A Deep Dive Into The Precepts From Beta Cocktails

Week 1

I have selected Beta Cocktails for my next deep dive into rules, general principles, or, in this case, Precepts. The book was published in 2009 originally as Rogue Cocktails and then again in 2011 as Beta Cocktails.

The book contains some drinks you have undoubtedly heard of, or at least you've heard whispers of, like the Gunshop Fizz, the Angostura Sour, and the Art of Choke. All modern classics in their own right, even if that right is purely shock value due to the measurements, ingredients, and techniques used.

I have always seen Beta Cocktails as precisely what a cocktail list shouldn't be, but that isn't to say the drinks within aren't good or great even. To sit down and have this book handed to you as a menu would be overwhelming, and we have all sat at that kind of bar. A good cocktail list should have one or two drinks that challenge the adventurous drinker, and this book is a perfect compendium of those types of drinks.

I won't focus on Beta Cocktails' cocktails so much, but I will be concentrating on the time capsule found right in the middle of the book titled Precepts. Some of them are outdated in that they speak to a specific time and a particular type of bartender. Other Precepts will make you think; some may even make you upset!

The fourteen Precepts are listed, I assume, in a specific order, but I will be examining them in groups of one or two that I think to apply to each other. This condensing will make them easier to digest, I believe, and cut down on emails in your inbox!

The other thing is that this book wasn't intended for the home bartender, so some of the Precepts may not apply to you specifically. In fact, Precept 5 (P. 5) clearly states that "Bartenders work behind bars." Nevertheless, I will do my best to explain things from both sides as, according to P. 5, I am no longer a bartender and haven't been for quite some time.

Beta Cocktails isn't a cocktail book for novices. It wasn't written for amateurs way back in 2009; it was intended for working bartenders looking to push the envelope. Today it still holds its rightful place as one of the most challenging cocktail books printed in terms of the flavor profile that lingers throughout the cocktails. 

If you would like a copy of this hard-to-find book, you can grab one here. You will also need a bottle of Nardini, Cherry Heering, Yellow and Green Chartreuse, a few different kinds of sherry, a whole bottle of Peychaud's Bitters, and a few other things.

Let's begin this where any sane person would, right in the middle with P. 7:

P. 7: 
Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.  

This should have been the first Precept listed because Beta Cocktails is full of drinks that don't fully translate into what the thing will taste or smell like once mixed up by glancing at the ingredients. Going further, it is an excellent rule to live by in one's daily life. It certainly is something I should keep in the forefront of my mind during my comings and goings. 

In the world of food and beverages, there are so many things to try. Yes, that first taste of Campari is usually not idyllic, but it doesn't take most people long until they are sipping a Negroni while cooking dinner. If I never walked into a bar (probably around 2009, actually) and asked for that same cocktail, my passion, and knowledge of food, beverage, and hospitality would be stunted or nonexistent altogether. 

I will say that my first Campari experience wasn't flawless in that the bartender I asked to make me a Negroni worked at a bar in rural Lubbock, Texas. It was the only bar I had found that had a bottle of the red stuff on their shelf. He had no idea what a Negroni was, and his response to my order was, "you want what?" All I knew were the three ingredients. He had to ask his manager, who didn't know of the drink either, and nobody had reliable internet in their back pockets at the time, so I got exactly what I asked for—gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth poured over ice...in a pint glass. Not to be seen as a rube, I drank the whole thing while keeping a straight face and the rest is history. Sidenote: My wife's first Negroni, and a story she likes to retell often, was in a piazza in Florence. 

Later in this series, we will get to some bartender-specific Precepts but bartending or waiting tables, in general, is something people shouldn't knock until they've tried. It changed my life for the better, and I think that is the true crux behind the phrase. Whether or not you like the outcome of trying something, you now have a valid opinion!

In my life, I formed opinions on things like marriage, dogs, zucchini, absinthe, cottage cheese, Wisconsin, and front pocket wallets without actually trying them out. It turns out being married is great, dogs are full of love (and teeth), zucchini is delicious, absinthe is fantastic, cottage cheese still sucks, I dig Milwaukee, and I actually prefer keeping my wallet in my front pocket. 

Being a baseball fan, I have often had to convince friends to try it out because they have already assumed it's a boring slow game without ever going to the ballpark. Those conversations usually go like this: 

"Do you like sitting outside and drinking cold beer?"

"Well...yeah?"

"Mhmm, you're going to love Baseball. Tickets are on me, if you get the first round of suds."

I understand where they are coming from, though, because I was that person too! I didn't grow up liking Baseball. As a kid, I was not too fond of watching the Rangers play in August with an average temperature in the mid-nineties at the Ball Park in Arlington, which looks like it took its design from a Weber charcoal chimney in both aesthetic and function. Hopefully, they have better luck with the new Globe Life Field, but honestly, it doesn't look great, and real Baseball is played on grass, not turf and a roof? Come on, what is this? Note: I only have this opinion because I have tried indoor Baseball. Boo!

It wasn't until college when a buddy who worked on the field crew for the university team let me watch the games for free through a cutout in the outfield lawn maintenance door in exchange for a couple of Lone Stars. Those are some of the best games I ever went to, and now I love the game so much I pull for an AL team (DET), an NL team (CHI), and the minor league Toledo Mud Hens! All of that because I tried it.

I mentioned absinthe earlier because that is a spirit I neglected forever. Similar to Baseball, I didn't care for the culture or the look. I judged it based on the kinds of people that tend to like absinthe. How foolish of me. It turns out I love the stuff. Knowing I couldn't go any further with my baseless opinions, I reached out to a stranger on the internet and asked for help with my absinthe journey. He dispelled many of my presuppositions and opened the door to a bigger boozy world. I am so glad I tried it.

Next week let's tackle these two:

P. 2: 
A bar exists to serve customers, not cocktails.

and

P. 8: 
You will never serve a cocktail that makes everybody happy, so focus on making one person happy one drink at a time.  

Thanks for reading!

P.S. And thanks for letting me get some baseball talk in there. After last year's shortened season, I am looking forward to a nice long summer full of Baseball on the radio and cold whisky highballs.