A couple of Saturdays ago I appeared on the KXAN Morning Show and prepared a cocktail for all of those people who are up and at 'em and in need of a stimulating seasonal cocktail at 8:30 am. As it happens, exactly one of my friends/colleagues called me to congratulate--shows what kind of crowd I roll with. Even my mom was out of town and could therefore not be relied upon to check the local news. Because of the the earliness of the hour, I didn't take it too seriously but I chanced to look at the stats for our Web traffic today, and noticed this tremendous spike in visits a few Saturdays ago. It was the day of the news broadcast! I so didn't think anyone was going to come visit, that when I said, "Check the Web site for the recipe," I didn't think anyone would really do it. But they did. Early-risin', hard-drinkin' mofos looking for a cocktail. Sorry I let y'all down, here's the drink if you're still interested.

Harvest Punch
1.5 oz Treaty Oak Rum
1.5 oz Fresh pressed apple cider
.5 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
.25 oz simple syrup
Bar spoon St. Elizabeth's Allspice Dram
Dash Cruzan Blackstrap rum
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice, or serve "up" in a cocktail glass or punch cup

Okay I don't want to get all Perez Hilton and junk but how is it that the Tipsy Texans were in the paper on two consecutive days this week? If we are somehow famous, I would like someone to please fix the handle on the truck so I don't have to reach out the window to open the door. Yesterday we got a shout-out from social columnist Michael Barnes about the Boy George cocktail we served last Wednesday night at the release party for the new L Style/G Style magazine ( I wrote an article for that rag if you want to view it here.) and today there is a picture of Tipsy himself, chomping down on some chow that was being served at Meaty Monday Madness.

The picture in today's paper identifies Tipsy (on left, with our friend Kevin Smothers, right, and who's that guy in the middle?) but does not indicate that he was there not in a civilian capacity, but in a Tipsy one, serving up some bad-ass cocktails. Actually, I can't remember what all we served but it was awesome.

The Manhattan, chilling in the fridge with the other agar agar (doesn't sound as sexy as Jell-o, does it?) shots

For starters, I showed up to Meaty Monday with a special treat for the host--a cocktail in a miniature boar's head-shaped terrine. Moreover, I made a bitchin Rittenhouse Rye Manhattan, congealed that sh!t with agar agar, and submerged an authentic Luxardo maraska cherry. The theme for this month's event was "Any Baby Can...Be Delicious" so this presentation was particularly hot.

At first I thought I looked kind of bicepy in this conversation with Bella Verdi Farms's Darrell Joseph, then I realized it was just because my arm was moving

The Statesman may have neglected to mention our mixological presence at Meaty Monday Madness but we have the photos--and empty bottles--to prove it.

We were out of town doing a two-night engagement at the Blue Javelina in Marfa this weekend and so we missed the Austinist interview that came out on Friday. (Marfa is known more for its broad horizons than for its broadband.) Tolly Mosely interviews David (Tex, me) on the subject of winter-appropriate cocktails. Tex debuts the Prefect Cocktail, which spell check keeps trying to make the Perfect Cocktail, which I am neither talented nor cocky enough to claim.

The Prefect
1.5 oz 100 Proof Rye Whiskey
0.75 oz Ruby Port
0.5 oz Averna
Barspoon Creme de Cassis
Dash Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters ( if you have them; if not, use Angostura)
Stir ingredients with ice to chill. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a real maraschino cherry.

There is also a brief discussion of how to employ the ice cream ball in adult holiday entertainment. Proprietarily known as the Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker, the device works by filling one end with ice and rock salt, and the other end with your favorite ice cream recipe. This time of year, when the weather is right and mood is festive, we prefer to fill it with some member of the overly-sweet-and-creamy cocktail canon, of which we are shamelessly fond: a batch of Grasshoppers, Pink Squirrels, Banshees, Golden Sleighs or Brandy Alexanders, for example. Then you roll the ball around and shake it for about ten minutes, at which point you refresh the ice/salt and scrape down the sides of the ice cream canister. Seal it back up and play with it for another 5-10 minutes, and your frozen treasure should be ready. You could, I suppose, do this by yourself but it would not be as fun and your arms might fall off, kind of like if you tried to do a 6-minute Ramos Gin Fizz without shaking assistance. Some Grinchy-ass bastards might point out that you accomplish this in the blender in a fraction of the time, but those haters probably also prefer Slice n' Bake cookies and not mixing the Play Doh colors til they look like poo.

Today there is a story in the Austin American-Statesman about how to ring in the New Year with a big bowl of punch. Since I knew that there would be quite a few Austinites and expatriate Longhorns in the Burnt Orange Diaspora who would be in need of a special beverage next week as well, I created a two-birds-with-one-stone Championship Punch. Fun enough for New Year's Eve, but strong enough to fortify our nerves for next week's football game.

Championship Punch
3-4 Tangerines, Meyer Lemons, Oranges, Lemons, mixed
24 oz (about 1 750ml bottle) Flor de Caña 4yr Aged Rum (or other aged rum, such as Mt. Gay or Texas-made Railean)
6 oz fresh squeezed Tangerine juice
6 oz fresh squeezed Meyer Lemon juice*
1/2 cup demerara sugar (or white sugar)
6 oz strong green tea
6-8 dashes Angostura bitters
1 oz St. Elizabeth's Allspice Dram (available at the Austin Wine Merchant and finer liquor stores)
Over a punch bowl or glass pitcher, remove the zests of several tangerines, meyer lemons, oranges or lemons, about 3-4 fruit total. Be careful to remove only the outer zest and not the white pith, which is bitter. Leave the zests in the bowl and add sugar and warm green tea. Stir to dissolve and allow to steep a few minutes. Add rum, fruit juices, bitters, and allspice dram. Strain mixture into a punch bowl. Add a large block of ice, which you can make by freezing water in a Jell-O mold, bunt pan, or half of a paper milk carton. A large block of ice will take several hours to dilute and so will not water down your punch as will regular ice. Makes about 12 4-oz servings.

*If you do not have access to Meyer Lemons, try an equal mixture of regular lemon juice and orange juice

Each year the various Edible Communities publications host the Local Hero awards in their various communities to award the best in locally produced food and beverage. This year's winners:

Farm/Farmer: Carol Ann Sayles and Larry Butler of Boggy Creek Farm
Restaurant/Chef: Mark Paul and Eric Polzer (Wink)
Food Artisan: Jesse Griffiths (Dai Due Supper Club & Butcher Shop)
Beverage Artisan: Joe Eifler and David Alan (TipsyTexan.com)

Congrats to all of the winners! We humbly thank all of you who voted for us, since this year we forgot to beg/bribe all of our friends and family to vote, and I even forgot to vote for myself.

On Thursday we did a live chat interview on Michael Barnes's Out and About blog at Austin360.com. This is a part of a series on the state of Austin nightlife. The format is interactive, and readers can join in on the conversation. The archived chat is viewable here.

Tex will be making the Treaty Oak Cocktail this morning on KXAN local news at around 8:40 am. Unnatural hours for a bartender to be up and at 'em, but what sacrifices we make for shameless self promotion!

The Treaty Oak Cocktail appears in the most recent issue of Edible Austin magazine, in a cooperative ad with locally-made Treaty Oak Rum and the Tipsy Tech, the educational program of this Web site.

Treat Oak Cocktail
2 oz Treaty Oak Platinum Rum
3/4 oz Rosemary syrup
3/4 oz Fresh-squeezed lime juice
1/2 oz Paula's Texas Orange liqueur

When I created this drink I was aiming for something that captured my impression of the flavors of the Hill Country. The locally made rum, the subtle herbaceousness from the rosemary, and the bright citrus all call to mind a bright sunshiney Texas afternoon on the patio. I structured the drink such that it would be familiar to Texans, but that it would still taste new and interesting. At it's core it is a Rum margarita, with a localized twist in the Rosemary which grows like a weed here. To make the syrup is easy--make a 1:1 batch of simple syrup (heat water and sugar til they're warm enough to dissolve the sugar), and while still warm infuse a couple sprigs of rosemary for a few minutes. Strain herbs from syrup and cool.

Note: This blog's comments section is not currently functioning :(

The summer Edible Austin is available at news stands around town

The new Summer 2010 issue of Edible Austin is out and I wrote my column on the thing that I think of most when it is hotter than hell outside. Most of you are probably thinking "Air Conditioning," but this is a publication about food, not HVAC. Ice--air conditioning for you mouth--is the stuff of summer. It is also the stuff of much contemplation, and no small amount of journalism, lately.

The Macallan has taken the lead from the Japanese and started to issue the ice ball maker, for the whisky drinker who likes the cold of ice, but not the dilution

As soon as I received my advanced copy of the book I realized that I left out a crucial part about ice: clarity. I was certain that my colleagues, having seen the big but opaque ice in the image above, would be calling and texting about my having reached a new level of hackery. Instead they just expressed jealousy that I had the ice ball maker and they didn't. (For the record, I had to send the machine back to the Macallan folks.)
Fortunately Camper English at Alcademics has recently written a concise guide to addressing the opacity issue, so that I don't have to. Hackery (mine) restored.

Thanks to Jenna Lane of Edible Austin for her fab photog

The 2010 Out & About 500 was announced today at Austin360.com and in the print edition of the Statesman. Lots of familiar faces, including our own. Special congrats to our friends Jenna Noel (Edible Austin, Honorary Tipsy Texan ) and Zack Northcutt (Mulberry, Hadddington's) for making their debut on the list and as an official 'social unit!'

(Note: The Statesman has been good to me personally and professionally over the years and I don't mean to imply otherwise in the tirade you are about to read. But the article that this letter is written in response to has no business in the pages of Austin's most influential media outlet)

Today this article appeared in the print and online versions of the Austin American-Statesman. The Statesman has never been much on covering the trending topics in cocktails and spirits, but has made some strides in recent months with Emma Janzen's well written piece on Mezcal (though for some reason the Statesman editors insisted the spirit be spelled "Mescal", in spite of its more common spelling with a "z"); Beth Goulart's piece just yesterday on Punch; and the tremendously ambitious Austin 360 Cocktail Database that they launched last month, in which they graciously allowed me to blab on for minutes on end in a series of cocktail instructional videos. Whereas the Statesman usually takes the approach of simply omitting cocktail coverage (such as their review of Annie's on Congress, in which my award-winning bar program completely escaped mention), they have taken the bizarre step today of publishing a hackishly written slam piece that would be more appropriate for a high schooler's or insufficiently talented college kid's blog.

Not only is the piece horribly written, it insults a community of bartenders who have made enormous progress in the last few years, quite literally putting Austin on the map. This week, three industry luminaries of national and international renown were in Austin: Charlotte Voisey, who was in town training the staff at the W; Raj Nagra, who was here to announce that Austin is a qualifying city for the 2011 Cocktail World Cup; and David Nepove, who is the president of the United States Bartenders Guild, and who was in town addressing our local chapter. It causes me considerable pain to think that before these individuals boarded their planes today, they could have picked up a copy of Austin 360 and read this hateful piece, exposing how poorly at least some members of our local media community think of all that we have accomplished.

I attempted to leave a very long comment explaining all of the things wrong with this piece (though a full report would have been longer than the actual article), but was thwarted a by a character limit on that site. I encourage anyone who takes cocktails seriously to comment on the Statesman article and to email the paper's editors demanding that they start taking this subject seriously, and stop leaving coverage of it in the hands of people who know no more about the topic than the paper's readers do, who come to such articles seeking informed coverage. Other than the piece I wrote two years ago, and the recent Mez(s)cal piece, I cannot recall a single article about cocktails, bars, or spirits that was written by someone with more than superficial training in this area.

The full text of the comment I wanted to post at Statesman follows the jump (Note: Comments cannot be posted on Tipsy Texan at this time due to a glitch that we can't figure out, but any comments are appreciated via email, info at this url):

I met the gentleman behind Austin Bloggy Limits, who took the award for Best Overall Music Blog

The Austin Blogger Awards were announced at the #BleetUp on Friday night at the Whole Foods Terrace downtown. Among the winners were Hilah Cooking! for Blog of the Year; our buddy Mando at Taco Journalism for Best Restaurant Review (they are thoroughly amusing, and his coverage of Tamale House makes me weep with joy); Rebeccamendations for entertainment tips; and of course your Tipsy Texans for Best Cocktail/Beer Blog. I hope next year they are able to expand the offerings and separate the Cocktail blogs from the Beer blogs, so that voters are really comparing apples to apples, etc.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us! Maybe this blogger award will actually inspire us to start blogging again. And to get the comments section on this POS fixed...

2010 was a hell of a year for your Tipsy Texans. Thank you to Edible Austin, the Austin American Statesman, the Austin Chronicle, L Style/G Style and all the other publications that supported us throughout the year. Thanks to Twin Liquors and all the spirits companies who sponsored our first two semesters of Tipsy Tech, as well as all the numerous events we produced throughout the year. And thanks to all the folks who stopped by to have a drink and conversation with us wherever we were.

So, where were we in 2010?

Of course, there were the events. More than I can recall. We made a shitload of cocktails for people who don't work daily behind bars. Here are a few of the places you may have seen us mixing, shaking, stirring, or ladling:
Winter Luau at Eastside Showroom
Cocktail Showcase, Coyote Café, Santa Fe, NM
Beignet Breakfast featuring Chartreuse, SXSW 2010 at Frank
Marfa Film Festival SXSW Preview Party featuring 42 Below
SXSW Google Party featuring The Macallan

Joe and David at the 2nd Annual Derby Day Austin at Rainlily Farm, brought to you by our good friends at Maker's Mark

Here is Tipsy (r) assisting Adam Harris of Maker's Mark. We served over 2,000 Mint Juleps at Sunday Fair, 25th Annual Hill Country Wine & Food Festival

With Rebecca Rather and the crew of Camp Javelina, we rocked the Building 98 Brunch at Marfa Film Festival. I did St. Germain Cocktails by the carafe, and a fresh Bloody Mary Bar with fresh mix from the local Marfa hydroponic tomatoes, pickled vegetables, and boiled shrimp. Thanks to Bombay and Tito's for sponsoring the goodies

We threw a two-night After Party for Marfa Film Fest at Blue Javelina, Marfa. There were so many of us staying at "Camp Javelina" that I slept in the bar the first night. Thanks to Bacardi for supplying my bar that weekend.

Tipsy Tech Graduation Party at the Tigress
2nd Annual Tales of the Cocktail Send-off Party at the Swoop House
Spirits of Texas Luncheon, Tales of the Cocktail, New Orleans
Zhi Tea Third Anniversary Party
Chef Zach Northcutt's Meaty Monday Madness
Farm to Plate benefitting Sustainable Food Center
Sustainable Foodies Fundraiser benefitting Sustainable Food Center sponsored by Republic Tequila

The most unexpected reunion of all! Annies on Congress First Anniversary Party. I got the opportunity to jump back behind the bar with then-bar manager Tiffany Short. Afterwards Bill Norris (original consultant for the project) and Christa Haxthausen (bartender during my tenure) joined for a reunion picture.

Essential NY Times Cookbook, Cocktail Demo for Launch Party at Rainlily Farm
Third Annual Oyster Club benefitting the Rude Mechanicals, The Plant at Kyle
Official Cocktail, 2010 Dolce Vita at Laguna Gloria benefitting Austin Museum of Art
Little Lucifer’s Luau, benefitting Transgender Education Network of Texas
Bourbon, Bluegrass & BBQ at Stubbs
HELM Handmade Trunk Show at Stag
Blue Javelina Cocktail Showcase, Chinati Weekend, Marfa
Swine Flu Shot! For Wine & Swine Weekend, Hill Country Wine & Food Festival
Third Annual Drink Local Cocktail Contest, benefitting Urban Roots
Potocki Vodka VIP event at Austin Wine Merchant

We made a special punch for the Contigo Ground-breaking Party. Joe obviously wasn't taking his shoveling task very seriously, since he didn't even set his cup down long enough for the photo opp

We picked up a few Awards & Recognitions along the way...
Austin Chronicle Restaurant Poll—“Most Critical Thinking About Drinking”
Austin Blogger Awards---Best Cocktail/Beer Blog
2010 Local Hero Award—“Beverage Artisan”
Out & About 500—“Food Stars”

I'm most proud that we graduated our first two classes of Tipsy Tech students. Here we are on our first semester field trip to the Balcones distillery in Waco. We won the Austin Chronicle Best of Austin Award—“Best Tippler Teach-ins” for Tipsy Tech

A few people, amazingly enough, wanted to hear me blab on about this subject even more than I usually do:
Out & About Interactive Chat with Michael Barnes, on the state of Austin nightlife
Southwest EXPO, Houston—“Texas Booze: More Homegrown Choices for your Bar Menu”
Growing Concerns, back-to-back interviews w/ Cecilia Nasti, KUT Radio
Heath Riddles, OUTcast Radio, KOOP
Spirits of Texas Cocktail Showcase at Twin Marketplace, Waco
Nerd Nite Austin—“History of the Martini”

Tipsy Tech alumn Emma Janzen curated a massive Austin 360 Cocktail Database, at Austin360.com. I had the pleasure of doing the first 20 or so videos of what will grow to be a great collection of cocktail instructional videos and recipes from Austin's craft bartending scene. (The astute observer will notice that I underfilled the jigger when pouring the Cachaca--no meniscus--what else did I mess up? Discuss)

Me with Tom Michael after our interview at the Marfa Public Radio studio

We made a few appearances in the media:
“Luck of the Irish coffee” Austin American-Statesman Glossy
“Punch Up Celebration with Old Favorite”—Austin American-Statesman
“Blogging Pair Has Imbibe and Scribe Down to a Science”—Austin American-Statesman
Treaty Oak Cocktail made on KXAN live morning show
Holiday Cocktails, Jewell Magazine Winter 2011

And had good luck at a couple of contests this year as well...
1st place, Don Julio Luxury Drop (Team with Ben Craven, Jenn Tucker, and Bill Norris

Look at these hard-ass gangsters. Tara, Bill, Jeff, David: The Austin delegation arrives in Dallas for Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Showcase. My cocktail advanced to the national round in 2011

Then there were all the private events, the events I forgot, and a few events that we didn't have to work! Thanks to everyone who made 2010 a great year. Looking forward to seeing you all again, on one side of the bar or another, in 2011.

Note: This blog software is out of date and the the comments feature doesn't work. Please look for a new Tipsy Texan early 2011

If you have picked up the recent issue of Edible Austin magazine, you may have noticed my article on Absinthe. If you know anything about absinthe, you may have noticed that I refer to Absinthe's meteoric rise in the 18th century. By 18th century, I meant 1800s. Give or take a century, you know, no big deal. There is an excellent recipe at the end for a Corpse Reviver variation that I am really excited about because it uses absinthe as a co-base spirit, instead of the usual drops and rinses, and is palatable to absinthe fans and foes alike. Tenneyson is the brand called for, and for transparency's sake I should disclose that I do work for Tenneyson, and this will not be the last time you see me advocate on its behalf.)

CORPSE REVIVER 2011
¾ oz. Tenneyson absinthe
¾ oz. St–Germain
¾ oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
¾ oz. Paula’s Texas Orange
Shake the ingredients with ice to chill. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Photo by Jenna Noel for Edible Austin. Please, no smack-talking about why the sugar cube would be atop an already-louched absinthe. Artistic liberties were taken here.

In other news, absinthe's name is still getting dragged through the mud. Though modern science has refuted the junk research and bogus claims that originally led to absinthe's Prohibition, some people, even some in the absinthe industry, continue to roll out the same tired tropes--that absinthe is dangerous, that it makes you hallucinate, etc. Consider the case of Four Loko, the carbonated wonder that reportedly had as much caffeine as a cup of coffee and as much alcohol as three beers, which was taken off shelves last year for being a so-called "blackout in a can", and for appealing to underage drinkers. (Newsflash--all booze appeals to underage drinkers, some just more so than others. It's booze, whether it's high-end scotch, Four Loko, or communion wine. I had a roommate in my immediate post-high school years who got nasty drunk on a bottle of cooking Marsala one night and went rolling around the floor naked in the "satellite dish" portion of a papasan chair)

Now there is a lawsuit pending in southern California alleging that, among other things, Four Loko contained wormwood, "the main ingredient in absinthe." First of all, I don't think the complainants meant to imply that like absinthe, Four Loko is a classic artisanal spirit, rooted in Europe's early herbal medicine traditions and enjoyed by legendary members of Belle Epoque society. I think they mean to imply that it will make you go cray-cray and rip off your ear like Van Gogh. Secondly, wormwood is not the "main ingredient" in absinthe--were that the case, absinthe would have the consistency of a pemican bar. The main ingredient is alcohol/water, not that it matters to the louchebags who are trying to disparage Four Loko.

I'm going to form an organization to defend Absinthe's good name. It will be called E.A.R. (End Absinthe Rebuke)

Fans of Balcones whiskies, Texas spirits, and bibulous oddities will want to swing by Twin Liquors Marketplace at Hancock Center this Saturday afternoon between 2-5 for the launch of Balcones Brimstone. The latest release from the mind of master distiller Chip Tate, Brimstone is a 100% corn whisky (for whatever reason they decline to utilize the e in whiskey), laced with the smoke of Texas scrub oak. I'd love to indulge you in describing how exactly the smoke flavor impregnates the whiskey, but that information is a tightly kept secret. In other words, I don't know. This product starts out as Baby Blue, the highly regarded corn spirit that took highest honors from Paul Pacult in his Spirit Journal earlier this year--when you taste Brimstone, it is not difficult to tell what its pedigree is. Through some mysterious alchemical process it takes on a smoky flavor that I think is delicious--some cross between a campfire (which I have admittedly never tasted, per se) and a glass of peated scotch (which I have drank my weight in)-- a whiskey with the terroir of the TX Hill Country. This is a profile that will appeal to the drinker who seeks out Islay scotches and funky mezcals. The Balcones folks will be unveiling this new release on Saturday at Twin. Maybe if Chip has enough samples of his own hooch, he'll divulge the secret process behind Brimstone. Not likely, but it'd be fun to try.