|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 The Perfect Cocktails
According to Misty Kalkofen, bartender at Drink, her signature cocktails are:
The Villa De Verano: Blanco Tequila, Fernet Branca, jarabe de cacao ahumado (a simple syrup with cocoa, cinnamon and Mexican smoked salt). Garnished with grated coffee bean.
The Dunaway: Lustau Jarana Fino Sherry, Cynar, Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur, Angostura Orange Bitters, Lemon Oil.
The Hortus B: Bols Genever, Rothman and Winter Orchard Apricot, Fresh Lemon and Grapefruit Juice, Chamomile Simple Syrup, Peychauds Bitters, and egg white.
Home Grown
“I think the best drinks to mix at home are the simplest,” says Misty Kalkofen, a bartender at Drink.
The Old Fashioned: Place a sugar cube in a double old-fashioned glass. Soak it with two dashes angostura bitters and two dashes angostura orange bitters. Muddle it with 1/4 oz water. Add 3 ounces of rye whiskey and ice. Stir, top with orange oil.
The Rosita: In a mixing glass with ice stir 1 oz of blanco tequila, 1 oz of Campari, .5 oz Dry Vermouth and .5 oz Sweet Vermouth. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with orange oil.
Feeling the spirits
“The way to have the best experience at Drink is to enter the doors with an open mind and a sense of adventure,” bartender at Drink, Misty Kalkofen tells us. “Give the bartender a clear idea of the type of cocktails you enjoy… If you enjoy your first cocktail, give the bartender the latitude and allow him or her to lead you down a path… Also, try sitting with different bartenders. We will all offer different suggestions based upon our experiences and backgrounds. Finally, don't be afraid! Just because you had that ‘gincident’ in your past doesn't mean you are going to hate gin forever!”
Opposites Attract
“Pairing food and cocktails is very much like pairing food and wine,” Misty Kalkofen, bartender at Drink says. “Having spicy Thai food? Consider something on the sweeter side to cut the heat. I'd head straight for a slightly sweet Batavia Arrack Daiquiri. One of my favorite combos at Drink is the Bacon Wrapped Dates with a sherry cocktail. The crispness of the sherry is a perfect counterpart to the richness of the Gorgonzola fondue that accompanies the dates.” Bartending 101
“The best way is to just start doing it at home,” bartender at Drink, Misty Kalkofen says. “When you have a great cocktail at a bar ask the bartender to write down the recipe. Buy the ingredients and start making the drink at home. If you do this a few times you will have started your home bar… Check out the Boston Shaker in Davis Square. He has all the tools a just starting out home bartender needs to make great drinks. He also offers classes and he has a great selection of cocktail books. If you do want to start your cocktail library, I'd start with Dale DeGroff's two books, The Craft of the Cocktail and The Essential Cocktail. They are rich in the basics of cocktail making, recipes and history!” |
The Liquidator
Keywords: Restaurateur
She, with the Technicolor phoenix emblazoned on her arm. She, with the Harvard master's degree in theological studies. She, with the obsession with tequila, with God, and the Aztecs. What else would someone like that be other than a bartender? It’s a calling, you know. Serving spirits is spiritual, and Misty Kalkofen was put on this planet to mix and mingle. She knows this because it was the way of her mother, her father and those before them. Gerald met Hazel at an A & W root beer stand in Mexico, Missouri. The fateful day resulted in a restaurant-loving brood with a daughter named Misty who was destined to graciously shake and stir. First, she was a busboy (girl?), then, a waitress and up, up, up she rose to her life’s work. Behind a bar. But it couldn’t be that simple. No, there was more to booze than fermented potatoes. Misty just knew it. There was such a history: Way back in 6th millennium BC, the Sumerians had offered beer to the mother of creation, Ninkasi. A few centuries later, the Greeks celebrated Dionysus with a nice merlot. And the Aztecs! Those Aztecs used to punish civilians who over-imbibed because getting hammered was only for priests – alcohol, they believed, brings you closer to God. Amen to that. So Misty applied to Harvard Divinity School to learn more. She studied the Carthusian monks and how they make their signature Chartreuse. She hung out with families stirring beautiful mezcals in the hills of Oaxaca. She shot the breeze (and downed a shot) with her buddy, Florencio, who declared, while standing next to his fermentation tank, these powerful and unslurred words: “There are no chemicals here. Just God’s will.” Indeed. Misty graduated and went straight to Drink. (Not the verb, silly; the noun, the location, the famed restaurateur Barbara Lynch’s inaugural bar, Drink; Misty’s raison d’etre.) This was a place where Misty can really show her true colors, including her tattoo, which she says she got to remind her of the enlightening lessons she’s learned in life. Her customers interpret her education in the form of thrilling concoctions of Blanco tequila, cocoa, cinnamon and Mexican smoked salt, to name a few. And there’s so many more, so many delicious, intoxicating combinations that will make you feel great, make her feel great in a glass brimming with joy and history and jolly good fun. Consider it a gift from the Gods. Drink 348 Congress Street Boston |
ADVERTISEMENT
|
