Categories
Interviews

Did Somebody Say Cannabis Cocktails? (See You At The Bar)

http://herb.co/2016/08/19/warren-bobrow/

A century ago, there were more than just drinks to get you drunk. Drink concoctions to revitalize the body and mind were all the rage. From digestives for the stomach to restoratives for vitality, there was a drink for every occasion. Another hark back to days of yore comes in the form of cannabis tinctures, tonics, and apothecary mixtures. Warren Bobrow, known the world over as The Cocktail Whisperer, has taken his long-held love of both drinks and cannabis and combined them into a book for the ages.

Warren Bobrow

1 warren bobrow interview shaking Did Somebody Say Cannabis Cocktails? (See You At The Bar)
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HERB:

You’ve plotted an interesting course in your career to make it to where you are today. What sparked your interest in cocktails and cannabis.

Warren:

I’ve enjoyed cannabis for a long time, though that does tend to age me a bit. As a teen, I grew up with an uncle with hair down to his waist, lived at times on a farm, and went to my first Grateful Dead show in 1971. As for cocktails, I always loved the look of the complicated drinks my family had at dinner or I saw in the movies. James Bond was the posterchild for the martini, and they were just a part of the lifestyle. I was always around it. Cocktails were always a passion, but it wasn’t until I tried several other careers that I came back to them as a full time occupation.

HERB:

What was your first experience like? We have a lot of new cannabis lovers out there, and everyone has their own story. What about your first time with an infused cannabis treat?

Warren:

I don’t recall the first time smoking cannabis, it has been so long, but my first brownie I will never forget. My jaw went numb. I washed it down with a beer, and it turned into a bad experience. But it wasn’t a complete wash. Fast forward May of 2 years ago, I dreamed of that brownie, that beer and that flavor profile: chocolate, dark rum and cannabis. Most of my ideas come to me like that. In a vivid dream in the middle of the night, usually in vivid color. Not many people dream in color, so I have read. I looked into it and didn’t see anyone working in the field of canna-cocktails. I realized that my brownie experience could have been so much better as a drink, something I am far more familiar with, as are most people.

Apothecaries of old and cannabis

2 warren bobrow interview illustration Did Somebody Say Cannabis Cocktails? (See You At The Bar)
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HERB:

Tell us about your take on traditional apothecaries and where cannabis fits in.

Warren:

My book actually does a take on the original apothecary. They were who the common folk would have gone to for healing. Apothecaries were old country healers, and much closer than doctors. They used what they had on hand: herbs, salves, and other homemade remedies right up until the Pure Food and Drug Act. That put most of them underground, but they are still out there.

HERB:

Why were so many old remedies in the form of alcohol?

Warren:

Before electricity and refrigeration, there was no other way to keep things fresh. You would use salt, drying, smoke curing, and liquor. Water back then was hardly sanitary, unless it came directly from a well or spring. Old time garden punches were made to purify water, as well as give infusions of healthy herbs and spices. Restorative drinks were how many people took in vitamins if wholesome food weren’t around, and a lot of the time it wasn’t.

Cannabis Cocktails

3 warren bobrow interview cocktail Did Somebody Say Cannabis Cocktails? (See You At The Bar)
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HERB:

Tell us about your new book, and how it differs from your previous work? We know it deals with cannabis, but how was the process for researching and writing different?

Warren:

I had to do a lot of research. But in the end, I took the spirit of what I learned about old cannabis drinks and put a modern bartender’s twist on them. All the drinks in my book are original creations. Many cannabis tinctures back in the day also had things like opium, ladinum, and ether in them. That wouldn’t work today.

HERB:

So this book has really put you out on a limb, professionally?

Warren:

Quite. I am the unofficial spokesman for a prominent alcohol label, but dealing with cannabis has put a strain on a lot of those relationships. They don’t want to touch it. So I have really staked my reputation and career on publishing this book. It took a toll on my personal relationships with my family as well. But it has helped me to strike out on my own, truly my own man, for what seems like the first time.

The amazing compendium

4 warren bobrow interview portrait Did Somebody Say Cannabis Cocktails? (See You At The Bar)
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Warren’s new book is Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations. Some of his personal credentials include:

  • Author/Cook/Barman/Spirits Consultant
  • Moscow Bar Show- Master Class
  • Ministry of Rum Judge
  • Tales of the Cocktail- Spirited Award Nominee

 With 75 original creations from one of the world’s premier judges of fine liquors, this goes so much further than a simple recipe book. It takes the reader on a journey through history and cultures. Delves into traditions and puts new twists on old favorites. You can find his book here, and follow Warren Bobrow on his website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

The Cocktail Whisperer has even agreed to share a few of his favorite cannabis drink concoctions with us here at HERB, so stay tuned for a companion article with some amazing recipes you will fall head over heels for!

Categories
Books

Top Cocktail Recipe Books You Must Own!!

Thank you, Common Man Cocktails!

https://youtu.be/oq9P58-CNxo

 

Categories
Books

The results are in!!

 

I’m honored that my latest book, “Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations”  made the list of TOP TEN selling books at this years Tales of the Cocktail!! 

  1. Bitterman’s Field Guide to Bitters and Amari by Mark Bitterman
  2. Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki by Martin Cate and Rebecca Cate
  3. The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual: Secret Recipes and Barroom Tales from Two Belfast Boys Who Conquered the Cocktail World by Sean Muldoon, Jack McGarry and Ben Schaffer
  4. Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations by Warren Bobrow

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5. Cocktails on Tap: The Art of Mixing Spirits and Beer by Jacob Grier

6. Vermouth: The Revival of the Spirit That Created America’s Cocktail Culture by Adam Ford

7. Zen and Tonic: Savory and Fresh Cocktails for the Enlightened Drinker by Jules Aron

8. The Coupe: Celebrating Craft Cocktails and Vintage Collections by Brian Hart Hoffman

9. The Curious Bartender’s Gin Palace by Tristan Stephenson

10. Proof: The Science of Booze by Adam Rogers

Categories
Recipes

Some Strange And Delicious Concoctions

http://totalfood.com/strange-delicious-concoctions/

Warren Bobrow

Real shrubs for your cocktail glass, not the kind that take up room in your front yard, are a strange and delicious concoctions of vinegar and sugar-preserved fruit syrup.  During the late summer months, they are especially delicious because they are inexpensive to make and quite thirst slaking.  And guess what? This respectable beverage that has its roots in the Colonial Era and are making a comeback in restaurants, craft cocktail bars, and even at home.

The history of Shrubs dates back hundreds of years. They were most frequently used into the mid-1800s, regularly among the working class because utter lack of refrigeration (and electricity) for the preservation of fresh ingredients.  No refrigeration meant all bad things to the gut.

Home-made, vinegar based fruit syrup was an inexpensive, sweet refreshment that could be added to a multitude of liquids. People found that drinking certain kinds of acidulated liquids like shrubs helped ease their aching bellies from the consumption of ‘compromised foods and drink’. Drinking these easy to make and easier to enjoy- sweet and tangy beverages were found to give the imbiber quick energy, too.  Were they the first energy drinks? Possibly…

The acidic vinegar based beverages helped to purify their poisonous drinking water in the ages before sanitization.

When fizzy, cheaply produced soda pop hit the scene in the late 1800’s, shrubs all but disappeared from popular drinking vernacular and might have been lost forever if it wasn’t for the resurgence of the popularity of barmen such as Jerry Thomas.

Fast forward to today, mixologists have rediscovered the magic of utilizing fresh fruit and vegetable shrubs in their craft cocktails. And now aficionados are starting to toy with them at home because of their ease in production.

Classical elements and techniques are hot behind the cocktail stick because they are authentic!Bobrow1_August2016

Shrubs can be simply made with only three easy-to-purchase ingredients: raw sugar, some kind of vinegar and fruit, plus a bit of water. They have a salty, sea-like undertone but are also sweet and tart. The fruit gives a deeply welcome hit of sweet perfume, the cane sugar (essential) sweetens naturally, and the unmistakable tang of your favorite vinegar makes your lips pucker, and few things are more salutary for the gut than naturally fermented beverages. Shrubs really were the original energy and health drink. And now it looks like this tangy combination of flavors have received their second wind!

Here are two of my favorite shrubs, along with three cocktail recipes.

Note: These shrubs will remain fresh for 1 to 2 months in the refrigerator, unless until they start to dance the jig and sing in Gaelic, then make a new batch immediately!

Shrub Recipes

Summer Raspberry Shrub

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

This very basic shrub makes all kinds of refreshing combinations. Although the raspberry shrub starts out vividly red, in the end result, after a couple of weeks fermenting; the shrub will have a pale coral hue.  It’s delicious mixed with gin, vodka, rum, whiskey, Scotch, Sherry, white wine- and of course just plain seltzer water!

  • Ingredients:
  • 1 cup very ripe organic raspberries (they can be bruised and soft, but please, no mold)
  • 1 cup raw cane sugar
  • 1 cup raw cider vinegar (I use Bragg’s with the Mother Yeast intact)

Method

  1. In a nonreactive bowl, add raspberries and pour sugar over the top.
  2. Cover and let sit refrigerated for a few days, stirring and muddling often with a wooden spoon to combine. This mixture should expel lots of liquid, this is good!
  3. After a few days of gentle fermentation, add vinegar. Let the vinegar combine with the sugar and raspberries for another week refrigerated.
  4. Arrange a fine-mesh strainer over a nonreactive bowl (one with a spout is handy). Pour the shrub mixture into the strainer and mash with a wooden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.
  5. Funnel the shrub into sterilized jars. Cover and refrigerate for at least a week more, shaking well before using.
  6. The assertive vinegar flavor will fade over time, leaving you a simple syrup that is tangy, sweet and very noteworthy!
  7. Tip: A simple way to enjoy this raspberry shrub is with a glass of seltzer water and the addition of a few slivers of lemon zest.

AFTER A PAUSE:

Late Summer Punch  (serves 2)

Ingredients

  • Ice cubes
  • 4 ounces Mezan XO Jamaican Rum
  • 3 ounces Raspberry Shrub
  • ½ ounce Freshly Squeezed Lime juice
  • 1 ounce Freshly Squeezed Lemon juice
  • 1 ounce Freshly Squeezed Orange juice
  • 4 dashes Angostura Bitters

Method

  1. Fill a cocktail shaker three-quarters full with ice. Pour the Mezan XO Rum, your handmade Shrub and juices over the ice. Cover, cap and shake hard for 15 seconds or until frosty.
  2. Add a large ice cube to each of 2 coupe glasses. Strain cocktail into each of the glasses, dash the Angostura over the top of each glass (2 dashes each) and serve while icy.

Roasted Peach Shrub

Makes about 1 1/2 Cups

Ingredients

  • 2-3 pounds peaches, preferably extra ripe, roughly chopped
  • 2¼ cups raw cane sugar, divided
  • 2 cups Champagne vinegar

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Arrange peaches on a large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with ¼ cup of the sugar and roast for 45 minutes or until deeply caramelized. Let cool and transfer to a nonreactive bowl.
  3. Cover roasted peaches with remaining 2 cups sugar. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for several days, stirring often to mash and muddle the peaches and release peach-flavored sugar syrup.
  4. After a few days, add the vinegar. It may bubble a bit, which is ideal. Cover and let sit refrigerated for a further week, stirring twice daily to release the flavors.
  5. Arrange a fine mesh strainer over a nonreactive bowl (one with a spout is handy). Pour the shrub mixture into the strainer and mash with a wooden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.
  6. Funnel into sterilized jars. Cover and refrigerate for at least another week before using. This shrub takes at least three weeks to actualize.  Please, plan ahead!

Note: If your shrubs ever become fuzzy, foamy, spin like whirling dervishes or try to take the car keys, send them down the drain immediately! Mold is not your friend! Remember the Salem Witch trials and the fun they had with home-made mold!

Only Fair Play Allowed

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • Ice cubes
  • 2½ oz. Roasted Peach Shrub
  • 2½ oz. Barrell Whiskey Batch #002
  • 3 oz. plain seltzer water, divided between the two Old Fashioned glasses with large cubes of hand cut ice
  • 4 dashes Angostura Bitters
  • Fresh mint, for garnish
  • Spray of Absinthe

Method

  1. Fill 2 old fashioned glasses with plain ice and water, and then set aside to chill.
  2. Fill a Cocktail Mixing Glass ¾ with ice
  3. Add the Roasted Peach Shrub and the Barrell Whiskey
  4. Stir for at least 30 turns
  5. Pour ice water out of the cocktail glasses and spray the inside of each glass with Absinthe.
  6. Add a couple fresh ice cubes to each glass.
  7. Double strain the cocktail over the ice and top with a splash of seltzer water.
  8. Dot each cocktail with the Angostura Bitters and garnish with impeccably clean and dry sprigs of fresh mint.

Across Rivington Street (mocktail)

Ingredients

  • Couple pinches of fresh thyme (No Wood please, it’s bitter. Use just the leaf) plus a sprig of thyme just for the garnish
  • Large Handmade ice cubes
  • 2 oz. Roasted Peach Shrub
  • 2 lemon zests
  • 1 oz. plain seltzer water
  • Aromatic bitters

Method

  1. Add thyme leafs and a handful of ice to a mixing glass.
  2. Add shrub and your lemon zest. Stir at least 30 times and then strain into a double old-fashioned glass over a large round ice cube.
  3. Add a splash of seltzer water, a couple drops of bitters and garnish with a fresh lemon zest that you pinch over the top and a sprig of fresh thyme over that.
  4. Don’t be afraid of adding more of that Mezan XO Rum if you have it handy.  This drink tastes amazing with a couple ounces of Mezan Rum.
Categories
Interviews

Butterfly Sessions!

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Events

Herban Legends

Klaus and I visited Herban Legends on our first day in Seattle! herban legendshttp://www.herbanlegends.com/ Hl2 hl3

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Interviews

Total Food Service Interview; I’m honored!

Warren Bobrow, better known as The Cocktail Whisperer, is the published author of four books in addition to his contributions as a writer to liquor.com, our own totalfood.com and countless others. He has also taught at the New School in New York City and at Stonewall Kitchen in Maine. His latest book is Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics that was released this past June through Fair Winds Press. Much more than just a collection of cocktail recipes, Warren’s new book explores the history of cannabis use in drinks, the over-politicized arguments over its legality and other pertinent topics.

Could you expand on your background and how you got to this point?

I am mostly a self-trained chef, I went to Johnson and Wales for a short time as well as the ACF apprenticeship program. I was working in the television business but that was not working. I went to work as a pot scrubber in restaurant and that set me on the path to become a chef. I am now an ACF-certified Chef and I love to cook. It is catharsis for me.

What were you doing before the Cocktail Whisperer blog and brand took off?

I was working as a chef in Charleston when I lost my business to Hurricane Hugo. Then I moved back to my home state in New Jersey and worked as a bank teller and in private bank for a long time. Then I started Cocktail Whisperer.

What inspired you to write this book?

Ever since I was a young man I have enjoyed the use of cannabis. I have seen cannabis cookbooks released and I wanted to raise the bar by taking cannabis and infusing it with the cocktail business that I am in. I love cocktails and I love cannabis. They are two things that I think “play well together in the sandbox”.

Is it difficult to get people past the stigma that cannabis is bad for you  or somehow wrong?

It is really tough, especially where I am. I grew up in Morristown, New Jersey which is a very conservative place. The mindset is not pro-cannabis. It is arrest, incarcerate and throw away the key. And it is unfortunate because there are valid health benefits to this much maligned plant. Drugs are not bad and people should keep an open mind. Especially those who drink or smoke cigarettes.

What was the process of researching for this book?

The research was done outside of the state of New Jersey, where cannabis is still illegal. I am used to experimenting with culinary ingredients and different flavors so I applied that same mentality to the book. Nothing had ever really been written about it before. I was in new territory. I was careful, my advice to anyone would be to experiment in a place where it is legal and just be careful and responsible.

Could you talk about the other elements of the book other than recipes?

I am constantly trying to destigmatize the use of cannabis. I give a robust history in the beginning with science and humor. This book is for anyone interested in cannabis or anyone who is unsure of how to use it. The introduction was written by Jerry Whiting. Him and I found each other quite organically. He is well extremely well-respected in the healing field which gives the text a lot of credibility from that end.

What advice would you offer people buying the book who will be making these cocktails?

Put it in the hands of your “budtender” to give you knowledge and fill your individual need. Remember that making cannabis cocktails is completely different from smoking cannabis. I give the cure to drinking a bit too much of a cannabis cocktail in the book.

Cannabis_Cocktails_Mezzrole
One of Warren’s creations. c/o Fair Winds Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My thoughts are follow the Thai food principle. You can always make something more spicy but you cannot make it less spicy. Start small and build up from there. Remember also that no one has ever died from a cannabis overdose but too much will make you feel awful.

How do you respond to critics who say you’re messing around and that this is your opinion, not fact?

It is fact. I researched this and studied the health and holistic healing benefits, both of which are immense. This book is not a recreational book and was not written as one. It is a way for people to discover new ways to enjoy themselves and to discover some new methods for holistic healing.

Was this an easy book to pitch to your publisher?

Of all the books I have pitched this was the easiest sell. I came up with the idea to write the book at a food show in New York City and when I told my publisher I wanted to write it they asked for a proposal to put in front of the board. The rest is history, they loved the idea since its was going to be the first book of its kind.

How has the response been to the book so far?

Writing this was not an easy thing to do. Many people have purchased the book and love it, however it has brought a certain amount of controversy into my life and anxiety that I did not necessarily want or need. But there is nothing I can do about it, I am just moving forward and surrounding myself with positive people who understand what I am trying to do. Most people love the book and the response has been terrific.

Did you consider that controversy when you were writing the text and did it give you any pause?

I didn’t have any other ideas! It was all I could think of so no, it never crossed my mind. I just saw it as an opportunity to do something unique and interesting.

Categories
Events

Seattle!

Cannabis and Cocktails: Tips from the Cocktail Whisperer

Ada’s Technical Books
425 15th Ave East
Seattle, WA 98112

Date:
Friday, August 19, 2016 – 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Friday, August 19th

Join Ada’s as we welcome The Cocktail Whisperer Warren Bobrow to learn the history of cannabis as a social drug and its growing acceptance to becoming a medicinal. Look beyond cocktails and create successful tonics, syrups, shrubs, bitters, compound butter and exotic infused oil to use in any drink.

Warren Bobrow is the creator of the popular blog cocktailwhisperer.com and the author of Apothecary Cocktails, Whiskey Cocktails and Bitters, & Shrub Syrup Cocktails. Warren has taught classes on spirits and cocktails all over the world, including an advanced class on rum at the Moscow Bar Show.

Warren will be signing copies of his book: Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics, a collection of 75 recipes of cannabis-influenced cocktails ranging from cocktails incorporating cannabis infused liquors to drinks featuring cannabis bitters and tinctures, and drinks flavored with cannabis smoke. Books are available for purchase in the store or on our website.

Categories
Recipes

Chainsaw Cut Ice… for these unbearably hot days!

WB1

Chainsaw Cut Ice

Take a 300-pound block of ice and set carefully on a towel to prevent escape! Don’t have a block of ice so large? Go to a local ice house and ask them to chip off a hunk for you to work with.

If you’re nice, they might cut it up for you!

Use a small electric chainsaw with a clean blade. Wear eye protection! Ice is sharp! Cut extremely carefully with your saw. Wear heavy gloves and use an ice pick to separate large usable chips from small ones (less usable because they dilute a drink, rather than chill it).

  • To a cocktail shaker filled with fresh ice add:
  • 3 ounces of Bluewater USDA Certified Organic Vodka from Seattle, Washington
  • 1.5 ounces Orleans Apple Aperitif from Vermont (similar to Lillet but with frozen apples instead of grape-driven wine and herbs)
  • 3 drops of Bittercube Bitters (I like their Cherry Bark Vanilla for this cocktail; you can also use the salubrious bitters from Bitter End or even the German-made bitters from Bitter Truth. Don’t have these? Try Angostura!)
  • Freshly squeezed lime, lemon and tangerine juice — about 1 tablespoon of each

Add all liquors and fruit juices and cube ice (save the chainsaw ice for the cocktail) to a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until frost forms on the side of the shaker like the steam rising off a road after a summer thunderstorm.

Strain into a tall rocks glass with that perfect chunk of chainsaw ice. I prefer a long, tall ice cube rather than smaller chips.

Finish cocktail with exactly three drops of Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters and sip through to a finish that speaks of languid, humid days in New Orleans. Serves 1.

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Articles

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