NY Barfly

Celebrate the Nation's Independence with a Cocktail

You surely know what the founding fathers really were fighting for: freedom to drink. All the other stuff (life, liberty, etc) was essentially a garnish. We're sure you're all getting ready to take a cooler of something to the beach to bask in sun and freedom, so we just wanted to offer a quick shout out and say Happy 4th.

For those of you who are scrambling for Fourth of July tippling plans, we've included a cocktail recipe from our friends over at Molyvos Restaurant and OVAL Vodka. Their Red, White, and Blue drink is the perfect way to celebrate while with friends, watching fireworks, or cooped up in your apartment on the 7th hour of the Twilight Zone marathon.

If you're in the city and want to try the drink yourself, Molyvos is located at 871 Seventh Avenue. If you want to grab the shaker and mix some at a party, the recipe is below. Either way, nothing says pursuit of happiness quite like macerated strawberries.

The Red, White and Blue

2 Oz Oval Vodka
3/4 Oz Cointreau
3 Table Spoon of Macerated Strawberries ( See Recipe)
A Splash of Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
A Splash of Simple Syrup

Shake all ingredients with some ice poor into chilled martini glass with sugar rim through a strainer with a drop of blue curacao.

Macerated Strawberries:
1 Pint of Strawberries, Washed and sliced
1 tablespoon of sugar
dash of balsamic vinegar

Jim Beam Red Stag at Yankee Stadium. Play Ball.

It’s once again baseball season in New York, but this time everything is new. We’ve got two new stadiums. The Yankees have a new manager. The change that we’re the most excited about? Yankee Stadium is rife with new drinking venues. We already covered the food (they’ve got Brother Jimmy’s!), but we recently had the chance to stop by in person to explore the liquid side of the venue. As any true fan knows, it’s the drinking that really makes innings 1-8 bearable.

We stopped by the shiny Jim Beam suite in the stadium for a few drinks during a recent game. The Food Network is also serving up some dishes in this space, so it’s your one-stop-shop for mid-to-upscale food & drink concessions. You don’t have to be sitting in one of the fancy $2,500 seats to enjoy a stiff cocktail, the Beam Bar comes equipped with plenty of mixable options. If you like rum, Tommy Bahama also has an outpost in the stadium. The Beam Suite may be more fitting as we figure Bourbon, like baseball, is really America’s pastime.

While we avoided watching baseball, we got to test out Beam’s newest player, Red Stag. The liquor company has made quite the splash with this Black Cherry Flavored Whiskey. We tried some on its own, and then in a cocktail. We see why they’re putting such a marketing push behind the Stag. Straight bourbon doesn’t appeal to everyone’s palate, and this is a great way to ease a non whiskey drinker into the spirit. It is sweet, and seems designed to appeal to the female audience. The black cherry flavor is clear and pungent, making it a good base for fruity cocktails that wouldn’t typically include bourbon.

After two Red Stag drinks we were ready to move on. It’s a good introduction, but a little too saccharine to pound back all night. If you’re used to sipping bourbon neat, you’ll probably want to skip the Cherry and head right for the strong stuff. If you’re new to the realm of brown spirits, Red Stag offers a great jumping off place.

We’re not quite sure who won. We’re kind of new to the game, so we decided to use all the new Yankee stadium bars as our jumping off place. After 8 innings of bar hopping, we did a home run (hopped on the D train and got our ass back to the city).

Cocktails with Corzo. It's Not Just for Margaritas, People.

There is a serious effort underway to end the stranglehold of the margarita. Yes, we all love having a few of these traditional tequila cocktails with Mexican food or on a hot summer day. But, a little lime and salt is not the end all be all of agave based spirits. It’s time to take tequila seriously, as a cocktail mixer and as a stand alone spirit (note: we said spirit, not shot).

One part of the effort involves the production of scotch-like Reposados and Anejos, meant to be sipped neat and enjoyed for their unique flavor profiles. The other side of the tequila coin are the silver labels. These are versatile, and great for mixing into any number of cocktails. Yes, margaritas may count. But, we think you can do better.

Corzo is one Silver label that has come up with a few interesting drinks to demonstrate the spirit;s versatility in drinks other than your standards. This label carries the unmistakable flavor of agave, but it’s remarkably smooth and easy to use as a base. It’s in the ballpark of Patron (a little more flavorful) and Maestro Dobel (a little less smooth), and we think it’s a great choice to mix up some new summer standards. The Margarita may always be the tequila drink of choice, but serve some of these puppies (recipes below) at your picnic and people might start to demand a little more of their local Mexican haunt.

With bars like Mayahuel blazing the frontiers of new tequila, it’s bound to be everywhere pretty soon. You should get some now, so you can impress your friends when it seems like you were the first to know about this trend. Don’t worry, we won’t tell them that you learned about it here (as long as you pay us).

First Corzo Cocktail is the Blackberry Brisa (pictured above). Serve this as an after dinner drink at your summer party:

1.5 parts Corzo Silver

.75 parts club soda

.5 parts lime juice

.5 parts Agave nectar

5 or 6 sprigs of mint

4 blackberries

Muddle blackberries, mint, and agave syrup. Add Corzo Silver, lime juice, and ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top with club soda. Sip, and exclaim “I’m never going back to Margaritas!”

Next up, is the Corzo White Sand Martini (on the left). You’ve got two trends converting in this drink, supremely mixable tequila and supremely savory St. Germain. You want to serve this when you feel like making your guests say “OMG, what is in here!” If they actually say “OMG”, you probably shouldn’t invite them to the next event.

1.5 parts Corzo Silver

1.5 parts White Grape Juice

.75 parts St. Germain

.75 parts sweet & sour

Add all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. White sugar a quarter of the rim if desired.

Dos Equis Most Interesting Acadamy Gets a Little More, Uh, Interesting.

Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man In the World promotional campaign really outdoes most of the other liquor ads out there, if only because it is full of class, joie de vivre, and alcohol tolerance (just like yours truly). They’ve expanded the campaign to include the Most Interesting Academy, which lets you get a little of the aforementioned qualities from the comfort of your own home. Some of the online coursework is led by the brewe'rs new “distinguished instructor” Bear Grylls. We can’t vouch for his tolerance, but we figure if he can keep so much snake blood down, he can probably hold his liquor.

The web series feature Grylls demonstrating the skills needed to navigate the treacherous perils of the urban landscape, including tips about fast-paced commuting, personal safety, how to eat in a pinch and making an entrance, all done with a flair that would make The Most Interesting Man in the World proud. If you are a true scholar, you’ll want to log onto the Most Interesting Academy website (www.mostinterestingacademy.com) and start taking notes.

There’s not room for TWO most interesting men in the world, so we hope that Bear will help us out with our dueling skills. Dos Equis, prepare to be challenged (as soon as we find the right tuxedo).

Bourbon Comes to Manhattan / Murphy Goode Wine Contest Narrows the Field

-And then there were 50. Wannabe wine marketers, that is. Murphy Goode Winery has narrowed their A Really Good Job contest down to 50 finalists. The winner will get a 6 month contract for $10,000 / month to Twitter about wine. You can check out the videos in contention here: www.areallygoodejob.com. Some of the videos are quite entertaining, in a “dammit, I should have stopped drinking so much wine and entered” sort of way.

- Gothamist has word that a Bourbon Bar is slated to open in Manhattan sometime this fall. Praise Bourbon Jesus! In fact, the bar owners are keeping the public up to date with a blog:http://onebarrelbar.blogspot.com/. We hope their soon to open haunt is as fancy as their social networking.

-The New York Times takes a look at a controversy surrounding South African wines. Do they smell like burnt rubber? A lot of wine experts concede they do, but claim it’s not really a bad thing. It’s just a quality of the South African Soil, much like a quality of cheap beer is that lovely urine flavor.

It's Official: July 2009 is NYC's Good Beer Month. Pour Yourself a Pint (or Four).

Reason number 7,652 that we love New York? Our Mayor likes good beer. July 1st kicks off Good Beer Month, which was made official in a ceremony conducted by Mayor Bloomberg. We know good old Mike has a reputation for enjoying his red wine, so it’s nice to see him giving a shout out to his fellow drinkers and brewers.

Could this be a ploy for Bloomberg to get beer lovers on his side for re-election? Don’t be so cynical. It’s true that beer guzzlers = tried and true democrats, but we don’t think the mayoral race has anything to do with this. The proclamation seeks to reward a series of local bar owners who have been doing a great job pushing hand crafted local beers at their drink spots (which sport a Good Beer Seal). The list of honorees reads like a who’s who of brew in the city: Jimmy Carbone (Jimmy’s No.43), Joe Carroll (Spuyten Duyvil), Bill  Macklin (East Village Tavern), Ray Deter(dba), Dan McLaughlin (Pony Bar), Justin Phillips (Beer Table), Gary Gillis (Burp Castle), and David Pollack (The Diamond).

Jimmy Carbone explains that Good Beer Month isn’t just about getting tipsy. They want to do some good and "encourage bar owners to participate in community events and fundraisers. We are thrilled that the Mayor has chosen to recognize our efforts."

We all know what that means. Fun Parties! One event is to be held July 21, a "local grill off" to benefit Slow Food NYC at Water Taxi Beach, Long Island City. This event will combine the amateur cook off movement (expect 20 cooks in the competition) with a select group of restaurants (Fette Sau, Jimmy's No. 43,  Gusto, Rub BBQ,  Fatty Crab) offering their food.

Another event is "Good Beer at BAM", in collaboration with Edible Brooklyn and Manhattan magazines, will benefit  Just Food , and feature 15 breweries and 15 restaurants.

You can check out www.goodbeerseal.com for more info about good beer month events.

What’s that? You want to know the 7,651 reasons? We don’t feel like listing them right now, but there are only 17 that don’t involve alcohol. God bless our liquid city.

Win the Fiesta in a Box, Have Extra Money for Drinks

Everyone has experienced the existential dilemma of party throwing: you spent all of your money on booze, and have none left over for the “entertaining” portion of the event. Yes, your friends are a tipsy crew, but you can’t just pour tequila straight into their glass (at least for the first ¼ of the shin-dig where everyone wants to appear respectable). Partida Tequila has come along with a nifty party kit that will let you stop stressing about things like mixers and cocktail shakers. If you win their Fiesta Set, you will be totally able to focus on what your guests are really there for: drinking.

The set contains a bunch of schwag that will help you gussy up that tequila in a glass. Each week until Mexican Independence Day (September 16^th), a new winner will be chosen. The whole prize adds up to $150, which leaves plenty of leftover money to spend on the drinky-drink.

Check out the contents:

• 1 Handsome Partida Tote Bag
• 1 Stylish T-Shirt
• 2 Old Fashion Glasses
• 1 Cocktail Shaker & Strainer
• 1 Bottle of 100% Organic Agave Nectar
• 1 Lime Squeezer
• 1 Cocktail Recipe Booklet
• 5 Partida Margarita Buttons

For select winners, a member of the renowned Partida Bartender Ambassadors group will visit the winner’s home to mix cocktails and demonstrate how to make the best Partida Margarita. This is great if you’re really party inept. You can wow your guests by pretending it was your idea to have them over. Fiesta!

To enter, head to Partida’s website here: http://www.partidamargarita.com/fiestakit/

Win a Man Cave from 1800 Tequila. It's Like a Rec Room, but with the Word Cave.

Liquor companies love to give away prizes to attract attention, but it's not every day that they want to give you $10,000 toward a man cave. What’s a man cave you ask? 1800 Tequila says it’s a place where dudes can hang out to watch TV, play video games, and drink lots and lots of their product. We say it’s a sloppily designed space with comfy couches and REALLY BIG electronic devices. Either way, $10,000 would go a long way in creating a cozy space, especially if you spend it all on tequila.

To enter the contest, you can head to 1800’s Website at www.1800tequila.com/mancave. We assume ladies can enter as well, and that they’d probably spend the money much more wisely if they were to win the contest. Yes dudes, a $10,000 flat screen TV does not a man cave make, even if you do have to sit on the floor of an actual cave.

The contest lasts until August 15th, and they let you enter daily. Better start practicing your cave drawings now.

New Bar Menu at Sora Lella. We'll Never Make it to the Dining Room.

Who really wants to sit at a table, anyway? The bar has the interesting patrons, plenty of chances for socializing, and you’re oh-so-close to the liquor bottles (and they are some of your best friends). If there’s some tasty bar snacks, there’s really no reason to cop a squat in the dining room.

Soho restaurant Sora Lella just announced that they are joining the bar menu club, so their stools are sure to be crowded. Their new offerings include signature dishes such as Grandma’s meatballs, fried artichokes and croquettes to accompany bartender Tommaso Mongini’s classic and modern cocktails, from a solid Negroni to his Rossini (campari, prosecco, fresh strawberry juice).

What makes this spot stand out from the other comfy bar stools in town? The restaurant is the sister outpost of their famous Roman locale. Better yet, the bar snacks are cheap ranging from $2 to $6. Best of all, they announced a new happy hour that will get you the cocktails for $10, every day from 5 – 7:30 pm.

We’ve posted the cocktail menu below the jump, so you can get your drinking plans in order. The list has a lot of the standards, and offers a few Italian twists (lots of Campari, a little aperol). If it’s not happy hour, the drinks run around $13-14. We love that the recession continues to create such enticing drink deals around town, if only that it gives us an excuse to visit our best friend bottles a little more often.

Sora Lella is located at 300 Spring Street between Hudson and Greenwich.

Are You the Next Top Bartender?

We’re still waiting for a great bartending competition show to make a splash the way Top Chef did with cooking. Could LXTV’s search for America's Next Top Bartender do the trick? Their first season of webisodes showed promise, but moved too quickly and were ultimately a let down. The show is relaunching as a facebook page if you want to check out the episodes.

Take an electronic sip here: http://www.facebook.com/AbsolutTopBartender

The good news is that they are going to shake out few more rounds of cocktails. The facebook page promises regular updates about Season 2, which they are casting for. Like any good bartenders know, it could take a few tries to perfect a cocktail. Anyone out there ready to shake it up?

Superdive Opens / Studio B Closes

- It’s Superdive to the rescue. Eater has word that the Village’s new drink-hole is officially opened. What is this hero’s power? It’s like superman, if he drank an 8^th of Jameson every time he flew to an emergency.

-DBTH noticed some questionable Michael Jackson related drinking at City Winery. The upscale haunt hosted a party where they poured 5 wines and played 25 songs for $25. Crass? Or, as MJ might put it, Bad?

-Once again, its whiny bitch neighbors vs. club goers over at Studio B. Grub Street reports that the club is slated to close again, sometime in July. Can Superdive swoop in and save them in time?

Best of Show at the New York Bar Convention

We stopped by the Javits the other day to visit the International Bar Show. There were spirits and bar supplies galore, and free samples galore galore. Sadly, we don’t remember everything we tasted before we spilled out onto 11^th Avenue in the midday sun. Happily, there was a tasting panel on site that sifted their way through over 250 brands. Besides having the best job in the world, these folks were charged with determining the winners of the New York Spirits Awards. They scored each spirit based on a scale of 100 points, and the brand with the highest combined total won Best in Show.

As any drinker knows, it’s hard to decide what libation is best. This year, there was a tie for first place. And the winners are:

Bache-Gabrielsen Hors d’Age Cognac – this brand is over 100 years old. Although not widely known in the US, it’s the best selling cognac in Norway (where they sell over 1 million bottles annually, yowza). Leave it to the Scandinavian folks to pick a winner, much like they did with Norwegian whale steak.

Tequila Corrido Extra Anejo (pictured) – this is a very small batch of about 58 barrels, so you’ll want to snatch it up ASAP.

We congratulate the winners! Also, a special shout out to Bluecoat Gin, which was a Barfly favorite at the show and took home the Best in Category Award. How will we celebrate all of this adulation? Why, by drinking Cognac, Tequila, and Gin (not necessarily in that order).