Yet More on Barrel-Aged Cocktails

I heard about Jeffrey Morgenthaler's experiments with barrel-aged cocktails of in Portland a couple months ago and have posted a couple items here since then. Here's my first paid piece on the subject. I was surprised how quickly the idea had caught on. If I wait until the end of summer, I can sample a specimen here in New York. No need to fly to Portland. (Not that I don't want to fly to Portland.)

Here's the article:

Shelf Life

In today's hyperactive cocktail climate, new ideas travel faster than a bottle of Fernet Branca in a room full of mixologists. Case in point: barrel-aged cocktails.

The seed was planted when Portland, Oregon-based bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler tasted a Manhattan that had been aged five years in a glass vessel by noted London bartender Tony Conigliaro. Back at home in his bar, Clyde Common, he began aging cocktails in barrels instead of bottles to cut down the wait time. 

An avid blogger, Morgenthaler quickly posted the results--smooth and nuanced drinks that brought new life to old formulas--and it didn't take long for others to catch on.

Nathan Kinderman, the bar manager at the restaurant Sardine in Madison, Wisconsin, is aging Negronis using locally made Death's Door Gin.

In New York, Greg Seider at Summit Bar plans to put a couple of his original cocktails in barrels, while Tom Chadwick at Dram in Brooklyn may be the first to experiment with an aged Martinez (a variation of the martini, made with gin, sweet vermouth and maraschino liqueur).

Thanks to easy access to mini barrels, it's only a matter of time before the craze hits the home bar. For the experimental set, a few suggestions:

• Stay away from aging whiskey-based drinks in whiskey barrels (too much of a good thing); instead, try Tridents or El Presidentes.

• Stick with spirits-only cocktails: Dairy and fruit juice are not meant for aging (with the surprising exception of eggnog, which Morgenthaler ages in bottles).

• Be patient: Give the contents at least six weeks (for a two-gallon batch) to get optimal results.

Barrel Aged Cocktails in Portland

In the mid-20th-century, it was not uncommon for large liquor makers to offer completed cocktails in bottle form. One could buy pre-mixed Sazeracs, Martinis and Manhattan in bottle form, along with several other popular drinks. I myself own an ancient mini-bottle of Gordon's Martini Cocktail. This sort of marketing approach is still in practice, uses for popular, party-time libations like the Mojito and Margarita.

I've always considered the whole idea of pre-mixed cocktails somewhat trashy (Cocktails for the Lazy and Incompetent?) and unappetizing. However, the estimable Portland bartender and mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler is currently experimenting with an interesting twist on the concept.

At Clyde Common, the Portland bar where he is bar manager, Morgenthaler is offering cask-aged versions of such cocktails as the Manhattan, Trident and Negroni. He poured large doses of the necessary ingredients for each into used three-gallon Tuthilltown whiskey barrels and ages them in the basement of the bar for up to two months. For the Manhattan, for instance, he put together a barrel's worth of Beam rye, Carpano Antica Formula vermouth, Angostura bitters and house orange bitters.

Morgenthaler said he got the idea from Tony Conigliaro in London, who ages Manhattans in glass bottles.

The Barrel-Aged Manhattans are currently on the Clyde Common drink menu. I can almost imagine what effect the whiskey-cured wood would have on the cocktail. What a whiskey-barrel-aged Negroni would taste like is harder to conjure.