Post #695863 by AceExplorer on Wed, Oct 9, 2013 12:45 PM

This is an interesting topic. I just came back from my local specialty liquors store and had a conversation with the owner about cask- and barrel-aged stuff in general. This seems to be quite the rage right now. They had cask-aged and barrel-aged bottled cocktails for sale in his shop, and he spoke quite highly of these. I was left with the impression that this is another interesting variation/option brought to us by the creative (and apparently quite restless) new craft mixologists. He did regale me with stories about how he cooks batches of exotic spices and ingredients in the back room to make batches of unique bitters and syrups and extracts. I felt like I was talking to the host of a cooking show - definitely not someone who seemed devoted to playing with, and exploring, the world of vintage cocktails as much as striking out in new directions. I'm not criticizing or looking down on him at all -- but it seemed he was mostly into doing many of his own things and coming up with entirely new stuff alongside with having developed an appreciation for classic cocktails. He did acknowledge tiki as a portion of the greater realm of mixology, but I didn't get into this because I wanted to get into his view of the bigger cocktail and mixology picture.

I found that he is quite knowledgeable and really enjoys what he is doing. So the clincher question I posed to him -- how long has he been "into" craft cocktails, and what made him abandon the crappy pop-culture stuff served in many restaurants and bars. He told me his tastes turned the corner in June a year ago (June 2012, so 16 months ago) when he was served his first high-quality cocktails which had history and some sort of quality pedigree. Then he took his discovery to such a high level of interest that he and his business partner came to decide to open a specialty shop with a speakeasy in the back room. (Yes, complete with intimate and clandestine-feeling atmosphere and secret entrance through a sliding bookcase.) I plan on going back tonight after work to check it out. I'm sure it will be interesting and fun.

My conclusion is that the creativity of our new craft mixologists are taking cocktails in new directions and to new levels (but not always better) with an insane number of new combinations of ingredients and techniques. I am looking forward to the "fallout" down the road and to seeing what things survive to remain a part of American cocktail culture. I think that these new discoveries and approaches to mixology will be acknowledged, at the very least, as chapters in cocktail history books of the future.