is the process (required for all single-malt scotch whisky but with barley instead of rye) where the grains are allowed to germinate in wet conditions, then they're dried. This produces grain that is easily fermentable. (Most bourbons use a portion of malted barley in their recipes as this helps the other grains ferment, though today enzymes also help speed the process.)
     
    Anchor Still

    The still for the first distillation of rye whiskey and genever
     
    Joseph says, "Fritz had that idea that he wanted to do 100% rye. When we did early mashes we all just loved the flavor of the malted rye. It had a certain character and certain quality that was just real attractive. (Maytag described that taste as "a richer, warmer, friendlier flavor".) Once we started doing spirit distillation it just seemed that it was bursting with flavor."
     
     
    Fake It 'Til You Make It
     
    Yet another unique feature of the rye whiskeys made at Anchor is that the fermented mash goes into the still, not a wort. Or, in English: grains are fermented with water and yeast. After fermentation the whole thing goes into the pot still at Anchor.
     
    This is unusual: In Scotland where they use pot stills for single-malts, they separate the solids from the fermented beer before distillation (and the liquid beer is called wort). This prevents those grain bits from sticking onto the side of the still during distillation and burning. 
     
    Additionally, rye is known for being very gummy and hard to distill because of that. Joseph says, "Rye is a sticky, viscous, mess – a brewer’s nightmare."
     
    Luckily, their copper still came with a built-in agitator that can be turned on to keep the liquids in the pot moving so that nothing sticks and burns. Joseph says, "The very first time we did it, if my memory serves me well, we at first used the agitator when we were heating up the mash then turned it off during distillation. It caked onto the inside of the still, and once it’s cooked onto the side you don’t get heat transfer. We learned that in the first day or two."
     
    And I bet somebody had a not-fun job of scraping out the inside of a small 600-liter still. 
     
    Age Is Just a Number, Except in California
     
    The first single-malt rye whiskey from Anchor was aged barely over one year – 13 months. This was 1996, about six years before the whole white whiskey trend came to be. 
     
    Maytag said, "I thought that after 6-8 months our whiskey was just charming. It was kind of almost sweet. And since the (federal) law said that there were no rules about how long it had to be in the barrel – it just had to state the age (if under four years)- I said why don’t we bottle it at one year old?"

    He continued, "Later we discovered we had broken the California law, which was a stupid mistake. But in California to be called whiskey, never mind rye whiskey, you have you to be in the barrel for at least 3 years, and some of the barrels have to have been charred. Which is absurd because there were no charred barrels until about 1840 or so."

    Yes, another unique feature: one of the three single-malt rye whiskeys made at Anchor is aged in a hand-made, air-dried, toasted American oak barrel, while laws for bourbon specify charred oak and that's the standard. It was a combination of Maytag's wine expertise and dedication to make a historically valid whiskey that had led him to the toasted oak decision.  

    "We called it 18th Century-Style Whiskey because we couldn’t call it rye whiskey because it wasn’t aged in charred barrels. (But) that whiskey can’t be called whiskey at any age in California because there are no charred barrels. We still have a product that in California is labelled as a “spirit”; can’t call it whiskey, it’s crazy," he said. 

    This Is How It's Done 

    Old potrero hotalingsfinalAnchor Distilling makes three rye whiskies.

    • Old Potrero Single-Malt Straight Rye Whiskey (sometimes called 19th Century whiskey)
    • Old Potrero 18th Century Style Whiskey 
    • Old Potrero Hotaling's  Single-Malt Whiskey

    They all start with the same distillate, made from fermented 100% malted rye mash. Then they all go into different barrels at the same proof, "a little below the legal limit of 125 proof," according to Joseph. 

    • The Old Potrero 18th Century Style Whiskey is aged in toasted barrels for 2.5 – 3 years, sometimes with a little bit of older whisky mixed in. Joseph says, "Toasted barrels work better for a younger whisky."
    • The Old Potrero Single-Malt Straight Rye Whiskey is aged in new charred oak barrels for 4.5 – 5 years. Joseph says, "We prefer the whisky not to age too long."
    • The Old Potrero Hotaling's  Single-Malt Whiskey is aged in used whiskey barrels. These have always been ex-bourbon barrels, but recent releases will have been aged in used charred barrels that were used to age something else (forthcoming) at Anchor. Joseph says, "We kept tasting it but for the first 7 years we didn’t like it as much as the other whiskies. But finally we tried it after about 8.5 years after we hadn't in a while and we said 'We should have been putting more of this away!' The age of the release changes each year, as there isn't very much of it around. 

    The barrels were aged on-site in Potrero Hill for many years, but now they age in Western Sonoma County in a warehouse that keeps a San Francisco-like temperature year-round. 

     

    This post about the pioneering spirits created by Fritz Maytag and his team is sponsored by Anchor Distilling. 

  • Making Gin and Hophead Vodka at Anchor Distilling

    This post is sponsored by Anchor Distilling, makers of Junipero gin and Genevieve genever-style gin.

    JuniperofinalAnchor Distilling currently has just three tiny stills in one corner of the large brewery on Potrero Hill in San Francisco. Two of them make their rye whiskeys and Genevieve. The other one makes Junipero gin and Hophead vodka.

    In this post we'll look at the history and production of the spirits produced in one of the stills at Anchor.

    Once Upon A Time

    The first product released by Anchor Distilling was a 13-month aged malted rye whiskey in 1996, but by the time it was launched they had already been working on another product.

    Head Distiller Bruce Joseph says, “As soon as we got our distilling procedures down we started working on Junipero right away. We took I think it was over a year and a half of experimenting before we came up with the recipe. Every Tuesday and Thursday we would meet in the lab and drink gin.”

    Fritz Maytag, former owner/founder of Anchor Distilling, told a story about this testing process in an interview with Alan Krop for Mutineer Magazine back in 2012. Maytag said, “We had a team of people who’d been tasting the whiskeys the whole time. We called it the Water Committee because everything we were doing was top-secret, so we said that if anyone ever asked what we were doing we’d say we were tasting the water (for the beer) every morning.”

    I asked Joseph how much assistance and consultation he and Maytag had with creating not just Junipero, but in distilling in general. He says of Maytag’s working style, “He fully throws himself into (new projects) and he would ask advice, but he also wasn’t afraid to deviate from that. He had very strong opinions about certain things. It wasn’t his way to just turn over a decision to someone from outside.”

    He continues, “Fritz would throw himself into it and since he wanted to make a geneva, he bought a ticket and went to The Netherlands. Very much like he did in the early 70s when he wanted to make ales using traditional English brewing techniques. He went to breweries (in England) that weren’t even making it (that way) anymore and he’d talk to the old-timers working there.”

    In April of 1996 they released Junipero, a bold, high-proof gin very much different from the less-juniper-intensive gins that had just started to change the industry.

    Joseph says, “That was in the mid 1990s when some brands were trying to make lighter gins to woo vodka drinkers. But we wanted that intensity and crispness that would really stand up in a martini; not the softer rounder flavor of some other brands. ”

    How Junipero is Made

    There are many different ways to make gin, which is essentially a neutral spirit like vodka flavored with juniper and usually other botanicals.

    The cheap and quick way to make gin is to add juniper oil and other flavorings to neutral spirit. But like most quality gins, Junipero mixes neutral spirit with real botanicals and redistills the mixture. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Fritz Maytag product if they didn’t at least consider doing it the hardest way possible.

    Joseph recalls, “When we first started, Fritz was looking at producing his own neutral spirit but the amount of mash and space it would take weren’t possible.”

    The base for Junipero is purchased wheat and corn spirit made elsewhere. To that they add their (top-secret) mix of botanicals and redistill it. This is performed in a hybrid-style still (a pot still with a column on top) now common in micro-distilleries for its versatility.

    Gin Still at Anchor Distilling

    The Gin and Vodka Still at Anchor Distilling

    Many gin brands actually make a gin concentrate in the still – they add more botanicals to get a very flavorful gin, then dilute this with both water and more neutral spirit after distillation. Other brands make separate distillations of individual or groups of botanicals, then blend these distillates together and redistill the mixture.

    For Junipero, all the botanicals go into the still at the same time with the base spirit. After redistillation, only water is added; not more neutral spirit. This is usually called “one-shot” gin-making.

    In the process of figuring out how to make Junipero to their liking, Joseph says they attempted putting the botanicals in a ‘basket’ in the steam part of the still (as opposed to mixed into the liquid) as some other brands do, but it wasn’t producing the flavor profile that they were seeking. He says, “We found that the intensity and crispness (we wanted) came from putting it in the still.”

    Junipero is bottled at 49.3% ABV.

    HOPHEAD – Flavored Vodka, Made Like Gin

    In the same still used for Junipero, Hophead Hop Vodka is made. Two kinds of hops are added to neutral spirit and the combination is redistilled.

    HOPHEAD websiteJoseph says they experimented with just soaking hops in neutral spirit to achieve the flavor but that the bitterness was “out of whack” with the flavor and aroma. So they distilled the bitterness out of it.

    Still, Joseph says it wasn’t a cake walk. “It was more difficult that we thought. There’s a lot of sulfur compounds in hops.”

    He didn’t reveal their solution to that problem, though he did mention an attempt at putting more sulfur-retaining copper in the still.

    Hophead is a flavored vodka, made in the style of gin, tasting of the beer for which the company is famous. 

    HOPHEAD is bottled at 45% ABV.

     

    This post is sponsored by Anchor Distilling, an innovative small distillery in San Francisco.  

  • The US Gin Launch Timeline

    For the purposes of categorizing and tracking the American gin renaissance, I created this timeline of when different gin brands launched in the US, with a number of caveats:

    • GinTimelineScreenShotAs the goal is to closely look at what happened in 1980-2010ish, I didn't include most new brands launched after 2009ish. 
    • The older brand dates may not reflect the real first import date into the US. They are indications that they were probably around a very long time.
    • If the brand reformulated in a meaningful way (ex. Plymouth) I used the re-release date.
    • I have tried to focus on the US, rather than international, release date. 
    • For Type of Gin, I categorized things into Dry, Genever, and Old Tom. I'm not trying to define which are "New Western" or whatever we're now calling the lighter, modern style. Those are labelled as Dry. 
    • This post offers some analysis of the chart and gin history.
    • I cited my sources and have made a strong attempt to be accurate. It is not my intention to misrepresent or disinclude any brand.
    • If you have something to add (missing or incorrect information for brands launched 2009 or before), you can leave a comment below or email me. 
    • Sorry about the formatting!  

     

    Gin Brand US Launch Origin Type of Gin Notes Source
    Booths 1740 UK Dry   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booth's_Gin
    Gordon's Original London Dry 1769   Dry first distillery in US 1934. Looks to have multiple distilleries Wikipedia
    Tanqueray London Dry 1830 UK Dry   Wikipedia
    Boodles 1845 UK Dry First bottled in the United States by Seagram's.  In 2012, redesigned bottle and an alcoholic strength of 80 proof. The botanical recipe remains the same. Has always been made in the UK.

    Wikipedia/PR contact

    According to a former PR employee, "Boodles was invented by the Seagram Company in the 1960’s. I don’t know where the year 1845 came from, but it is nothing to do with any distillery or product launch."
    Seagram's 1857 Canada Dry According to Regan, Seagram's gin wasn't introduced to the US until 1939. https://pernod-ricard.com/551/brands/see-all-brands/local-brands/seagram-s-gin
    Beefeater 1876 UK Dry   Wikipedia
    Boomsma Stirling London Dry 1883 Netherlands Dry   https://www.boomsma.net/
    Bombay Original Dry 1959 UK Dry  Bottle says 1761 Pr Rep 
    Bombay Sapphire 1987 UK Dry   PR Rep
    Cadenhead's Old Raj 1995 UK Dry Launched in UK 1972. "I believe the gin would have been exported to American from around the 1992 to 1995 period." – brand email https://www.the-complete-gentleman.com/SpiritsGinBrandsCadenheadOldRajBlueLabelGin.html
    Bendistillery Cascade Mountain Gin (Crater Lake Gin) 1996 USA Dry Name changed from Cascade Mountain to Crater Lake in 2012. Flavored by post-distillation maceration. email
    Junipero 1996 USA Dry   anchor website
    Citadelle 1996 France Dry 1994 in Europe pr rep
    Tanqueray Malacca (defunct) 1997 UK Dry 1997-2001, then a special edition in 2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanqueray
    Plymouth Gin 1998 UK Dry Launched in 1793. Reformulated and relaunched in 1990s. Regan
    Beefeater Wet (defunct) 1999 UK Dry   https://summerfruitcup.wordpress.com/tag/beefeater-wet/
    Van Gogh 1999 Netherlands Dry "released in 1999" Regan pr rep
    Bardenay 2000 USA Dry   brand rep
    Tanqueray No TEN 2000 UK Dry   Regan
    Hendrick's 2000 UK Dry   brand rep
    Broker's 2001 UK Dry Broker’s was originally launched in 1998 and it was introduced into the U.S. Market in 2001 PR Rep
    Hampton's 2001 USA Dry   Regan
    Leopold's American Small Batch Gin 2001 USA Dry   Distiller
    Juniper Green Organic London Dry 2002 UK Dry Launched in UK in 2000. importer email
    Martin Miller's 2003 UK Dry UK launch 1999 https://www.martinmillersgin.com/the-gin/
    Sarticious (Defunct) 2003 USA Dry closed but Blade Gin is same recipe made at another distillery brand rep
    Magellan Blue Gin 2003 France Dry   brand contact
    Martin Miller's Westbourne Strength 2003 UK Navy Strength   pr rep
    CapRock Organic Dry 2004 USA Dry "Peak Spirits founded in 2004" Regan Regan
    209 Gin 2005 USA Dry   Distiller
    North Shore Distiller's Gin No 6 2005 USA Dry "north shore distillery est in 2004" Regan distiller
    Zuidam Dry 2005 Netherlands Dry   brand material
    Zuidam Genever 2005 Netherlands Genever   brand material
    Aviation 2006 USA Dry   Distiller
    Bluecoat American Dry 2006 USA Dry   Regan
    Death's Door 2006 USA Dry   Owner
    DH Krahn 2006 USA Dry   https://martini-lounge.blogspot.com/2006/11/dh-krahn-gin-launches.html
    G'Vine Floraison 2006 France Dry   Brand rep
    Rogue Spruce 2006 USA Dry started getting awards in 2007 https://www.grizzlyliquor.com/Packages/Gin/Gin03.htm
    Bulldog London Dry 2007 UK Dry Offices in NY Regan
    Dry Fly Washington Dry 2007 USA Dry "first distilled in Sept 2007" Regan Regan
    Greylock Gin 2007 USA Dry Distillery launched in 2007, not positive about gin. https://berkshiremountaindistillers.com/about-us/about-berkshire-mountain-distillers/
    New Amsterdam 2007 USA Dry   Camper notes
    Rehorst Premium Milwaukee 2007 USA Dry "Opened in 2006" Regan https://www.jsonline.com/business/29543669.html
    Right Gin 2007 Sweden Dry https://altamarbrands.com/our-brands/right-gin/essential-facts/ their website
    Tanqueray Rangpur 2007 UK Dry   Regan
    Genevieve 2007 USA Genever   Regan
    Hayman's Old Tom 2007 UK Old Tom   https://imbibemagazine.com/Old-Tom-Gin
    Blade – Rusty Blade 2008 USA Aged   brand rep
    Citadelle Reserve 2008 USA Aged   pr rep
    12 Bridges (defunct) 2008 USA Dry distillery closed in 2012 https://www.the-complete-gentleman.com/SpiritsGinBrands12BridgesGin.html
    G'Vine Nouaison 2008 France Dry   Brand rep
    Knickerbocker Gin 2008 USA Dry   https://www.mlive.com/kalamabrew/index.ssf/2008/12/_holland_more_new.html
    Organic Nation Gin (defunct) 2008 USA Dry   https://www.organicnationspirits.com/about/
    Whitley Neill 2008 UK Dry "launched sept 2005" in UK brand rep
    Bols Genever 2008 Netherlands Genever   PR
    Boomsma Fine Young Genever 2008 Holland Genever 1883 founded. On US market by 2008 but date may not be exactly correct. https://www.boomsma.net/
    Beefeater 24 2009 UK Dry   Wikipedia
    Blade Gin 2009 USA Dry Same recipe as Sarticious brand rep
    Damrak Amsterdam 2009 Netherlands dry   Regan
    Greenall's Original London Dry 2009 UK Dry 1761 Launch Regan
    Nicholas 2009 USA Dry "first bottle born on april 24, 2009 at 10pm" Regan Regan
    Oxley 2009 UK Dry   brand material
    Port of Barcelona (defunct?) 2009 Spain Dry   https://martini-lounge.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-port-of-barcelona-gin.html
    Ransom Old Tom 2009 USA Old Tom "first batch bottled March 2009" Regan Regan
    Cold River Gin 2010 USA Dry   https://stuffboston.com/2010/10/04/original-gin#.U3p839JdX4U
    Nolet 2010 Netherlands Dry   PR Rep
    Bloom 2011 UK Dry launched in UK 2009-2010 https://www.the-complete-gentleman.com/SpiritsGinBrandsBloomGin.html
    Bols Barrel Aged Genever 2011 Netherlands Genever   PR Rep
    Bombay Sapphire East 2012 UK Dry   pr rep

    The Regan cited as a source is gaz regan's Bartender's Gin Compendium, which has collected information from many gin brands. 

     

    This post was assembled with the support of Anchor Distilling, makers of Junipero gin and Genevieve genever-style gin. 

     

  • Texture in Cocktails

    This post is sponsored by PAMA pomegranate liqueur, but written by me. 

    Texture in Cocktails

    Flavor and balance are probably the most important components of cocktail quality, but it's the temperature, texture, aroma, strength, and presentation that makes for a wel-rounded drink. I pay a lot of attention to texture in both cocktails and base spirits – for some reason it plays a major role in my enjoyment of a drink.

    In cocktail contests, especially ones with a secret ingredient challenge, bartenders often come up with delicious flavor combinations, but the winning drink takes texture into account: maybe the drink should have been shaken with an egg white, or been stirred to a colder temperature?

    Some Texture Descriptors for Cocktails and Spirits

    • Thick, syrupy, not dilute enough
    • Thin, weak, non-integrated, over-shaken
    • Silky
    • Light
    • Bubbly, fizzy
    • Tannic, astringent
    • Soft, pillowy, foamy, frothy
    • Slushy, viscous, chewy
    • Crunchy
    • Gloppy, chunky

    Methods to Manipulate Cocktail Texture

    Egg Whites – Probably the first thing bartenders think of when they think about texture is adding an egg white. This adds a luscious frothy surface atop a drink. This foam also brings any aromatic ingredients in the drink right up to the drinker's nose. One new favorite trick I found at Clough Club in Vancouver, where they sprinkled dehydrated Campari powder on top of an egg white foam. It was both crunchy and soft. 

    Rims– Rimming a drink with regular or flavored salts or sugars doesn't just add flavor to the drink, it adds texture.

    Temperature –  Cold drinks are more viscous than the same ones warm, but too cold is also problematic. Ever put a Martini or Manhattan in the freezer? The drink turns into a semi-frozen slurry that really detracts from the flavor. You'll also have noticed that a room temperature Sazerac often tastes too sweet. In cocktails, you're never just balancing flavor, you're balancing that flavor with temperature, and this affects texture.

    Also, people who like Martinis and Manhattans shaken often say they like the floating shards of ice on the surface of the drink – could this be a texture preference rather than flavor? 

    Sugar – Diet Gimlets are not very tasty. This isn't just because the gin and lime juice combination will sear your mouth with too much acid, but also because sugar gives the drink a thicker texture. (I haven't tried a Gimlet with an artificial sweetener but would imagine the texture wouldn't be so great as typically you don't need as much as you do sugar.) In modern times, many drinkers are requesting their drinks be "not too sweet" but yet this affects the texture as well. 

    Some solutions to the problems of getting correct sweetness and texture balances may be found in different sugar syrups. As I discussed at my seminar at Tales of the Cocktail and learned from Darcy O'Neill's chapter in the first Journal of the American Cocktail, unheated simple syrup is thicker and less sweet than boiled simple syrup. Thus, controlling ratios of sucrose/glucose/fructose in syrups allows greater control over texture and sweetness. I hope to put up a more in-depth blog post from recent lessons learned about this subject also. 

    Let's also not forget extra-thick sweeteners, like honey and gum arabic can add texture to drinks, while high-sweet sweeteners like agave nectar may reduce it. 

    Dairy – Milk and cream are thicker than water, and citrus, and spirits.  

    Thickeners: Pectin/Gelatin – I haven't studied this topic too much, but gelatin and fruit pectin are just two of many thickening substances that can be added to both food and cocktails to add texture. We all know about the texture of Jell-O shots and jam, and these can help to thicken drinks. Or if you make flavored syrups from high-pectin fruits, these are thicker than regular simple syrup. 

    Tannins – Most associated with wines, tannins are also found in teas, nuts, and in barrel-aged spirits. Also, pomegranate. 

    Pineapple– Pineapple makes drinks foamy/frothy. I'm not sure why that is and/or if you can use that property to make a vegan froth substitute in place of egg whites that doesn't necessarily taste like pineapple froth (that has its own distinct aroma). Has anyone played with this? 

     Ice – Stick a drink in a blender and it changes pretty significantly. Not only does the texture change but also the sweet/sour ratio. Blending is one way to create small ice chunks in a drink, but you can also used crushed ice, shaved ice; or to reduce thickness, big ice or no ice at all. Plus, some people like to chew on the ice for a satisfying crunch. 

     Glassware – While glassware doesn't affect the texture in a cocktail, it sure does affect the presentation and enjoyment of it. Blended drinks are served in large glasses (as there is all that extra ice), mint julep glasses are metal to add a cooling surface temperature and frosty coating to the outside of the glass, and you wouldn't want to serve a stirred Manhattan in a big margarita glass as it would warm up way too fast with a large surface area exposed to the outside. (But if you were drinking it in the Arctic, perhaps that would be a good idea…)

    Bubbles – Clearly, bubbles change the texture of the drink and tickle the tongue. From using sparkling wine, sodas, and other sparkling mixers to carbonating cocktails, there are plenty of ways to add fizz to drinks.

     What have I missed?

    PAMA suggested the topic of this blog post, so let's hear their word on it. 

    "The quality that makes PAMA unique is its texture, which helps to offset the lower alcohol content. PAMA gives drinks a silky finish and makes the drink feel more substantial."

    50/50 PROPOSITION
    Glass: Snifter
    Garnish: Dash Orange Bitters
    Ingredients:1 1/2 oz. PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur
    1 1/2 oz. Cognac

    Method:Combine all ingredients in a chilled mixing glass. Add ice and stir for 40 seconds. Strain into chilled snifter set with 1 large ice cube.

    Eben Freeman's Notes: PAMA's tannic structure allows it to work as a primary spirit, where it balances the strength of the Cognac. It is so well balanced between sweet and tart that it can even work as a primary spirit such as in this cocktail, where it balances the strength of its partner spirit, making it a fully-fledged cocktail with just the addition of a dash of bitters.

    PAMA has a website specifically written for bartenders, with information from Eben Freeman throughout. Check it out at PAMAPros.com.