Thank you, Common Man Cocktails!
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Batch #55 is just the first of many high-minded cocktail mixers that Le Herbe plans to release. The company’s product line already includes pot-infused tea, coffee and coconut water.
In a statement, Le Herbe CEO Marc LaRouche speaks of a bright future for cannabis cocktails in America: “Instead of creating cannabis clubs that allow smoking or vaping, we think it would be much easier to utilize the 650,000+ restaurants in the U.S. and just add cannabis beverages to the menu,” he says.
The suggested retail price will likely vary by location, due to disparate state tax rates as well as the cost of cannabis oil.
(Warren Bobrow, the Cocktail Whisperer, is the author of Apothecary Cocktails: Restorative Drinks from Yesterday and Today, Whiskey Cocktails: Rediscovered Classics and Contemporary Craft Drinks, Bitters and Shrub Syrup Cocktails: Restorative Vintage Cocktails, Mocktails & Elixirs, and most recently Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks & Buzz-Worthy Libations.)
Let’s just do away with the pleasantries and get right to it. Cannabis is great and cocktails are great. When you put the two together, as Warren Bobrow has done in his new bookCannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics, great things are bound to happen. And hot damn, do they ever.
In order to learn more about cannabis cocktails, we of course had to try them with the man himself. Before we begun, we chatted a little about his book and the purpose of it.
“It isn’t meant as a recreational book,” Bobrow said. “It’s meant specifically for healing.”
Read: Don’t be an idiot and make super strong weed cocktails just because you can and want to get super high. Not only is that not the intent of the book, Bobrow says, but it also ruins the entire experience. Do you want to be that guy? (No one wants to be thatguy.)
Bobrow started by showing us how to infuse cannabis into alcohol. For the purposes of making Dank and Stormies, we used used a dark aged rum. After deciding on a spirit, the process itself is pretty simple. What it boils down to is this: cooking the weed in an oven-safe bag in the microwave to activate the THC (3 sets of 1.5 minutes each), then using a nitrous-oxide charged whipping siphon (think whipped cream or, you know, the other use) to infuse the now-active THC into the spirit using Dave Arnold’s rapid infusion technique.
When using this technique, Bobrow explained, “The nitrous oxide is microencapsulating the rum with the THC from the cannabis. Think of it as micro-infusing.”
Once the infusion is complete, you need to siphon off the built up gases inside. You donot want to inhale what comes out, Bobrow warned.
“Not a good idea. You want to be responsible,” he said.
When infusing cannabis into a spirit, he added while working, you wouldn’t want to do an entire bottle for a batch.
“If you were it would be exponentially weaker. It’s all in the ratios, this will be a lot more concentrated, then I’ll add in the fresh rum and it’ll be equally distributed throughout the entire bottle,” he said.
You don’t even need that much to begin with, just a few grams for a potent potable. “You can add a ton of it, but you don’t need to unless you’re really sick and that’s your medicine. Then you go ahead and add more,” Bobrow said.
Pretty soon, voila, the rum is done and ready for the Dank and Stormy.
With a beautiful nose and color, the now-infused rum blended perfectly with the rest of the ingredients to deliver a wonderfully-rounded, utterly drinkable beverage that started kicking in soon after ingestion. The tropical flavors of the rum blended well with the herbaceous addition, adding a new layer of depth to the cocktail.
Learn to make your own cannabis cocktails by picking up Cannabis Cocktails here.
http://www.themanual.com/food-and-drink/cannabis-cocktails-101-with-warren-bobrow/
According to New Jersey-based mixologist, author, and “cocktail whisperer” spirit expert Warren Bobrow, cannabis-infused cocktails like Durkin’s Dank & Stormy are the future of mixology, what he expects to become a growing trend as the decriminalization, legalization, and normalization of marijuana occurs nationwide. Bobrow recently met Durkin during the 2016 Rum Renaissance Festival in Miami that took place April 15 through 17, where the two discussed the potential for professional collaboration. “We were talking about cocktails with cannabis infusions and how recipes like mine — mixed with premium liquors — can be a match made in heaven,” says Bobrow. “When you mix marijuana and alcohol together, they play beautifully together.” –
He should know; Bobrow’s most recent work is called Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics, a 160-page book featuring 75 cocktail recipes that use cannabis. When it hits store shelves June 1, it will be the first of its kind, according to Library of Congress records. “To be clear, I’m not promoting this from the distillers’ level but rather on the bar-tending level — creative bartenders interested in the homeopathic history of cannabis as a medicinal tonic, the same recipes that were being used right up until the 1940’s,” says Bobrow. “I believe, with this book, I’m in the right place to help make history.” Durkin hopes to make history too — as the first Florida distiller to legally brand and sell a cannabis-infused rum. Despite the fact that he can’t promote, bottle, serve, or even make Sour Diesel Fwaygo as such, more than anything else, Durkin says his goal is to open people’s minds to a different — and equally pleasurable — cannabis experience. “From a bottle instead of a bong,” says Durkin. “It’s a great way for people who have never smoked — or don’t want to smoke — to experience all the benefits of marijuana.” While it may seem ludicrous to think the federal regulators will ever allow the two substances to be combined and sold in the same product, the idea actually isn’t that far out there. Right now you can find a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, allowing it to be regulated and taxed like alcohol, meaning The Food and Drug Administration would have the same authority over marijuana as it does for alcohol. As the regulatory landscape surrounding cannabis changes, distilleries already skilled at making a quality, cannabis-infused product will have the upper hand, adds Durkin. “First and foremost, I’m an advocate for legalizing marijuana,” says Durkin. “I believe that — in the next 5 to 10 years — cannabis will be a federally regulated substance and — like Warren — I see an opportunity to make an innovative and delicious product, while also making history.”