Redefining Rockel

You know I never discuss female thermodynamics - Lou; Rescue Me

Poll

Rockel Recipes

Untested Recipes (1)

All Recipes (6)

Peeps

Politics

News

Fake News

Stuff

The Film of the Week

The WORD of the Week

Matthew 3:7-10

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Stupid Fact of the Week

There was only one civilian casualty during the three-day Battle of Gettysburg

19 April, 2008

The Problem w/ American Shots

Not to get all "America sux," on you, but... well... America kinda sux.

When I was in Europe a few years back, a group of us ended up at a bar one night where we observed a rather kool-looking shot being enjoyed by a couple of people at the other end of the bar. We inquired as to what it was and were informed that it was a "Back draft" shot. We each did one. It was crazy.

Ever since, whenever I find myself at a new bar here in the states, I usually ask a bartender if they've ever heard of this shot, much less know how to make it. The reaction is almost always, "What? No. Never heard of it." It's a fun little game that I continue to play, not ever really expecting to find anything different, but curious none-the-less.

In order to be a bartender in America, all you really need to know how to do is pour a Jager shot and a half glass of Red Bull. I guess knowing how to make a long island iced tea is helpful, too, although even there there's some debate over the presence of orange juice.

Anyway, I met up with a couple friends last night at a little "saloon"-type place that I'd never been to before. It was an odd place to say the least. Very well kept, semi-uppity/trendy appearance, a good number of high def screens, and a very nice bar (the actual, physical bar). Here's where it starts getting odd: no beer on tap. None. This might not seem odd to you, dear reader, but it most certainly did to me.

So the choices, then, were mixed/well drinks or beer from a bottle/can. I ordered a gin and tonic (which somehow came back to me several minutes later as a vodka-tonic, but as I didn't feel like causing a stink and waiting another several minutes for a correction, I went with it). The guys I was with went with rum/coke-type drinks. After a couple minutes of conversing/checking out the place, I began to notice that there weren't a lot of people drinking beer (something that would've seemed obvious to most people upon noticing the lack of beers-on-tap, but I was in a bar... bar to me = beer...). Everyone had very elaborate mixed drinks and the bartenders worked with an amazing precision, given the feverish pace, to keep up with the drink orders, many of which required three or more liquors to be pulled from the shelves behind. With all the pouring/mixing going on, I thought that perhaps I might have more luck with my obscure-shot-inquiry game.

I asked one of the bartenders. Unfortunately, she responded in the usual fashion. I responded in my usual, "Oh well, no problem. Just curious." She replied then with, "But I could look it up for you." She walked off to the other end of the bar, leaving me to wonder why this had never happened before. I wasn't planning on ordering the shot, just as I never was when I asked. But what if I had been planning on it all those times I asked at other locations? There's no way a bartender can know every single drink known to man. If a patron came in looking to give you money to mix him/her an obscure drink, would you just say, "Sorry, no can do. Don't know how." Every bar must have a book, right? A cheat-sheet. Something. Why had no one looked before? Maybe they saw through my game.

At any rate, this bartender returned several minutes later to inform me she had found a shot named "Back draft" in her large mixed-drinks-for-dummies/Bartenders Encyclopedia/what-have-you. I get a bit excited. Had my quest finally reached it's end? She recited the recipe she had just read in her large book: "Cuervo Gold, Grand Marnier, and some Tabasco sauce. You wait for the Tabasco sauce to sink to the bottom," she said, "and then you shoot it."

This was not the shot from across the pond and this brings me to the problem with American shots.

A shot is a drink you taste for about a second. The effects of the shot may last beyond, and the taste may even linger a little bit longer (usually only if undesirable), but it's about a 1 second experience. In America, all the shots seem to be about enhancing the taste. Fruity... Sour... Sweet... Anything to make that one second a bit better. In Europe, in my experience, a shot is an experience in and of itself. The taste doesn't really matter. It's alcohol. It's getting inside of you. That is why, instead of improving the taste, they come up with interesting rituals/games to make the shot more of an experience than just drinking something small very quickly. Granted, America does rip off some of there more conservative rituals/games, such as dropping (bombing) a shot of something into a pint glass of something else and chugging it.

There is a vodka in Germany called Feigling. "Feigling" in German means "Coward." It is called this because it is only 40-proof. Feigling comes in clear, mini bottles (shooters) with a purple screw-on cap. The way to take a shot of Feigling is not from a shot glass but from the mini bottle. You roll up two pieces of paper (full sheets - 8.5 x 11) and stick them in your ears, then unscrew the purple cap to the bottle and shove it onto your nose so it sticks, then lean forward and bite the open bottle of Feigling. You light the ends of the paper (in your ears) on fire with two lighters, one in each hand, and then take the shot by tipping your head back. Why? Who knows? It's more fun than just doing a straight shot of 40-proof vodka.

So this brings us to the back draft. In America, a back draft is a shot where the ritual is waiting for Tabasco sauce to make its way to the bottom of the shot glass. Really exciting. In Europe, a back draft is a shot that can be mixed any number of ways, but always involves something flammable such as Grand Marnier or a high-proof rum. It is mixed in a brandy snifter (or similar) and lit on fire. After burning for a few seconds, you put your hand over the glass, completely cutting off any oxygen from getting into the glass. The fire extinguishes and smoke starts building up in the glass. You take a small straw and slip it between your fingers and drink the shot via the straw. Once the liquid is completely gone, you immediately remove your hand from the top of the glass, put it up to your face, and inhale the smoke.

Crazy, crazy shot. But really, if you were going to do a shot, which would you choose? The crazy one that involves fire, smoke, and several steps? Or the one where you have to sit around and wait for Tabasco sauce to drop?

posted by Rockel @ 1:51 PM

1 Comments:

At 21/4/08 3:18 AM, Doyle said…

Welcome back to the world of blogging. Hope all goes well out there on the West Coast. Write about some interesting stuff so I can be interested. Not that what you've already written isn't interesting, but ya' know.