The sophisticated working man's Manhattan: Colletti's Manhattan.

Who isn’t on the hunt for the perfect Manhattan? Last night I attended the hosted cocktail tasting for the winter cocktail menu at Ray’s and Stark Bar in Miracle Mile. Since mixology consultant Michel Dozois is no longer in the picture sommelier/mixologist Paul Sanguinetti took over the cocktail program. For the season he created nine new concoctions, one of which I included in my winter cocktail roundup, the Oaxacan Holiday. But that was before I got to taste the (Far) East of Manhattan.

Now usually I shy away from variations on the Manhattan cocktail as they tend to be disappointing. But this one made me open my eyes a little to the possibilities. Here was something delicious with warm, exotic flavors. Made with housemade masala-infused rye, Amaro Nonino, Sweet Vermouth and bitters it’s a spicy (not hot) elixir.

(Far) East of Manhattan: housemade masala-infused rye, Amaro Nonino, Sweet Vermouth and bitters

Paul created the cocktail after having been inspired by a dish that Ray’s Chef Kris Morningstar put together last year for the Tim Burton exhibit. “White Rabbit with Tea in a Mushroom Forest” was a rabbit dish accompanied with a masala chai sauce.

“I wanted cocktails that you can actually pair with the food, ” said Paul. “So I was just playing with chai and as soon as I smelled it it made me think of rye whiskey…and one of my favorite drinks is the Manhattan. And I just thought the aromatics, you know the Angostura bitters, that with the chai and the rye all went beautifully together and I threw in the Amaro Nonino to give it that exotic quality, that citrus peel. Split that with Carpano Antica which has a bitterness, kind of gives that depth, too. Instead of doing an ounce of Vermouth I did half Amaro and half Carpano.”

The result is one that stood out from the list of other winter cocktails and one of my favorite Manhattans.

But for the Manhattan purist, there is another option. My friend John Colletti (Social Domain), who has popped up in a few of my posts before as a drinking buddy and co-cocktail reviewer, is a downright Nazi about how his Manhattans should be made.

Suffice it to say, even though I loved the chai Manhattan, he in fact did not. “It’s got no midpalate,” he complained. Whatevs. Anyway, he asked Paul to make him a special Manhattan. So the mixologist decided to combine Old Overholt Rye with Michter’s Rye — “a sacrilege,” he winced as he poured one into the other.

I was in awe as he built this “Working Man’s Manhattan”– carefully measuring, waiting for the ice to chill the glass til it frosted, stirring for a long while, and then letting the mixed concoction sit for many minutes. “It’s all about the waiting,” John assured me as I whined, impatient about getting to taste it. FINALLY, Paul strained the drink into the chilled cocktail glass.

Colletti’s Manhattan

• 1 1/2 ounces Old Overholt Rye
• 1 ounce Michter’s Rye
• 1/2 ounce Carpano Antica
• 1/2 ounce Amaro Nonino
• 2 dashes of Angostura bitters

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass. Add some cracked ice. Stir but not too vigorously. Stir some more. Let sit for several minutes. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

And I don’t know if it was the anticipation or the buildup but this was truly one delicious Manhattan. “I think this may be the best Manhattan. The perfect balance of spice and caramel,” said Colletti who then gave Paul his blessing to dub it Colletti’s Manhattan. Jealous, after both my friends Mike Prasad (MXLGY) and now Colletti got cocktails named after them, I asked Paul when I was gonna get one. “Only one named cocktail a day,” he replied. Bah. Anyway, Manhattan fans, you gotta try these and then tell me if you agree.

Ray’s and Stark Bar
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90036 (map)
Reservations: (323) 857-6180
Hours: Closed Wednesdays; Ray’s — 12-3p (11:30am on weekends), 5-10p; Stark Bar — 11a-11p
Facebook: Ray’s and Stark Bar
Twitter: @raysandstarkbar

Cocktail punch with Solerno blood orange liqueur

Last night’s boozy Boxing Day Social charity affair at the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Spare Room raised about $2,000 in addition to collecting blankets and clothes for downtown’s Hospitality Kitchen. For the $10 donation at the door, guests were treated to turkey-on-rye sandwiches, Wild Geese Irish whiskey tastings and a Jenga tournament as well as three free-flowing cocktail punches created by hostess and SR beverage director Naomi Schimek. (Hit the jump for the Boxing Day Punch recipe — and for more pictures.)

Naomi also came up with the idea of auctioning off L.A. bartenders and their respective bar tabs. Since it’s usually against policy for bartenders to drink at the bar where they work, the bar tabs were thrown in a hat and then each bartender had to draw one out. Luckily no one pulled out their own tab.

The mixmasters who drew the highest bids were Spare Room’s Lauran September who raised $200 for a date with her at Harvard & Stone and Naomi who was snapped up by both Aidan Demarest (Neat) and the event’s emcee Dan “The Imbiber” Dunn for $200. The trio will be enjoying beers and shots at La Cita. Someone should make a reality show about THAT date!

The significant others of some of the bartenders took the auction as an opportunity to score a budget-friendly date night. Hilary Straus, wife of Alex Straus of Hemingway’s Lounge, won her husband and a $175 bar tab at Baby Blues BBQ for a cool $100. While La Descarga’s Kenny Danger and the Hemingway’s bar tab was won by Kenny’s girlfriend.

The cocktail community turned out in full force to support the charity. It was fun hanging out with fellow cocktail enthusiasts like LA/OC Foodventures and Faux LA Hipster as well as mingling with Georgia of Alie & Georgia and The Savory Hunter. My fave moments of the night had to be tippling that intense cocktail punch made with Salerno blood orange liqueur and getting Dan Dunn, Aidan Demarest and Spare Room co-owner Marc Rose to jump in the photo booth for me. That photo strip is going up on my refrigerator.

If you missed out last night, not to fret. Naomi said that this will be a yearly event so start saving up your cash now. Who knows who will be up for bid next year?

Boxing Day Punch

by Naomi Schimek

Pineapple mint julep.

Earlier this week, I was invited to a lavish hosted bourbon-paired dinner by Maker’s Mark at modern Vietnamese restaurant Red Medicine in Beverly Hills. Two reasons why I couldn’t turn this down even after my self-imposed whiskey hiatus (following an over-indulgent night with Elijah Craig) and that scandal last year involving the ousting and outing of a noted restaurant reviewer which turned me off the restaurant: 1) It’s Maker’s Mark, one of my favorite bourbons, and 2) it’s a bourbon-paired dinner with something other than the usual steak and potatoes or barbecue.

And for this event chef/partner Jordan Kahn and that scandalous managing partner Noah Ellis specially created four cocktails they felt were in the spirit of Maker’s, which they then paired with a number of dishes. They used both the regular Maker’s as well as Maker’s 46, the company’s newest whiskey.  How could I turn all that down?

Maker's Mark mule at Red Medicine.

The first four courses were nibbles of pork rillette, delicious brussel sprouts in fish sauce, beef tartare and tomatoes so the first cocktail was light and effervescent. Noah and Jordan decided to go with a wintry, bourbon-y version of a Moscow Mule with pomegranate being the focus. The cocktail is made with Maker’s, housemade ginger beer, housemade grenadine (pomegranate juice and vanilla), lime juice and Angostura orange bitters.

“When we do drinks like this, we’ll carbonate everything together,” Noah said. “Because if you just take the bourbon and mix it with your ginger beer, sort of half of your drink would be flat and half would be carbonated. So we’ll take everything, we’ll let it sit for a few hours so the flavors can really mingle and then we’ll carbonate everything at 40 psi so the whole drink is a little more sparkling. And to cut it from there we’ll do it with crushed ice and pomegranate.” The result is the sparkliest cocktail I’ve ever had, almost like a cocktail soda. Brilliant.

A quick look at their online cocktail menu showed that they do indeed have a carbonated cocktail available (at least if the menu is up-to-date). The #58 (they don’t seem to bother with cocktail names here), which is described as an Argentinian Americano, is made with Jelinek Fernet, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, Bulleit Rye, Mexican Coke and all carbonated together. I’m going to have to give that a try.

The next round of four dishes was heartier and more savory what with the likes of Imperial Wagyu beef brisket and heirloom rice porridge with onion soubise, young carrots, salted black bean and elderflower. So the duo did a take on the Mint Julep but with a tropical twist. Noah said he thinks tropical fruit when he thinks winter. So for their cocktail they used pineapple syrup instead of just regular sugar and brightened it up by muddling a grapefruit peel into each drink and then mixed in Maker’s Mark and Fee Brothers whiskey barrel-aged bitters for spiciness.

Maker's Braised beef brisket was sooo tender.

Surprisingly, the cocktail is easy to make at home, according to Noah, but the only tricky part may be the pineapple syrup. “But it’s not even that hard. We make ours sous vide so we take 2-to-1 pineapple pieces to sugar by weight and cryovac them and put them at 125 for 18 hours. But before I figured that out I was just doing it in a pot with water, pineapple and sugar and it totally works. The reason ours is kind of neat is that there’s no added water from the syrup. The only liquid is the sugar extracts from the pineapple. But if you do it with water, just use a little more, it’s not the end of the world. It’s a breeze at home.”

The sweetness of the cocktail did work well with the food, especially that oh-so-tender brisket that was braised with Maker’s. My only complaint is that I was expected to stretch this drink over four dishes. The crushed ice in it watered it down so it felt like a race against time to try to enjoy it before it got too diluted. I know, world’s smallest violin.

The last two dessert courses each came with their own cocktail. For the Coconut Bavarois with coffee, coconut milk, Thai basil, peanut and chicory, Noah paired a coconut eggnog made with Maker’s 46. “When I smelled the coconut dessert, I thought ‘the coconut and Maker’s 46 need to go together.’… So we take coconut milk and we cook it sous vide with eggs and sugar and cinnamon, clove, allspice and nutmeg and we make a custard. So it’s just coconut and egg and then we cut it with the Maker’s 46. Chilled it overnight to marry the flavors and then we froth it up with a handblender so it’ll be light.

“It might be a little bit of overkill with the coconut dessert but it was cold last night so the recipes that we grabbed were sort of these warm winter/fall…and the Maker’s 46 with the toasted French oak staves really calls for these flavors in particular,” said Noah. The result was a very light and not-too-rich eggnog, which I loved. Made me think of spending Christmas in Hawaii. And the cocktail wasn’t overkill with the coconut dessert, which was my favorite of the two by the way, but they just kind of blended together instead of actually complementing each other.

Nighthawks on Wilshire (thanks, @Mattatouille, for that one)

For the last cocktail and dessert pairing, they did a bourbon version of everyone’s favorite winter cocktail, hot buttered rum with a dessert of bitter chocolate, kecap manis, oats, parsnip, brown butter and soy milk sorbet. Naturally here the Hot Buttered Bourbon was gourmet-ed out with butter from the south of France and garnished with sea salt from England in addition to mixing in Maker’s 46, hot water, nutmeg and sugar. As it cooled, it became richer and butterscotchy. Very decadent.

Fortunately, even though these cocktails were made especially for this dinner, Noah said they’re looking to add the Hot Buttered Bourbon to the cocktail menu in the next month. Perfect for those 50-degree nights! Heh.

So I think I made my peace with Red Medicine (and whiskey). I may not go there for dinner (too lah-dee-dah for my cheapskate tastes) but I’d love to make a habit of stopping by for a late night cocktail and bar snack. They’re open til 2am and have a great bar area. In this sleepy part of Wilshire Boulevard, it seems like a well-known hidden gem.

On a side note, after this dinner I went home and fixed myself a Maker’s Manhattan. I’m cured!

More pictures of the Maker’s Mark dinner after the jump.

Red Medicine
8400 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, California 90211 (map)
(323) 651-5500
Facebook: Red Medicine
Twitter: @redmedicinela

Thursday, November 10

Pint Night and Evil Dead Double Feature at Naja’s Place
Has any other such combination of words sounded more magical? Not only will Redondo Beach’s beer haven screen two of the best horror movies (so fun to watch with a group) but it’ll also debut a specialty beer from Smog City Brewing. Groovy. Apparently there’s some football game going on before the show but as soon as that’s over. They’ll tap the beer at 8, though.

• 8pm. Naja’s Place, 154 International Boardwalk, Redondo Beach (map). (310) 376-9951.

Friday, November 11

18th Annual Single Malt Scotch & Whisky Extravaganza
It’s you and 110 rare and high-quality single malt and Scotch whiskies. Nope, it’s not a dream, it’s the 18th annual extravaganza. Cost of the evening is $120-$135 but you get the best of the best brown stuff as well as a dinner buffet and premium and imported cigars. Yes, it’s THAT kind of evening, break out the smoking jacket.

• 7pm. $120-$135. Loews Santa Monica, 1700 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica (map).

Sunday, November 13

Tequila Against Cancer Charity Event at Next Door Lounge
I love these “drink for a good cause” events. And this Sunday there are two. This one is tequila against cancer and is hosted by Handsome Joe Brooke, People’s Choice Winner for Best LA Bartender 2011. $40 gets you a tequila tasting of some of the best (Fortaleza, Casa Noble), food as well as a chance to win a trip to Mexico to go on a tequila distillery tour! There will also be an auction where you can bid on swank items like hotel stays, bowling/punch at Spare Room, and vintage tequilas. And if you purchase advance tickets to Speed Rack (below) you can get into Tequila Against Cancer for $25 instead of $40, just bring your Speed Rack receipt!

• 1-5pm. $40. Next Door Lounge, 1154 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles (map).

Speed Rack LA Cocktail Competition at Hollywood Roosevelt
Cheer on your fave lady bartenders while enjoying cocktail punches, cocktails, and beer. And all for a good cause: breast cancer research, prevention and education. This national event stops in L.A. giving the best women bartenders in town a chance to out-mix one another. It’s gonna be a good time. Liquor sponsors include Beefeater Gin, Plymouth Gin, Pernod and Abita Beer, nuff said! Tickets will be available at the door on the day of the event for $25 (cash only) on a first come, first served basis, depending on capacity and availability. $35 gets you the Speed Rack tee and a koozie in addition to admission.

• 3-7pm. Tickets: $20-$35. Hollywood Roosevelt, 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood (map).

Monday, November 14

The Bruery Reserve Society 2012 Membership Goes on Sale
Sure, you may not want to be the member of any club that will take you as a member but you’ll want to join this one. Because you get 11 limited-edition Bruery beers as well as access to some of the best beer parties in town. Yup, it’s that time of year again when The Bruery Reserve Society membership goes on sale. At $295 it’s for the die-hard beer geek but what an awesome holiday gift that would make. Ahem.

Tuesday, November 15

Bel Air Caviar Tasting with Chef Marcel Vigneron
I know, this sounds wayy fancy and it is what with it being a black tie affair (wuuut?) and costing $500 a head. And it’s been promoted as “An event for the one percent — with room for the other 99.” It has all that appeal to the schwank folk like all the caviar you can eat, champagne, top chefs and string quartets. Top Chef runner-up Marcel Vigneron will prepare three courses in between the musical performances. Adventurous eaters will squeal over smoked alligator, sturgeon and a huge Alaskan smoked salmon.

• 6pm. $500-$1,500. Bel Air Home whose address is disclosed once you purchased admission.

Easy bacon-infused bourbon.

When I stopped by Cast Iron Gourmet‘s booth at Artisanal LA’s spring show, I saw that owner Rashida Purifoy was selling jars of bacon fat. “But why?” I asked her. Why? Apparently her bacon fat is awesome. Thanks to her gourmet bacon, her customers were asking for her leftover bacon fat. Yup. They wanted to use it to make scrambled eggs, in their baked goods, etc. But it was Rashida’s own use of the fat that got my attention: bacon-infused bourbon!

Yes, this may be so 2000-and-late to the cocktail world but I don’t care. I’ve been wanting to make my own bottle of that good stuff since I first heard the New York bars were doing it but since I don’t fry my own bacon, I never got around to it. So this jar of bacon fat was a blessing. Half the work was already done! Plus it’s triple filtered so it’s clean from bacon bits.

And Rashida not only gave me her recipe on how to infuse my own bacon bourbon but a cocktail recipe for something she calls “Breakfast.” It’s similar to this bacon-infused vodka cocktail which is also called “Breakfast” but seems like bourbon would be a better way to go, no? Especially when mixed with maple syrup. Rashida isn’t a trained mixologist but I can still get with what she’s doing.

By the way, there’s also this recipe which involves bourbon and a bacon-infused St. Germain and the Bacon Old Fashioned from PDT. Hmm, so many options! Anyway here are the directions for infusion:

To infuse the bourbon, just pour your bourbon into a mason jar or some type of jar with a lid. Pour in 2 – 3 ounces of bacon fat. Place jar in fridge for 2 – 3 days. On the 4th day put the jar in the freezer to solidify all of the fats. On the 5th day filter the bacon fat through a coffee filter 2 – 3 times to remove all of the fat. Boom, time to make the cocktail.

Breakfast Bacon Cocktail
By Rashida Purifoy

• 2 ounces Bacon infused bourbon whiskey
• 1/4 ounce maple syrup
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 1 egg white
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• Twist of orange

Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice and shake vigorously.