What’s Trending at the 2nd Annual Chicago Cocktail Summit?

It’s not necessarily new news, but the rye whiskey category is in the middle of a flourishing renaissance.  While seeing a handful of rye-based cocktails speckled throughout the drinks menu or row after row of rye whiskey bottles on the shelf is not out of the ordinary today, it was not too long ago that rye whiskey was seen as an antiquated spirit, unworthy of attention, yet alone dollars.

“10 years ago we couldn’t give rye away,” said Kyle McHugh, director of brand advocacy at Samson & Surrey. “No one was drinking it. Certainly no one was making cocktails with rye whiskey.”

So what changed?

According to McHugh, it was bartenders who led the rye revolution. They realized that the bold, spicy character in rye whiskey would stand up better in cocktails than an American bourbon or wheat-based whiskey.

“Bartenders are now giving rye the same love and attention a chef would give individual ingredients,” added McHugh.

Meanwhile, north of the border, Canadian “Rye” whiskies are also having a bit of a moment with consumers.

Gina Fossett, national brand ambassador for The Bon Vivants, said of rye, “Unlike American rye whiskies, which need to have a mashbill of at least 51% rye, Canadian whisky has no such regulations,” said Fossett.

In fact, there is only one category for Canadian whiskies, and it is simply that: Canadian. The whisky earned its traditional “rye” moniker simply because distillers started to add small percentages of rye (5-10%) into their wheat whisky to spice them up a bit. After a while these new, more flavorful whiskies grew in popularity and consumers began asking for the whisky with “rye” added to it when ordering, which led to the nickname.

While beer and cocktails may reside on separate sides of the drinks menu, that doesn’t mean the two shouldn’t mix and mingle.

Chicago’s own Will Duncan feels the same way, and he spent most of his Chicago Cocktail Summit session proving not only that beer cocktails work, but that often times, the addition of beer can make an ordinary cocktail, extraordinary.

Here are four ways Duncan adds beer into his cocktail program.

Use beer for dilution: “Brewers consider water composition to be incredibly important to the final product,” said Duncan. This makes sense, since beer is made up almost entirely of water, which means that bartenders can use it as a way to add dilution, and even carbonation, to some of the their more boozy stirred drinks.

Treat beer like a mixer: Beers are complex with flavor notes that range from rich espresso and chocolate to citrus juice, pine, fresh herbs and tart berries. Use this to your advantage and swap out a traditional soda mixer for a similarly flavored beer. Some tested and approved examples are porter in place of cola, West Coast IPA for grapefruit soda and a light sour for Champagne or Prosecco.

Use Beer for Syrups: Warming a beer flattens out the carbonation and concentrates both the beer’s flavors and sweetness. Reducing the beer into a syrup allows creative bartenders to use the beer syrup in place of a traditional sweeteners, such as simple syrup.

Use Brewing’s Raw Ingredients: Beers raw ingredients themselves are ideal for creative bartenders looking to add some beer-essence into their cocktails. Two popular home brewing ingredients, malt extract and Belgian candy syrup, can be used to add sweetness and complexity to drinks. Whole cone hops can be used not only in infusions, but they can also add a pop of color and eye candy to drinks when used as a garnish. Best of all, many of these ingredients can be easily found online or at local homebrew stores.

Craft cocktails remain all the rage in 2017, proving that they have staying power. For a bartender working at a busy bar, though, creating high-quality craft cocktails at a fast pace can prove a challenge. How do you maximize potential output while maintaining quality—and consistency—in your cocktails?

For seasoned bartender and beverage director Caitlin Laman, it all begins with your bar setup. Years of working at an immensely popular, James Beard-nominated bar in San Francisco taught her the necessity of building your bar for speed. Factors at play include the depth of the bar, well and rail setup—and ideally, a built-in garnish tray plus a big, steady drain board. Bars should also be mindful about the consistency and placement of glassware, she said.

Even your menu should be designed with speed in mind, according to Laman. It should be easy to read, for starters. “Answer questions with illustrations,” she said, and “have something for everyone.” The cocktails should have a solid balance of recognizable and esoteric ingredients, and that includes listing brands.

With so much focus on quick turnaround of drinks served at a high volume, bartenders should remember not to lose sight of great customer service: “If you can’t be good to your guests, there’s no point of being a bartender.”

Executing a beverage program is a difficult feat in general, but running a successful beverage program is a whole different beast— one filled with ups and downs, and riddled with challenges. Challenges that Danny Shapiro, restaurant and bar owner, Scofflaw, Slippery Slope, Heavy Feather, Sink|Swim; Chase Bracamontes, sommelier, The Publican; and Alexis Tinoco, mixologist and bar manager, The Aviary, know all too well.

These four industry gurus all entered the game in unique ways and have traveled different paths to get where they are now. But one thing they all have in common: A deep understanding of the industry and what it takes to come out on top.

Here are the inside tips:

Expect hard work. It takes a lot of effort and countless hours to run a truly successful beverage program. Tinoco said her bartenders at the Aviary work five days per week with 10-hour shifts, and she clocks around 60 hours per week with her own schedule. Shapiro recounted that when he and his team first opened Scofflaw, they worked for 100 straight days, from 10 a.m. to 5 a.m., sometimes later. “We would stay and talk; those were the most important conversations for developing our restaurants.”

Foster your staff. “Your bar team will be one of your strongest assets,” Bracamontes said. Her fellow panelists mirrored her advice, with the two recurring themes being to train and to trust your staff. The challenge to be wary of here, however, is striking a balance between friend and manager. Shapiro warns that a rookie mistake is being overly casual with your staff.

Don’t assume. “It’s always best to be way over prepared,” Bracamontes said. Whether it’s thinking that your new bar staff knows what you’re talking about, or guessing how many people will attend an event, it’s best to be extra thorough and to play it safe. Tinoco shared that something as simple as taking your staff downstairs on day one and showing them where the bathrooms are as opposed to telling them can make a huge difference.

Learn from the greats. “Find other people who you respect and whose programs you respect and spend time in those bars and with those people,” Shapiro said. He explained what initially drew him into the industry was the camaraderie he observed. Find a mentor, shadow an industry expert—these are great ways to learn. Bracamontes agreed, “You learn from them and absorb the qualities you like.”

A lot of thought goes into craft cocktails—which spirits to use, what are the exact measurements, which glass will the drink be served in, and finally, what garnish will be the finishing touch? The last element, the garnish, has an entire plan and process of its own—one that at times, is even more involved than the drink itself. The art of garnishing is one that award-winning bartender Julia Momose is very well-versed in.

“A garnish is not an afterthought, but rather something that is integral to the drink as a whole,” Momose said. She explained that the purpose of the garnish is to engage the senses: sight, touch, smell, taste and sound.

While sight might seem rather straightforward, other aspects, like sound, may seem like a bit of a stretch. Momose gave the example of igniting spice on top of a cocktail to create a crackling sound and a bit of a fiery display. Or something as delicate as the almost unnoticeable noise of tinkering ice. “Dropping ice into a highball glass is the most beautiful song you can play in a bar,” Momose said. “Some even consider ice a garnish.”

Smell can come from the simple step of spritzing a drink with perfume, or rimming the glass with a citrus swath just before serving. Momose explained that those swaths come from her not-so-perfect peels of citrus. “I like to avoid waste,” she said. “I first find the perfect swaths and peel those for my garnishes, I then peel the entire citrus and use those as the swaths I discard.”

Momose also lets the swaths speak for her—ones that are strong all the way down are best suited for structured garnishes, whereas some that taper off at the end may be better for a triangle garnish.

Taste is of course important and the garnish can either highlight the flavors in the drink, or contrast them. “Sometimes the latter is more fun,” she said.

With such technique behind garnishing, Momose highlighted the necessary elements that make her successful: the proper tools, the appropriate workspace and prep work.

Knives are her most important tool, along with the peeler, which she warned can be dangerous. “A big part of it is just knowing where you fingers are,” she said.

And of course, setting up your workspace, where “keeping clean is critical.” A towel and small trash bin are necessities, and where you place your cutting board makes all the difference. “You want to be able to have your elbows out,” Momose said.

With the proper tools and the appropriate workspace, the only thing left is the prep work. “I love to do things à la minute, but it’s not always practical,” Momose said. She gave the tip of using a passing tray, with every aspect needed for each garnish already prepped and laid out on the tray ready to go.

Crafted on-the-fly or created beforehand, Momose’s garnishes are a true example of artistry. Momose’s ultimate goal is to give the customer a unique and beautiful experience with each drink. “You want your garnishes to be camera-ready before they even go on the glass.” 

Click below for a full photo recap of the 2017 Chicago Cocktail Summit.