The Sip Awards

SPIRITS TASTING EVENT - THE SIP AWARDS
Sun, May 22 at 1:00 PM, Newport Beach, CA  

Join us for our annual Spirits Tasting at Hyatt Newport Beach, CA. Taste and evaluate over 30+ spirits from all over the world while enjoying the beautiful Newport Beach venue.

In a blind tasting, do you think you have what it takes to spot your favorite alcohol brands?

*Categories include: Vodka, Gin, Tequila, Mezcal, Whiskey, Scotch, Cognac, Bourbon, Liqueurs, Moonshine, Infused Spirits, Mixers, and many others.

Some of the exciting aspects of the event:

• Over 30+ beverage samples to evaluate in a blind tasting
  
• Learn how to effectively taste fine spirits from Professor Neat
  
• Appetizers and beverages will be served
  
• Many chances to win prizes and gifts throughout the event
  
• Social Media wall and contests
  
• DJ Mike Soltani and professional photographers
  
• A very fun and unique experience

*** 20% off of ticket prices with this code: HITIME20

For more info and to purchase tickets, please visit the below link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spirits-tasting-sip-awards-tickets-24354345503

Classic Cocktails: The Sazerac

Classic Cocktails: Sazerac
by Michael Frank 

Whenever I go to one of those speakeasy type bars, I like to order a Sazerac or two. There's something special about how the bitter green herbaceousness matches with the anise flavors of the absinthe while embracing the sweetness and terroir of the Cognac with open arms. Without absinthe or in some instances Herbsaint, the Sazerac would simply be an Old Fashioned with a different base spirit. And while a good Old Fashioned is great, the luxuriousness and deeper complexity of a good Sazerac transports you to a different place in time. Or perhaps it’s just me getting caught up in the moment. Either way, it’s a really good drink. While you can have a Sazerac with a good meal this one stands up on its own as a companion to a long evening of deep discussion and good times-- I suggest you pair it with rich, decadent chocolate desserts. 


Besides the time of its first inception, the history for this cocktail is surprisingly concrete. It all started to come together In the early 1850s. It was a time long ago in New Orleans, Louisiana, when our nation was just getting geared up for the civil war. The newly formed nation was doing a lot of international trade with Europe in exchange for our cotton, furs and many other hard goods that were abundant in the new world. In exchange, we saw a great era of prosperity and, more importantly for this story's sake, fancy European booze flooding the American market. The temperance movement was in its infancy and the wheels of progress were the hot topic of the day. Needless to say, it was a stressful time, an uncertain time and a perfect time for a stiff drink.

In the early 1850s a businessman by the name of Sewell E. Taylor had a thriving business importing goods from France, particularly the Sazerac de Forge et Fils brand of Cognac. He also had a bar to peddle his wares: the Sazerac House Bar. At the time, absinthe was all the rage in France and being a successful merchant he was also importing this inebriating elixir. Now, as I can tell you from personal experience, you do not want to serve customers a lot of absinthe in the traditional method. I won’t go into details but I’ll say this: whatever reason you think it is, yes, that and more.

Sewell being a smart man knew this and to keep his customers drinking, safe and alive he had his team come up with a cocktail. Thus, the Sazerac is born. It’s worth noting that one of his main conspirators in this was the pharmacist Antoine Peychauds, the creator of Peychaud's Bitters that are used in Sazeracs. It may seem funny to us now to have a medical professional collaborating with a booze slinger. For context though, cocaine and opium-laced drinks were the primary medicine at the time.

Over the years this cocktail has evolved and adapted to stay alive and relevant. Most notably, when phylloxera swept across Europe in the mid-19th century, destroying grape vines and vineyards, Cognac became all but a thing of memory and was replaced by rye whiskey. The second is the outlawing of absinthe in the early 1900s. Absinthe was quickly replaced with Herbsaint and the Sazerac tradition moved on. Depending on whether you want to maintain historical accuracy or not, you’ll have a lot of options. For a base spirit you can go the original pre-phylloxera route and use a Cognac. Or, you could go with the more new school route and use a spicy American rye whiskey.

For bar tools

Jigger 666444
Rocks Glass 106639
Barspoon 612123
 

For consumables

Herbsaint 112800
Peychaud's Bitters 120540
Hennessy Privilege VSOP 112720
Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey 166244
Sugar Cubes
Ice 





Step 1
Start by taking your two rocks glasses and putting them side by side. Fill the one on the left with ice and the glass on your right throw in about three dashes of peychaud's bitters.

Step 2
Add half an ounce of Herbsaint to the glass with ice. Give it a quick stir and then let it sit. Don’t worry, we want it to get all melty and weird for something later. Although the original calls for absinthe, I prefer to use the wormwood outlaw substitute. My primary reasoning is that I’m going to be dumping it all out later and Herbsaint is significantly cheaper and as far as your palate is concerned it’s practically the same thing

Step 3
Now take your jigger and measure out one ounce of Cognac and one ounce of rye into the glass on the right that you dressed with Peychaud's Bitters. Normally I would tell you to stir, but in this case don’t worry about it. As I noted up above some people like to build this cocktail with rye and some wirth Cognac. I ,however, am an indecisive kind of guy so I use both. I use Rittenhouse for it’s spicy clean finish and Hennessy VSOP because my research tells me that it’s going to be the closest in style to the smaller Cognac house of the era. Also, I really like Hennessy VSOP.

Step 4
Take the glass on the left, the one with the ice and Herbsaint. Give it one last quick stir and dump it all out. Don’t be scared, just throw it all out. This, is how you create what we like to call a rinse. I know it seems wasteful… and it is. Unfortunately, none of the other methods I’ve tried work the same. If you would like to experiment you could try using a spray bottle, a spritzer or a swab brush.

Step 5
Take the Herbsaint-rinsed glass you just dumped out and throw some more ice in it. Then take that boozy concoction you have sitting aside and slowly pour it over the ice and discard the now empty glass. Take it easy with the transfer to make sure you don’t spill anything.

Step 6
Peel your lime, zest it, rim the glass the place it nicely on the rim to garnish.

Step 7
Enjoy!

 
Some of the fun ways to play around with a Sazerac is by playing with the rinse or the base spirit. Instead of Cognac perhaps a good Spanish brandy or Armagnac? Maybe even a bourbon or Scotch for the base. I did one with an Ardbeg 10 and it was awesome. In place of Herbsaint or absinthe try a green Chartreuse. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and ingenuity.

To see our above cocktail aficionados in action (L to R: Michael, Don, Sean), check out their YouTube channel and find out "What Do Billionaires Drink?"

May your cocktail adventures be glorious!

Louis XIII de Rémy Martin: Staff Training

by Tobin Sharp
While we here at Hi-Time taste many different wines, spirits, beers, liqueurs, mixers and just about every beverage under the sun (that we carry), it is not every day that we get the chance to try one of the top spirits in the world: the Cognac Louis XIII de Rémy Martin.

Christophe Namer, our US West Coast Brand Ambassador for Louis XIII de Rémy Martin, stopped by the store to share some stories (and, of course, the Louis XIII!) about this historic Cognac, enjoyed by Charles de Gaulle to celebrate the liberation of Paris at the end of World War II, an inspiration to Winston Churchill when writing his memoirs, aged a minimum of 40 years and up to 100 years... then we nosed and tasted it.

I admit, it's probably been a decade since I last tried Louis XIII but my memory of it was certainly refreshed today and reinforced; yes, it is as good as I remember.  The floral notes, dried fruits, leather and spices in the nose lead to a palate reflecting the same and more with cigar box, tropical fruits, ginger, cinnamon and pure gravitas-- the deep amber color and leggy viscosity complete the package.  Speaking of the package, the Baccarat crystal decanter is the perfect housing for such an elegance of bottled time.  With 1,200 Cognacs in the blend and four generations of cellar master needed to produce such a masterwork, how else do you frame a work of art?  While certainly museum-worthy, we like to be able to showcase it in our Cognac case.  Ask about it next time you're in the shop and we'll show you where.

Classic Cocktails: The Sidecar

The Sidecar

by Michael Frank

The Sidecar cocktail is by far one of most memorable cocktails to come out of American Prohibition. It brings to the table an elegant yet fruit-forward flavor profile that’s complemented by a naturally high acid content. While it goes best with a salty snack, it also makes a perfect aperitif or an aperitivo-- especially with large fatty, rich meals. With all the fruit juice that goes into it, some are deceived into expecting a sweet, easy-to-drink cocktail. Don’t let it fool you though; If you do try to gulp it down you’ll end up coughing. This is a concoction of complexity and power that is designed to be savored and enjoyed patiently.

The common belief is that the sidecar cocktail is named after those funny little attachments that people can put on the side of a motorcycle for a passenger. Another theory as to the origin of the name is that it’s named after a sidecar shot. A shot of sidecar is something you probably won’t see in any first world bars in our modern era. In short, a sidecar shot is when the bartender takes his barmat and dumps whatever liquid has accumulated into a shot glass. It saves on product cost and people love it. In my last bar we did this all the time and believe it or not, it actually doesn’t usually taste half bad.

The lore reads that it was invented by a wounded army field captain that rode between a bar and his encampment in a sidecar during the battles of World War I. Sounds like a tall tale to me, but hey-- good stories sell drinks. 

The actual origin of the cocktail is traced back to the Ritz Carlton of Paris in 1922 and the American refugee bartender Harry MacElhone. Of course, this is a matter of some debate and some would attribute the original mixture to Robert Vermeire who published his book “Cocktails and How to Mix Them” the same year.

The original recipe calls for equal parts Congac, Triple Sec and Lemon Juice. I prefer a take on the more modern and popular version from Harry Craddock’s 1930 "Savoy Cocktail Book." My recipe for this cocktail follows that 1930s tradition while utilizing classic liquor selections and some “relatively” new mixology techniques. You will need the following:

For bar tools…

Jigger 666444

Beehive Juicer 106266

18oz weighted shaker 644344

28oz weighted shaker 678987

Hawthorne strainer 643543

Martini glass 703622

For consumables…

Camus Borderies VSOP Cognac 102722

Cointrieu 106340

Lemons

Step 1

Start by adding 3 ounces of Cognac.

Cognac is really the star of this cocktail and despite all the heavy sugars and citrus we’re building on top of it, we really want that original essence to shine through in all its glory. For this I wouldn’t select anything too elegant or smooth. I’m not suggesting the use of poor quality brandy either though, what we want is something with just a little bit of spice and bite. For me, I like to use Camus Borderies VSOP because of the unique baking spice characteristics that come through on the nose and palate as well as its long and bold finish.

Feel free to swap out and have fun with and other brandy, as well, even if it’s not Cognac. One of the primary factors in the difference between a brandy and a Cognac is that Cognac comes from Cognac, France, and has its own AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlee, the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, spirits, cheeses, butters and other agricultural products). Even if someone somewhere else were to make the same spirit with the same grapes in let’s say Bordeaux, it could only be called brandy. One of my favorite substitutions is Spanish brandy such as Torres 10.

Step 2

Add 1 ounce of Cointreau.

I like to use Cointreau because it’s the most orange-y of all the orange liqueurs, also it's not overly sweet. You can use triple sec too, if you like, but keep in mind it will make things sweeter.

Step 3

Squeeze 1 ounce of fresh lemon juice into your jigger. Don’t do this over the shaker as it will make it hard to keep things accurate. When your jigger is full, dump the fresh squeezed lemon juice into your shaking tin.

Step 4

Fill your other shaker with ice, put the two together and shake the heck out of it! Make sure you hold both cups securely, we want this cocktail “in” you and your guests, not “on” you. When shaking, shake back and forth between the two bottoms of the cups to give it the best chance of marrying the ingredients. Do this for about 30 seconds. Don’t be shy, give it all you’ve got!

Step 5

Get your martini glass ready. Tap the two conjoined metal cups gently on the edge of your bar (or anywhere else) to break the vacuum seal you created. Take your hawthorn strainer, place it over the cup and carefully pour everything into your glass.

Step 6

Enjoy! Another technique you might want to try out would be putting it through a netted strainer on it’s way into the glass, this will give it a whole new mouthfeel. Also, feel free to swap out the base liquor. I made one recently with a heavily peated Scotch and it was great. Another option is to use different citrus: kumquats, maybe? Most importantly, have fun and experiment. The worst case scenario is that you’ll have to make another drink.

May your cocktail adventures be glorious!

Sidecar photo: foodspotting.com