Five Questions for Misty Kalkofen
We are pleased to inaugerate a new column in Classic Mixology where we ask top Mixologists about their work, and we are especially pleased and honored to begin the series with Misty Kalkofen. Misty is both at the top of her field and an old friend of Classic Mixology. She began her bartending career to finance a degree at Harvard Divinity School. Having mastered sacred texts, she began mastery of the sacred liquids as well. She founded the Boston chapter of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails, which celebrates the art of classic cocktails and raises money for women's charities. Having designed cocktails for the B-Side Lounge, Green Street Grill, Kalkofen now mixes at chef Barbara Lynch's bar, Drink which is often considered one of the top bars in the country.
1. How's it going??
All is great! I'm insanely busy these days, but I'm involved in a lot of cool stuff so I'm thrilled. Although I think I will be needing to plan a vacation sometime in the next few months. A trip on a plane with no bar gear whatsoever!
2. What're three things you're currently working on?
How do I narrow it to three?!?!
Of course there is Drink! I love my job there. It's such a great mix of hospitality and continuing education. both my coworkers and my guests constantly challenge me to be better within my field. I totally miss it when I'm away!
I guess the biggest project right now is my part in the Cocktail Collective at The Royalton on 44th St between 5th and 6th in Manhattan. The Collective is me, Willy Shine of Contemporary Cocktails, John Lermayer of the Florida Room in Miami, Eric Alperin of the Varnish in LA, Richie Boccato of Dutch Kills in Long Island City, and Simon Ford of Pernod-Ricard USA. Howard Wein, the director of food and beverage of the Morgans Hotel Group brought us on as they were renovating the lobby bar of the Royalton. Our goal is to bring back the golden age of the hotel cocktail bar. We've implemented a new cocktail program, a great ice program and table-side punch service!
For the past couple of years I've been working with a bar education program called BarSmarts. I just found out that the program will be returning to Boston this spring so I'll be working on getting the word out so folks can sign up and get the materials. It's a great program that involves self instruction through a manual and videos. After passing a series of online quizzes based upon the manual and videos an applicant is invited to BarSmarts Live, a one day session with the Beverage Alcohol Resource partners: Steve Olson, Andy Seymour, David Wondrich, Paul Pacult, Doug Frost and Dale DeGroff. It's a great program and I'm really excited to be a part of it.
Agave agave agave. Through the Beverage Alcohol Resource program I've started studying agave from an academic and spiritual perspective by looking at the role that agave has played and continues to play in ritual in Mexico and beyond. I've taken 2 trips to Mexico in the past 9 months and will be heading down again in a week for dia de los muertos.
3. Tell us something about ice.
It's the most important ingredient in a cocktail. Ideally the ice one uses in a cocktail will be dense (i.e. no air trapped within), free of mineral and impurities, and added to the cocktail deliciously frozen. If all these elements are controlled it is much easier to create a cocktail that is appropriately waterized (ideally 3 parts mixture of spirits and modifiers to one part water) or, if you are serving your cocktail on a piece of ice, your cocktail will maintain it's flavor integrity throughout your full enjoyment and not become watered down. Thankfully within the cocktail community we have seen an ice revolution and it's much easier to find "good" ice at cocktail bars.
4. Comment on this recipe [Oxford Punch, 1862]
Well, if you consider the capillaire (a syrup traditionally made with ferns) to be the spice ingredient this is a very classic punch. The word punch derives from the Hindi word for five, panch. A traditional punch would have five ingredients: spirits, citrus, water, spice (frequently tea) and sugar. It even starts with the preparation of the oleo sacrum, the peeling of the citrus and rubbing it with sugar to extract the oils. I'm not going to say too much more because as of November 1st we will all be able to go to our local bookseller and purchase David Wondrich's latest treatise, Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl.
5. What is your take on the current state of the cocktail nation?
It's an awesome time to be a cocktail bartender. Ingredients that haven't been available to us in the states since prohibition have been reintroduced in the last few years. Scholars (such as David Wondrich) have uncovered amazingly useful and informative facts about our predecessors and the cocktails they were creating. The sense of community among bartenders is strong so the exchange of information is constant so we are all growing in our craft at an excelerated rate. My only concern is that the importance of hospitality may be lost as we start placing the spotlight on what is happening behind the bar as opposed to what's happening in front of it. I hope we can all be proud of our craft regarding the cocktails and our work ethic but at the same time remember that making drinks is only a small part of our role behind the stick. There is no greater joy for a true bartender than truly tending the bar, i.e. helping a gentleman find a place to put his coat, introducing the new solo guest to a regular, being available for every need of a guest without being overbearing, reading when a guest wants a bartender's company and when they just want to be left alone, etc etc etc. That, in my opinion should be the ultimate goal of any bartender.
