Genever
What’s cool about Genever is that you get a really interesting marriage of two of the greatest mixing spirits in the ancient lexicon. You have whiskey undertones with gin overtones. There’s the maltiness of whiskey from the malted barley and the vegetal flavors of American whiskey from the corn in the distillate. Then there’s a step where they take that malt wine and it’s infused with gin botanicals. They bring so much flavor to a party that you can really do a lot of interesting things.
In the first time of storied history of the Bol’s family, I was allowed to pick my own barrel-aged Genever to be bottled and shipped back to the US. It was aged in a French barre, which is larger than a whisky barrel, so a lot of Genever is on its way to us. It was a real treat to go to Amsterdam and select the barrel.
Genever Cocktail | The Dutch Oven
We have a house cocktail on the menu using Bols Genever called the Dutch Oven, which is goofy name. It’s a lightly textured and very aromatic cocktail created by Katy Emerson. It’s basically a muddle of a sugar cube with a little soda water, dashes of aromatic bitters and Absinthe with barrel-aged Genever added and then given a good stir. Pour that over a single ice ball (so it melts slowly) and garnish it with a little grapefruit oil on top. It’s really modern looking, but made in a very traditional Old Fashioned approach.
Pierre Ferrand’s Dry Curacao
When Pierre Ferrand come out with their Dry Curacao, I had a suspicion that it would blend really well with rum and vermouth. The El Presidente cocktail is one that I’ve been a fan of for a long time. When you make that drink with Brugal rum, Dolin vermouth and Dry Curacao, they just sing together.
Rum
The Plantation Barbados 5 year Rum is the absolute greatest ounce per ounce value for quality I’ve ever seen. At under $20 for 750ml, it just can’t last.
King’s Ginger Liqueur
It’s origin is an apothecary elixir created by Berry Bros. & Rudd in the early 1900’s for King Edward VII. It’s a ginger liqueur at full 80 proof with some herbal components.? I’m using it as a base in a few different things, like some flips and other presentations with soda and bitters. It’s a really versatile, fun distillate. With the herbs, spices and ginger, it’s more of a fall and winter flavor.
Bartender’s 6 Things... Boston ARea
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The Boston Shaker
Photograph courtesy of The Boston Shaker
The Boston Shaker
In Summerville, it’s really our only bar store. Adam Lantheaume was just a guest at the bar of the old B-Side Lounge back in the nascent days of the cocktail scene and he noticed the conversation about how we couldn’t get this liquor or that one and he saw a niche there. He has all the books and all the equipment and maybe 40 different kinds of aromatic bitters, because the market has just exploded with those. If I'm struggling to find something, he'll source it and stock it. Everything from muddlers to metal spoon straws to aromatic bitters to spray bottles, everything you could ever want. He’s kind of created this little hub of activity around making sure we have this stuff in Boston.
69 Holland Street, Somerville, MA 02144
T: 617.718.2999
www.thebostonshaker.com
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Julio’s Liquor
Photograph courtesy of Julio’s Liquor
Brix
Great wine shop and they stock cool liquor. They do barrel selections, so they have their own bottle barrels of Buffalo Trace. You can get help finding whatever you need here.
105 Broad Street, Boston, MA 02110
T: 617.542.2749
www.brixwineshop.com
Julio’s Liquors
The single best store in New England. It’s a little bit of a drive, because it’s in the suburbs. He’s just taken things to an entirely different level. He throws these whiskey weekends and they move maybe $80,000 to $100,000 worth of product in a day. They also have their own association called Lock & Key where they do massive amounts of barrel selections. I don’t know of any other place in the world that does what they do with tastings several nights of the week. They are really well organized and great guys.
140 Turnpike Road, Westborough, MA 01581
T: 508.366.1942
www.juliosliquors.com
Cocktails at Drink
Photograph courtesy of Drink
Drink | Cocktails
Brick & Mortar
It's in Central Square. Patrick Sullivan, who used to own the B-Side, owns it and Misty Kalkofen, whose reputation is stellar nationally and internationally, is running the bar for him here. So Brick and Mortar is a definite place to go for drinks.
569 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
T: 617.491.5599
www.brickandmortarbar.com
Drink
No conversation about this town’s cocktail scene is complete without mentioning Drink at Fort Point. John Gertsen runs it and it’s an austere grotto-like subterranean space that just has the most convivial and generous attitude towards educating people about drinks. I just love this place. This is the kind of bar you could scatter my ashes out, I will rest in peace.
348 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210
T: 617.695.1806
www.drinkfortpoint.com
Silvertone Bar & Grill
It’s a perennial; it’s like you just can't do without it. It's where the Boston restaurant people go after work.
69 Bromfield Street, Boston, MA 02108
T: 617.338.7887
www.silvertonedowntown.com
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