I still haven't figured out the perfect look for this blog, but that's something more akin to procrastination than actual web development skills. Not that you need them for Blogger, but you know what I'm saying...
Our first day in Cocktology isn't just one day, it's more of a culmination of days all leading up to my three-day weekend at Aspen Food & Wine here in Colorado. An event that brought me to the forefront of both the culinary and cocktailian arts. As a guest, employee and newly adopted member of Team TyKu, I was wined, dined and saked through the small(ish) town of Aspen, Colorado. I made drinks for National TyKu Accounts like Famous Dave's BBQ (who loved the Firecracker - recipe below) and Intercontinental Hotels. I rubbed elbows with Daniel Boulud and other notable industry celebs who have their own Wikipedia pages. I saw the Prince of Saudi Arabia's glass-cased bidet. I won a Colorado Cocktail competition using Avery White Rascal, Caprock Gin, White Pepper Hazelnut Syrup, White Grapefruit Juice and Vanilla Wafers (yep...it worked, well) and earned a trip back for Shannon and I to Aspen in the Fall. I drank at Jimmy's Famous Bar with the who's-who of Cocktology. I met my two new sisters Tara and Sydney. I watched Michele fall into a hot tub. I danced in the rain.
What I'm trying to get out, what I'm seriously struggling with here, is that on December 9th of 2009 I was a no-body. A cliche to end all cliche's, I was an out of work writer who had just completed his Master's Degree in English Literature and was in the middle of a nasty little break-up (although, I think if you asked her, we were never in anything worthy of breaking up). In no-exaggerated terms, I was floundering. I believe on December 7th, my graduation day, with my parents on my way to pick me up in my gown, I was sitting on the floor of my bathtub, knees pulled tightly up to my chin, crying desperately as the shower-head shot lukewarm rain at my skull. I was 30.
Sure, I had options: 1) Pack everything up in my truck and run as far away from my god-forsaken state of affairs as possible. Napa Valley maybe? Or Seattle? I still had people in Austin that would take care of me too, if I wanted to head back home. Or 2) End this fucking thing. All of it. Kiss my dog one last time and step into on-coming traffic. Grab my pistol. Drunkenly drive my car off one of those windy roads up in them-there mountains (Ryan Dunn, RIP).
Pathetic. Yeah, I know. It's not like I'm proud of those thoughts now. One Day In Cocktology is much more than your usual Cocktail Blog. Those are popping up every other hour from "mixologists" all over the country with access to a web browser. No. This story about the day I woke up and accepted the world I'd been handed. A world that I had been running from since I was 17. That world behind a bar...a world that, if looked at through the right lens is just as, if not more, creative than the world I had left behind.
Furthermore, this world wants me. It accepts me. It takes me to Aspen and feeds me sushi for free. It lets me sleep in the same cabin that President Bill Clinton once stayed. It takes me to Kentucky to have dinner with Fred Noe Sr., the great-grandson of Jim Beam. It has me dreaming of New York, of Europe, of California. It as resurrected thoughts of opening my own restaurant/bar/deli/menage-a-whatever. Bartending has been my saving grace, my rise from the ashes. It's brought me a new life, a new reason to wake in the morning. It also brought me to the woman I love...but more on that at a later date. Finally, It brought me, more than anything, another future.
Our paths travel in directions we don't plan...but, after the past year and half of professional bartending, after meeting Shannon and discovering a future...I realize this has been planned all along. To do anything but embrace it would be a travesty.
Phoenix Rising (aka. The Firecracker; aka The Wind Up Bird) - Picture TK
2 oz TyKu Silver
.75 oz Thai Chile Agave Nectar*
.5 oz Lemon Juice
3 slices of english cucumber
.5 oz soda water
Muddle cucumber in a shaker and all of the ingredients except for the soda with ice. Shake well. Strain into a collins glass filled with ice and top with soda. Garnish with lemon and cucumber peel.
* To make Agave: Add 12oz of agave to a sauce pan. Dice up two to three thai chiles (depending on heat) and add to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 mins. Strain.
