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

Diplomático Rum

by Tobin Sharp

We had the opportunity to taste through Venezuela's Diplomático Rum lineup on Thursday, May 5th.  The Ambassador and Single Vintage 2002 were exquisite and the entire lineup was excellent; a rich, fairly sweet style of rum with excellent rounded viscosity, honeyed vanillins and varying degrees of depth and influence (depending on the type of barrels used for aging).  There is also much value to be found in the Añejo and Reserva Exclusiva bottlings and most surprising to me, as I hadn't tasted it before, was how great the Diplomático Blanco is.  This is a Blanco you can sip neat and enjoy with much more complexity that one would think could exist in a white rum-- it's aged six years and filtered 5 to 6 times to remove the color (but not the flavor!).

History:
Rum Diplomático was established in 1959 out of a partnership between Venezuela's best rum distilleries and Seagram's International and its Reserva Exclusiva formed part of their "Rare Rums of The Caribbean" collection.  After Seagram's sold the distilleries back to its Venezuela distillers and operators, Rum Diplomático continued to build on its past success.  In the 2000s, the line was extended to include an aged blanco, a two year añejo, an eight year reserva, along with, of course, the twelve year Reserva Exclusiva.  In the past ten years, Rum Diplomático has become the most awarded rum in the world, and its master distiller, Tito Cordero, is the only person to have wone "Master Blend of the Year" two time (2011, 2013) from London's Golden Rum Barrel Awards.  The Rum Diplomático distilleries were the first in Venezuela to be certified with ISO 14001 in recognition of its environmental initiatives.  In 2014, a Drinks International survey revealed the Rum Diplomático is the #1 Trendiest Rum in America's Hottest Bars.

Here's the lineup on our website: Diplomático

Añejo - aged 4 years, column still distillation process, with a Caribbean essence

Blanco - aged 6 years, white rum, filtered 5 to 6 times removing all color

Reserva - aged 8 years, batch distillation in small oak barrels

Reserva Exclusiva - aged 12 years, blend of copper pot still rums, 80% heavy rums and 20% light rums

Single Vintage 2002 - perfect blend from the year 2002, aged in American white oak barrels and finished in sherry casks, limited edition

Ambassador - aged minimum 12 years, 47% ABV, crafted from 100% heavy pot still rums

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We had some specials on Irish whiskey this month (March 2016)-- to check our current list of prices, please follow this link.

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