2023 Iowa's Best Mixologist
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right?
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On today's
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bonus episode,
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Riley and I agreed to discuss Iowa MIXOLOGY contest 2023. Yes. And why I will never help you again. Because I'm an asshole. I that's the reason. I mean, it's not that you're an asshole. It's that you are a social butterfly who has poor time management skills.
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And only it can only work when you're under the gun.
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Smells like an asshole. Did you fight
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that yet? Okay, so now.
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So for anyone who's listening, who doesn't know that I've been bartending now for 12 years and
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before last Thursday I had won. I was best mixologist twice in the past nine years. And this past Thursday was the this 2020 threes. I was best mixologist and
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I was fortunate enough to take first place again.
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And yeah, so we're all so fortunate enough to win enough times that they're going to not allow winners to give me the second. You know, I have so many mixed feelings about that. I, I understand the reason why, but the competitor, he's like, who gives a fuck bring up your A-game if you want to come beat me. Yeah,
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I understand in theory both ways, But
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from where I stand, I'm.
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I'm of the mind where
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if you've been asked to be a judge,
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you should not then
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be allowed to go back and compete.
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Why?
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Because if you have been deemed good enough to judge
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and you have already won, I was best mixologist. Which is
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how you're asked to be a judge. Mm hmm.
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Then
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I just feel it's counterintuitive to allow somebody to compete in a contest that they have been a judge for.
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Like if you if you were to say, no, I don't want to judge next year, I want to compete instead.
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That's different,
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right?
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I mean, it is what it is. And I will technically only be I was ever a three time top mixologist winner. I thought Jake is one twice.
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I was the first two time. He was the second two time.
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I'm the first three timer and technically will now only be the only one.
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Yeah, well, real strange.
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And you're the reason they created the rule. I love that. Because other than being allowed to compete, I think so. When people change rules because of you, right? Like basketball stars, right? Like Shaquille O'Neal had like three or five major rules change because of him.
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Right? There's other basketball players that just had rules changed because of them. That's kind of cool. There's like that that pitcher that
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was a switch
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pitcher and he would just he would switch his glove. And then the guy went back and forth right back and forth. Yeah, in the boxes. Yeah,
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yeah. Like the finally said, you're the pitcher is only allowed to change like three times or something once you've committed to once the batters in the batting order, once you've committed to
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a
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a hand that you're throwing with once a batters in the box you have to stick
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one.
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And so.
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All right. So let's talk about
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just in general with the Iowa State mixology contest is all about
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for the generalization. It's pretty much the same. Sometimes there's a little small tweak, but it doesn't really affect anything because sometimes it's three judges, sometimes it's four judges. That's really
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you know what two of my winnings are during four judges?
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Mm hmm.
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Jake, I think only had three judges two time. So I'm not, you know, saying it doesn't matter, so it doesn't really do anything except for you had to make three extra. Okay, So how it works is
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there are three categories. Each category is provided by a different distributor in the state of Iowa,
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and that distributor picks 2 to 3 different spirits for you to choose from.
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And you pick one spirit from each category. Make a cartel. You have two weeks to make three unique cartels. Submit the recipes,
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and then a week later, you create those cocktails in front of the judges. Right?
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So
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this year I picked Tinker Men's
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curiously bright and complex, complex gin. So that was a gin that's already infused with jasmine tea, lemongrass.
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I wouldn't it's not infused, right? It's distilled with the silver rises, those flames. So you're right. It's not an infused gin
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that's important to distinct. That's an important
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Yeah. I mean, I guess. I guess I think that's the same thing, right? I mean, so. But I mean, technically, tobacco infused with those flavors,
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depending on the process of how they do it in multiple ways.
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Sure. But the gin has those flavor profiles inside. This is it. That's that we can grill right.
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And those other ones, There's another one. There was a vodka and there was a tequila. I'm never going to do vodka because it's what I cook.
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And that offered drunkenness. Right. If you if you like vodka, you like what it's served with.
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And if you don't like the taste of alcohol. Right.
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Magic cure. We're not a fan of the tequila and so I saw that gin and I really liked those flavors. Asian food,
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Asian flavored things I really, like, enjoy. And I thought it can make a really cool cocktail with that.
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The second category was
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either Templeton four or Templeton six year.
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And then the third category was unshackled
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wine or unshackled rosé. Yep. And those are both sparkling wine made by
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prisoner. Prisoner like this winery or winery? Yeah. So they do like sell though. Prisoner And they have a bunch of good wine, which I do enjoy their wine and their sparkling wine was surprisingly good. It was pretty damn good
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and fresh grape.
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It did have a very creepy. Yeah. Like way, which I was kind of that,
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that helped me
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the drink choice that I wanted to make.
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And so we got those.
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And then, you know, he's got two weeks now to make cocktails and it's like I'm working a 45 plus our job
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trying to create content, which I start busy doing for
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YouTube, everything except for the podcast
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because I'm focused on this, you know, two weeks
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and you're and in addition to that, you're creating two menus for two separate bars with 10 to 12 cocktails on each one of those.
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Right?
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So it's a lot it's a lot on my plate and very stressful. I just
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I don't think I created creative.
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I've never been that pushed on my creative side
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that hard
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for four weeks
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consistently. Right so
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so I think
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I created a drink last year called Ride or Chai
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that was sort of a mr. Black Coffee cocktail challenge, and I basically kind of already knew I wanted to go with that because it was already drink I kind of already created, but they just wanted to make it more complex, I think
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because it was already good drink.
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I just like, how can I make this a little bit better, right? How can I just.
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Templeton Rye. Rye whiskey was the primary ingredient. That's right. So,
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I mean, every cocktails, a riff on something different, right?
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Yeah. And so I was happy. I like, I like Templeton six, you know, like
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it's a good product, and
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I like that drink.
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The right choice. I just knew that to be a good drink to
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a good base to start off with. Right. Like a good inspiration. Right. And then loud. I can hear it through your microphone. Oh, yeah.
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He's so hot. Oh, my God. Good.
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And then
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for the
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the sparkling wine,
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we were kind of thinking first, like something to do with, like, a prince 75.
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I want to do something. I wanted to do something rum based because I wanted to get rum into one of my cocktails because they don't really we don't really do rum here in Iowa that much in this competition. Right. And that was probably the one that we spun our wheels on the most. Right. Because it first started with as a rum old fashioned
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that we would turn into caviar
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and then put it like it and then put into like a pool of sparkling wine and just kind of do as like as a shooter,
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which would have been great.
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But if we had had a month to figure out the recipe right, it was figured out the, the, the, the bubbles, the bubbles and figured out the science part of it and consistently right all the time. So and knowing that you need to do this in X amount of time. Mm hmm.
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Yeah. And so then we scrapped that and then I had a drink last year called the app or the Tiki Spritz, which is just an aperol spritz, where I had a Tiki bitters, a pineapple juice.
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And
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you see that mango? It wasn't I wouldn't say you say that. Like it wasn't a phenomenal cocktail, like you said it was just now prospects with these ingredients. But it
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it didn't even taste like an apple spritz. Right. But that's that I took the apple spritz and just added three things to make it more tropical more approachable for people.
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Again, we're in the Midwest, we're in eastern Iowa. And a lot of people bitterness is not a huge thing or they're not used to it. So I try to make it more approachable. Right. In training wheels, it basically through the day. But it wasn't. You're right. You're right. I'm not trying to dismiss the drink, but I think that it was much more complex than right.
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And it and it went over very well.
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And so
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we one of my favorite drinks
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Cool. It might be number two. The s'mores old fashioned. Yeah. You know
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so I was like, that's a good starting point. Again, I like to have starting points because it just helps. Excuse me, After have two weeks in the very limited time, it cuts out 40% of the time.
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I mean, it it creates a road for you to travel down. Right. And you can choose to take side roads. Mhm. But if you
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and I mean that's what the assigned spirit is supposed to do. Right. Exactly. It's supposed to provide you that vehicle and I don't think I mentioned this before, but you have to use at least half an ounce of the provided spirit and not basically hide it.
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You can't just use half out and just stick 20 things on top of it to mask it out. You know, that still needs to be a flavor profile of the keto.
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So a prominent flavor in the drink.
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So again, I want to stick with rum. I want you to get rum this cocktail.
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So what did you do? You decided to use three different rums.
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We tried three, but we ended up with only two, right? We ended up with Plantation Pineapple and Smith across.
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I made a banana. All your sacrum? Yeah, basically a banana sirup. If you don't know what that is, then we did lime juice, pineapple juice, sailing solution Tiki Bitters
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and apple and shook that all up. And the reason and the reason feel like that was enough ingredients because there were nine
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so you have apple plantation Smith and cross lime juice pineapple juice sailing
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Tiki bitters
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banana or sacro that's eight plus the sparkling wine.
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All right. Right. I've said these enough to know. Oh, I know. Because you made for the people, right? So.
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So I just thought this would all work very well together because a jungle bird works very well with Campari in Rome. And I put the apple would be
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would work just as well. And it worked fucking phenomenal. So when you would step away from the table and I had to explain it, I'd be like, it's a rum punch meets an apple spritz and it's great.
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You should drink
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as I wrong. No. So then then we build that,
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put it in Hurricane glass or over Pebble ice in the top row with an ounce out and a quarter of the sparkling wine. So the sparkling wine gave it bubbles, but also the great flavor of this specific sparkling white well, through the cocktail and you had this grape, you know, kind of like an end zone.
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He does, Yeah. Because like the apple and then the grape. Definitely.
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It did taste like an Enzo only on the finish, which is wild. It was wild and then unexpected, but it was so refreshing and like, Yeah. And then we had nutmeg, cinnamon and salmon stick and mint spring as garnish
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and then
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kind of go back to
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the Templeton drink the Rye Chai.
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My original rye chai was
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rye whiskey. Mr. Black with Benedictine
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demerara and a dash of bitters
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stirred down. So basically
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it was kind of like a play on
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a book, kind of like in my mind, that's what I was thinking when I made this drink.
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And because I like the Benedictine. But what's in it? Whatever you carry.
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Brandy.
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Sweet. Remove
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or no cognac. Sweet remove with a spoonful of Benedictine and I think rye whiskey
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stir down.
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Okay. It's a very good cocktail.
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And so, again, you use these things as blueprints and you just change the design. You have the structure, integrity, and then you just change it. Yeah.
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And so
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I started with all of that,
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but then I wasn't thrilled about how the Benedictine was playing with the chai.
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Mr. Black Because I took I took Mr. Black infused it with chai
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and it was fine. And then I switched Benedictine out with Amaro Montenegro. And that helped a lot because there was nothing like a spice level to marry with the chai. I feel like it's.
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I feel like it's more bitter. Mm hmm. Then Benedictine.
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Yeah, absolutely. Benedictine uses honey, Right?
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I know that you're thinking of gin, Louis. All right. Benedictine is still a sweet or spicy is just not as complex, I guess. Maybe. And
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it's not as complex with the other greens that we're using. And
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I think Amaro montenegro tastes like Grandma's perfume.
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So
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I was amazed that it worked on this cocktail. And then we used one of our buddies, Peter Patrician, his pictures for so Bitters to amplify the.
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Mr. Black
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Yes, but they're also give a little bit of nuttiness and sweetness. Yeah. You know, we used a little bit of demerara just those crowns
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and then I was fine with the cocktail, but it just is. It's kind of flat. Like it just
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would have been fine, like in any other sense. Like, I put this on the menu.
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I think people would love that. But like, again, we're doing competitions, so we need we need to amplify things up and push what we're trying to do. Right. Because I mean, and also
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you went into this competition saying, I want to advanced techniques,
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right? I want to use a techniques that I don't have not used a lot and use a lot of them.
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Right. And it's more of not just to show up, but to push my skill set in how fast and how often I can use something. And also I feel like
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for you using advanced techniques in a competition you've won three times, feels like
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you're practicing with you. Non-dominant hand? Yeah, a little bit, yeah. I mean, I could definitely had layups and probably still came close to winning.
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Maybe, you know, like, been more like it could have been like, more average.
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But what's funny for me that the point right at this point I'm pushing myself. Yeah.
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You're trying to make yourself better. Mm hmm.
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And so then I was like, it's just missing something.
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And then we talked about doing a Campari foam,
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and we tried a different technique so that we thought it was good but not great.
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And I am still amazed that that foam turned out
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as silky as it did. Yeah. Every trial you had with me here, it was just like
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foamy egg whites. So we were doing xanthan gum and egg white. And sometimes it'd be too, and say, I'm going to get the gum minus. You could just you could just tell me Gummy.
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It was like foam. Yeah, like
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egg, white texture on top of a drink. And. But then I was like, it's just missing something. Also, like it was too bitter. It just needed some more depth. And then we decided to use Cookie
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the Cookie Sweet Ruth. So we did, because it ended up being
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You ended up wanting to make it more like a Boulevardier.
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Mm hmm. Which is
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whiskey
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Campari, because basically it's basically a negroni. But with
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whiskey. With rye,
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Yeah. And or bourbon, I guess, you know.
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But and so we did three parts, Campari, two parts cokey, and then some sample go and some egg white.
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And then I got the flavor like, okay, this flavor's great because it says on top you get this big bitterness with little was sweet and then you get the complexity of of the rye in the coffee, the chai, everything else.
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I'm like, okay, perfect. But like you were saying,
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just the fucking consistency was just I mean, I'm measuring everything out. Like I'm not. I just guess I measure everything out. But he bought two new scales for this procedure, right? And so because it wouldn't get you to the 100th
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of a gram
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of the thin gum and no matter, I know it matters, but I'm just saying.
00:15:25:21 - 00:15:32:08
Unknown
Right. And so the day of the competition, 40 minutes before is my time. I make the fucking phone
00:15:32:08 - 00:15:42:13
Unknown
and I'm like, Well, I got two shots at this. I can make. I'm making it now and we'll go with it or I can destroy it and make it again and just go with that no matter which way. You know, like I got two shots.
00:15:42:14 - 00:15:43:17
Unknown
I made it. What
00:15:43:17 - 00:15:44:17
Unknown
Two opportunities.
00:15:44:17 - 00:15:48:23
Unknown
I know, I know. And so
00:15:48:23 - 00:15:54:11
Unknown
so I made it. And then the Templeton rep is there, and he's not judging you, but he's a friend of ours.
00:15:54:11 - 00:16:03:06
Unknown
And he was like, That's another reason you shouldn't have been allowed to compete. You're friends with two of the judges. He was friends with. They're all friends with Thome.
00:16:03:08 - 00:16:20:20
Unknown
So anyway, so I think they had the higher they held me at a higher standard, they're just going to give it to me. Probably true. They probably give me a harder time. So anyways, I he goes, Hey, let me know when that forms. I want to try. Okay? And so I pour out in the cup and the redness level is exactly how I wanted it.
00:16:20:20 - 00:16:31:19
Unknown
So it's so red and the foam was breaking down how sometimes I So there's no symptom gum in there because that's the Zantac I was holding the structure of the foam of the egg. That's all the spacey to him. Right.
00:16:31:19 - 00:16:45:15
Unknown
And I go, it didn't look too gummy. I try to like, Oh my God, this is amazing. Like, I still thought it tasted terrible, but you don't like Campari but like the texture, the it was perfect texture and I gave it to yeah, I gave it to him.
00:16:45:16 - 00:16:50:18
Unknown
He's like, Oh my God. I told like, this is like my seventh time doing it. This is the best time. This is the best one ever.
00:16:50:18 - 00:16:51:18
Unknown
And so anyways,
00:16:51:18 - 00:17:04:00
Unknown
so basically I started out down the foam on top, so red and then we used squid ink in the demiraj to make a black. So the bottom half of cattails, black with a red form, very contrasty.
00:17:04:06 - 00:17:16:06
Unknown
Okay, we totally forgot to mention any of this. Yeah, no, just continue your drinks and we'll go through because I know I've been thinking about it since you said mint leaves. Yeah. Okay. So then the third drink was with this Asian gin
00:17:16:06 - 00:17:17:03
Unknown
and
00:17:17:03 - 00:17:18:06
Unknown
I was like,
00:17:18:06 - 00:17:22:08
Unknown
I want to do something a little bit different. Obviously, I want to do refreshing in life because it's summertime.
00:17:22:10 - 00:17:25:23
Unknown
We already have a tropical drink. We already had kind of a semi-sweet drink.
00:17:25:23 - 00:17:30:20
Unknown
So now we need to something with a little more body and a little bit more complexity, but still light and refreshing.
00:17:30:20 - 00:17:31:17
Unknown
And so
00:17:31:17 - 00:17:39:08
Unknown
lime juice goes with the gin, no matter, you know, whatever. And then for one of my cocktails at the menu of the bar I work at,
00:17:39:08 - 00:17:41:02
Unknown
I made a coconut
00:17:41:02 - 00:17:43:20
Unknown
almond or coconut orgeat.
00:17:43:23 - 00:17:45:11
Unknown
And I thought that turned out really well.
00:17:45:11 - 00:17:46:23
Unknown
And I was like, this would probably fit.
00:17:46:23 - 00:17:50:17
Unknown
I think this would go really well because all the Asian flavors inside the gin,
00:17:50:17 - 00:17:53:05
Unknown
coconut and almond go with that very easily, right?
00:17:53:05 - 00:17:56:08
Unknown
But then we tried it and then was like, How do we make this more complex?
00:17:56:08 - 00:17:59:23
Unknown
We basically Suva, this coconut almond sirup.
00:18:00:00 - 00:18:02:07
Unknown
The question was how can we make this even
00:18:02:07 - 00:18:03:10
Unknown
better? And
00:18:03:10 - 00:18:11:04
Unknown
tea flavors in the gin lend well to Asian flavor, right? We looked at other flavor components that could be added
00:18:11:04 - 00:18:12:13
Unknown
lemongrass, common
00:18:12:13 - 00:18:13:16
Unknown
ginger, common
00:18:13:16 - 00:18:17:04
Unknown
Thai chilies, Thai chilies, Thai basil,
00:18:17:04 - 00:18:22:10
Unknown
you know. And so we are making dinner, are we making a cocktail? Making fun of both.
00:18:22:12 - 00:18:41:13
Unknown
So we sweet the coconut almond sirup with lemongrass, fresh lemongrass, fresh ginger and fresh Thai chilies. We see we did for a couple hours and fucking turn out amazing. Yes, it was sweet, creamy and spicy until you had to make the batch for the competition. Right. And so. But before we go there,
00:18:41:13 - 00:18:48:04
Unknown
I wanted a milk punches bucket thing because I thought that this drink, if it was crystal clear, would just set it up.
00:18:48:04 - 00:18:57:15
Unknown
Because in your mind, you see clear. You think like Christmas refreshing or you think water or water. So you think low flavor. And for those who are not familiar with the milk punch,
00:18:57:15 - 00:19:01:12
Unknown
talking to your microphone, please. Yeah. For those who are not familiar with the milk punch,
00:19:02:00 - 00:19:06:18
Unknown
basically you mix a cocktail and then you add milk to it.
00:19:06:21 - 00:19:12:00
Unknown
And when the milk curdles, it takes out all of the impurities and
00:19:12:00 - 00:19:14:15
Unknown
basically everything that would add color
00:19:14:15 - 00:19:23:15
Unknown
to this drink and it filters them out. Right. And then gives it also gives it a little bit of roundness of creamy. It doesn't part. It does impart a
00:19:23:15 - 00:19:25:08
Unknown
creamy mouthfeel.
00:19:25:08 - 00:19:25:20
Unknown
Right.
00:19:25:20 - 00:19:27:17
Unknown
And
00:19:27:17 - 00:19:28:05
Unknown
it
00:19:28:05 - 00:19:33:02
Unknown
it kind of rounds everything out, all of the flavors, but without taking away
00:19:33:02 - 00:19:34:12
Unknown
it just destroy the flavor.
00:19:34:12 - 00:19:42:05
Unknown
It doesn't take away the impact, but it kind of rounds rounds out the flavors. And so it did exactly what I hope to God it was going to do.
00:19:42:05 - 00:19:46:02
Unknown
The chili still was there. It still had it. Well, first you try it
00:19:46:02 - 00:19:49:14
Unknown
and you get the botanicals and the creaminess from the coconut almond
00:19:49:14 - 00:19:52:23
Unknown
and the botanicals from the gin, but then also adding
00:19:52:23 - 00:19:58:02
Unknown
a few milliseconds later, you're you feel this heat in your throat, but not
00:19:58:02 - 00:19:58:19
Unknown
excessive.
00:19:58:20 - 00:20:13:13
Unknown
Not excessive. It's a little bit of a peppery right, but it tastes like spices, too. It's not a heat like just taste. It tastes like the green flavor of chilies, not just the heat from the capsaicin. Right. And so then we decided to stir it down
00:20:13:13 - 00:20:22:12
Unknown
after his milk punch. We start down with Thai basil to get the fresh herbal ness into the cocktail, and that basil also enhances all the other flavors.
00:20:22:12 - 00:20:24:07
Unknown
Yes. And so
00:20:24:07 - 00:20:27:19
Unknown
I was super happy with this. And then I'm like, Whoa, how do I garnish it?
00:20:27:19 - 00:20:28:16
Unknown
And then
00:20:28:16 - 00:20:29:07
Unknown
kind of
00:20:29:07 - 00:20:39:09
Unknown
then I decide to do Plum because plum goes well with all these flavors. It's an Asian fruit that just is paired very well. So I made a plum paste and paste it into the inside of the cocktail.
00:20:39:11 - 00:20:50:00
Unknown
So when the cut or inside the cut to glass. And so when the drink sits there, the plum, what kind of Rossum I release and give it a little bit of fruity notes. As long as you take to drink it, it changes the dynamics of the cocktail.
00:20:50:00 - 00:20:55:03
Unknown
So really it was this is a big and bold cocktail that looked like a glass of water, you know.
00:20:56:02 - 00:21:04:09
Unknown
So now I feel like this is where we can go into after you were told that what the liquor options were. So the competition was on May 4th. Yes.
00:21:04:09 - 00:21:13:09
Unknown
And if you don't understand what May 4th is, it's just a it's a little pun for may the force be with you. So may the force be with you. So it's a big Star Wars day.
00:21:13:11 - 00:21:17:00
Unknown
And at first I was like, I don't want to do it. And Star Wars strength this to
00:21:17:00 - 00:21:24:09
Unknown
it's too on the nose. But then the rules came out, so we had to do one cocktail that was Star Wars. And I get it right. The public likes that shit.
00:21:24:09 - 00:21:26:22
Unknown
The public likes that thing because they think it's cute, it's fun.
00:21:26:22 - 00:21:29:20
Unknown
I get all of that is fine. So
00:21:29:20 - 00:21:37:17
Unknown
if you know who I am, I'm not going to do one Star Wars drink. I'm going to make all three. You are a very all or nothing person. No,
00:21:37:17 - 00:21:42:20
Unknown
you are. There's there is no halfway. And so then what is
00:21:42:20 - 00:21:46:05
Unknown
there is no try only do three much.
00:21:46:05 - 00:21:49:02
Unknown
So I was like, okay, how can I tie Star Wars?
00:21:49:02 - 00:22:01:17
Unknown
I like Star Wars. It's fine. I'm like, I don't all these little sub stories I watched one season The Mandalorian. I don't care what the rest of it, you know, I just I watch all the movies. They're fine. Rogue One, I think is the best Star Wars movies out there.
00:22:01:17 - 00:22:03:23
Unknown
And you could give two shits less, right?
00:22:03:23 - 00:22:05:06
Unknown
Yeah, I was.
00:22:05:06 - 00:22:09:14
Unknown
I had never seen a Star Wars movie until I was in my early twenties. And
00:22:09:14 - 00:22:13:04
Unknown
my first college or my first boyfriend out of college
00:22:13:04 - 00:22:14:07
Unknown
made me watch
00:22:14:07 - 00:22:29:00
Unknown
those. The first the original six. You know the first three, then the prequels. Yeah, yeah. So I Adora guy Brett, who had mentioned many times on this podcast is a big nerd which is great, you know, a great guy.
00:22:29:02 - 00:22:40:19
Unknown
And I was like, Hey, what can we do for Star Wars drinks? He's like, Well, there's this blue drink, blah, blah, blah. But he's like, Everyone's going to do that again. When you do that, whatever, whatever. And so he kind of helped me off a couple of things, just kind of getting the ball rolling.
00:22:40:19 - 00:22:41:13
Unknown
And then
00:22:41:13 - 00:22:46:01
Unknown
I decided, well, what's popular and Star Wars, all the movies, everything.
00:22:46:01 - 00:22:49:13
Unknown
What's the what's the biggest what's the merchandise?
00:22:49:13 - 00:22:52:10
Unknown
Right. Or notable notable thing? Prop,
00:22:52:10 - 00:22:56:03
Unknown
prop, light sabers, perfect light sabers that will
00:22:56:03 - 00:22:57:09
Unknown
how okay. Now
00:22:57:09 - 00:23:06:21
Unknown
moon's like how do I taillights ever since I'll just do a lightsaber color as the garnish for every drink. So you you took that you took an idea that
00:23:06:21 - 00:23:10:08
Unknown
oh yeah, let's try this and do a lightsaber and then let's do this.
00:23:10:08 - 00:23:35:05
Unknown
The easiest way possible. Absolutely. Abso fucking early to put less than no thought into this, all right? Like, Well, exactly. But you know what? And then so with the with the tiki, with the rum, sparkling wine we didn't mint. So that was green lightsaber where the gin, Asian and fusion drink. We did purple streaks of the purple lightsaber.
00:23:35:07 - 00:23:44:14
Unknown
And then for the Templeton Rider we did the the Campari sweet remove. That's a red lightsaber, right? So we tied them all the other that way, and then we named them all something
00:23:44:14 - 00:23:49:23
Unknown
relatively two Star Wars, two Star Wars and and also
00:23:49:23 - 00:23:55:08
Unknown
to talking to your microphone and also to that color of lightsaber. Right. Had something to do.
00:23:55:08 - 00:23:56:17
Unknown
So green
00:23:56:17 - 00:24:16:19
Unknown
is usually, you know, Jedi and Yoda had the green lightsaber so we called it refreshing. I am. Yep. And then the Asian drink, gin drink had purple and the only person to yield a purple lightsaber is Windu. That's Samuel L Jackson is character in the prequels. So we called it Windu.
00:24:16:19 - 00:24:20:14
Unknown
And then the last drink with Templeton Rye with a Campari foam.
00:24:20:16 - 00:24:38:01
Unknown
Since the drink was black and the garnish was red, the phone was red. Um, we were thinking the Imperial Army. It's the Imperial Army, right? Yeah, the Army. And. Yeah, and the dark side wields the red lightsaber usually. Yeah, usually.
00:24:38:01 - 00:24:40:04
Unknown
Obviously, there's no standard. Right.
00:24:40:04 - 00:24:43:10
Unknown
So we called it the dark side. Mm hmm.
00:24:43:10 - 00:24:45:04
Unknown
Since the drink had China so
00:24:45:04 - 00:24:46:22
Unknown
happy with all three of those names
00:24:46:22 - 00:24:47:12
Unknown
and.
00:24:47:16 - 00:24:51:01
Unknown
Yeah. And so Riley kind of said at the very beginning
00:24:51:01 - 00:24:53:01
Unknown
during the competition,
00:24:53:01 - 00:24:59:21
Unknown
you have to draw numbers. They go over the rules. Everyone draws a random number. That's the contestant that you are. Or that's the number you are.
00:24:59:21 - 00:25:02:09
Unknown
your. That's your
00:25:02:09 - 00:25:12:05
Unknown
order competition. Order. Yeah. So I did not want to or get one too or really three would have been pushing it, but we had to redo some things because we weren't happy the night before.
00:25:12:11 - 00:25:26:18
Unknown
How the prep went, it just the orgy didn't end up being spicy, you know. And that's Chili's, right. And that was that, that drink that it's the chili that says that drink. That's what makes it, that's what makes that drink. That drink. It would have been fine without
00:25:26:18 - 00:25:30:00
Unknown
the added chilies, but I'm glad we were able to get them in there.
00:25:30:01 - 00:25:31:03
Unknown
Absolutely. So
00:25:31:03 - 00:25:38:09
Unknown
we're doing all this prep work. We are. I pulled number ten. I'm the second. The last. I know I have 4 hours
00:25:38:09 - 00:25:39:23
Unknown
to sit there and do prep.
00:25:39:23 - 00:25:46:20
Unknown
And like Riley said earlier, I'm kind a social butterfly. You know, I'm talking to other bartenders. I'm kind of doing prep work.
00:25:46:20 - 00:25:50:21
Unknown
So I get there shortly. So he gets over there about 9:00.
00:25:50:21 - 00:25:56:14
Unknown
Competition doesn't start till ten to start prep. I get over there about 915 because I got eyeliner in my eye
00:25:56:14 - 00:26:09:18
Unknown
and then he he tells me that I have to go to Whole Foods to get Santhanam, which was not an item on the list of things that we remembered we needed to bring. It was the only thing we forgot, which is actually pretty good for us.
00:26:09:18 - 00:26:13:02
Unknown
Yeah, as as a impressive.
00:26:13:02 - 00:26:14:05
Unknown
So
00:26:14:17 - 00:26:26:16
Unknown
also at the same time, Chilis were kind of on the back of our minds like, Hey, we should get these because it's going to change the drink. Mm. So I ran it and I go, I found Thai Chilis and Z and then got my Whole Foods
00:26:26:16 - 00:26:27:19
Unknown
and got back.
00:26:27:19 - 00:26:32:19
Unknown
So this is where we decided to remake not remake, but just
00:26:32:19 - 00:26:34:10
Unknown
re infuse.
00:26:34:12 - 00:26:41:13
Unknown
Right. We had bland ish because of Thai orgeat and we just re infused it with more Thai chilies and ginger. Right.
00:26:41:13 - 00:26:42:19
Unknown
And at this point
00:26:42:19 - 00:26:47:07
Unknown
Karl sets it and forgets it because an SUV is supposed to be in there for 2 hours
00:26:47:07 - 00:26:51:19
Unknown
and the thing goes off and I'm like, Hey, are you going to take that out? He goes, No, I'm going to let it cool.
00:26:51:19 - 00:26:56:13
Unknown
And then an hour later, it's still cooling in water in the SUV.
00:26:56:13 - 00:27:07:21
Unknown
Yeah, well, like I said, I mean, yeah, I don't know what else you want to say. I looked stuff and like, you were there pushing everything like that. Because also we have there's a there's a public competition. So we have to make like fucking
00:27:07:21 - 00:27:10:08
Unknown
70, 80 ounces of the sirup too.
00:27:10:08 - 00:27:12:15
Unknown
Because we have, we. Yeah. Because we made.
00:27:12:15 - 00:27:16:09
Unknown
Well yeah, we had to make 70 or 80 ounces of the
00:27:16:09 - 00:27:19:06
Unknown
sirup but then we also had two milk punch
00:27:19:06 - 00:27:26:17
Unknown
a gallon and a half. Right. Of this cocktail. And then we had to make more super juice for lime juice. And then we also had to make the foam and the pump.
00:27:26:18 - 00:27:35:15
Unknown
So there was a lot. But some of the stuff I don't want to make until I knew I was like 40 minutes away cause like the plum paste, you wanted to make sure that it set up but didn't get
00:27:35:15 - 00:27:52:00
Unknown
didn't break you. Yeah, whatever. So there's a lot going on. You know, I, I think, you know, I think you a lot always thank you that you were there doing your thing because when you came I'm like trying to make I'm trying to make eye contact with him and you just need to come up to me.
00:27:52:00 - 00:28:02:17
Unknown
Just be more, you know. I know that's that's the only times it worked. You can't. Yes. No, it didn't anyway, because the time that we went over to make and he was giving you the placebo, I was like, Hey, you need to get this out.
00:28:02:17 - 00:28:04:02
Unknown
I said, I don't want to saying that
00:28:04:02 - 00:28:05:18
Unknown
because you weren't listening to me.
00:28:05:19 - 00:28:07:23
Unknown
I'm listening. I'm just hearing you.
00:28:07:23 - 00:28:09:14
Unknown
Same thing. I don't know.
00:28:09:14 - 00:28:11:11
Unknown
Anyways, it all got done.
00:28:11:11 - 00:28:23:14
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. I again, I don't know what else you always say. I'm like, I'm dismissing any of this. I even put on fucking Facebook that you deserve 60% of the work. So you just. I just want to like,
00:28:23:14 - 00:28:25:11
Unknown
bring attention to it
00:28:25:11 - 00:28:27:09
Unknown
because there's been enough attention, bro.
00:28:27:14 - 00:28:32:01
Unknown
No, because I was fucking annoyed the entire day.
00:28:32:01 - 00:28:44:19
Unknown
So anyways, to go up there, do my thing, it works out. Then we do the public event where people pay $30 to come and try everyone's cocktails. You making samples from for like 90 straight minutes? You're just
00:28:44:19 - 00:28:51:04
Unknown
pouring cocktails explaining the drink over. You're talking this kind of over, over and over again, which is why it far it's fun because
00:28:51:04 - 00:28:52:02
Unknown
people really enjoyed it.
00:28:52:02 - 00:28:58:19
Unknown
They really enjoyed the window. I think the window was our best drink. Yeah, I was surprised. I thought refreshing. I am would have been, uh. Yeah,
00:28:58:19 - 00:29:02:13
Unknown
but. And then they did the announcements this and other prizes
00:29:02:13 - 00:29:05:13
Unknown
and then they announced this place and
00:29:05:13 - 00:29:06:19
Unknown
we were lucky enough to win it.
00:29:06:19 - 00:29:08:09
Unknown
And then that's it. That's,
00:29:08:09 - 00:29:10:00
Unknown
that is a very rambly
00:29:10:00 - 00:29:10:18
Unknown
2023.
00:29:10:18 - 00:29:13:00
Unknown
I was best mixologist. Sorry, that is.
00:29:13:00 - 00:29:21:03
Unknown
But that's how the date, that's how chaotic the day feels. And that's, that's kind of what it's like to be inside the mind of somebody who is a creative. Also,
00:29:21:03 - 00:29:29:15
Unknown
nothing ever happens from point A to point B, You always have detours and stops along the way, right? And creating a cocktail isn't like,
00:29:29:15 - 00:29:30:22
Unknown
Oh, hey, I like these ingredients.
00:29:30:22 - 00:29:32:09
Unknown
We're going to throw it together. I mean,
00:29:32:09 - 00:29:34:21
Unknown
it's it's, it's fun, it's unique.
00:29:34:21 - 00:29:39:09
Unknown
And now they made a rule saying, repeat, winners can't get you again.
00:29:39:09 - 00:29:45:00
Unknown
So but it's fine because like Jake and I, your head can't get any bigger. It's pretty fucking big.
00:29:45:00 - 00:29:47:03
Unknown
My fucking shoulders hurt
00:29:47:03 - 00:29:49:17
Unknown
your neck in neck brace.
00:29:49:17 - 00:29:51:17
Unknown
So. But anyways, I've talked to Jake.
00:29:51:17 - 00:30:03:23
Unknown
I told you this because I've barely seen you in the past fucking 72 hours. Right, Jake? Out talking about we want to do start offering, like get together like everyone who wants to once a month and do like zoom calls about, like just how
00:30:03:23 - 00:30:10:11
Unknown
costs are getting better as bartenders here in the state of Iowa. Right? Because we want everyone to be better.
00:30:10:11 - 00:30:11:11
Unknown
We want everything
00:30:11:11 - 00:30:15:05
Unknown
to put out the best product that we humanly, all can can, but also grow
00:30:15:05 - 00:30:16:02
Unknown
because
00:30:16:02 - 00:30:27:23
Unknown
it's hard growing when the state is not known as a cocktail state, but also the mentorship, the leadership education is so lacking because really there is, like you and Jake are probably
00:30:27:23 - 00:30:30:05
Unknown
the first generation of
00:30:30:05 - 00:30:31:23
Unknown
cocktail makers in this state.
00:30:31:23 - 00:30:45:10
Unknown
Yeah, I mean, there's other bartenders, other bars that we are not aware of, but we go to the bars until we go. But yes, publicly that we're aware of. But your generation. Our generation, yes. Is the first generation of bartenders who actually takes mixology seriously
00:30:45:10 - 00:30:46:13
Unknown
and is
00:30:46:13 - 00:30:53:01
Unknown
in cares about all of the flavors, not just providing palate friendly options, you know, And I think that's what we want.
00:30:53:02 - 00:30:55:04
Unknown
Right. Had a light refreshing
00:30:55:04 - 00:31:09:19
Unknown
you know whose a cocktail all the flavor notes the hit spicy with other complexes and that hit better with the other complexes that's around the rye drink was very round and it was very sweet but the bitter foam rounded it out
00:31:09:19 - 00:31:12:04
Unknown
balance and multi dimensional too.
00:31:12:04 - 00:31:14:13
Unknown
So, yeah, I mean it was it was a fight years.
00:31:14:14 - 00:31:18:15
Unknown
But in time, you know I mean it's stressful as fuck It's
00:31:18:15 - 00:31:21:03
Unknown
I'm never going to have to assist you again.
00:31:21:03 - 00:31:25:18
Unknown
Yeah I realize I don't understand like there's no more system over there.
00:31:25:18 - 00:31:30:21
Unknown
So yeah I actually I want you to I would love for us to
00:31:30:21 - 00:31:34:03
Unknown
of course we represent Alcoholics bar or one year that one
00:31:34:03 - 00:31:36:21
Unknown
of your whole areas that you wouldn't next year
00:31:36:21 - 00:31:42:21
Unknown
can't because I'm judging next year you have to be a year I don't judge two years two years from now for our own bars open I,
00:31:42:21 - 00:31:45:03
Unknown
I will not compete in that competition.
00:31:45:04 - 00:31:53:06
Unknown
I'll just make all the drinks. So you got this to. No, that's the part that I can't do. I can make the drinks, I have the palate. I just can't be.
00:31:53:06 - 00:32:01:03
Unknown
We'll get you there, okay? We'll get you. There is going to be shaking so bad that I'm not going to be able to fill. Jiggers is still in there.
00:32:01:05 - 00:32:15:23
Unknown
And sorry. Well, we appreciate everyone taking a listen to this extra bonus episode. And this is episode of obviously was free to everyone. And if you want to hear more bonus content, go to our do you want to start a tab for three bucks a month? You get some more stuff.
