Drink

This is one of your quick and dirty “built” cocktails, and if there’s one thing you need to know, it’s the order in which you build it. First, you take your glass – in this case a highball or a large rocks glass – fill it with ice, then add your booze, and THEN top it off with your mixer. See, if you do it the other way around, you’ll need to stir because the booze will float on top of the juice, but by building your drink in the correct order you can really embrace the no-tools-necessary freedom of the Cape Cod cocktail.
Garnish-wise, a lime wheel is traditional, but I could also see a few fresh cranberries skewered on a cocktail pick as a nice homage to the boggy berry to which the Cape Code owes its name and flavor.
The Cape Cod is a tangy, refreshing way to beat the heat without breaking a sweat with your cocktail shaker, and if you’re a lazy home bartender like I am, you should always keep a little vodka and cran on hand.
Show Notes
In this conversation with Craig LeHoulier, we get pretty granular about the history and science of the tomato. Of course, tomato juice is arguably the Bloody Mary’s titular ingredient, so it makes sense that we start with this base and work our way out.
What is a Tomato? More

In this episode, we’ll feature a milk punch recipe created by everyone’s favorite syphilitic founding father, Ben Franklin. To make it, you’ll need:

 One 25 oz bottle of Cognac

½ whole nutmeg (grated) (or ½ tsp ground nutmeg)

The peels of 8 lemons

16 oz water

8 oz lemon juice

12 oz whole milk (this is important – any other type of milk won’t work as well)

¾ cup of sugar

This is about a 2-day process, so if you’re smart, you’ll start on a Wednesday evening in preparation for having your drink finished and chilled for Friday night.
Day 1: Peel your 8 lemons and then let the peels infuse into the Cognac in a large mason jar. This is the easy part.
Day 2: Strain out those lemon peels and discard them. Then get out two saucepans: a large one and a small one. In the large saucepan, combine your cognac, water, sugar, nutmeg, and lemon juice, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Then, put your milk in the small saucepan and heat it gently until it’s just about to boil. When it boils, add the milk to the rest of the mixture, give it a gentle stir, and then place it in the fridge (covered) for several hours or overnight.
Once you’ve let your mixture sit for a little while, you’ll notice that the acid in the lemon juice has denatured the proteins in the milk, separating the solid curds from the sugary, liquid whey. This is the “sciencey” part of milk punch because you’re basically using these proteins to strip away any particulate matter that makes the drink cloudy.
Now it’s time to strain, and the problem with straining is that most people either have very rough strainers (like sieves or Chinoises) or very fine strainers like coffee filters. The problem with this is as follows: If you strain your milk punch from a sieve into a coffee filter, you’ll only catch the largest particles, and anything that escapes will immediately clog your coffee filter.
So, what we’d recommend doing is purchasing something called a nut milk bag or a jelly bag. These are usually made of nylon, which means they’re super re-usable, and they serve as an excellent intermediate step between your rough pass filter and your finishing coffee filter. And for anyone who’s rolling their eyes right now thinking that the nut milk bag is overkill – that’s fine. You’ll have plenty of time to reconsider your stance while you’re staring at a coffee filter filled with goop.
At the end of the milk clarification process, you should have a golden-colored punch that is completely clear, and the real mind-boggling thing about this beverage is that it doesn’t look like there’s milk in it – and yet you still get this creamy, rich mouthfeel from the whey. For more in-depth info on the history of milk punch and even more tips for making it at home, check out Episode 76, which I’ll link to in the show notes page.
One last piece of housekeeping for this recipe: clarified milk punch still contains lactose, so it’s unfortunately still off the menu for folks with sensitivity to that compound – but for the rest of us, it’s a fun way to bend the relationship between what you see in your glass and how you think it will taste.
What is Molecular Mixology?
Molecular mixology is a trend that builds upon the molecular gastronomy craze popularized by Spanish chef Ferran Adrià (elBulli) and British chef Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck) in the early 2000s. In general, molecular gastronomy is characterized by manipulation of physical or chemical forces (temperature, texture, pressure, chemical composition, etc.) to deconstruct or otherwise transform the ingredients in a dish. Likewise, in molecular mixology, many of these techniques are applied to cocktails. Some popular methods and ingredients in the molecular mixology space include: More

I’ve already got 40 recipes logged in that spreadsheet, which will remain under lock and keyboard until I’m ready to unveil it, but I also wanted to have a community aspect to this project. So if you have a favorite Bloody Mary recipe – either from a book, a magazine, the internet, or a maybe even a secret family recipe – please do give us a shout by emailing [email protected] or sending us a message on Instagram @ModernBarCart. Ideally, I’d like to pump up the number of recipes on the spreadsheet to at least 100 so we can hit that triple digit mark, so any help I can get along the way from our listeners’ informed palates would be A-mazing.
Now, just because I’m out there on my Pequod hunting down my zesty, red nemesis doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally have time to work on other stuff as well. So here’s a quick rundown of other things we have in the works.
Episodes in the Works
On the “Bar Cart Essentials” side of things, I’m really looking forward to a couple important episodes that are long overdue.

One of them is the topic of smoked cocktails. This is admittedly a bit of a blind spot for me, but I did recently acquire a smoker, and I’ve been busy testing a few techniques that I’m excited to share with you. We’ll of course talk about what smoke is (in case you were under the impression that it was wood ghosts), how to use it to infuse drinks, and which flavor pairings are most smoke friendly.

Another bar cart foundations episode we’re lining up for later this year is a deep dive on hydrosols, the most popular of which are rose water and orange blossom water. These are ingredients in some pretty epic cocktails, including the Ramos Gin Fizz and the Mai Tai, but few people really understand how they’re made and how one might go about preparing their own hydrosol, so we’ll also be diving deep on that topic.

On the interview side, we’ve got lots of exciting things in the works. We’ll hopefully be able to snag someone from Tales of the Cocktail and/or Bar Convent Brooklyn to talk about how these really huge cocktail conferences are going digital while we continue to battle this pandemic. And I’m super excited about that because it presents awesome opportunities for home consumers who might not have the budget to jump on a plane and fork out for a hotel room in New Orleans or New York City. So stay tuned for that.
We’re also lining up some interviews with folks who are doing important work in the spirits world as it pertains to equitable treatment of workers who harvest grapes and agave, as well as some folks who are doing interesting things with water (you know, that thing that usually comprises more than 50% of the volume of a distilled spirit…) and alternative distillate bases, which are whey cool (pun intended).
Reach out with Your Suggestions!
If YOU have any other subjects you’d like us to cover or folks you think would make for great interviews, please do drop us a line and let us know. We always love hearing from you, and it’s your interest and enthusiasm that make this show possible in the first place.
That about does it for this little mini preview episode. Going into this Fourth of July weekend, where I know a lot of us are gonna do our best to get out and enjoy the warm weather in a safe way, please know that we’re still hard at work here at Modern Bar Cart trying to give you everything you need to make the most out of cocktails this summer. If you haven’t already, please check out our new glassware and bar tools over at ModernBarCart.com, and get ready for even more new product launches and partnerships coming this fall. More

This episode’s featured drink is The Rose Cocktail. To make it, you’ll need:

2 ounces French vermouth (like Dolin)

1 ounce Kirschwasser (which is a cherry eau de vie)

1 teaspoon raspberry syrup (most popular as the key ingredient in the Clover Club)

And, if you’re a fan of our Embitterment Bitters, a dash or two of orange or lavender would be pretty nice in this drink.

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, stir for about 20 seconds until everything is well chilled and diluted, then strain into a stemmed cocktail glass and enjoy. There’s no traditional garnish stipulated here, so we’d recommend following the lead of whichever vermouth you’ve chosen to use and selecting a garnish accordingly.
It’s interesting that the only descriptor of the vermouth we could find for this drink is “French.” Now, that does tell us something – namely, that it’s a bit less sweet and often more floral than Italian vermouths. But it doesn’t tell us whether we should dope a sweet vermouth or a dry vermouth (or perhaps something like a white vermouth) into this recipe.
When we come up against situations like this in the cocktail world, we usually advise you to follow your heart. Which bottle do YOU think would pair best with Kirschwasser and raspberry syrup. In most cases, we think this is going to be a dry (or occasionally a white) vermouth, so if you’re on the fence, opt for one of those.
The Rose Cocktail is one member of Jake’s “Impregnable Quadrilateral of Low Alcohol Stirred Drinks,” so if that doozy of a title intrigues you, be sure to join us for the lightning round to find out what the other three members might be!
Show Notes
We’ve really been hoping to talk to someone in the distribution and importation industry for a while now because we think it really is one of the missing links in most people’s understanding of the spirits industry. It’s easy to think about a bottle being created by a distillery, but how it gets to be on the shelves at your liquor store or behind your favorite bar is a detail that sort of intentionally gets swept under the rug in many cases. In this chat, Jake takes us through the journey that a bottle undertakes in transit from Europe to the United States, and also what kind of value craft importers and distributors play in spirits supply chain.
What We Tasted
Pasubio Vino Amaro
This bottle is absolutely gorgeous and is a really compelling offering from Antica Erboristeria Cappelletti (best known for Aperitivo Cappelletti). Some of the botanicals and ingredients include a base of Marsala wine, alpine blueberries, smokey rhubarb root, and spices. The bright acidity from the blueberries and the marsala wine really helps this bottle to punch above its weight either in straight food pairings, or as a cocktail modifier. Coming in at just 17% ABV, it has the enviable position of working as a bitter fortified wine or as the cornerstone of a complex stirred cocktail. If none of that sounds appealing (first, we disagree), just make yourself a Pasubio and sparkling lemonade! More

To infuse your Ming River Baijiu with peppercorns…well, first you need your bottle, so head over to shopmingriver.com and order a bottle right to your doorstep if you live here in the US. With shipping, it’ll cost around $40, which is a great deal. Then, you’re going to want to throw just a small handful of your Sichuan peppercorns in the bottle overnight. If you taste the bottle the next day and you still want more flavor infused in there you can add some more and wait a little longer, but a light touch with infused spirits is important – otherwise you risk ruining the bottle if you get overzealous.
Next, onto the clove syrup. Similarly – you’re going to want to throw a small handful of whole cloves (not powdered) into your 1:1 sugar:water mixture on the stovetop, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Once, you’re approaching a simmer, go ahead and cut that heat and leave the lid on your sauce pan for an hour or two before you strain out the cloves and bottle your syrup for the fridge.
Show Notes
This is a rich conversation with a lot of moving parts. In it, we tackle the history, production methods, and cultural importance of Baijiiu, all of which branch into still other fascinating lines of inquiry. Below, we’ll provide links to some of the topics we discuss, as well as an extensive set of bullet points taken from a seminar that Derek conducted with the WSET (see embedded video below).
Here are some important links, as promised in the audio interview:
Related Episodes
Links & References
Baijiu Crash Course
This summary was taken from a seminar in mid-2020 hosted by the WSET, wherein Derek presents a structured, hour long crash course on Baijiu production methods. You can review the bullet points below or simply enjoy the video here: More

To make the Negroni Sbagliato, you’ll need:
Now, unlike your classic Negroni, the Sbagliato riff is actually a “built” drink, rather than a stirred one. And that simply means that you’re going to take a rocks glass with ice, add your Campari and sweet vermouth, top it with a 1 oz pour of sparkling wine (or perhaps a bit heavier pour…who are we kidding), and then stir gently to combine the ingredients before garnishing with a classic orange twist.
Now, Negroni fans, don’t get salty here, but you could argue that the Sbagliato improves on the classic Negroni in two noteworthy ways: it simplifies the mixing process and lightens the ABV of the cocktail significantly. This makes the Sbagliato an excellent brunch or porch sippin’ drink, so in those moments when your brain thinks “Negroni” but your body isn’t quite ready to get on board, the Negroni Sbagliato might just be the bastardized formula that saves the day.
Show Notes
In this interview, we cover a lot of design-related topics; for example – how to keep a clean, minimal aesthetic while still visualizing the complexity and unique character of a given cocktail. Below, you’ll find links to some of the particular people, places, and things we mention during the conversation, as well as a number of pictures and videos from the book.
Links
Gallery
Check out these images and Alternate Reality (AR) GIFs from Measurements: A Proportional Cocktail Guide. If you download the Artivive app, you can actually interact with these visualizations when you purchase Nick’s Book. More

To make it, you’ll need:

2 oz Canadian Whisky (but if you’re in the US market, rye whiskey would be an appropriate substitute)

¼ oz Fernet Branca

¼ oz Simple Syrup

1-2 dashes of Aromatic Bitters (Angostura is traditional, but feel free to use our Embitterment Aromatic Bitters for a slightly different take on the drink)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, stir for about 20 seconds until everything is well chilled and diluted, strain into a stemmed cocktail glass, and garnish with an expressed orange twist.
As you can see, the Toronto Cocktail sort of wedges itself in between an Old Fashioned and a Manhattan. The Fernet could be seen as either a very bitter, lightly sweet vermouth (this would be the Manhattan interpretation), or as an additional bitter with enough sugar to warrant cutting your simple syrup (this would be the Old Fashioned riff).
Shawn had a hand in bringing this drink to the forefront as a result of his thorough historical research, so we’ll dig into it in greater depth during this interview.
Show Notes
During this conversation, we go wide and deep, covering everything from foraged cocktail ingredients to Philip Duff’s affection for the proud nation of Canada. Here are some links to some of the times we cover. More

To make it, you’ll need:
Combine all these ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake for about 15 seconds until everything is well chilled and diluted, then strain into a stemmed cocktail glass and enjoy.
The big appeal of the Brown Derby cocktail – which was invented in LA a few years prior to the repeal of Prohibition – is that it doesn’t contain anything that was hard to source here in the US. We grow our own grapefruits down in Florida, we got dem bees makin’ honey all over the place, and of course, we’ve got our beloved national spirit, Bourbon.
And that was important during Prohibition because during that time it was hard to get your hands on lots of fancy European Liqueurs and other imported mixers. So the Brown Derby is truly a drink of its time – it takes the whiskey sour format and evolves it in a compelling way, but it knows its limitations and stays in its lane.
Show Notes
Chris Swonger is a spirits industry veteran with a penchant for political advocacy. After graduating from Texas Tech, he jumped in his pickup truck and headed to Washington, DC to pursue a career on the hill and later used his talents while working for some of the largest spirits brands on the planet. After a decade long hiatus working in the tech industry, Chris returned to take the reins of DISCUS, Responsibility.org, and Spirits United. Below, you’ll find links to some of the topics covered in this interview. More