In this first ever episode of How To Drink I walk you through the process of making what might very be the first cocktail: The Old Fashioned. As I mention in the show, there are an awful lot of ways to make an Old Fashioned from muddled fruit to sugar cubes to departing from whiskey entirely and working with other spirits. At any rate, this is how I make them. If you've got a favorite recipe (or if you just want to hurl expletives at me for butchering your favorite drink) feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you! If you like the show and want to see more, please subscribe, a new episode comes out every Friday.
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
The second episode of How To Drink is here at last! This week I tackle the Aviation, a drink I love that simply doesn't feature as much in my life as it probably should because I tend to be a brown spirits guy. Nonetheless it's a classic cocktail that was probably introduced in The Savoy Cocktail book. I'm not too sure if my preferred proportions will be to everyone's taste, and if you've got a way you like to make these I'd love to hear about it in the comments. As always, thanks for watching and if you like the show (or hate the show and what I've done with your favorite drink!) I look forward to hearing about it!
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
It's finally here, the third episode of How To Drink! This week we're making an Improved Whiskey Cocktail, which might just be my favorite drink. I'm actually not aware of any known variations on this drink, so if you've got a different way you like to make these I'd love to hear about it. I could go on, but frankly, it's been a long week and I'm getting thirsty so let's mix this thing.
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This week I'm drinking absinthe. There's not much to making this one, in fact, it's probably disingenuous to call this a cocktail, however I do love drinking absinthe and because of pop culture and folklore there's a lot people do wrong with this one. Not that I should be an authority on how to do anything right... For instance you'll witness me butcher the pronunciation of several words in this episode. In this episode you'll notice I don't have one of those specialized absinthe glasses or an ornate art nouveau absinthe fountain, because while very nice things they're not necessary to the enjoyment of absinthe. I'm probably wrong about why I think absinthe changes color, and hopefully one of you will correct me!
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This week I'm venturing into uncharted territory (at least I think I am, if this drink already exists under another name let me know!) and doing an episode on one of my originals. This is a Gin Whisper, a shaken combination of gin, egg white, St. Germain, mint and sugar. I hope you like it, if you make one I'd love to hear about you experiences with it. If you hate it, I'd love to hear how you think it could be made better.
Gin Whisper
2oz Gin
.25oz Simple Syrup
.24oz St. Germain
Muddled Mint
1 egg white
Also in a bit of housekeeping, last week I launched a twitter and Instagram account for the show. I won't lie, there's not a ton going on there as of just yet, but I plan to rapidly increase activity on both of those fronts in the coming weeks. If you're interested follow my twitter @how2drink and my Instagram @thisishowtodrink
Thanks for watching the show!
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This week we're taking a break from making drinks to talk about how to make clear ice. I owe Camper English at http://www.alcademics.com/ all the credit for this one, he's the guy who figured out how to make ultra clear ice at home. As always, thanks for watching, I hope you enjoy the show. Don't worry, next week we'll be back to high proof spirits.
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
In this weeks installment of How To Drink I make a Tom Collins. At the beginning of this video I announce that I'm going to make the drink two different ways, but because this shot late in the day and I'd drank quite a few cocktails in the process of making other episodes I'm a bit drunk. So instead I make a Tom Collins one way ramble a bit as I describe how to make it another way, suggest that I will, then renege on that suggestion, then reverse my position... I was drunk alright? At any rate a Tom Collins is a classic drink, and it's incredibly simple to make and can be quite tasty.
Tom Collins
2 oz. Gin
1 oz. Lemon Juice
1/4 oz. Simple Syrup
Seltzer
-or-
Old Tom Collins
2 oz. Old Tom Gin
1 Oz. Lemon Juice
Seltzer
I hope you like the show, and if you like the show, please subscribe, comment, share and all that other good stuff! Thank you!
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
After a too long absence, How to Drink is back! I'm kicking off season two with a Smoked Rosemary Gin & Tonic to keep you all feeling refreshed this summer.
Smoked Rosemary G&T
2oz Gin
1oz Tonic Syrup
.25oz Lime Juice
Top with Seltzer
Fresh Rosemary
I can't wait to share the rest of season two with you all! Thanks for watching and sharing and waiting so long for new episodes. See you again next Thursday!
Just a heads up, it's been pointed out to me by an eagle-eyed subscriber that the graphic that pops up when I pour the tonic syrup calls it ".25oz" which is a typo. Sorry about that, it should say "1oz" like it does in the video description and the title card at the end.
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
In this episode I'm making a real classic drink: a Whiskey Sour. Sours are a class of drinks that combine spirit, sugar, egg white and citrus into a delicious frothy libation that's been around since at least the late 1800's, and is frankly a bit too easy to drink to be safe in my hands.
Whiskey Sour
2 oz. Whiskey
.75 oz. Lemon Juice
.5 oz. Simple Syrup
1 egg white
Bitters
While the Whiskey Sour is the most common and popular of sour drinks, traditionally a "sour" can be made with almost any spirit and I'd love to hear about your favorite sour or any potions you mix up after watching this one!
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This week I'm making a classic cocktail from the 1920's called a French 75. It's a pretty boozy drink that's famous for knocking people off their feet like the artillery it takes it name from. While we were shooting this I decided to toss a couple dashes of absinthe into it on a whim and I was really pleased with the result, but I've since learned that the earliest version of this drink actually did call for a splash of absinthe, so a happy coincidence! I hope you like it!
French 75
2 oz. gin
.5 oz gomme or simple syrup
1 oz. lemon juice
2 dashes absinthe
top with champagne.
If you're enjoying the show I hope you'll subscribe like and share it so I can keep this thing going! Also you can follow me on twitter and Instagram @How2Drink
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This week I'm making one of my all time favorite cocktails: a Ramos Gin Fizz. There's not too many cocktails with heavy cream in them that I love like this one, and I hope you like it too. It also happens to be a real classic cocktail, invented in New Orleans in the 1880's by Henry C. Ramos.
Ramos Gin Fizz
2 oz. Gin
.25 oz. Simple Syrup
.75 oz. Lemon Juice
.75 oz. Lime Juice
1 oz. Heavy Cream
1 Egg White
3 Drops Orange Flower Water
Top with Seltzer
Thanks for watching! If you enjoy the show I hope you'll take the time to subscribe, like and comment!
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This week I'm making a Manhattan. It's a simple and classic drink that goes back to the 1800's and it's very difficult to improve upon, so I don't. My personal preference here is to not complicate things and just do it with Rye, Vermouth and Bitters. You'll get a huge variety of results experimenting with different labels using the same ratio.
Manhattan
2 oz. Rye
1 oz. Vermouth
2 Dashes bitters
Garnish with a cherry
Thanks for watching! If you enjoy the show I hope you'll subscribe, like and share, and I'll have another drink out for you next week!
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This week I'm making a Sidecar, a drink that was born during prohibition and would have been a favorite of swells and flappers alike. I find these to be very easy to drink and very popular with my guests, and I think you'll like it too. I've seen these made without the sugar rim, so I'd call that optional, personally I'm a fan in the case of this one.
Sidecar
1.5 oz. Cognac
.75 oz. Orange Curaçao
.75 oz. Lemon Juice
Serve in a sugar rimming coupe or cocktail glass.
Thanks for watching! If you enjoy the show I hope you'll subscribe, like and share, and I'll have another drink out for you next week!
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This is the first of our episodes on syrups and mixers. Today I'm making Orgeat. It's normally a pretty time consuming process but I use a blender and juicer to accelerate the whole thing.
Orgeat
1 pound almonds
Water to cover
Blend/Pulverize
Strain/juice
Add equal measure of sugar
Half a teaspoon of orange flower water
heat on stove till emulsified.
This week I'm making what might just be my favorite drink of all time: the Mai Tai. If you've had one and ti was green, or blue, or tasted like ecto-cooler or was just sickeningly sweet, you owe this drink another chance. A Mai Tai is maybe the pinnacle of Tiki glory and made the way Vic Bergeron invented it in 1944 it's a balanced, spirit forward, glass of pure magic. My Recipe hews pretty closely to that original 1944 Trader Vic's, at least so far as I know, and I think you'll like it. There's a couple of ingredients here you'll want to get your hands on before proceeding. The first is Orgreat, which is a syrup made from almonds. I'll link to my recipe video for it in both this episode and down here, but it's also available at specialty shops, and there's other recipes online you can follow. The other is Rock Candy Syrup, and this one is optional. You can use plain old simple syrup if you like and you'll get great results, but if you want to go all the way rock candy syrup is just inverse simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water) and an infusion of vanilla. If you can get real vanilla bean use that, but you'll be fine with extract too, in either case add it to taste. Thanks for watching the show guys, I hope you like this one!
Mai Tai
1oz. Jamaican rum
1oz. Rhum Agricole
.5oz. Dry Curaçao
.5oz. Orgeat
.25oz. Rock Candy Syrup
1oz. Lime Juice
Shake and serve over crushed ice, garnish with a sprig of mint.
Orgreat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVKVD1Q6TXU
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
This week I'm keeping it simple and making a classic: The Negroni. I find these to be a great refresher on a hot day as I imagine myself sipping them in a cafe on the Italian coastline I've never been too. Ah la dolce vita. I'd love to hear about any variations you employ when making your Negroni. Thanks for watching and I'll see you all next week with another episode!
Negroni
1 oz. Gin
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. Sweet Vermouth
Stir and serve up, garnish with an orange twist.
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
https://syncopators.bandcamp.com/album/uptown-jump
A lot of older recipes call for Gomme or Gum syrup, which is nothing more than simple syrup thickened with the addition of Gum Arabic. For the most part you'll be fine using plain old simple syrup, but if you have an interest in making some Gomme Syrup it's pretty easy to do. You just need to get some food grade Gum Arabic, I got mine from amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Frontier-Bulk-Arabic-Powder-package/dp/B000UYIQ5M/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1473168813&sr=8-2&keywords=gum%2Barabic
Gomme Syrup:
4 Tablespoons Gum Arabic
Approx. 1 Cup Water
1 Cup Sugar
My apologies for the audio popping in this one, we had some microphone troubles while filming this, but I didn't want to let it stop me from sharing the video.
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
GlennCrytzer.com
It's incredibly easy to infuse flavors into simple syrup, and this episode is all about that. In this episode I'm making Pineapple Infused Simple Syrup, but you can apply this technique to really anything you can imagine.
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
GlennCrytzer.com
Today I'm making a Clover Club Cocktail, which is a classic and unique cocktail in the sour family that combines Gin, Raspberry, Lemon and Egg White into a refreshing (and intoxicating) libation I'm sure you'll enjoy. It was originally the house drink of the club it was named for, which was a fancy spot for the well-to-do of Philadelphia from about 1882 to the 1920's. The drink first appears in print in 1917, but some say it was enjoyed at the club long before that. Currently there's a fantastic bar in Brooklyn called the Clover Club that has no relation to the old club in Philadelphia, but they do make perfect Clover Club Cocktail if you're in the area. Even though in this video I don't, it's a drink that would benefit from dry shaking. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for watching!
Clover Club
2oz. Gin
.5oz. Raspberry Syrup
.75oz. Lemon Juice
1 egg white
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
GlennCrytzer.com
This week I'm making an Aviation... again. Back when we did season one I made an Aviation with Créme Yvétte and stirred it, and a few of you pointed out how very wrong I was. In my defense for years in the U.S. the Aviation was commonly made with Créme Yvétte due to a complete lack of availabilty of Créme de Violet, happily that is no longer the case and we can freely and easily make this fantastic cocktail as it should be enjoyed. This version of the recipe deviates a bit from Hugo Ensslin's 1916 original, but I think you'll find it pleasing all the same.
Aviation
2 oz. Gin
.5 oz. Maraschino
.75 oz. Lemon Juice
.25 oz. Créme de Violete
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
GlennCrytzer.com
This week I'm making a classic cocktail, the Whiskey Smash. This one goes back to the birth of the modern cocktail in the 1860's when Jerry Thomas published The Bon Vivant's Companion. It's quite a bit like a Mint Julep when you get right down to it, though much less sweet than most of the Juleps I've had. I hope you enjoy!
Whiskey Smash
2oz. Rye
8-12 Mint Leaves
.25oz. Gomme Syrup
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
GlennCrytzer.com
This week I'm making one of my favorite Tiki drinks, the Fog Cutter. Like many drinks, particularly Tiki drinks, the origins of this one are a bit foggy (sorry...). Tony Ramos claims to have created the original, but it's a drink usually associated with Trader Vic, and my recipe hews pretty closely to his 1947 version. I hope you enjoy it. Also, I'm sad to say this is the end of Season Two of How to Drink. I am hard at work on new episodes, and I hope to have Season Three ready soon, but I'm careful about making those kinds of promises so I hesitate to say more right now. I may have a few additional surprise releases in the coming "off-season" period though...
Fog Cutter
2 oz. Rum
1 oz. Cognac
.5 oz. Gin
.5 oz. Orgeat
1 oz. Orange Juice
2 oz. lemon juice
.5 oz. sherry
Music: The Savoy Special by Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven
GlennCrytzer.com
Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to season three of How to Drink! If you're a returning fan, thank you so much for watching and supporting this show, and if you're a new friend, welcome aboard! This week we're releasing on a Monday specifically because Thanksgiving is Thursday and I wanted to have this out in time for your holiday. So for Thanksgiving I'm making what I'm calling an Imperial Cranberry Cobbler, or maybe just a Thanksgiving cobbler. It's a recipe based on a drink called a Floradora, which is an old cobbler named for the musical of the same name.
Thanksgiving Cobbler
1.5 oz. / 44 ml. Cognac
.25 oz. / 7 ml. Simple Syrup (Gomme if you prefer)
Muddled Cranberries
Top with Champagne approx. 3 oz. / 89 ml.
I hope you enjoy the episode and the drink, I found it to be super refreshing and plan to serve them before the turkey this year.
Music by: http://www.glenncrytzer.com/
This week How to Drink is proud to be presented by Luxardo, and we're making a Negroni Bianco. I really enjoyed this drink, I find the Negroni Bianco to be less overpoweringly bitter than a standard Negroni, and the Alessio Vermouth Bianco imparts a slightly buttery finish, at least as far as my taste buds are concerned. In short, this is more than simply an un-reddened Negroni, and it's certainly a worthy variation on the classic.
Negroni Bianco
1.5 oz. -or- 4.5 cl Junípero Gin
1.5 oz. -or- 4.5 cl Luxardo Bitter Bianco
.75 oz. -or- 2.25 cl Alessio Vermouth Bianco
Stir
Garnish with orange twist and Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
https://www.instagram.com/luxardousa/
https://www.facebook.com/luxardousa
https://twitter.com/luxardousa
https://www.instagram.com/juniperogin
https://www.facebook.com/juniperogin
https://twitter.com/juniperogin
Music by Glenn Crytzer:
www.glenncrytzer.com
I am happy to present the second episode of our partnership with Luxardo, and this week I'm making an Amaretto Sour. My approach here is to deliver a slightly modified version of Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Amaretto Sour, and I was very pleased with the result. There's not really much to say beyond this is a delicious drink that combines Luxardo Amaretto with Bourbon and that you should probably make one (or several) as soon as you reasonably can.
Luxardo Amaretto Sour
1 oz. / 3cl of Lemon Juice
1.5 oz. / 4.5cl Luxardo Amaretto
.75 oz. / 2.25cl Bourbon
.25 oz. / 7.5ml Rich Simple Syrup (double if using regular simple)
1 egg white
Dry Shake and Shake Again
Pour
Garnish with Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
https://www.instagram.com/luxardousa/
https://www.facebook.com/luxardousa
https://twitter.com/luxardousa
Music by Glenn Crytzer:
www.glenncrytzer.com
Sorry if there's any confusion about this. There was a previous version of this video online that got blocked in 248 countries because of the use of the Cantina music from Star Wars. It's a bit frustrating because according to the music rights sheet that youtube provides, that track should have only been monetized by the rights holder. They changed the policy after I released the earlier version of the video and I was caught off guard. That said, if you've already seen this: Move along, this isn't the video you're looking for.
This week on How to Drink I'm making an original cocktail. With Rogue One opening today I thought it would be cool to make a drink I could imagine Han Solo drinking. I also wanted an excuse to play with my smoking gun. Other than the hickory smoke it's actually a very simple drink, and I'll imagine if a few of you play around with it you'll wind up with some ideas on how to improve it, so I'd love to hear what you come up with. If you can't get your hands on the Wormwood Rye maybe experiment with bitters, I'd love to hear what you do there!
Shot First
2oz./6cl Wormwood Rye
1oz./3cl Green Chartreuse
1oz./3cl Antica Formula Vermouth
Stir
Decant with Hickory Smoke
Serve over a big cube
This week I'm partnered up with Luxardo again and making Eggnog for Christmas. But not just any Eggnog, I feel pretty confident in saying this is by far the best Eggnog I've ever had. When Luxardo asked me to make one of the episodes we were partnering on a Christmas themed drink I knew right away we'd be doing Eggnog, but I also couldn't think of any recipes for it that called for Maraschino, so I started experimenting. After testing out some variations on classic Eggnog and tweaking proportions I came up with this recipe and realized right away that I wouldn't be making my Eggnog any other way ever again, I hope you feel the same way...
Eggnog
2 oz. / 6 cl. Bourbon
.5 oz. / 1.5 cl. Cognac
.5 oz. / 1.5 cl. Luxardo Maraschino
.5 oz / 1.5 cl. Simple Syrup
1 whole egg
Dry shake+Shake with ice
serve up into double rocks glass
top with milk
Grate fresh nutmeg and orange peel over the top
Garnish with Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
This is the last of our three episodes we partnered with Luxardo on for season three, and I hope you've enjoyed them! We've got a lot cocktails on the way though so I hope you'll stick around. On behalf of Luxardo and myself I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
https://www.instagram.com/luxardousa/
https://www.facebook.com/luxardousa
https://twitter.com/luxardousa
Music by Glenn Crytzer:
www.glenncrytzer.com
This week I'm making a Champagne Cocktail and talking about Casablanca, two of my favorite things. This is a new thing I'm trying out simply because I love classic films and cocktails and in my mind the two go together like peanut butter and jelly, so I had the idea of doing episodes where I make a cocktail related to a film and talk a bit about both. I'm still working out the details on the format, but I think the concept works and hope to do more content like this in the future.
The drink is fairly straightforward and like the old fashioned it's precise origin is likely lost to history, though it first appears in print in the 1850's. In my approach I make a few deviations from what is considered the "norm" as far as this drink is concerned, feel free to ignore those and stuck to the stock approach of sugarcube-bitters-cognac-champagne if you prefer.
It's been brought to my attention by Evan Bergstra that the text "Top with Champagne" appears twice in this video. This is an error and mistake on my part, though truly, who would argue with more champagne? Regardless, when it looks like I'm adding ice and stirring, that's what you would do, don't pour champagne into the mixing glass.
Champagne Cocktail
.5oz/1.5cl Cognac
1 Barspoon Gomme Syrup
2 dashes of aromatic bitters
1 dash of absinthe (optional)
Stir and pour into a coupe or flute
Top with Champagne
Garnish with Cherry or Lemon Twist
Instagram: @How2Drink
Twitter: @How2Drink
Music by Glenn Crytzer and The Savoy Seven
www.GlennCrytzer.com
This week on How to Drink I'm making an El Presidente!
This is a classic pre-prohibition cocktail that seems to have first been published in print in about 1919. As I explain in the video it's not named for Fidel Castro as I'd always assumed, but rather for either Mario García Menocal or Gerardo Machado, I've read it both ways. Menocal was president of Cuba in 1919 when the first accounts of the drink are published, but Machado was a general famous for his service in the Cuban war of Independence who would go on to become president of Cuba later on. I should probably stop here to apologize for my horrific attempts at pronouncing both of these names in this video: sorry about that. I made my version with Havana Club Cuban rum and Lillet Blanc and could not have been more pleased with the results of this drink. I realize that for most of the audience here Havana Club will be tricky to get your hands on so I suggest looking at Flor de Cana 7 year as an alternative. Also note that since I shot this episode I measured my bar-spoon and discovered it to be exactly 1/8th an ounce, so the graphics in this call for .125 oz. of Grenadine. In practice a "barspoon" is a fine measurement here, and really you should let your taste be your guide.
El Presidente
1.5 oz. / 4.5 cl Rum
1.5 oz. / 4.5 clLillet Blanc
.25 oz. / 7 ml Orange Curaçao
Barspoon of Grenadine
Stir
Garnish with orange twist.
Check out my video on how to make grenadine here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTF7QkIkns8
Instagram: @How2Drink
Twitter: @How2Drink
Music by Glenn Crytzer and The Savoy Seven
www.GlennCrytzer.com
This week on How to Drink I'm making an old variation on the sling called a Jersey Sunset. Being from New Jersey I couldn't resist, but I won't lie: this is a drink I wasn't familiar with before I made it, but I'm glad I did. I found it to be a cool and refreshing way to enjoy a quality applejack. I took David Wondrich's advice on this one and went with an older applejack for this, the 7 1/2 year old from Laird's and found it quite good! The original calls for angostura bitters, but I'm a big fan of creole style bitters so opted for a bottle from The Bitter Truth. If you're making this drink yourself I'd love to hear about your choice of bitters for this.
Jersey Sunset
2 oz. / 6 cl. Applejack
.5 oz. / 1.5 cl. gomme syrup
twist of lemon
stir over ice
pour over cracked ice
float of bitters
fruit for garnish
Instagram: @How2Drink
Twitter: @How2Drink
Music by Glenn Crytzer and The Savoy Seven
www.GlennCrytzer.com