What’s with the recent craft cocktail obsession? Here I am not talking about one that is sweeping the nation. I am just talking about one that is sweeping me. Recently I have been swept off my feet by craft cocktails, especially the gin cocktail. Honestly, I have never been much of a drinker, and I should give you the disclaimer that I am not a professional bartender. I am just a woman who loves a good cocktail.
I can count the number of times I have had “too much to drink” on one hand, and I regretted every one. But, a singular, well-crafted cocktail is like reading a mystery novel. There is so much anticipation. From making it or watching a skilled bartender make it, to looking at it sitting before you, to that often closed-eyed moment of breathing in the first smell, to the initial bullet of alcohol, to the development of the drink over its short lifespan, cocktails intrigue me and provide a mystery worth exploring.
But what made me delve into the world of cocktails? It all starts at an important dinner in Asheville, NC, and a recommendation that I try a prohibition era cocktail called the Aviation. Honestly, I had to ask what was in an Aviation, and was told it was gin, maraschino liqueur, creme de violette, and lemon juice. Gin? I can’t recall ever having had a gin drink, but the bartender spoke with enough conviction that I agreed. What followed was an amazing, complex, beautiful concoction that sparked my love of gin.
I’m a learner. When something captures my attention, like in this case gin, I want to know everything there is about it. I want to read, to watch, and to experience all that it has to offer. I love the process of going from green explorer to expert, and I believe that when something is worth exploring it is worth learning all there is no know about it.
What can one know about cocktails? And gin in particular? Let the googling begin. Shortly into this process of discovery I happened upon the IBA. The International Bartenders Association. This organization is the organization that runs the World Cocktail Championships (yes, that is a thing). It is made up of bartending organizations from countries around the world, the USA’s being the United States Bartender’s Guild. Well, sign me up… no, literally, I asked to sign up. You have to be vetted, so do whatever ritual you do to send me love and luck in this regard. Who does not want to be a member of a guild? I will have to sign up as an “Associate Member” as a blogger (That’s going to have to change… who wants to be an “Associate” when you could be a “Hospitality Professional”). So, for now, if admitted, I will be an Associate Member. (Do you think as a lawyer it would help my cause if I told them I am already a member of several bars? …probably only lawyers got that terrible joke.) It’s my hope that a one week intensive at bartending school in London at the Spirit Lab and the resulting WSET L1 Award in Spirits will send me on my way to upgrading my Bartender’s Guild status.
Back to the IBA… they have a list of IBA Official Cocktails. Actually it is divided between three lists: The Unforgettables, The Contemporary Classics, and The New Era Drinks. These are the drinks used in the annual World Cocktail Competition in bartending. Now, while I do not expect to be entering that competition anytime soon (can one go as a spectator to this event?) I am intrigued by a list agreed upon by 63 member nations as the ones that bartenders across the world need to master. (Incidentally, it is interesting to note that at the time of publication, Bolivia held status as a “1st year observer, waiting to join.” These people are serious.)
So, I have decided to declare a “Cocktail Quest,” after all… I am in a Guild! An effort to purchase from craft bartenders across the world every single cocktail on the IBA list and to recreate each of those cocktails myself. I figure that in order to know whether I got it right I need to taste these masterpieces made by competent craft bartenders (there are quite a few near me at Tin 202 in Morgantown, West Virginia… including the 2019 Best of Morgantown Craft Bartender of the Year, Josh Graham. A well deserved honor to the extent my opinion counts to Josh or anyone else… bonus, he is also a fisherman). And then I think if I want to cultivate my love of cocktails, what better way than to make them all?
Down the rabbit hole we go… in no particular order other than that which strikes me. I promise not to drink and make all the gin drinks first, although there is certainly the temptation. I have included the list here (and numbered it… my numbering… the IBA list is not numbered… I hope I don’t get thrown out of the Guild for that addition.) Here are the drinks you can expect to see on the Cocktail Quest!
The Unforgettables
- Alexander
- Americano
- Angel Face
- Aviation
- Bacardi
- Between the Sheets
- Casino
- Clover Club
- Daiquiri
- Derby
- Dry Martini
- Gin fizz
- John Collins
- Manhattan
- Mary Pickford
- Monkey Gland
- Negroni
- Old Fashioned
- Paradise
- Planter’s Punch
- Porto Flip
- Ramos Gin Fizz
- Rusty Nail
- Sazerac
- Screwdriver
- Sidecar
- Stinger
- Tuxedo
- Whiskey Sour
- White Lady
Contemporary Classics
- Bellini
- Black Russian
- Bloody Mary
- Caipirinha
- Champagne Cocktail
- Cosmopolitan
- Cuba Libre
- French 75
- French Connection
- Godfather
- Godmother
- Golden Dream
- Grasshopper
- Harvey Wallbanger
- Hemingway Special
- Horse’s Neck
- Irish Coffee
- Kir
- Long Island Iced Tea
- Mai Tai
- Margarita
- Mimosa
- Mint Julep
- Mojito
- Moscow Mule
- Piña Colada
- Rose
- Sea Breeze
- Sex on the Beach
- Singapore Sling
- Tequila Sunrise
New Era Drinks
- B-52
- Barracuda
- Bramble
- Dark ‘n’ Stormy
- Dirty Martini
- Espresso Martini
- French Martini
- Kamikaze
- Lemon Drop Martini
- Pisco Sour
- Russian Spring Punch
- Spritz Veneziano
- Tommy’s Margarita
- Vampiro
- Vesper
- Yellow Bird
So if you are an amazing bartender and would like to make me one of these fine cocktails or if you have a recommendation as to where I should tackle a particular drink, then drop a comment below. Otherwise grab your tiny cocktail sword, and come on the quest. Who knows, they might even welcome YOU to the Guild!