{"id":16928,"date":"2019-10-30T17:05:54","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T21:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=16928"},"modified":"2020-05-01T11:05:52","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T15:05:52","slug":"intro-to-mixology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/intro-to-mixology\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Mixology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; width: 100%; height: 450px;\" src=\"\/\/e.issuu.com\/embed.html?backgroundColor=%23d2d2d2&amp;backgroundColorFullscreen=%23d2d2d2&amp;d=nov19_flipbook_final&amp;hideIssuuLogo=true&amp;pageNumber=30&amp;u=portlandmagazine\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">How do <b><i>you<\/i><\/b> pour Maine in a glass? <\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">November 2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>By Sofia Voltin<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-16950\" src=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/nov19-After-Dark-web-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"nov19 After Dark web\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/nov19-After-Dark-web-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/nov19-After-Dark-web-200x280.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/nov19-After-Dark-web-250x350.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/nov19-After-Dark-web.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/>N<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s1\"><strong>ikaline Iocono<\/strong>, owner of <strong>Vessel &amp; Vine<\/strong>, has just launched her 2019 mixology university this year\u2014to rave reviews. The kickoff class was \u201cWild-Crafted Cocktails,\u201d where lucky students learned to make infusions, syrups, and tinctures with stimulating ingredients foraged from the Maine woods.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">She leans over her vintage-style bar. A dark curl falls over her forehead. \u201cThere are two schools of thought. One is that cocktails should deliver mystique.\u201d A quick smile. \u201cI\u2019m from the other school. Cocktails should never intimidate. It\u2019s ok to experiment and play with them on your own. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">\u201cMixing cocktails is all about a few simple basic principles. Once you understand them, you earn the freedom to riff on classic cocktails and make something new. This is what people look to me for\u2014a unique twist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Many of her students develop a signature style here. Vessel &amp; Vine is half bar, half retail store. Her shop is stocked with elegant cordial glasses, vintage silver-plated corkscrews, copper-plated shaking tins, a cork and wood-grain ice bucket, a brass swan, etched floral coupes, wine, craft beer, ros\u00e9 in a can, and essential ingredients. As in 30 to 40 types of amaro and vermouth. \u201cYou might taste something you love in these classes, and then you can buy it in the retail side of the store.\u201d With newly gained knowledge and exotic ingredients, \u201cpeople get really excited to go home and play.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThe most frequent question I get is when to shake or stir, and for how long. Stir when it\u2019s a spirits-only concoction, like a martini, manhattan or negroni. Shake when you\u2019re adding juices or syrups, such as daiquiris and margaritas. As for how long\u2014the goal is the appropriate level of dilution while thoroughly chilling the drink. As a guide, three ounces of spirits should dilute to four ounces.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Students leave inspired and energized, but the classes offer further rewards, too. \u201cThey\u2019re empowering\u2014it sounds cheesy. The sweetest thing happens sometimes\u2014people will create a new drink in class, write down the recipe, and then slip into the bar and ask me to make it for them. Moments like these capture what my classes are all about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201c<strong>Always<\/strong> refrigerate your vermouth and wine-based ingredients like amari. Seventy-five percent of people who come in don\u2019t realize that. It\u2019s super important because they\u2019re very perishable. They have a longer shelf-life than table wine, but it\u2019s just 1 to 4 weeks.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u2014<strong>Nikaline Iocono<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Vessel &amp; Vine<\/strong>, 4 Pleasant Street, Brunswick. <strong>Cocktail Concoction Classes: $45.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>History 101<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">M<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s1\"><strong>at Garofalo<\/strong> is the manager and mastermind behind the classes at <strong>50 Local<\/strong><b>.<\/b> \u201cWe host these classes only in the off-season. I try to do one per month, and we\u2019ve been offering them for a year and a half.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Each of Garofalo\u2019s classes has a specific theme. On <strong>November 24<\/strong>, it\u2019s Prohibition. \u201cI\u2019m reading a couple of books\u2014<em>Imbibe!<\/em> by David Wondrich and <em>Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition<\/em> by Daniel Okrent. I\u2019m going to spice up a history lesson with drinking and making cocktails that were around before, during, and survived after Prohibition. It will be much more hands-on, and less scientific, than the spirit-based classes because this will be solely about cocktails. Participants will make two different drinks while we talk cocktail backstories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Garofalo\u2019a first outing this fall was \u201cWorld of Whisk(e)y.\u201d \u201cThe first hour was tasting different whiskeys\u2014Scotch and Irish, bourbon and rye. In the second, everyone chose a cocktail to make showcasing whiskey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Mark Quinn of Kennebunk and Bedford, Massachusetts, warmed to this class with his wife, Debbie. \u201cLearning about the diversity of bourbons, ryes, and other whiskeys from the perspective of the grains and mash used, how they\u2019re distilled and aged, was the highlight of the night,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t get too wild here, but everyone has a good time,\u201d Garofalo says. \u201cPeople always end up enjoying the drinks, learning about the spirits. No one has ended up dancing on the bar\u2014yet.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>50 Local<\/strong><b>,<\/b> 50 Main Street, Kennebunk. <strong>Cocktail Classes: $55.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Temperance Studies<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe started out as a mocktail bar in July 2013, and we\u2019ve been offering classes for about three years,\u201d says <strong>Mary Jo Marquis<\/strong> of <strong>Vena\u2019s Fizz House<\/strong>. \u201cWinter is a great time for these classes, as people are looking for something fun to get out and do. We enjoy introducing new ideas and taking the intimidation out of making things yourself. We also like to talk about the history of the drinks\u2014especially Portland history. After all, Portland is basically the home of the Prohibition movement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Vena\u2019s Fizz House is named after co-owner <strong>Johanna Johnson Corman<\/strong>\u2019s great-grandmother Irvina Johnson, or \u201cVena\u201d for short. \u201cShe was president of the Maine Women\u2019s Christian Temperance Union, so she was anti-alcohol and attached at the hip to Neal Dow,\u201d Marquis says. \u201cTwo years after Vena\u2019s opened, we added liquor to our menu. [The real] Vena would probably be spinning in her grave to know her great-granddaughter is serving alcohol. But cocktails and mocktails are still created equal here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">What\u2019s the top recurring question in the classes? \u201cWhat is bitters, and what does it do for a drink,\u201d says <strong>Steve Corman<\/strong>, self-proclaimed Bitterest Man in the World.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cPeople use herbs and spices to enhance and flavor food\u2014we use bitters in the same way. And a lot of people don\u2019t know there are health benefits to bitters, too\u2014come to a workshop, and you\u2019ll learn more than you ever thought possible about bitters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cMixology is an art form,\u201d Marquis says. \u201cYou\u2019ve learned a craft. Once you catch the bug it\u2019s hard to stop.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Vena\u2019s Fizz House<\/strong>, 345 Fore Street, Portland. <strong>Mixology 101: $75; Let\u2019s Make Mocktails!: $45; Fizzology 101:<\/strong> (Kids 8\u201312 years old) <strong>$20<\/strong><b>.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Restaurants prep for a new season of cocktail classes.<br \/>\nBy Sofia Voltin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[314,8],"tags":[560,558,565,564,561,563,559,555,556,566,562,557],"class_list":["post-16928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-after-dark","category-featured","tag-50-local","tag-brunswick","tag-irvina-johnson","tag-johanna-johnson-corman","tag-kennebunk","tag-mary-jo-marquis","tag-mat-garofalo","tag-mixology","tag-nikaline-iocono","tag-steve-corman","tag-venas-fizz-house","tag-vessel-and-vine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16928"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18564,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16928\/revisions\/18564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}