In an interview with High Times Magazine, author and mixologist Warren Bobrow said his favorite infused beverage featured in his book, Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks & Buzz-Worthy Libations, is the Nur’ó’c Mía:
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Warren Bobrow: iPhone XThey get it on ice!
Middle West Spirits
Travel just about two hours by airplane- due West from the New York/Metropolitan region, and be prepared to find great ice! (As shown above) And much, much more! There is a craft spirits, culinary and craft cocktail revolution- ‘not so quietly’ reinventing itself in Columbus, Ohio. The finest culinary and alcoholic ingredients in the land are no longer only being only shipped to the big cities to the north and on both sides of this ‘fly-over’ city. Local cooks and mixologists are raising the bar on what is delicious- and what has not been discovered yet by the rest of the country. New money and massive amounts of raw, entrepreneurial creativity is gushing into this former rust-belt town. Each passing day is creating great pressure on existing bar and restaurant businesses- to ‘raise the bar’ and to do it really quickly or be left behind by changing tastes. There are gleaming new restaurants, distilleries, micro-breweries and craft cocktail bars all over town- some of them carved into former bank building lobbies, as if the employees of the bank just got up at the end of the day and their places were immediately replaced, not by investments, but by toothsome food and drink.
Warren Bobrow: iPhone XDetail of Former bank lobby
The Mezzrole, a Manhattan-style cocktail made with cannabis-infused vermouth, is one of 75 recipes contained in Warren Bobrow’s new book, Cannabis Cocktails. (Photo: Glenn Scott Photography.)
“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.
As laws prohibiting the use of marijuana wane, new ways of enjoying the herb emerge.
Currently 23 states and Washington DC have enacted laws to legalize medical marijuana; in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, it is legal to purchase marijuana for recreational use. Many more states are introducing bills that will govern some form of legalized marijuana in the near future. And with that legalization, we are embarking upon a world of possibilities when it comes to marijuana… and cocktails.
Photo Courtesy of Shutterstock.com
In Oregon (where the prohibition officially ended in July of 2015) business is booming. “There’re more cannabis shops than coffee shops. It exploded. It’s everywhere,” remarks David Shenaut, Bar Director of Portland’s Raven & Rose. He paints a picture of an Oregon where the local papers are publishing guides on pairing beer with your various varietals of pot.
“Like flavor pairings, to enjoy side by side. We’re talking about a new classification of cicerone or sommelier. It’s like a sommelier of marijuana.”
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Stir Don’t Shake
With 4/20 just around the corner, it seems the perfect opportunity to discuss the merits of stirring cannabis cocktails. I’m usually hard pressed to find bartenders who really know the physical differences between stirring and shaking a cocktail—any cocktail. Now, add to that equation fragile ingredients that you may not want to pulverize and turn into overly green (read: botanical) flavors like cannabis, and those differences become even more important.
One of the most unpleasant of all overly-green flavors is mint. When it is excessively manipulated, the aromatics and essences resemble that of mud. And no one wants to drink mud. You may have witnessed this yourself in batched up Kentucky Derby cocktails, where the mint is added to the ice the day before, frozen, and then topped with bourbon just prior to serving. The end result is a muddy mess that screams for a fresh glass, new mint, and clean ice.
Why Stir Cannabis Cocktails?
The Dramatis Personae Cocktail, via Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics / Fair Winds Press.
Warren BobrowDeliciousness Encapsulated
The market for botanically enriched, “health” drinks have exploded over the past few decades or so. There are hundreds of products on the market that promise wellness and health, but nothing could prepare the consumer for the coming wave of micro-dosed; CBD and THC liquids made specifically for wellness. It’s true! All that is required is a healthy thirst and the desire for something different. Case in point with the Monk line of drinking botanicals. This ultra-luxury line of tiny 4 oz bottles are scientifically calibrated to micro-dose just the right amount of CBD/THC to the careful imbiber. Careful because the dosage of CBD/THC is in the micro amounts- nearly undetected after enjoying the scant few sips of this ‘magical’ elixir. What each bottle represents are flavors and health-giving qualities similar to the days of the early apothecary, when fragile herbs and spices made their way into preparations that the pharmacist concocted to order. Not unlike the early preparations that made their way to the cocktail bar with drinks meant to heal the gut, like the famous Sazerac, or perhaps you’d be interested in knowing why Angostura is so helpful when you have a stomach ache, or are seasick? It all comes around again with the deep desire to write the first book about creative mixology that uses cannabis. There is a large distinction between non-Cannabis augmented health drinks and quality products like Monk’s Drinking Botanicals. What we have here is a modern framework, one that is more flavor-driven as opposed to effect-driven, with varieties like the brightly aromatic and refreshing grapefruit/cayenne. This delicately spicy, yet not overly sweet concoction is precise and carefully combined to offer amusement, candor and excitement into every careful sip. Careful because the cayenne element is not overwhelming, but it is right there in front of the brightly delineated richness of the pink grapefruit juice. The combination resembles a fine craft cocktail- especially with the balance and the depth of the ingredients. They almost taste as if the grapefruit was freshly squeezed and infused with the cayenne peppers.
Courtesy: Emma ChasenEmma Chasen
I love the magic of the inter-webs. Instagram, the darling of the moment has led me down many paths to enlightenment in my newest career. I’m fortunate to meet some amazing people along the path to enlightenment- at least in my own direction in life. One of these paths led me to one Cannabis Entrepreneur in particular, and this person is weaving her magic in the modern, Pacific Northwest Cannabis Industry. As an introduction to this dialogue, I’m lucky to have been accepted by a deeply spiritual world of healers -an entrepreneurial path based on our overall desire to be well and to heal. Wellness bubbles over in the universe and it encourages us to do better by others. I’m satisfied to say that through the use of Cannabis as a medicinal methodology, it has become something that explains much, without shouting or being overtly antagonistic in the methodology of altruism and smoking anywhere and everywhere. I don’t do that. I usually let my book, Cannabis Cocktails speak for itself as a life form and a method of medicating without being too overt. What I’m fortunate to do is not for everybody- but those who get it find the science beguiling and intriguing- all at the same time. Then there are the recipes of course, delightful, inspirational and candidly delicious. They get people’s attention- like my salubrious Vietnamese Iced Coffee with THC infused Condensed Milk. Yum. That one is a good intro to my craft. But I digress. Emma Chasen is doing what I wish I could do, had I the bulk of educational research and razor sharp intellectual curiosity that brims from each word in her myriad of descriptors about what makes her different that the others. Emma has the hard work, the empirical science down pat and she makes it easy to understand- and better yet, to enjoy what she has to say. So few people make words that resonate, rather than just talk to a ‘talking head.’ Emma is not that person. As usual I want to shake things up a bit and make it exciting for my readers to find out something a bit deeper about their favorite person. And in this case I wanted to know more about Emma Chasen, a disruptor and bud-tender educator, eater. In short, curious and intriguing. Thank you, Emma for being so forthright in your answers and showing your pure smile in your hunger producing words.
Why Cannabis Cocktails Get A Bad Rap When They Are So Wonderful
And a gorgeous recipe for a Louis Armstrong’s Way cannabis fizzy.
I’ve made my living for the better part of seven years in the liquor space. With that said, I’ve noticed some real changes in that traditional world of intoxicants over the past year or so. After being tolerated for a few years, the large liquor companies are having serious misgivings about being too friendly with the cannabis family. Perhaps this is because the ongoing stigma that hovers just over the periphery in every illicit transaction outside of the “three tier system.” You see, the liquor industry has been permitted to print their own tickets since Prohibition, under the watchful gaze of the government. Taxation is a powerful determinate with broad reaching implications.
Warren Bobrow: iPhone XIntriguing Deliciousness
Flavored Craft Whiskies such as Catskill Provisions Honey Flavored Rye Whiskey offers new levels of expertise in the hands of a home mixologist. The honeybee, weaving a veritable pot of gold, transforms the attentive drinker into a conceptualist who communicates with good taste. Honey, in this case from hives located in New York State’s Catskill Region has its own specific terroir or taste of the place. The surrounding farms and forests alike, bursting with the burdens of Spring attract these Happy Bees to an intellectual Mecca of all things creative and intriguing. Catskill’s lithe and utterly gorgeous bottle is just brimming with the passion and tenaciousness of the namesake honeybees. Each sip melded together with their brightly refreshing Rye Whiskey. Each further sip brings interest, delight and exploration. From the moment that you open the handsome, tall-necked bottle with a curve, just at the right point in the experience, it’s pretty clear that this whiskey is more than a marketing project. And with the first whiffs, the drinker will know that the honey is definitely more than a metaphor with this whiskey. Honey drives the experience of the rye whiskey and takes it to a place unexpected. From the peppery start- spiraling around the tip of your tongue to the languid motion as it slips, pensively down the throat into the gullet. The finish goes on and on and it takes contemplation to another level.