Tag: @klausgnome
Herban Legends
Klaus and I visited Herban Legends on our first day in Seattle! http://www.herbanlegends.com/
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.
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.
Cannabis and Cocktails: Tips from the Cocktail Whisperer
Ada’s Technical Books
425 15th Ave East
Seattle, WA 98112
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.
Imagine, if you will, a liquor company that is able to source a single barrel of whisky at a time. In an age where liquor companies are trying to produce more and more of their product to slake the thirsts of thousands of thirsty drinkers- there is one company that is decidedly set on satisfying only a couple of hundred- it that!
Enter the Blackadder. You many remember the BBC Television show by the same name. If you do, you’re half way there. The Blackadder was a dark comedy on British television and in many ways the philosophy of this television show is evident in every sip of the Blackadder!
There is stuff in every bottle of Blackadder. This stuff is from the inside of the casks! Blackadder is not filtered or blended. It is bottled at Cask Strength.
The Blackadder is a one of the most unique single malt Scotch whiskies that I’ve ever tasted. My friend Raj facilitated this tasting by sending me four hand numbered bottles.
- Lochranza Distillery- 2011- Raw Cask- label reads that it contains its natural Cask Sediments as well as all the natural oils and fats. Mmmm, that’s what I like to hear. The Lochranza is bottled at 104.8 proof. At the bottom of the informative label it reads Sherry Puncheon. I suppose this means that the Scotch was aced (finished) in used sherry casks. Bottle 82 of 548, Bottled 14th of October 1996
- Mannochmore Distillery-1999-Raw Cask- label reads that is also contains its natural Cask Sediments as well as the natural Oils and Fats. Label reads Speyside malt whisky- one of only 304 bottles drawn at Cask Strength from a single oak cask no.5400 bottled by Blackadder in November 2011. 121.2 Proof 12 years old
- Blair Athol Distillery- 1999- 1st September 1999. Reads: This Highland malt whisky is one of only 462 bottles drawn at Cask Strength from a SINGLE REFILL SHERRY BUTT, marked bottle 66 out of 462. 114.6 proof 12 years old
- Blackadder Smoking Islay- The Spirit of Legend-11 year old Islay Malt Scotch Whisky Raw Cask- 118.8 proof- Distilled 12th April 2000, bottled August 2011.
All the whiskies read that they are bottled from carefully selected casks. They do not chill filter or otherwise filter their whiskies through small filter pads to remove sediment. No two casks of Whisky are ever exactly alike because of the type of oak used and the conditions under which it is stored.
Like fine wines, these naturally bottled whiskies may throw a little sediment. Now we’re talking!
I love wines with stuff in them. Why not whisky? Why not!?
Tasting Notes: I did all the tastings in front of a blazing wood fire after eating a rib steak sandwich with Swiss cheese and grainy French mustard on Pechter’s Rye bread. I used a tiny bit of spring water to open up the Whiskies. No ice. A Maine tumbled granite sea-stone (frozen overnight) provided a bit of chill- to cellar temp. Truth is this tasting is highly un-scientific. You will never read scores from me. I find them incongruous.
- Lochranza Distillery- I’ve woken up in a honey bee nest. My skin is covered in honey and the bees are giving me little tiny nips with their stingers. Not enough to hurt, just enough to know they are there. Pure smoke lingers on the periphery. It’s the beekeeper- smoking out the bees. It tastes of peat and smoke-honey and dark stone fruits. Luscious stuff- the finish just goes on and on.
- Smoking Islay- the fire in the fireplace is giving off that tell-tale smoky scent of wet wood. There is the scent of wet-dog and wet clothing and wet leather. Spanish leather at that. What does Spanish leather taste like? Come off your horse in the pouring rain, the last thing you remember before you bury your face in the mud is licking your saddle on the way down. That’s what Spanish leather tastes like. Candy sugar on the tongue and deep inside my throat gives way to sweet honey and freshly cut grasses. There is some citrus in there too. Almost a wine like nose- if the wine was a very well aged Muscadet that is. I love this stuff.
- Blair Athol Distillery- There is wind blowing through my hair- tinged salt water and more wildflower honey, a farmhouse comes into view and there is a fire in the chimney- yet the residents are not aware of the pending disaster. Approaching the house I realize there is no fire in the chimney, it is coming from a peat fire in the backyard. But no matter- there is fire and salt and smoke. Honey gummy bears on the tongue with little bursts of sweet rock candy in the finish. This is awfully sophisticated. Thick perhaps. Creamy.
- Mannochmore- What can I say about perfection. With a splash of cool spring water I am transported to a foreign country without grasp of the language. This Speyside whisky is frightening in its depth and grip. I taste more honey and salt- smoke and smoked salmon- yes Scottish smoked salmon in the finish. Salty. Salty Salty. Golden honey in color- there is stuff in the bottle. Scotch is not usually my go-to on spirits but with bottles of whisky as sensual and delicious as these in my cabinet, the frosty winter winds may blow- causing me no immediate harm. Thank you Raj for being so generous with gifts of perhaps the best whisky you can find.
TOP SIX NEW SPIRITS BOOKS FOR SUMMER 2016!!
http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2016/07/top-six-new-spirits-books-for-summer-2016/7/
Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations by Warren Bobrow – Fair Winds Press
For the serious cocktail mixologist or herbal enthusiast, the science and history behind cannabis will make any cocktail a bit more creative. From tonics, syrups, bitters or exotic-infused oil, Warren Bobrow shows readers how to combine cannabis and cocktails for a great afternoon pick–up or after dinner herbal-based drink.
Summer Rum Punch!!
Welcome to rum, the libation understood by Buccaneers, Pirates, Sailors and “Armchair Sailors” the world over, throughout history.
Follow the Rhumb line on your sailing chart and let it take you around the globe.Here also is an intoxicating liquid in your hand.This liquid is as ancient as the early sailors who plied the relentless seas. It is called Rum.
Rum is usually available in almost every port where sailors gather after a long voyage or before embarking upon a longer one.
Rum has always been served as an inexpensive and potent form of relaxation for sailors and landlubbers alike.As a panacea against fear, rum always calmed a sailor’s beleaguered nerves while far out at sea, unable to tie up to the yacht club dock.Rum would take the edge off of weeks without even a tickle of wind, or in the face of the fiercest weather. Rum is the complete drink of sailors who took this tipple to sea as a cure-all against all known infirmities from being a sailor in the early days.And let me tell you from working for weeks aboard a modern boat, it’s really hard work!
The ocean has always held an allure for me.It’s unlike any other place that I’ve ever experienced.I’ve done more than just a bit of sailing.Mostly my sailing took place on a yacht belonging to my family.I can picture her now, about sixty feet in length, displacing 65 or so tons.She had all the modern conveniences of home along with a water maker- to turn seawater to a dense, brackish substance seemingly only good for washing dishes.But it also made decent, not clear: ice- but extremely helpful to the brain, when all about you is sticky: hot, humid and mosquito beleaguered. Being out at sea and having an iced rum cocktail housed in a clean glass is one of life’s simple pleasures. It connects you with every sailor who has ever sailed upon the ocean, even if they didn’t have your milky colored ice to cool their fevered brow.
The sea at night (and even in the daytime) can be a very scary place in a storm.As anyone who has been in a yacht away from the relative safety of the yacht club dock knows, the ocean is much larger than you are.Ships are not meant to be docked.They are meant to explore the globe. And to do this they need to go to sea.The waves will tower over your tiny vessel, threatening to smash you and your hard earned dollars into piles of shredded (read expensive) sailcloth, toothpicks of your fine teak decks and miles of razor sharp fiberglass where the bow decided to split open for no reason at all, exposing the interior of the vessel to the bottom of the sea in mere seconds.
That is why sailors kept rum on board their ship.Because that mug of rum somehow makes it easier to forget that such a horrible demise may await you with every uncontrollable gust of wind or steep wave that knocks you to the wooden deck. You’ll know it when it happens.
Rum is hand-held courage for the sailor.
Maybe the thrill of being a sailor out at sea continues to make rum so beguiling to all kinds of drinkers, even today. After all, this allure and call to the sea is what took this drink through history.
A daily tot of rum punch might have been made with a preserved fruit shrub.Shrubs were made up of vinegar along with citrus fruit and molasses or raw honey.They were mixed with water for purification and also with rum in a rudimentary punch.The early shrubs were no more than citrus fruit, mixed with vinegar and sugar against decay.
Drinking what little water taken on board a ship could be fatal because the water was potentially deadly without purification systems like on modern vessels. The feeling of being soaked to the skin in cold weather with a steaming mug of grog filling your belly makes the going so much easier.Just like cooling punch made with rum and tropical fruit juices gave scurvy ravaged sailors deep relief.The modern day product, Rose’s Lime Juice, a potent curative in its own right dates back to the Colonial era when drinking lime and rum was not just a casual drink, it was a curative in your mug of more than good cheer.
Rum traditionally found its way around the world because it was easy to transport from place to place.And rum is sturdy stuff.It doesn’t sour like wine or beer in the motion of the ship or the heat of the hold.
There are many names for rum that flows clear from the still with a hiccup or bubbles forth with a belly laugh. Times are changing and this has made rum universally respected.
Rum is cheap to make, easy to store, it lasts nearly forever and it gets better over time when resting within a cask.It’s a win/win for the distiller and the casual drinker alike.
A Summer Rum Punch should always be made with freshly crushed juices. I cannot imagine making something that I may be serving to others with anything but the very best.After all, aren’t you worth it?
In my travels I always come across individuals who say that when they are entertaining, they use less than satisfactory ingredients because their guests won’t know any better.That’s a shame- because it doesn’t cost much more to ensure a unique experience.When you take short cuts- well, the overall understanding is cheap.I don’t know from cheap.That’s why my drinks are memorable.They evoke history, one sip at a time.
The Sea Cook
(the cook is the most important person aboard your ship, don’t ever forget that)
Ingredients:
- 4 oz. Mezan XO Rum (no chill filtering, nor glycerin, nor added sugar, nor caramel coloring added)
- 2 oz. juice: Take 2 pineapples- cut into rings, placed on a silicone tray, with Angostura Bitters (for good gastric health) and roasted for 20 minutes at 400 degrees or until caramelized.Cool and set aside
- 2 oz. juice in each cocktail-
Do the same with a couple splashes of Angostura Bitters upon 2 large grapefruits- cut in half, also sprinkled with Demerara Sugar and broiled until bubbly.Cool and set aside - ½ oz. Freshly squeezed orange juice
- ¼ oz. Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 oz. White Balsamic Vinegar
- Angostura Bitters
- Fresh Nutmeg and scraper
- 1 oz. Oloroso Sherry (dark in color, rich and smoky in taste)
- Lime chunk garnish
- Fresh ice- not stinking of last month’s garlic pasta
Prep:
- Take the pineapples, skin them well, no bitter crust allowed! Roast them with the Angostura Bitters.
- Juice them and add 2 oz. of this juice to a Boston Shaker filled ¾ with ice
- Do the same with the broiled grapefruits- no pith (it’s bitter!) just juice them and add 2 oz. of this broiled grapefruit juice to the Boston Shaker
- Add the Mezan XO Rum and the vinegar
- Finally, add the Orange juice and the Lemon juice
- Cap and Shake hard for 15 seconds
- Pour into two Collins Glasses filled with ice
- Float the Oloroso Sherry over the top
- Scrape some nutmeg over the top to finish
- Garnish with a lime chunk and serve
– See more at: http://drinkwire.liquor.com/post/summer-rum-punch#gs.lqKmswQ – Read more at: http://scl.io/0qw7YBH7#gs.MwcUd3k
Summer Rum Punch!!
Welcome to rum, the libation understood by Buccaneers, Pirates, Sailors and “Armchair Sailors” the world over, throughout history.
Follow the Rhumb line on your sailing chart and let it take you around the globe. Here also is an intoxicating liquid in your hand. This liquid is as ancient as the early sailors who plied the relentless seas. It is called Rum.
Rum is usually available in almost every port where sailors gather after a long voyage or before embarking upon a longer one.
Rum has always been served as an inexpensive and potent form of relaxation for sailors and landlubbers alike. As a panacea against fear, rum always calmed a sailor’s beleaguered nerves while far out at sea, unable to tie up to the yacht club dock. Rum would take the edge off of weeks without even a tickle of wind, or in the face of the fiercest weather. Rum is the complete drink of sailors who took this tipple to sea as a cure-all against all known infirmities from being a sailor in the early days. And let me tell you from working for weeks aboard a modern boat, it’s really hard work!
The ocean has always held an allure for me. It’s unlike any other place that I’ve ever experienced. I’ve done more than just a bit of sailing. Mostly my sailing took place on a yacht belonging to my family. I can picture her now, about sixty feet in length, displacing 65 or so tons. She had all the modern conveniences of home along with a water maker- to turn seawater to a dense, brackish substance seemingly only good for washing dishes. But it also made decent, not clear: ice- but extremely helpful to the brain, when all about you is sticky: hot, humid and mosquito beleaguered. Being out at sea and having an iced rum cocktail housed in a clean glass is one of life’s simple pleasures. It connects you with every sailor who has ever sailed upon the ocean, even if they didn’t have your milky colored ice to cool their fevered brow.
The sea at night (and even in the daytime) can be a very scary place in a storm. As anyone who has been in a yacht away from the relative safety of the yacht club dock knows, the ocean is much larger than you are. Ships are not meant to be docked. They are meant to explore the globe. And to do this they need to go to sea. The waves will tower over your tiny vessel, threatening to smash you and your hard earned dollars into piles of shredded (read expensive) sailcloth, toothpicks of your fine teak decks and miles of razor sharp fiberglass where the bow decided to split open for no reason at all, exposing the interior of the vessel to the bottom of the sea in mere seconds.
That is why sailors kept rum on board their ship. Because that mug of rum somehow makes it easier to forget that such a horrible demise may await you with every uncontrollable gust of wind or steep wave that knocks you to the wooden deck. You’ll know it when it happens.
Rum is hand-held courage for the sailor.
Maybe the thrill of being a sailor out at sea continues to make rum so beguiling to all kinds of drinkers, even today. After all, this allure and call to the sea is what took this drink through history.
A daily tot of rum punch might have been made with a preserved fruit shrub. Shrubs were made up of vinegar along with citrus fruit and molasses or raw honey. They were mixed with water for purification and also with rum in a rudimentary punch. The early shrubs were no more than citrus fruit, mixed with vinegar and sugar against decay.
Drinking what little water taken on board a ship could be fatal because the water was potentially deadly without purification systems like on modern vessels. The feeling of being soaked to the skin in cold weather with a steaming mug of grog filling your belly makes the going so much easier. Just like cooling punch made with rum and tropical fruit juices gave scurvy ravaged sailors deep relief. The modern day product Rose’s Lime Juice, a potent curative in its own right dates back to the Colonial era when drinking lime and rum was not just a casual drink, it was a curative in your mug of more than good cheer.
Rum traditionally found its way around the world because it was easy to transport from place to place. And rum is sturdy stuff. It doesn’t sour like wine or beer in the motion of the ship or the heat of the hold.
There are many names for rum that flows clear from the still with a hiccup or bubbles forth with a belly laugh. Times are changing and this has made rum universally respected.
Rum is cheap to make, easy to store, it lasts nearly forever and it gets better over time when resting within a cask. It’s a win/win for the distiller and the casual drinker alike.
A Summer Rum Punch should always be made with freshly crushed juices. I cannot imagine making something that I may be serving to others with anything but the very best. After all, aren’t you worth it?
In my travels I always come across individuals who say that when they are entertaining, they use less than satisfactory ingredients because their guests won’t know any better. That’s a shame- because it doesn’t cost much more to ensure a unique experience. When you take short cuts- well, the overall understanding is cheap. I don’t know from cheap. That’s why my drinks are memorable. They evoke history, one sip at a time.
The Sea Cook
(the cook is the most important person aboard your ship, don’t ever forget that)
Ingredients:
- 4 oz. Mezan XO Rum (no chill filtering, nor glycerin, nor added sugar, nor caramel coloring added)
- 2 oz. juice: Take 2 pineapples- cut into rings, placed on a silicone tray, with Angostura Bitters (for good gastric health) and roasted for 20 minutes at 400 degrees or until caramelized. Cool and set aside
- 2 oz. juice in each cocktail-
Do the same with a couple splashes of Angostura Bitters upon 2 large grapefruits- cut in half, also sprinkled with Demerara Sugar and broiled until bubbly. Cool and set aside - ½ oz. Freshly squeezed orange juice
- ¼ oz. Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 oz. White Balsamic Vinegar
- Angostura Bitters
- Fresh Nutmeg and scraper
- 1 oz. Oloroso Sherry (dark in color, rich and smoky in taste)
- Lime chunk garnish
- Fresh ice- not stinking of last month’s garlic pasta
Prep:
- Take the pineapples, skin them well, no bitter crust allowed! Roast them with the Angostura Bitters.
- Juice them and add 2 oz. of this juice to a Boston Shaker filled ¾ with ice
- Do the same with the broiled grapefruits- no pith (it’s bitter!) just juice them and add 2 oz. of this broiled grapefruit juice to the Boston Shaker
- Add the Mezan XO Rum and the vinegar
- Finally, add the Orange juice and the Lemon juice
- Cap and Shake hard for 15 seconds
- Pour into two Collins Glasses filled with ice
- Float the Oloroso Sherry over the top
- Scrape some nutmeg over the top to finish
- Garnish with a lime chunk and serve
One Strong Drink With ‘Cannabis Cocktails’ Author Warren Bobrow
“What’s in the bottle is not what’s on the label,” says Warren Bobrow, handing me a small apothecary jar of amber-colored fluid. Inside is a top-shelf rum, he says, infused with high-grade marijuana — specifically, a strong indica-dominant hybrid known as Granddaddy Purple. Yet, despite containing such a notoriously aromatic additive, the liquor does not reek of dank weed. There is, however, a noticeable difference in taste: a pleasantly herbal, almost minty, flavor on the tongue.“Isn’t that delicious?” he says.
Bobrow, 55, is the author of several cocktail books, including the highly regarded Apothecary Cocktails. His latest is titled Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations. It’s the first of its kind — a collection of 75 recipes devoted exclusively to marijuana–spiked drinks. And to hear him tell it, the effort brings together two disparate cultural groups.
“You have the drinking people who look down on pot, and you have the pot people that look down on drinking,” says Bobrow. “What I wanted to do was get them both to play nicely in the sandbox, and they actually do. And the real fun of it is, not any one thing becomes overpowering. I’m all about balance in my cocktails. They have depth of flavor, they have character.”
We’re sitting outside in the courtyard at Roberta’s, the wildly popular restaurant in the artsy Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Bobrow has just finished up an on-air appearance for Heritage Radio inside the restaurant’s tiny in-house studio. But the setting is more than merely convenient, it’s apropos. Roberta’s famously hosted a “three-course, two-cocktail weed-heavy tasting menu” chronicled by GQ in 2012. “I really should fire one up just out of basic pretense,” says Bobrow. But we refrain, at least until leaving the premises.
Though America is becoming more tolerant toward marijuana use, with laws in many places changing to reflect that, the issue is much trickier with regards to licensed establishments like bars and restaurants. Bobrow notes that the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau considers it illegal to infuse alcohol with cannabis, which makes the subject a nonstarter in a commercial setting like this.
“You should not do this in any bar,” says Bobrow. “If you do it in a bar, you’re taking a great risk to the liquor license that belongs to someone else. Do it at home. Hang out with people who have cancer, who need medicine. Make them a cannabis cocktail and see the healing that it offers and the pleasure that it offers to someone who’s really sick. That’s why I wrote the book — not for the college student who wants to get his fraternity as blasted as they possibly can on spiced rum punch mixed with cannabis tincture. I know they’re going to do it. This book tells everything. But that’s not the intent.”
Any halfwit can dump a bag of dope into a bottle of hooch and create a very potent potable if he waits long enough. Bobrow’s handsome how-to manual instructs you on ways to treat cannabis like a true cocktail craftsman regards any other valuable ingredient. “I love getting stoned, like anyone else, but I don’t want to drink something that looks and tastes like mold,” he says.
The book suggests ways to infuse cannabis into everything from absinthe and condensed milk to maple syrup and cocktail cherries. It even offers tasting profiles of several popular marijuana strains and recommendations on which strains pair best with which spirits.
Like many culinary-cannabis enthusiasts, Bobrow is a stickler for decarboxylation, a technique to essentially pre-cook the cannabis in order to properly activate its psychoactive and otherwise therapeutic chemicals. The book details two methods to this end: the very fragrant approach of using a basic oven and a less odorous sous-vide option of boiling the stuff in a bag. One trick not mentioned in the book: Bobrow says you can even use a microwave. All you need is a microwave-safe container and an oven bag.
The book also explains how to use lecithin powder, a common supplement found at most health-food stores, for an additional boost in any cannabis-enhanced concoction. “Lecithin is an emulsifier,” Bobrow explains. “It’s also brain food. It’s what your brain is built on.” One tablespoon of lecithin per cup in an infusion “supercharges” the cannabis, according to Bobrow. “It goes from 0 to 60 to 0 to 1,000,” he says.
That said, responsible use is a big emphasis of the book, which repeatedly warns against over consumption and driving under the influence, as well as avoiding the infamously disabling stoner condition known as “couch-lock.”
“I want to see this as a source of healing for everyone,” says Bobrow. “I don’t want to see it just for people who are really, really sick. I want to see everyone find relaxation and comfort in it, and to know that they don’t have to drink 10 drinks to have a good time. They can have one cannabis cocktail and be totally satisfied.”
Michael Izzo, @MIzzoDR
MORRISTOWN – A Morris County author just released his fourth cocktail book, but this time he’s substituted the bitters for something a little different.
Morristown “Cocktail Whisperer” Warren Bobrow’s “Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations” debuted earlier this month, and is a guide to adding marijuana to mixed drinks.
Bobrow, 55, said he was partially inspired to create the book by a family background in the pharmaceutical industry.
“My grandfather made a well-known brand of ‘snake oil’ that was in every medicine chest in America,” Bobrow said. “It did nothing, but it made him a wealthy man.”
Bobrow said that history also inspired his first book “Apothecary Cocktails: Restorative Drinks from Yesterday and Today.”
Bobrow, who grew up in Morris Township and went to Morristown-Beard, said he was raised with an emphasis on natural healing. Which is why he enjoys creating cocktails he says have natural healing methods, something he said marijuana can add to a drink.
“Cannabis is vilified but can be used as healing,” Bobrow said. “Cannabis may well be the only ingredient that actually did anything (years ago).”
Bobrow said he always planned to write a marijuana-themed cocktail book, as it mixes two things he knows well. A chef with a background in wine and history with marijuana, Bobrow said he has a palate for flavor that makes him the right person to pen this book.
“I’ve used pot since I was 13 years old. And I don’t like to drink traditionally, though I work with liquor,” Bobrow said. “Cannabis for me is easier to control. It treats me nicely, plays very nicely. And it also plays well with alcohol.”
Bobrow wrote “Cannabis Cocktails” in about three weeks, taking another month to develop the 75 different cocktail recipes.
While the book may create some controversy for its subject matter, Bobrow said edibles like “pot brownies and candies” are much more dangerous than adult cocktails, as they appeal to a younger audience.
“Adult cocktails are serious. It sends a different message,” Bobrow said. “This is not a book for someone looking to get high quick.”
Bobrow stressed that all of his research and experimenting for the book was done in U.S. locations where marijuana use was permitted.
“I didn’t do any of this in New Jersey. I do not have a cannabis card, so I don’t touch anything in New Jersey. I wouldn’t dare,” Bobrow said. “New Jersey is slow to the party, things haven’t changed a lot since the 1700s. As far as cannabis is concerned this is a very conservative area and that’s not changing.”
For anyone planning to utilize the book in New Jersey, Bobrow stressed to get a medicinal marijuana card and go through the proper channels.
“This is a very specific book. In New Jersey to use it legally you have to be part of the medical cannabis community,” he said. “I know it’s illegal (in New Jersey) and (readers) know it’s illegal. But of course I can’t control what people do with it.”
Still, he hopes readers take his work seriously.
“I didn’t make the book to be a stoner book,” Bobrow said. “These are legitimate cocktails that happen to have cannabis as an ingredient. I stress in the book not to take more than one (drink) per hour.”
Two recipes he singled out from his collection were the Thai-Spiced Ginger Beer, made with an ounce of medicated simple honey syrup, and the Mezzrole Cocktail, a bourbon drink that uses half an ounce of cannabis-infused vermouth.
The recipes are all his own, and while the cocktails work with all variations of marijuana, specific strains are recommended for each. For the Thai-Spiced Ginger beer, he selected the strain “Tangle,” while he believes the Mezzrole works best with a “Sativa-Indica” hybrid.
Bobrow said the book was thoroughly vetted by the legal team of his publisher, Fair Winds Press, before launching June 1.
“A book like this hasn’t been published before,” Bobrow said, adding it’s already been translated to French and Dutch. “I know it’s going to do well, it’s just a matter of how and where.”
Bobrow said he is working on a fifth cocktail book, which he said will be a compendium of his previous works.
Go to https://cocktailwhisperer.com/ to learn more about Bobrow, “Cannabis Cocktails,” and his other books, which are available for purchase online through major booksellers including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Daily Record Article