Cocktail Hour Issue No. 1: Truly Enlightened
Join me for a zero-proof cocktail for Dry January; witches and murder at Yale in Hell Bent; the nippy Royal todger; the gas stove debate; the end of $500 dinner; inflation; a cute porcupine and more!
Happy Friday, y’all. We made it to Cocktail Hour!
It’s been quite a week in the news. We finally got a Speaker and a functioning House, only to have them decide to cut the IRS’s funding. (On the one hand: Shut the fuck up and pay your damned taxes; I just sent in a giant check and I’m not complaining. On the other hand: yaaaaaas. I feel like my personal bipolar reaction sums up … everything in American life right now.) We also learned about the nippy Royal todger and that Biden has classified documents in his house, too, but it’s maybe sorta different?
And for a minute it sounded like there was a war on gas stoves. A Commissioner with the Consumer Product Safety Commission suggested that they were considering banning gas stoves. That unleashed a flood of reaction pieces that, somehow, set conservatives (pro gas stoves!) and liberals (electric!) into opposing camps. I had no idea my cooktop preferences aligned me with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Huh. But, the Biden administration quickly walked back the story, promising that no bans were forthcoming. And crispy, evenly cooked foods were saved!1
After all that, I think we’re ready for a drink. Because some of you may be trying Dry January and it’s National Mocktail Week, I’m offering you a low-octane respite from the chaos cycle. Cheers! 🍸
What I’m Drinking: Truly Enlightened
One of my favorite spots for zero-proof cocktails is Castalia, a tiny gem of a bar and perfumery nestled beneath a Victorian building in Detroit. What I love is that, unlike so many bars whose sober menu is just a list of canned drinks or a mix of Seedlip and seltzer, Castalia actually builds craft cocktails that are zero-proof.
Each season, they develop a new drink menu to pair with the scents they make at their sister company, Sfumato Fragrances. Each scent inspires a flavor profile, and the team makes both a booze-forward and a booze-free option of each. That way visitors can enjoy the full experience whether they are imbibing or not. For example, right now the bar is serving a take on an Old Fashioned that pairs with their Epiphany scent. See how they mimic each other?
So It Begins: Genever, barrel-aged gin, lemon oleo saccharum, lemongrass syrup, chamomile, lavender and rosemary
No Turning Back (Alcohol free): Lemongrass, lemon, chamomile, lavender, barley, grains of paradise, orris, gentian
To get to the bottom of what makes a good sober cocktail, I called up the owner, my friend Kevin Peterson, who is an expert in the art and science of mixology. (He literally has a culinary school degree and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.)
What makes a good sober cocktail?
The biggest thing I look for is something that will slow people down in their drinking. That might be bitterness, effervescence, a lot of flavor or an interesting mouth feel. You can make a tasty lemonade and people will guzzle it in a few minutes. But it’s not really a cocktail; it’s a delicious beverage.
Is developing a sober cocktail different from creating a booze-forward drink?
In terms of the flavor and impression it generates, not really. The bigger challenge is that there aren’t as many non-alcoholic ingredients with the level of complexity as most alcohols. If you just put whiskey in a drink, you already have a lot of flavor and a pretty complex thing going on. In an Old Fashioned, whiskey is carrying the show. There isn’t an equivalent in the non-alcoholic world, so it takes more levels of building the flavors for a sober cocktail.
Why include sober cocktails on the menu?
We really wanted the experience at Castalia to be about flavor and sensory engagement and not just alcohol. I also knew some people like going out but don’t drink and wanted them to have a space as well.
You bring science to your drinks. How did that happen?
It was two different passions that came together. I was in the culinary world in my early life, and it was all about ingredients. And then I got into the engineering world, and I was working with engines and was measuring air and fuel going in, and then seeing what those signals mean. So as I got into the cocktail and scent world, I put those together. I use ingredients to create the signals and then see the path of those signals, meaning taste and scent and mouth feel. It was a total shift.
Some of this sounds pretty involved. What’s an easy sober cocktail for home bartenders?
Our Truly Enlightened
Truly Enlightened
Ingredients:
2 oz bottled coconut milk
½ oz. fresh lemon juice
½ oz. simple syrup*
½ oz. water
1” nub of ginger, thinly sliced
Nutmeg for garnish
Instructions:
Add ingredients into a cocktail shaker or, like me, a mason jar with a shaker lid.
Add a handful of ice, approximately 5 cubes
Shake vigorously for about 15 seconds
Strain into a chilled coupe glass
Sprinkle with nutmeg
*Simple Syrup Recipe: Combine 1 part sugar and 1 part water in a pot and cook over low heat until it dissolves. It will go fast; don’t walk away. Cool and store. You have simple syrup. I usually make it in 1 cup increments.)
Got a favorite drink you want me to research or make? Leave me a comment below.
What I’m Reading: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
When Leigh Bardugo’s book, Ninth House, came out in 2019, it quickly became one of my most recommended titles of the year. Yale, witches, secret societies, murder and mayhem? What could be better? An incredibly well written and plotted story of Yale, witches, secret societies, murder and mayhem!
Fantasy isn’t usually my genre, but Ninth House just pulled me in - and I’ve been impatiently waiting for the sequel. This week, Hell Bent finally dropped. My copy arrived this morning, and if it lives up to the reviews, poor Lovey won’t see me until Sunday. I’ll be buried in my book.
Kirkus gave it a starred review and said:
“The plot is relentless and clever, and the writing is vivid, intelligent, and funny at just the right moments, but best of all are the complex characters, such as the four murderers, each with a backstory that makes it possible for the reader to trust them to enter hell and have the strength to leave again.”
And, yes, I’m also creeped out — and oddly compelled — by the cover.
Hell Bent is just one of a raft of new books I’m excited about in January. Be sure to check out my full list in Tuesday’s newsletter.
This Week’s Feels: I Want It All. That Is All.
Sh*t I Now Know & So Must You: I’ve Been Making My Pasta Noodles All Wrong
Every time I make pasta, I tell myself, Don’t forget to save some pasta water. Half the time, I remember it as I’m pouring everything into the colander; the other half I save it but forget to actually add it to my sauce. This week Lovey and I made this lemon pasta, and while it turned out delicious (definitely on our repeat list), the sauce wasn’t exactly creamy.
Turns out, my problem is with emulsification. You really need to correctly use that pesky pasta water, according to
’s Hot Dish newsletter.I didn’t really understand the purpose of this magical ingredient until Sohla explained. I mean, I knew the starch in the water was supposed to help bind things together and make it “glossy,” but in reality, I mostly used it to loosen my sauce when it was too thick. But here’s why pasta water matters in making a miracle out of cheese and pasta and water:
It might seem counterintuitive that more water will make a sauce creamier, but emulsification needs two to tango. The fat you add to pasta needs water to disperse into. Not enough water and the emulsion will break, making the sauce greasy. Also, pasta is always soaking up water—as you stir, as you serve, and as you eat. Make your sauce looser than you want it to be when you sit down cause that pasta never stops drinking.
In case you don’t know Sohla, she is a judge on HBO Max’s The Big Brunch, and Decider calls her the “undisputed MVP” of the cooking-competition show. (Side note: Silas Hite, who does the sound design for Bar\Heart podcast episodes created the score for The Big Brunch!) Sohla was also a food editor at Bon Appetit magazine and a star of a lot of its popular cooking videos. In her newsletter, she’s a dream at helping home cooks level-up their skills, with everything from recipes for all those CSA veggies in the summer to, well, how to get creamy pasta every time.
She has a few more tips for getting perfect, creamy emulsification — like not microplaning your parmesan — so check those out too! I was just a free subscriber until this week; now I’m definitely signing up.
3 Things I’m Reading on the Interwebz
Noma, the World’s “Best Restaurant” – Which You’ve Probably Never Heard Of And Certainly Never Visited – is Closing. $500 per person dinner, grilled reindeer heart and a business model based on free labor.
Mr. Redzepi’s reputation was built on his challenges to fine-dining tradition, most famously discarding imported delicacies like French foie gras and Italian truffles in favor of local and foraged ingredients like spruce tips, two-year-old carrots and duck brains. The cooking style became known as New Nordic, and swept all of Scandinavia into a new status as an elite culinary destination.
But the kitchen culture at Noma did not always live up to the ideals it projected. In interviews, dozens of people who worked at Noma between 2008 and 2021 said that 16-hour workdays have long been routine, even for unpaid workers.
“It’s the Coolest Rock Show in Ann Arbor. And Almost Everyone There Is Over 65” It’s Old Geezer Happy Hour, and it sounds delightful.
There are women in skintight red dresses, long-haired men sucking down bottles of beer and couples flirting in the alcove outside the bathrooms.
The party’s official name is “Ann Arbor Hour Happy Hour at Live,” but many people call it “Geezer Happy Hour,” “Geezer Dance Party,” or just “Geezers.” It’s organized by Randy Tessier, a 72-year-old University of Michigan lecturer and writing instructor who has played in rock and jazz bands since he moved to the city in 1972, back when it was a patchouli-scented center of American counterculture.
What’s Up With Inflation? How Do We Tame It. And Why is a Midwest Banker Once in Charge of TARP Central to the Story?2 This tale of the Federal Reserve, monetary policy and Neel Kashkari, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, is immensely readable and informative. Trust me.
As Kashkari tells it, the financial meltdown shook his faith in the self-correcting powers of capitalism and also prompted him to reflect more deeply on the inequities of the American economy. He arrived in Minneapolis as a chastened free-marketer who thought the Fed could play a bigger role in pushing for a more just economy. To that end, he helped put the Minneapolis Fed at the center of discussions about the economic consequences of racism and other social ills. He also staked out a position as an ardent dove. In Fed-speak, doves prefer looser monetary policy to maximize employment (lower interest rates stimulate growth, which leads to more hiring) while hawks favor tighter credit to keep inflation down.
When it became evident to him in late 2021 that inflationary pressures were not abating, Kashkari changed course and joined the hawks.
What I’m Bingeing: Jeff Beck’s 10 Essential Songs
I’m not the quickest to new music, but even by my standards I’m a little bit late….
When the news broke that guitarist Jeff Beck died this week of meningitis, my group text with Lovey and our friends Shana and The Consort lit up. Ping. Ping. Ping. Lovey announced he was mourning Beck’s passing by developing a new cocktail:
1 part Kahlúa
1 part cream
1 part Bourbon
Meanwhile, I was like… Who? What? Um….
Needless to say Shana, who practically has a Ph.D. in rock and roll, was displeased that I didn’t know the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and guitarist for, well, everyone. So last night Lovey put some Jeff Beck on the HiFi3, turned out the lights and gave me an introduction. It was one of those perfect musical moments where you just get lifted away.
Of course, I knew all the songs; I just didn’t know it was Jeff Beck. The New York Times’ music critic, Jon Parles, put together a list of Beck’s 10 Most Essential songs, so I’ve been listening to that all morning. Here’s that playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!
Oh, and Lovey reports that the cocktail was delicious, though still unnamed.
Weekly Cute Critter: Quinn the Porcupine
If you think that’s cute, go see the video of him eating. It’s what I wanted to include, but video wouldn’t embed.
That’s it for this week, y’all. See you Tuesday for the January Bar\Heart Book List. And don’t miss next Friday’s Cocktail Hour.
Okay, okay.The fight goes back further than this and has to do with climate change and rates of childhood asthma. Here’s a good primer on the fight that is set to change American real estate. And here’s a counterpoint in favor of electric stoves.)
Ok, that’s my headline because the original was too boring.
Fine. Our Sonos system. We’re not that cool to have an old HiFi. But I did have a cool one in my childhood bedroom.
Love Castalia and so glad to see a shout out to them! Also, have checked many times to see if there was a sequel to Ninth House. I’m so glad you showcased it. I already put in an order for it at my local bookshop!