My 104 year old grand-mom, Sophia Bobrow. I dedicated my third book to her. 
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Tag: warrenbobrow
https://www.hopegrown.org/blog/perfect-cannabis-cocktail-recipes-end-of-summer
Earlier this year, Warren treated our readers to a sneak peek of the book before it was available for purchase! If you missed that post, click here to get his recipe for the Mezzrole Cocktail, with a little dose of history regarding cannabis beverages.
Now, Warren has generously shared a couple of his favorite drinks that are perfect for transitioning from Summer to Fall.
Labor Day may be considered the unofficial end of Summer, but temperatures are still high here in Los Angeles and probably will be for a few more weeks. These cooling concoctions will definitely help prepare for the cooler climate to come, and the cardamom in the second recipe welcomes in the warm spices associated with Fall.
Really though, there are no rules that say you can’t drink these beverages any time of year. Do you only eat ice cream when it’s hot outside? I’m guessing the answer is no.
So, give one of these drinks a try this weekend to cool off and, if you love it, enjoy it whenever you feel like it, regardless of the weather!
Hoochie Coochie Man
“In India, where temperatures regularly hit three figures, cooling beverages are a must. Enter the lassi, a yogurt-based drink that’s akin to a smoothie. My favorite version features mango puree—or, in a pinch, mango sorbet or sherbet—paired with thick Greek-style yogurt and a snow shower of crushed coconut water ice. If you’re making a Hoochie Coochie Man, you’ll want to correct it with a little cannabis-infused light rum. Try infusing your rum with Critical Kush, a mostly-Indica strain. It has deep aromatics of Asian spices, freshly turned soil, and a concentrated pungency that’s the right contrast for the sweetness of the mango and the yogurt. And there’s enlightenment in each sip. (This strain of Kush is a powerful full-body relaxant, though, so no driving or bicycle riding allowed!) Top off your Hoochie with a couple drops of Creole bitters, which were originally invented as a remedy for dysentery.”
How to make the Hoochie Coochie Man cocktail:
Ingredients:
• 4 ounces (120 ml) mango puree
• 4 ounces (120 ml) Greek-style yogurt
• 1 ounce (30 ml) cannabis-infused light rum
• 1 cup crushed coconut water ice
• Creole-style bitters
Note: To infuse your rum, follow the same instructions given to infuse your vermouth that we shared in our previous post for the Mezzrole Cocktail recipe. This technique is straight Warren’s book and can be used to infuse any liquor of your choice.
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Divide between two Burgundy wine glasses with plenty of freshly crushed coconut water ice. Dot each with a couple drops of the Creole bitters.
Serves 2
Rose Saffron Cardamom Lassi
“I’m a bit of a lassi addict regardless of the weather, but in summertime, the cravings really kick in. That’s why I couldn’t resist including a second lassi recipe here—one that’s dripping with Asian perfumes of rose, bright-yellow saffron, and green-citrusy cardamom. Cardamom, by the way, is the flavor equivalent of a knife: it slices right through the rich milk fat in the yogurt and milk. This lassi is sweetened with a Medicated Rich Simple Syrup that’s been made with raw honey: make yours with Sativa strain Early Pearl. Its aromatics of chocolate, warm spices, and slow-cooked stone fruits add nuance to the lassi’s exotic floral flavors. This recipe makes two servings, and it contains plenty of medicated syrup, so don’t drink the whole batch yourself—at least not at one sitting.”
How to make a (non-alcoholic) Rose Saffron Cardamom Lassi:
Ingredients:
• 2 cups (460 g) Greek-style yogurt
• 3/4 cup (175 ml) whole milk
• 4-5 threads dried saffron, reconstituted in 2 tablespoons warmed milk, then cooled
• Scant pinch of turmeric
• Seeds from 6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) rosewater
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) Medicated Rich Simple Syrup (see page 43), made with raw honey
Directions:
Place all the ingredients except the Medicated Rich Simple Syrup in a blender and process until smooth and creamy. Add the Medicated Rich Simple Syrup: taste, and add more sugar and rosewater, if required. Blend again. Divide between two Burgundy wine glasses, and top each with a pinch of saffron, if desired.
Serves 2
Bonus Recipe: Medicated Rich Simple Syrup
Warren was generous enough to also provide his special Medicated Simple Syrup recipe from page 43 of his latest book!
“Simple syrup is an essential weapon in any bartender’s arsenal, and if you’re making cannabis cocktails, you’ll want to have a batch of this at the ready. Feel free to make it with either Demerara sugar or raw honey—and you can also doctor it up with just about any kind of fresh herb or flavoring. (The glycerine helps speed up the absorption of THC into your digestive system.) Use it in just about any recipe that calls for simple syrup.”
Ingredients:
If using Demerara sugar:
• 1 cup filtered spring water
• 1 cup demerara sugar
• 4 grams finely ground decarbed cannabis
• 1 tablespoon vegetarian (non-GMO) liquid lecithin
If using raw honey:
• 2 cups filtered spring water
• 1 cup raw honey
• 4 grams finely ground decarbed cannabis
• 1 tablespoon vegetarian (non-GMO) liquid lecithin
Directions:
Pour the water into a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the temperature to about 190ºF. Add the sugar or raw honey and stir it until it is completely dissolved into the water. (If you’re using raw honey and you find that the syrup looks too clear, add a little more honey.) Add the cannabis, then cover the saucepan. Reduce the heat again to about 160ºF and simmer for at least 30 minutes to infuse the simple syrup with the cannabis.
Reduce the temperature a third time, to medium-low, and add the lecithin. Cook for another 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent cooking and burning. Remove from the heat, and strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer into a stainless steel bowl that’s resting in a larger, ice-filled container. This will help it cool quickly. Makes about 1 cup.
To make a Medicated Rich Ginger Simple Syrup, make the Medicated Rich Simple Syrup with raw honey instead of sugar, and add a 1-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and thickly sliced, along with the cannabis. Continue with the recipe as directed.
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Craft Cocktail Compendium!!
My latest book, Craft Cocktail Compendium !!
Muddle, mix, shake, stir, pour–whatever the method, you’ll learn how to create the perfect cocktail.
Whether you’re new to mixing drinks or have been creating your own cocktails for years, The Craft Cocktail Compendium has everything you need to know to mix, shake, or stir your way to a delicious drink. With over 200 craft cocktail recipes, expert mixologist Warren Bobrow will help you broaden your skills and excite your taste buds with unique takes on timeless favorites and recipes you’ve likely never tried before.
https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9781592337620/The-Craft-Cocktail-Compendium.html
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Why We Cook: Matzo Ball Soup
http://blog.williams-sonoma.com/why-we-cook-matzo-ball-soup/
My grandmother was in very poor health when I was growing up. She spent her winters in Miami Beach at my family’s former home on Hibiscus Island. It was a grand home on the bay, and I will always remember going down to the palm tree-surrounded house for Christmas a few times when I was a boy. There would be both a Christmas tree and a Menorah; we were not a blended family in any way other than the appreciation of all national holidays, especially ones that involved large family meals. Making foods like Matzo Ball soup is a culturally relevant example for why I cook and the foods that I still enjoy today.
Every time I make a pot of Matzo Ball soup, immediately I’m transported to my grandmother’s kitchen at Shangri La. Estelle, our family cook, would have cut up a few freshly killed fat birds on the broad stainless steel tables. They lay there, resplendent in their elegance and in my mind’s eye. The vegetables would be cut up and there was always much commotion in the kitchen between my great-grandmother and others who would always have to give their unsolicited advice.
Whenever I add a few onions, carrots and celery stalks to a pot of spring water containing the perfect Pullet chicken, I’m connected to the first time I saw my great-grandmother make this soup for my ailing grandmother. She knew that Jewish penicillin might not cure all ills, but it couldn’t hurt!
Matzo Ball soup is one of those historic recipes that connects each subsequent bowl of soup with all of those preceding it. Every taste of this soup is perfect and contains more than just ingredients — it contains memories of my grandmother, Sarah and her mother, Yetta. My stock is made with care from the same ingredients that she used, including parsnips, onions, carrots and celery. My great-grandmother taught me that the parsnip adds depth and balance against the Matzo meal. Her Matzo Balls contained a healthy pinch of nutmeg; she said this was essential and I still make mine this way. She also warned in a stern but caring fashion never to lift the lid off the pot, even for a second, to check the balls: “They’ll be as hard as golf balls, heavy as stones!”
Now, decades later, each bowl of this soup is like a flavor-driven time machine, transporting me to the past — a veritable healing journey into my family history, one steaming and savory sip at a time.
Yetta’s Chicken Soup for Matzo Balls
- 1 or two pullet chickens (find some nice fatty ones)
- 5 carrots, roughly chopped
- 6 stalks celery, roughly chopped
- 6 onions, ends cut off (do not peel)
- 6 parsnips, sliced into coins
- 1 large bunch of dill
- 2 to 4 quarts spring water
In a non-reactive stainless steel pot, add all of the ingredients. Use spring water instead of tap. Bring to a nice simmer and cook until the chicken falls off the bone. Be careful not to burn the soup, stirring every so often.
Remove carcass and onions from the soup and correct seasoning. When cool enough to handle, strip chicken meat from carcass and add back into pot. Make sure no bones stay in the soup, but use as much of the chicken as possible to make your soup. Cool overnight in the fridge.
The next morning, scoop the congealed fat off the top and reserve for your Matzo Balls.
Matzo Balls from Yetta (with love)
- 2 cups Matzo meal
- A good pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 4 to 5 Tbs. reserved chicken fat from your soup
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 3 Tbs. seltzer water
Mix all the ingredients together and let rest for at least an hour covered with a damp cloth in the fridge.
Form the Matzo Balls with your hands. Try not to make them too perfect! Add to a pot of boiling chicken stock or water, reduce heat to a simmer and cover for at least 30 minutes. Take off the heat and rest (with the top still in place) for at least 15 minutes more.
Open carefully and add the Matzo Balls to your chicken soup. Then, with spoon in hand add with reverence into pre-heated bowls. Enjoy! Serves 4 to 6.
We hear a lot about cannabis edibles, but what about pot potables? Warren Bobrow’s new book, Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzzworthy Libations (2016, Fairwinds) is now the definitive work on the topic. Beautifully produced and filled with lots of gorgeous full color photography, the hard cover book would make an excellent gift for all your toking and imbibing friends.
The publishers knew what they were doing when choosing Bobrow, master mixologist and creator of the popular Cocktail Whisperer blog, to tackle this topic. What follows is a collection of elegant artisanal marijuana infused drinks. Even better, Warren gives you the building blocks you will need to create your own liquid cannabis concoctions too. Not only will you learn to infuse all your favorite liquors, but also popular drink mixers like simple syrup, milk, cream, coconut cream, and maple syrup. He even teaches you how to make marijuana infused cocktail cherries!
“I tried so hard to make a difference by writing the first book on the topic,” says Bobrow. “I learned a lot while doing. I experimented on myself. It wasn’t always pretty. But I learned. I hope to change the way we do things. My drinks are delicious.”
Bobrow is a stickler for details, which in turn makes his cannabis cocktails drinkable pieces of culinary art. Quality ingredients and artisan techniques are emphasized throughout the book, right down to pairing the proper strain for each drink in order to maximize the cocktail’s full flavor potential. Bobrow is not trying to disguise the flavor of marijuana in his drinks, rather he uses it to actually enhance the flavor of his cannabis cocktails.
I recently had the chance to ask Warren Bobrow some questions about his new book and the controversial topic of Cannabis Cocktails. Here’s what he said.
Interview with Warren Bobrow, author ofCannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics
Cheri Sicard: What inspired you to combine cannabis and alcohol?
Warren Bobrow: I work in the liquor space, but I prefer cannabis for the feeling I get. I’m not a fan of being drunk, so I hardly drink any longer. I’ve always been fascinated by healing, in its many forms. I grew up on a biodynamic farm in NJ that belonged to my family, so folk healing was always nurtured. I always enjoyed science and found the experimentation enlightening!
Cheri Sicard:. Why does alcohol make such a good carrier for marijuana?
Warren Bobrow: Alcohol works! And it tastes good. And my cocktails absolutely rock the house!! And you do get stoned!! No bullshit cbd oil made from hemp in my drinks thank you!
Cannabis Cocktail: The Future is Uncertain and The End is Always Near
Cheri Sicard: What advice do you have for people who are new to imbibing with the combination of both alcohol and cannabis?
Warren Bobrow: Don’t drive. Go slow.
Cheri Sicard: Do you have any special insider tips for those infusing alcohol for the first time?
Warren Bobrow: No open flame! Don’t be that person that blows up your home. I’m serious!!!!! Also, go low and slow. My recipes are geared for holistic healing. Not recreational. I don’t want to send the wrong message, nor make a play for the stoner set. That’s not my game. So healing should be the mantra. Take the Thai food principal. Start with a little spice and add more as you need it. Same thing with cannabis and alcohol.
Cheri Sicard: Do you have any words for the critics who think one “intoxicant” is bad enough, now we are encouraging two”?
Warren Bobrow: Drugs are bad. Alcohol is bad. Breathing underwater is bad. Eating fast food is bad. Yelling fire in a crowded theater is bad. My late father, when he learned I wrote a book about cannabis cocktails disowned me. That’s bad too. More? I get angry about the liquor people vilifying cannabis and the cannabis people vilifying liquor. I not so secretly think that they should be together. And guess what? They are delicious together!
Cannabis Cocktail: Honey Duke Relaxer
Cheri Sicard: What is your personal favorite marijuana cocktail and why?
Warren Bobrow: My favorite cocktail invokes New Orleans and it’s the Vieux Carre. I take absinthe from Lucid and infuse it with about 1/2 oz of Tangerine (a sativa strain) and mix it with Barrell Bourbon whiskey and finish it with some Peychaud’s Bitters for good gastric health. It’s served icy cold, always stirred, never shaken, with a nice slice of orange zest always cut with a paring knife, never a peeler.
Cheri Sicard:. Who is the target audience for you new book?
Warren Bobrow: People who are interested in craft cocktails and alternative ingredients like bitters and shrubs. THose who appreciate craft cocktail ingredients and handmade, delicious concoctions that offer a high level of flavor in each sip. Ages 21 and up, endgame.
Sample Cannabis Cocktail Recipes from Warren Bobrow’s New Book Cannabis Cocktails
- Potato Head Blues
- Honey Duke Relaxer (Marijuana Boba Tea)
- The Future is Uncertain and The End is Always Near
Cannabis Cocktail – Potato Head Blues
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
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.
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
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
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!
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Top Cocktail Recipe Books You Must Own!!
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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
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.