America’s foremost mixologist, Dale DeGroff developedhis extraordinary techniques and talent for over twenty years tending bar at greatestablishments most notably, New York City's famous Rainbow Room, where hepioneered a gourmet approach to recreating great classic cock-tails.

Often referred to as the “daVinci of Drink”, DeGroff has createdaward winning cocktail menus for world renowned restaurantsand has established himself as a leading authority and popularpersonality in the beverage world, appearing regularly in thepress and electronic media including: Martha Stewart Living,The Colin Cowie Show, CNN, Weekend Today, NBC’s TodayShow, The Food Network, Discovery Channel, Metro Guide,History Channel, and local TV and radio stations throughout theUnited States and Europe. He also writes monthly columns forEsquire UK, Theme Magazine, and Beverage Media.

As a spokesperson for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, DeGroff pro-motes the concept of responsible drinking in the home. Dale alsoprovides product evaluation, recipe development, staff training andseminars to spirits manufacturers and leading restaurants through-out the world. his mixology seminars include a comprehensivelook at the history of the cocktail from its Golden Age through pro-hibition, chronicling its journey to Europe and the Caribbean, ashe demonstrates classic techniques used to prepare cocktails.He also offers “Bartender Boot Camp”, and his popular CocktailSafari® tours of Manhattan which have been featured in New YorkMagazine, Citysearch.com and Esquire UK.

Next November of 2002, Clarkson Potter will release Dale DeGroff’snew book, The Craft of The Cocktail. Far more than just a recipebook, The Craft of The Cocktail provides history, personalities, andanecdotes; shows you how to set up a bar, master important tech-niques, and use tools correctly; and it delivers unique concoctions,many featuring Dale DeGroff’s signature use of fresh juices, as wellas all the classics.

Debonair, a great raconteur, and an unparalleled authority, Dale is universallyacknowledged as the world’s premier mixologist. When Entertainment Weeklydecides that each Sex and the City character needs her own signature drink, theyask Dale to create them. When the Culinary Institute of America makes a bartend-ing video, they enlist Dale, and when ‚ wants a source on cocktail parties, they inter-view Dale for recipes, for history, for anecdotes, and for fun. Whether they camefrom as far away as Australia or just around the corner, Dale always provides a goodstory, a great cocktail, and a warm smile.

*Alan Feuer, New York Times

Bartenders may have found their lore keeper in Dale DeGroff;

He is 3 parts Stork Club, 2 parts Las Vegas and

1 part scholar of the trade.*

“DeGroff, whose cheflike approach tococktails turned the Rainbow Room Bar

into holy ground for the Martini set, has picked up where he left off.”William Grimes, New York Times

Visit Kingcocktail.com to view online press kit

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May 2002

PEACH & BERRY JULEPDALE DEGROFF

BEMELMAN’S BAR AT THE

CARLYLE HOTEL

1 Slice Peach1 small Strawberry2 Raspberries2 Blueberries3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice1/2 oz. Simple Syrup1/2 oz. Marie Brizzard Peach Liqueur1 1/2 oz. Bourbon

In a shaker, muddle the peach slice,mint sprg, berries, lemon juice and sim-ple syrup until fruit is crushed. Addpeach liqueur, bourbon and ice andshake well. Strain into a highball glassfilled with ice. Garnish with peach sliceand a sprig of mint.

Complex Magazine, June/July 2002

Belmont BreezeServes 1

1 1/2 ounces Jack Daniels3/4 ounce Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice (see note)1 ounce simple syrup, made with equal parts waterand sugar (see note)1 1/2 ounces fresh orange juice1 1/2 ounces cranberry juice7-Upsoda water

Shake first 6 ingredients with ice and top with half 7-Up and half soda water, approximately 1 ounce ofeach. Garnish with fresh strawberry, a mint sprig andlemon wedge.

Note: One ounce of sweet-and-sour mix could besubstituted for the lemon juice and the simple syrup.

Like the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, theBelmont Stakes has its own drink to raise in celebrationof its jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown - theBelmont Breeze.But until recently, neither thePreakness nor the Belmont Stakes was able to establisha drink that seemed to satisfy as many fans as the sto-ried mint julep. The "traditional" drinks of both raceshave undergone revisions in recent years to reflectchanges in fans' preference.

The julep escaped this indignity, perhaps because bour-bon seems to be as much a part of the fabric ofKentucky culture as horse racing, or because the julepprovides such a pleasing marriage of mint, sugar waterand good bourbon. The julep now seems inseparablefrom the singing of My Old Kentucky Home atChurchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

The Preakness' original Black-Eyed Susan had lessstaying power, at least until a retooling of the recipe lastyear into a vodka-based drink that seems to be pleasingmore fans than the old whiskey-sour-style potion.The Belmont Stakes' traditional cocktail had a similarproblem. Somehow there was no great clamor for the

White Carnation, which combined vodka, peachschnapps, orange juice, soda and cream, all stirredtogether, poured over crushed ice in a highball glassand garnished with an orange slice. In fact, many peo-ple seemed unaware that there was a drink labeled the"traditional" cocktail of the Belmont Stakes.

In the mid-'90s, Dale DeGroff, a New York bartenderwhose customers included officials from the New YorkRacing Association, decided the Belmont Stakes need-ed a cocktail that would be as appealing in an upscalebar as at the tracks.

Harking back to the Colonial idea of a whiskey punch,essentially fruit juices and whiskey, DeGroff came upwith the Belmont Breeze and prepared the drink atcelebrity and VIP events leading up to the race."It was wildly popular," he says. "It appealed to menand women. Even it you weren't a whiskey drinker, itwas a tasty punch."

The Belmont Breeze now reigns as the traditional drinkof the Belmont Stakes. You can raise one Saturday asyour favorite horse hits the tracks.

Belmont Breeze: Punch wins big with both sexes By Sara Engram

The Baltimore Sun, June 5, 2002

For Dale DeGroff, it's all in the wrist. His is agentle but firm action that brings the hand diag-onally from the hip to the shoulder; there itpauses for a little extra action, before descend-ing to a central spot where his work is com-plete. Forget the histrionics of barmen whotreat the cocktail shaker like a cross between amaraca and a juggler's baton. "If someone didthat in my bar," growls DeGroff, "they'd be introuble."

Though a master bartender of many yearsstanding, DeGroff, represents the modern faceof the mixed-drinks business. He is in Londonas the newly appointed cocktail director of theMatch group, to knock its menu and bartendersinto shape. When the first Match bar opened inClerkenwell in 1997, it was among the first tooffer sprawling-friendly sofas and good drinksto an over-25 clientele. "We credited peoplewith a bit of taste," says ex-corporate lawyerand owner Jonathan Downey. It's been a suc-cessful formula, with the group expanding fromone bar to five today.

But competition is now fierce and Downey sawfit to import some top American talent. He couldhardly do better than DeGroff, who has beencalled the "Billy Graham of the holy spirits". Now53, he was at the Rainbow Rooms in New Yorkfor 14 years until it was closed in 1998 in whathe describes as "the blunder of the century. Itwas the last great supper club." He oversaw thebar at the wedding of Ronald Reagan's son (thegroom wasn't quite cut out for marriage, itturned out, but the drinks were terrific) and atthe 70th birthday party held for Rupert Murdochin the Australian's SoHo loft. He is, by his ownadmission, King Cocktail, the name shared byhis website. De Groff is also convinced, some-what confusingly, that "the 21st century is the

decade of the star bartender", but I guess that'swhat happens when life is one long Gin Martiniwith a twist.

It's been a tough battle to pull the cocktail fromthe pit into which it plunged in the 1970s. Perhapswe can thank the Bacardi Breezer for blowing Sexon the Beach out of the water. Cocktails are smartagain and the current metropolitan cocktail clien-tele is seen as a discerning one.

"People who come to our bars are drinking dif-ferently these days," says Robbie Bargh of theGorgeous Group, an organisation responsiblefor setting up bars in many high-end Londonrestaurants and hotels. "They're not just drinkingin an effort to get drunk. We're introducingincreasingly sophisticated cocktails where thealcohol is a lower component of the drink."

Rockwell, which the Gorgeous boys have estab-lished in the Trafalgar Hotel on Trafalgar Square(it's really a Hilton, masquerading as a moreboutique-like affair), is a speciality bourbon bar."Bourbon is an off-putting drink for a lot of peo-ple," concedes Bargh. Yet used as base with tealiqueur, fresh lemon juice and home-madecoriander syrup, for example, you can create anexceptional drink. Then again, I've also tried 10-year-old Van Winkle, shaken with breakfast mar-malade and Peychaud bitters, and I'm not entire-ly sure that I would go back for more.

The growing interest and adventurousness inwhat we eat has led to an increased sophistica-tion of our palates - and wider knowledge offlavours and ingredients... and greater interestin what we are drinking. "You'll still find thatmost people want entry-level cocktails," saysDeGroff. "The Raspberry Martini, theSeabreeze, the Cosmopolitan. But there is a

place for new ideas. And, in terms of freshfruits and exotic fruits, London is ahead of NewYork." Good lord! "Although you'll probably findthat the average cocktail barman in Londondoesn't know what an Americano is." Ah, OK.

On the other hand, Dick Bradsell, who has hada stranglehold on the London cocktail sceneever since his name went above the door ofDick's Bar at the Atlantic Bar and Grill - trulyLondon's hottest see-and-be-seen destinationin its early 90s heyday -has successfully uncov-ered a new breed of thirtysomething customerswho know their drinks. "Ten years ago, only abarman would think of ordering a Manhattan.Now I get people who not only want to order it,but know exactly how it should taste."

The current hit? Definitely the Honey Wall -equal parts Italian chocolate liqueur, Tuaca[another Italian liqueur with a vanilla orangetaste] and three year old Havana Club rum. It'snot dry, not sour, but the flavours combine toreduce the sweetness." Bradsell also finds thatcocktails are a gender-free issue. "I don't knowwhere that idea about girly drinks came from. Imean, look at Dorothy Parker. She wasn'tordering Piña Coladas."

"This profession has been on the rocks for awhile," says DeGroff, no pun intended. "But it'sgetting better every day." And for those of youwho fear that jam, yoghurt or coriander athappy hour could be an innovation too far, youcan alwaysresort to the good old Americano.That's sweet vermouth, Campari and soda in ahighball glass, should your trailblazing Britishbarman need to be told.

London Guardian May 10, 2002

Mine's aBourbonWithMarmalade Or why not make it a vodkawith yoghurt? CarolineRoux is shaken - and stirred- by the cocktail crazesweeping the capital

Perhaps it was only a matter of time, but the age ofthe celebrity bartender-- the bar chef--has arrived,brought on in part by the public’s appetite for bold-ly flavored specialty drinks.

There's a tremendous amount of pressure from themarketplace pushing owners toward fancy, colorful,interesting drinks," Mr. DeGroff said. "Any ownerworth his salt can't neglect that part of the business."The role of the bar chef differs considerably fromthat of the standard bartender. Bar chefs are likely tospend as much time in an office as behind a bar,researching new infusions, calling around town forthe freshest limes or trying to track down someobscure liqueur. Some carry the lofty title of "bever-age director." They obsess over things like the sizeand shape of ice (large cubes are preferred, becausethey melt slowly) and the tartness of mint leaves.Where conventional bartenders concern themselveswith simple issues like "Shaken or stirred?" and "Upor on the rocks?" the bar chef frets over the propermelting temperature of brown sugar. And where bar-tenders cater to customers by listening to their talesand by recalling their regulars' favorite drinks, barchefs make their names by concocting ever bolder -some would say simply weirder - cocktails. Indeed,many cocktail-making stars are using shock value toset themselves apart.

As part of a makeover of its venerated BemelmansBar, which reopens on Friday, the Carlyle hotel hashired a 40-year-old cocktail-making star namedAudrey Saunders to oversee a revamped drinksmenu that will feature homemade ginger beer and arum cocktail called the Jamaican Firefly. "Peopleare crying out for new flavors," Miss Saunders said.

In point of fact, people have been crying out for newcocktails for several years now. The martini revivalof the 1980's gave way to the Cosmopolitan craze ofthe 1990's, and so on. But it's only now - afteremerging from years of training in the fine art ofmixology - that a younger generation of innovativebartenders, many of them taking their cue fromchefs and pastry chefs, is taking command of themany bars and restaurants hoping to exploit theircraft. "I thought I knew everything I needed to knowin six months, and five years later I realized I knewnothing," said Mr. DeGroff, who teaches a 20-hourmixology course at the Institute for CulinaryEducation in New York. A proper bartending educa-tion, he said, can take years. Miss Saunders got her education working free forMr. DeGroff. "A chef can go to culinary school, butthere's no academy where bartenders can get theirtraining," Mr. DeGroff said. "If you're a bartender,you're on your own." He is a kind of Wynton Marsalis of cocktails, insist-ing that before trying anything too newfangled, anaspiring bar chef must first master the classics. Mr.DeGroff's disciples, like Miss Saunders, tend to usethe familiar drinks as the jumping-off point for theirinnovations. One of Miss Saunders's signature cre-ations, the Old Cuban, is an improvised riff on theclassic mojito. She replaces the white rum called forin the original with the more potent añejo rum andbitters, and finishes the drink not with soda, but withChampagne. I like to take a classic drink and turn itinto a modern cocktail," she said.

With Bar Chefs,Happy Hour Goes Haute

BY WARREN ST. JOHN

New York Times, Feb. 24, 2002

January/Febrary 2002

Cocktail College Dale De Groff, the "Kingof Cocktails" so oftenseen in these pages,has teamed up with theCulinary Institute ofAmerica to create atwo-tape video series toassist restaurateurs,managers or any otherhospitality professionalwho wants to improvethe bottom line throughincreased beverage ser-vice and sales.

Bar Essentials includes two separate tapes: Liquid Assets, a30-minute program that uses four classic cocktails to demon-strate the cardinal rules of good beverage service; andMixology: making Great Cocktails, a 45-minute video detailingthe fundamentals of creating mixed drinks and providing thebasic rules of good bartending. For more info, or to order thetapes, call 800 285 8280 or go to www.ciachef.edu.

The Arizona Republic, Feb. 06, 2002

Serious Sipping on 'Sex'Rachel Davis Mersey

The of-the-moment gals on Sex and the City have taken to drinkinglike fish take to water. They aren't just sipping; they're drowning in it.Now that the series is back for six new episodes, join the ladies for adrink.

"Everyone relates to the four main characters in some way," says DaleDeGroff, consultant to the Distilled Spirits Council, a national liquortrade group. "I took each character's personality and paired them with acocktail that has the same traits. For example, Samantha is the sexyvixen of the group, so naturally I gave her a sexy cocktail that justoozes flirtation."

Samantha's ultimate flirt drink: a French Martini.

DeGroff's take on the other characters:• Carrie is current, hip and glamorous. She needs a Sour Apple Martini

to match those Jimmy Choo shoes.• He paired conservative and compassionate Charlotte with a

Mandatory, a drink that was introduced to him in 1981 at the HotelBel Air by a beautiful Canadian actress.

• A true "Manhattanite," according to DeGroff, Miranda is smart, competi-tive and independent. Her drink honors not only her personality butalso her hair: a Red Manhattan.

By ROGER MORRIS03/06/2002

Dale DeGroff is coming to Wilmington to mix you a cocktail.DeGroff is a New York mixologist or bar chef, one of a groupof people who are reviving the custom of having mixed drinks,and he will be a featured part of the April 14 Meals From theMasters celebrity chefs charity brunch.

(Yes, there will be about 30 premier chefs from around thecountry preparing their specialties at the elegant annual event,and enough wine being poured to float the Kalmar Nyckel.)But now back to our cocktails.

"There's a change in how young people are entertaining athome and in restaurants," DeGroff says, "They're acting morelike our parents did during the '50s. Part of it is because dininghas changed how we drink. There is a fascinating fusion of cui-sine with lots of big flavors. So cocktails are coming to the fore-front again."

DeGroff, a fixture at the old Rainbow Room, sees the biggestinflux of new cocktails coming from the Caribbean and SouthAmerica. One from Brazil is called a caipirinha, a mixture ofcachaca ("like grappa from sugar cane"), crushed lime quar-ters, sugar water and ice. Another is a mojito ("the Budweiserof Cuba") with white rum, lime juice, mint, sugar syrup andsoda. Of course, there is a methodology in how these ingredi-ents are assembled - and I leave that to DeGroff.

The idea that there is a real talent to bartending is somethingthat is often lost in what is seen as a transitory profession. "Abartender should do one of two things - go into a kitchen andtrain with a chef and learn flavors or make a concerted effortto train himself on ingredients and technique."

For more information on the fifth annual brunch, which bene-fits the Meals on Wheels charity, and how to purchase ticketsand bid on auction items, call 658-6281 or go online atwww.mealsfromthemasters. com/2002Brunch.htm.

Rediscovering the Art of the Cocktail

Details Magazine, December 2001

Market Watch, Nov.-Dec. 2001

Hartford CourantThurs, December 13. 2001

Sitting on a steel bar stool in Fressen in New York’smeatpacking district at 6:30 one evening, DaleDeGroff dunks one of his muscular fingers into hismartini glass and fishes out the curl of lemon. “Itwas a brilliant effort,” he says, shaking his head,“but see all this white stuff?” DeGroff grimaces andsets the bitter pith next to his half-finished cocktail.

Arguably the most famous bartender in the country,DeGroff has mixed Caipirinhas for Martha Stewart,Planters Punch for The Today Show’s Ann Curry, andsour apple martinis for Natalie Cole at RupertMurdoch’s 70th birthday party. As the former barkeepfor the Rainbow Room, DeGroff makes no bonesabout what began the country’s current cocktailcraze, which single handedly converted theChardonnay crowd into Cosmopolitan drinkers, andspawned lines of barware and accessories fromPottery Barn to Target.

Southwest Airlines Spirit, December 2001

THE BASIC BARFor advice on stocking a home bar, we consulted Master Mixologist Dale DeGroff. These are the fundamentals,but there are no hard and fast rules. Always take personal preferences and your budget into account when shop-ping. “If you’re hosting a party,” DeGroff says, “find out what your friends drink before you start buying.”

Martha Stewart LivingNovember 2001

October 2001

By Kari GranvilleSTAFF WRITER

August 15, 2001

ALL THINGS Cuban, from cigars to Fidel Castro's 75th birthdayon Monday continue to capture Americans' interest, so it is nosurprise that the cocktail creating the most buzz this summer is aHavana-born rum cousin of the American mint julep, the moji-to.Ernest Hemingway was said to have drunk mojitos, as has anyCuban who ever imbibed, to believe the drink's lore. And now,New Yorkers from Manhattan to the East End are adopting thelight, slightly tart libation."They really love their mojitos," said Riccardo Traslavina, theChilean-born chef who started serving mojitos two years agowith his Latin-inspired menu at Riccardo's Seafood House in EastHampton. "It's really taking off right now in New York City."

Lest it be consigned to a Latin-only niche, consider that themojito is being ordered as frequently as the ubiquitous margari-ta this season at Sunset Beach, Andre Balazs' casual chic restau-rant on Shelter Island. Last summer, the ratio of margaritas tomojitos was six to one. Unlike the margarita, which is sweetand salty as well as heavy on the tongue in either its frozen oron-the- rocks form, the mojito (pronounced moe-HEE-toe) is atad sour and almost effervescent. It's composed of mint leavesmuddled with lime juice and sugar, then topped with light rum(though some recipes call for dark) and a splash of club soda,and garnished with mint sprigs. (The American version, thejulep, is making a comeback this summer, too.)

"It's certainly a refreshing and wonderful drink," said DaleDeGroff, consulting mixologist to the Culinary Institute ofAmerica in Hyde Park and formerly head bartender and bever-age director at The Rainbow Room.

Orders for mojitos picked up, DeGroff said, when audienceenthusiasm for "The Buena Vista Social Club," a 1999 docu-mentary about Havana musicians, gave rise to curiosity aboutCuban cuisine. Now, on his frequent travels he sees the drink onmenus in big cities across the country, not just in New York.

"Besides the general trend toward fancy cocktails that has beengoing on for several years, there is something about the mojitothat makes it restaurant-friendly," DeGroff said. "All the ingre-dients are on hand. And, people are used to and like rumdrinks."At Tierra Mar in Westhampton Beach, manager Jonathan Bradyconfirmed that the mojito is "very big." But equally popular isthe drink's American counterpart, the bourbon mint julep, madeat Tierra Mar with white creme de menthe and locally harvestedhoney.

Chef-owner Jimmy Bradley of Red Cat in Chelsea doesn't servemany mojitos - "It's not our bag. We're an American restaurant"- but it's another matter for the classic Southern version. "Weserve a mint julep that we get a lot of requests for. It's basicallythe same as the mojito, except instead of rum it has bourbon."

RECIPES

DALE DEGROFF, master mixologist, cautions against drown-ing the mojito in club soda. For that reason, his recipe calls forusing a glass that holds no more than 8 ounces. He also saidthat almost any time a drink recipe calls for fresh lemon or limejuice, shake it to bring out the juice's effervescence. Another tipfrom the master: In drinks that have both sweet and sour ingre-dients (like the lime and simple syrup in the mojito), always usea tad more of the sweet than the sour.

Dale DeGroff's Mojito

2 sprigs mint (use tender, young leaves)1 ounce simple syrup (see note)3/4 ounce fresh lime juice1 1/2 ounces light rum2 dashes Angostura Bitters2 to 3 ounces club soda

Muddle 1 mint sprig with the simple syrup and the lime juice inthe bottom of a large mixing glass. (To muddle, press the mintlightly with a muddler or wood spoon to release flavor.) Add therum and bitters and shake with ice. Strain over cracked ice in an8-ounce glass, top with soda and garnish with mint. Makes 1mojito.

Note: Because sugar can make a drink grainy, simple syrupoften is used instead in cocktails. DeGroff's method of makingsimple syrup is to fill a corked bottle with equal parts water andsugar. Shake vigorously for about 1 minute until the sugar dis-solves. The mixture will be cloudy. Let sit for 5 minutes for themixture to become clear, then shake again before using. Storecovered in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Mojito recipes abound. Most list light rum, but the one used atRiccardo's Seafood House in East Hampton calls for dark, orgolden, rum. "It's almost like a lemonade," Chilean-born chefRiccardo Traslavina said of the mojito. "You use a lot of mint,so you get a summery drink." That hasn't stopped his customersfrom drinking it year-round, however.

Riccardo's Seafood House Mojito10 fresh mint leavesSplash fresh lime juice1 teaspoon sugarIce2 1/2 ounces golden rumClub soda

Muddle mint leaves with a splash of fresh lime juice and sugarin a highball glass. Pack glass with ice and add rum. Stir welland top with a splash of club soda and garnish with mint sprig.Makes 1 drink.

Nothing Is Hotter This SummerThan the Latin Mojito

Dale’s drinks were featured in cocktail spreads in 8 issues of Hamptons Magazine,May through August 2001

Men’sJournalMen’sJournalAdventure, Sports, Culture, Ideas • January 2001

PROFESSIONAL OPINIONPROFESSIONAL OPINION

How’s About a Little Drink?

FHM MagazineFeb., 2000

A Barkeep who Practices the Art of the Potableby Alan Feuer

Some say a first-rate bartenderneeds only three things: ahealthy pitching arm, a strong

pair of legs and a stomach sturdyenough to absorb the effluvial tideof human misery that surges towardhim each night from the other sideof the oak.

''I am inclined to reserve all judg-ments,'' Nick Carraway observed in''The Great Gatsby,'' ''a habit that hasopened up many curious natures tome and also made me the victim ofnot a few veteran bores.'' Though F.Scott Fitzgerald was describing theplight of a poor man in a rich man'sworld, the point could certainly applyto the lot of the tavern master. And ifbartenders have yet to discover theirgreat writer, they may have foundtheir lore keeper in Dale DeGroff.

Mr. DeGroff is a debonairly raff-ish man who made his bartendingbones at the Rainbow Room, wherehe spent more than a decade as thechief mixologist. These days, youcan find him sporting around town atbars like Grace in TriBeCa or holdingseminars on everything from mintjuleps to sloe gin fizz.

A dapper gent with a grayingmane, Mr. DeGroff proudly wears hisBartenders Hall of Fame ring (classof 1992) and has a penchant for biting

off the ends of his thoughts with aroguish, squint-eyed smile. In the jar-gon of his business, he is three partsStork Club, two parts Las Vegas andone part scholar of the trade.

''The bartender is an Americanphenomenon just like jazz or base-ball,'' he mused the other day atPhoebe's, a bar on the Bowery,while romancing a BombaySapphire martini made to hisNASA-quality specifications: up,dry, with an olive and a twist, andbacked by a tumbler of water.

''It used to be that people whoserved alcohol were innkeepers,'' Mr.DeGroff said. ''The man looked afterthe house and the horses and his wifewas in charge of the bar. But real bar-tenders emerged from that classicBritish mold around 1830 in thiscountry. That's when they firstbecame professionalized.''

It was in 1862, he said, that thefirst saloonkeepers' guide appeared

in America under the title of ''How toMix Drinks, or a Bon Vivant'sCompanion.'' It was written by JerryThomas, paterfamilias of bartenders.Mr. DeGroff, a devoted student,owns a crackle-paged first edition.

During the next 60 years, untilProhibition, an explosion of newingredients like dry vermouth reachedthis country. Men were called intoservice to prepare martinis,Manhattans, sours and Rusty Nails.The bartender was no mere tap jock-ey but a beverage chef, concoctingdecorative and cultivated cocktails.

Mr. DeGroff is a throwback tothose artisanal days. He considers theliquor well his palette, the bar hiscanvas. During his own stint man-ning the wood, he played a gamewith his favorite customers, offeringto make them cocktails with thebooze they hated most. If it wasn'tdelicious it was free. He rarely lost,he says.

''Bartending is a profession basedon flavor and recipe,'' he offered, as aray of sunset slanted through the win-dow and brightened the last drops ofhis martini. ''It's like an art. You haveto ground yourself in anatomy beforeyou can go off painting crazy things.''

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Bartenders have found theirlore keeper in DaleDeGroff; he is three partsStork Club, two parts LasVegas and one part schol-ar...

JUNE 25, 2000

BENDING ELBOWS

In over 20 years as bartender at legendary New Yorkrestaurants like the Rainbow Rom and Windows on theWorld, Dale DeGroff has helped to resurrect the classic

cocktail, elevating it to a lofty status usually reserved forfine wines and earning himself the nickname, “King ofCocktails.” When he’s not behind the bar, DeGroff acts as abeverage consultant, judges competitions and trains bar-tenders around the world. Foodie recently sat down with themaster mixologist, who is writing a book on American cock-tails and can be found stirring it up on his website,Kingcocktail.com.

What is the first drink you ever created?The Ritz Cocktail, based on a champagne drink served in theRitz Hotels throughout Europe. I was bartending at Aurora, avery high-end restaurant on 49th Street, and wanted to createthe Ritz of New York. I chilled Cointreau with lemon juice, adash of Maraschino Liqueur and cognac , poured the mixtureinto a martini glass and finished it with champagne and aflaming orange peel, which later became a signature of mine.It was written up in Playboy Magazine.

Is the old-school barman a dying breed? Not at all. For the first time, young people in the hospitalityindustry are actually choosing the bar as a profession.Bartenders are no different than chefs in that they have toknow the classic recipes and understand their tools andingredients, and how to use them. What’s been workingagainst that all these years are the bartending schools which

use colored water because they don't have liquor licenses.how can you learn to mix drinks if you can't taste them?What makes a great cocktail?When you can't identify the individual drink components. Youhave notes of sweet, sour and dry, and they're all in harmony asif you're creating a new flavor. Take 3 or 4 ingredients, amalga-mate them and they disappear into one another to create a newand wonderful taste- to me that's the perfect cocktail.

Do you have secret ingredients?No, but I utilize a wider palette of ingredients than a lotofbartenders: freshly pureed fruits, ice made from the purestwater, evbery brand of bitters, fruit syrups, premium herballiquors. I also started using things years ago that are nowcoming back, like pomegranate molasses and rosewater.

If you could toss back a few with anyone in history?Mark Twain would come closest to the perfect drinking com-panion that I can imagine. Not just for his stories and wit,but because he would sit there with you-he was a regularkind of guy.

And his poison?Bourbon.

Upcoming trends?Revisiting the classic recipes, group drinks, sophisticatedlooking garnishes, a return to some kitschiness with tropicaldrinks. A general expanding of the repertoire with new andclassic thrown together in the same mix.

Foodie Magazine, April, 2000

(reduced- double page spread)

FORTUNEJULY 31, 2000

Excerpted from Wine & Spirits, Oct. 2000

Barmen Sign Up to Cognac RevivalWine spirits may be the easiest base to work with, but a new generation of mixologists are reveling in the greater challenges offered by Cognac.

By Simon Meads

A lot of people are put off from drinking Cognac-based cocktails because they think theywon't like the drink", says Nick Strangeway, bar manager of London's Che, the award win-ning cocktail and cigar bar. "We do sell a lot of Cognac like that but I always try and encour-age customers to try cocktails instead", says Strageway.

Getting them to try Cognac cocktails sometimes requires a new approach. That is what DaleDeGroff had to do when Courvoisier commissioned him to make a 'millennium cocktail' fortheir millennium bottling. "I didn't have high hopes for the commission," he admits, "but itturned out to be the most popular drink on my menu for a year and a half- as well as appear-ing on several other menus around the country. It had a wide appeal beyond the rather limit-ed Cognac drinking crowd- just what Courvoisier was hoping for."

Dale DeGroff's

MILLENNIUM COCKTAIL

1 1/2 oz. Courvoisier Millennium Cognac1 1/2 oz. Pineapple Juice1 oz. Orange Curacao1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a twist of orange and dust with nutmeg.

Cranes, July 5, 1999

August 1999, Paper Magazine

SWIZZLER: The mixologist DaleDeGroff has a broad smile, silverstreaks in his hair, and fingers beyondcompare when it comes to squeezinglemons, pouring jiggers, and stirring uptantalizing cocktails. For the pasteleven years, DeGroff ran the bar at theRainbow Room, where the drinks, sur-prisingly, topped the stunning views.He owns more than 800 books aboutcocktails, and he never tires of runningdown old recipes or insisting on freshjuices, accurate measure-ments, andproper ice cubes.

“There’s only one type of ice I’ll toler-ate,” he says, holding up a 1 and 1/2-inch sqaure. “That’s a big cube madeonly by a Kold Draft machine.”

DeGroff is now offering more thansixty mixed drinks from behind theundulating granite bar at Blackbird, anew restaurant at 60 E.49th St. (692-9292). You might consider one of hisoriginal creations, such as The Ritz– avelvety combination of champagne,cognac, Cointreau, maraschino liqueur,and fresh lemon juice. you don’t knowwhat you’ve been missing.

The New Yorker, April 1999

THE

NEW YORKER

At mostrestaurants, din-ers ask for thewine list. At twomonth old Black-bird, they wantthe cocktail list.Dale DeGroff,whose cheflikeapproach tococktails turned

the Rainbow Room's Promenade bar into holy ground forthe martini set, has picked up where he left off, this timeshaking his shaker behind Blackbird's large, marble-topped horse shoe bar..

Cut off from the main dining room by a partition, the baris its own world, with a big lounge where the muted decostrikes a Jazz Age note with 1930's overtones. Whether itcan attract a crowd to a dead block remains to be seen.

The show is the same. Mr. DeGroff, who holds courtduring the week at lunch and Tuesdays through Saturdaysin the evenings, likes to throw a lot of English into mixinga drink. And he still insists that fruit be squeezed fresh forevery drink. This time around, though, Mr. DeGroff has

created a millennium-minded cocktail menu that drawsinspiration from the turn of the century, when Americansliked their drinks fancy and fruity.

A prime example is the Champagne Cobbler, a drinkthat probably hasn’t been pushed across a New York bar ina hundred years. After mashing hunks of pineapple, orangeand lemon ina shaker, Mr. DeGroff adds some maraschinoliqueur and a glassful of Champagne, then strains the mix-ture into a chilled flute. In the Blackbird julep, a mixtureof blackberry liqueur and lemon juice is poured overcrushed ice and garnished with black raspberries, red rasp-berries, blueberries and strawberries marinated inCointreau and brandy.

The basic list of 14 cocktails (as opposed to the extend-ed list, with 70) includes cocktails that are more modern,like the Valencia. Once the house drink at the Bel AirHotel, the Valencia strikes a suave pose by adding a dashof dry sherry and orange peel to icy-cold gin. Then there’;sthe White Bat: that’s white rum, Kahlua, milk and CocaCola. It’s brand new. It’s young. It’s shameless. And darnit, it tastes good.

Blackbird, 60 East 49th Street, (212) 692-9292.

DINER’S JOURNALWilliam Grimes

JUNE 4, 1999

December 1999

PENTHOUSE

Time Out New York, April 8, 1999

Time Out New York, April 20, 1997

Bar Back This week, the city’s premiermixologist, former Rainbow RoomBartender Dale DeGroff, gets reacquaintedwith his shaker at Blackbird. DeGroff will betempting powerlunchers with oyster shotsand bloody bulls, while chef michael Smith,formerly of 27 Standard, turns out the kindof dishes that can also render your after-noons useless: meltingly tender shoulder oflamb and meaty penko-crusted crab cakes.Try the Blackberry Julep- a blackberry-liqueur refresher, topped withbrandy-soaked berries. Blackbird, 60 East 49th Street, 692-9292.

HIRE AN EXPERIENCED STAFF (NOTJUST YOUR FRIENDS)

Dale DeGroff, noted mixer at theRainbow room, sees the new cocktail-centric bars as “virgin territory.” Propercocktails have not been the norm inAmerica for more than 30 years, so barsmust teach a new generation how tohandle the basics and wean them offpremade mixes. In addition to the obvi-ous problem of bartenders’ giving awaytoo much booze, DeGroff says, the barspour thousands of dollars down thedrain every year due to mishandling ofthe shaker. “All these young guys don’thave a clue,” he says. DeGroff spreadshis gospel at bartender boot camp. Hebrought the staff of Pravda up to martinispeed 0 and he’ll do the same atClemen65tine. Those Interested in get-ting a quick lesson on bard considera-tions can also find DeGroff at NYU’sfood studies program, where he teachesan occasional course called theBusiness of the Bar.

October 1999

The Party PlannerDale DeGroff manned the bar at NewYork’s Rainbow Room for 14 years,becoming known as America’s premierdrink maker. An avid collector of vintagerecipe books, DeGroff’s purist approachto bartending has made him a restau-rant celebrity, a familiar face in maga-zines, newspapers and on television.he now plies his trade at the recentlyopened Blackbird in midtownManhattan, while simultaneously doinga brisk business as a lecturer and con-sultant. Check out his website atwww.kingcocktail.com

New York Post July 1999

Restaurants & Institutions • August 1998

Hot ShotsBy Margaret Sheridan

The role of bartender defies time. To appease cus-tomers with a sympathetic ear or a perfectly blendedcocktail is as vital today as it was a century ago. A cus-tomer’s request for something “new” is the spark thatfuels the creation of signature cocktails. For bartenders,it's an opportunity to express their personality andextend the bar’s reputation. Some cocktails come andgo; others become legends. The daiquiri first refreshedin 1898 when a Cuban bartender paired rum with sugarand fresh lime juice, serving the potent cooler to engi-neers who were developing the Daiquiri iron mines inSantiago, Cuba. Mention the sidecar and bar buffsevoke the name of Hemingway. Lore has it that thewriter arrived at the Ritz Hotel in Paris and ordered acognac-based cocktail from the sidecar of a motorcy-cle. Bartenders today continue the tradition of liquidartistry. Dale DeGroff recalls that a regular at theRainbow Promenade Bar inspired the Fitzgerald. “Thecustomer wanted something light, summery, with ginbut no tonic,” recalls DeGroff, head bartender and bev-erage manager at the New York establishment.“Another regular, noting a drink on the menu named forErnest Hemingway, insisted it be named after F. Scott”

New York Magazine • June 29, 1998

VitalFluidsBy Rob Patronite

When the sidewalks start to steam,hydrating becomes something of a sea-sonal imperative...

Despite our recent retro-cocktail obsession, it isn’tthat easy to find a first-rate drink in this town.That may be why New Yorkers who care aboutsuch things have long taken their place along bus-loads of German and Japanese tourists, at theRainbow Room’s Promenade Bar, where barkeepextraordinaire Dale DeGroff reigns over his spir-its kingdom.

DeGroff’s latest concoction, The Belmont Breeze, created for this month’s Belmont Stakes, is NewYork’s heat-blasting retort to Louisville’s mintjulep. A student of drinking history, DeGroff rein-terpreted a Colonial whiskey-punch recipe- “Oneof sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four ofweak”, with ingredients that would appeal to a latetwentieth century palate.

As a tribute to new York’s origins as a rye town(hence the Manhattan), he tempers rye whiskeywith a dash of sherry and - in deference to theCosmopolitan crowd- fresh citrus and cranberryjuices. The punch gets topped with soda so therefreshment lasts longer, which is what we wishwould happen to DeGroff’s tenure at Rainbow.drink up now: The Belmont Breeze and the rest ofDeGroff’s oeuvre may only be available until theend of the year, when Giuseppe Cipriani and histrendier retinue arrive to give the complex amakeover. Bellinis or no, he will find some verybig shakers to fill.

And EvenIce Cube

Size Counts By Amanda Hesser

Shaken or stirred? It’s a question that soundslike the ultimate in sophisti-cation. But thetruth is that James Bond, despite his smug

smile, knew only the half of it. Cocktail-makingtechnique, a highly evolved skill, is as important tobartenders as a drink’s recipe. And often it’s thetechnique- including the style of the shaker and thesize of the ice cubes- that distinguishes one greatmixologist from another.

The great challenge of cocktail making is to getthe liquids as cold as possible as quickly as possi-ble so the alcohol mixture doesn’t become toodiluted. Which is why bartenders also obsess overice cube size. Dale DeGroff, the head bartender atBlackbird insists on large one-inch cubes- they arebetter for drinks on ice, because they melt slower,keeping the drink intense for a longer period.

Shaking serves two purposes. First, by shakingliquid in ice, it splashes up against the ice and coldsides of the shaker, cooling it rapidly before the icehas time to melt and dilute the liquid. Stirring willalso chill down the liquid, but not as thoroughly orquickly. Shaking a drink also homogenizes, oremulsifies it. Like vigorous whisking, shaking liq-uid with ice and a little air emulsify, creating a cold,lightly frothy drink. The temperature and particlesof water refresh and the sir bubbles spread the fla-vor across your palate.

“You want spritz in a cocktail,” says DeGroff ashe made me a Hemingway Daiquiri. He pouredrum, lime ice, grapefruit juice, maraschino liqueur

and simple syrup into a shaker with those bigcubes, fitted a glass into the open end and gave it ashake so vigorous, his arm and the shaker weremerely a blur.

He strained it into a frosty chilled martini glass.As I drank it the bubbles in the liquid seemed to liftthe flavor out of each component; the froth was likecream.. “Harry Craddock of the Savoy once said“You shake them to wake them up, not to put themto sleep.,” Mr. Degroff said.

Drinks made of pure spirits are traditionallystirred. Shaking supposedly “bruises” the spirits byadding water and flattening their flavor. “Becauseof the vigorousness of shaking,” explained MarieMaher of Beacon Restaurant, a stirrer of Martinis,“ the air bubbles remove the nuances of the spirit.”

Mr. DeGroff is a traditionalist. He stirs. If youshake a martini, for instance, he said, “the firstthing that hits your tongue is a frothy, aerateddrink” He prefers that first thing to be cold, heavyand silky. DeGroff stirs his drinks about 50 times,but he uses large ice cubes. With smaller cubes, hewould stir less, perhaps 25 rotations so that thedrink doesn’t become diluted.

Today, new cocktails are created a often as theweather changes. Technologies come and go. Thereis often more flair than form. What is important isthat there are bartenders who continue to raise drinkmixing from a craft to an art. They are as muchphilosophers as they are drink makers with a curios-ity for the physics behind that craft.

July 21, 1999 Excerpted

Dale DeGroff shakes some drinksvigorously “to wake them up,” buta martini, he insists, should bestirred

We're drinking moonshine, the teacher and I, pureCarolina corn whiskey poured from a Mason jar into thedaintiest little glasses you've ever seen. The hooch is asmuggled offering, and Dale DeGroff, who tends the God'seye view bar at the Rainbow Room, high atop RockefellerCenter in New York, where the corn and the clientele areusually a little more refined, has this to say aboutit":"Woooooooweeee! 'He's telling me about what a goodbartender will know. People. Recipes. How to ignite anorange peel and turn a barful of strangers into a rapt, inter-acting audience. But he's really talking about somethingmore elusive- the ethic and enthusiasms of a great bar-tender, which, with slight adjustment for dress and posi-tion, are identical to the enthusiasms of a great drinker. Towit: a certain attitude toward life that might be summed upas Wooooooweeee!

DeGroff trains young bartenders at joints around NewYork (and only DeGroff can get away with calling theswanky Rainbow Room a joint). After he has covered theshaking and the stirring and his nearly religious respect forfresh juices, he tells the aspirants, "Whatever the hell youwant to be, while you're behind the bar, you might as wellknow everything there is to know about it." Not becauseit's necessary for a bartender to be conversant with the his-tory of the Golden Age of the American Cocktail (thoughDeGroff could give a lecture on the drinks conceivedbetween 1860 and 1919). And not because it's necessary tomemorize every drink recipe on record (though DeGroffcould stir up 400 from memory, including forty or so of hisown invention). You might as well know everything,DeGroff says, "because that's the way your life should beanyway."

Gentleman's Quarterly September 1998 (Excerpted)

I'll Take (a) ManhattanMEET THE MAN WHO CAN MAKE 400 COCKTAILS FROM MEM-

But something saved him from just being another bullshit-ting bartender with a lot of stories to tell. One night – andthis was after he’d been in the trade five years and workedgood jobs on two coasts– he was making a sidecar at theHotel Bel Air in Los Angeles. An older man, a regular,stopped him and said, “I bet you think you made that right,don’t you?” The regular, it turned out, was a bartender atanother hotel, the L’Ermitage, and he explained the impor-tance of Cointreau over Triple sec, what size glass to useand how to put sugar on the rim. It turned out that DeGroffdidn’t know a damned thing about the business of makinga proper drink. So as he does with almost everyone hemeets on either side of a bar, he befriended the older man.DeGroff has been learning things from old bartenders eversince, and his respect for the profession has little to do withself-aggrandizement. It has more to do going where thelearning is and paying tribute where it’s due. Then there arethe bartenders DeGroff knows only from books. He want-ed to know what drinks would have been served in the clas-sic bars of New York, places that would have been visiblefrom the perch of the Rainbow Room. So twelve years agohe started collecting bar books. Today he has 600 recipecompilations, monographs and memoirs in his collec-

tion.Knowing everything, though, takes time. Knowingeverything means the teacher is never finished learning.

Knowing everything means the teacher is never finished learning.

Which is why we’re swirling and sniffing Carolina light-ning in little pousse-cafe glasses and chasing them withRainbow sours, and why a little later we'll descend thesixty-five floors and head out into rainy Manhattan andcatch a crosstown bus to the ancient and unvanquishedClarke’s. Clarke’s will be full of friends, including GeorgeErml, a transplanted Czech who photographs New York’sdisappearing saloons. When an exhibition of Erml’s workopened in Prague, DeGroff flew over for the party andmade 1200 martinis and Manhattans in two hours. After around of hellos and whiskeys and a nod to Frank Conefery,the fallen brother whose picture hangs above the bar,DeGroff will order an Irish coffee. “It’s a thing of beauty,”DeGroff will say of the squat little drink in the punch mug.And then he'll say it again.

Jan-Feb 1997Back cover of

Cheers

OCTOBER 1999

PENTHOUSEONTHEROAD

Mixing’ It UpJust when you thought people were too busy worryingabout Y2K to celebrate the arrival of the next thousandyears, Courvosier has introduced the CourvosierMillennium Cocktail, a refreshing beverage with a tangybite. Bob Guccione, founder and publisher of Penthouse,recently toasted at his mansion, a 200-guest gathering inhonor of the innovative new concoction. Above L to R:Hermann Merrinoff, CEO Charmer Industries, BobGuccione, George McCarthy, pres. of Allied DomecqSpirits and Wine and renowned mixologist Dale DeGroff.

OpeningHe’s Over the Rainbow

When New York’s premier bartender, DaleDeGroff, left the perch at the Rainbow Room’slate, lamented Promenade Bar, cocktail con-noisseurs despaired. But he’s reappeared twoblocks east at the new Blackbird, a brand newrestaurant that celebrates classic Americanfood and Mixed Drinks- a stupefying 70 ofthem. Open for lunch, dinner service startsnext week. (60 East 49th Street, 692-9292)

Off The Menu

A New DawnBy Florence Fabricant

Dale DeGroff, who made his name shaking andstirring to order at the Promenade Bar at theRainbow Room, is moving over to a restaurantand lounge - with no name yet– at 60 East 49thStreet. The space was originally Aurora, createdin 1985 by the late Joseph Baum, and is beingrevived by some of his partners. They have hiredLarry Bogdanow for the redesign. “We thoughtof calling it Joe’s, said David Emil, one of thepartners, "but that name is taken.”

APRIL 1999

JANUARY 6, 1999

Sante MagazineCOVER

DECEMBER 2000People On The Move

Cocktails make me nervous. It isn'ttheir strength, or even their ten-dency to megafruitiness. No, mytrepidation springs from an experi-

ence I had one night in 1968-- I'd recentlymade the acquaintance of Richard Harrisat a splendid Irish saloon called "himself"run by Malachy McCourt around the cornerfrom Elaine’s. I recall little of the nightexcept that it ended with Harris and merolling in the sawdust of some othersaloon. Witnesses were unable to decidewhether we were embracing in manlyagape or trying to bite each other's earsoff. Perhaps both.

What I do remember is the hangover. I layundead, incapable of sleep or motion forabout twelve hours, and vowed neveragain to dirnk something with more thanone kind of alcohol in it. Since then, cock-tails and I have kept an arms length rela-tionship.

Pre-millennial New York, however, hasrevived cocktails with a vengeance. A con-scientious ethanol correspondent ought tobe on top of this; but I remained nervous.Best solution: Find the finest cocktailist inManhattan and challenge him or her toconvince me otherwise.

Dale DeGroff is widely regarded asManhattan's premier mixologist. He holdscourt at the gloriously named PromenadeBar in the Rainbow Room. I visited him afew weeks ago, taking with me three otherskeptics: master palate Anne Rosenzweig,chef-owner of Arcadia and the LobsterClub; Alex Hargrave of Hargrave Vineyardin Long Island, who not only makes theNorth Fork’s most elegant wines, but hatesspirits; and Candace Bushnell, who fre-quently studies the effects of ethanol onthe human libido for her New YorkObserver column, “Sex and the City”.

The DeGroff challenge was in three parts:Round One: Make a palatable cocktail fromthe challengers’ least favorite booze. RoundTwo: Ditto for each challengers’ secret fluidhankering. Round Three: Make anything wewanted, however outre or repellent.

Round One, Bushnell loathes cognac.DeGroff builds a base of Cointreau,cognac, lemon juice, and maraschino

liqueur, adding 4 ounces of champagne.He tops it off by flaming a piece of orangepeel over it, a brilliant trick which spraysslightly burnt orange oil across the surface.Bushnell is impressed. It is actually aDeGroff special called the Ritz of NewYork. Score one for the mixologist.

Hargrave hates gin the most.DeGroff mud-dles fresh mint, Angostura and Peychaud’sbitters, and lemon juice in a glass, thenadds a dash of sweet vermouth, orangejuice, and two ounces of Tanqueray andstirs. I love it but the vote is 3 to 1 against.Score one for the skeptics.

Dale DeGroff is widely regardedas Manhattan's premier mixolo-gist. I visited him a few weeksago, taking with me three otherskeptics: master palate AnneRosenzweig, chef-owner ofArcadia and the Lobster Club;Alex Hargrave of HargraveVineyard in Long Island... and Candace Bushnell, who frequently studies the effects ofethanol on the human libido forher New York Observer column,“Sex and the City”.

Rosenzweig can’t stand anise ("If you’rechewing a Good & Plenty at twenty feet, Ihave to leave the room“). DeGroff builds anineteenth-century baby called a Sazarac. Rosenzweig is delighted. Surprisingly,Hargrave agrees. Bushnell gags. To me, itseems at best something that might cure anupper-respiratory infection. DeGroff adds anounce of cognac, which the original 17th cen-tury recipe called for, and it’s transformed.Another hard fought- win for DeGroff.

My aversion is grappa. DeGroff is gen-uinely stumped but comes through withanother entirely new and sublime cocktail.The secret is passion-fruit puree bound tothe grappa with a dash of apricot liqueur.Bushnell names it the Sex and the CitySpecial. Round One goes to DeGroff, 3 to 1.

Round Two. Rosenzweig’s secret love–milk. Since the rest of us hate milk, this willbe named a Lactose Intolerance. DeGroffshakes a beachy beauty with orange,spiced rum, and pimento (Jamaican all-spice) liqueur. All admire it. DeGroff alsotransforms my secret shame, Gatorade, towhich he adds lime, strawberry liqueur,rum, grapefruit, and bitters. Amazingly, it’sdelicious. Another round to DeGroff. This isturning into a rout.

Round Three: My free-throw demand: adrink made from three British ingredientsThe drink is Bass ALe, Rose’s lime juice,and Harvey’s Bristol Cream, a mind-cur-dling combo that I find delicious, particular-ly the sherry. No one agrees. He namesthe three-British ingredient creation OldMother Hubbard. Dale loses this one.

The conversation returns to inebriation andhow you can tell when you’re drunk ForHargrave, it’s when you fall on your ear–For Bushnell, it’s when you’ve gotten to thepoint where you’re having sex on the bar.“This serves as a neat segue to the finaldemand of the afternoon. Rosenzweig’s an “Absolutely GuaranteedAphrodisiac“ with “no fruit.“

The “Absolutely Guaranteed Aphrodisiac“ isequal parts Grand Marnier and Cachaca, ahead-banging sugar-cane brandy fromBrazil. Bushnell now suggests either (a) taking her thirteen drinks home in a “doggiebottle“ or (b) pouring all 52 together anddrinking them. The proceedings draw to aclose. An unqualified victory for Manhattan’spremier mixologist.

By Tony Hendra

There are plenty of places out-of-towners can get a drink in Manhattan, but only a few where they get a smile along with it.

NewYork’s FriendliestBars and Bartenders

Andrew

Brusso

Dale DeGroff at the Rainbow Promenade BarFresh-squeezed juices, cocktails from yesteryear, Manhattan’s best view.

ForbesDecember 5, 1994