I had the pleasure to be invited as the guest bartender at A Sip of Michigan presented by Drink Michigan, last Thursday. This included pairing the cocktail menu with the food courses as well as serving the cocktails to the attendees. Those are two things I had never have done before. Luckily, I had my extensive blogging and food service history to draw upon.

I created six cocktails that were variations on classics and new creations. They featured juices, homemade syrups and custom infusions. I was reasonably happy with all the drinks but more importantly I had lots of compliments from the attendees and many people left their comfort zone of white wine and bud light.

The dinner featured all Michigan booze and many local food products. It was held at The Inn at St. Johns in Plymouth, MI. If you have ever been there, you know it is a classy joint and they know how to make exquisite food.

Here is the program from the event. I apologize ahead of time for the photos. The lighting was dim to reflect a speakeasy feel. No amount of photoshop could save some photos.

I made an infusion and one “special ingredient” ahead of time along with sourcing all the ingredients from 5 stores around Metro Detroit.

On the day of the event, I arrived at 2:30p and cooked my bum off up until the start of the event. I even had assistance from one of the staff bartenders (who was amazing). It’s not a simple process to make 6 different craft cocktails for 25 people over one dinner service, especially when you have limited experience.

I did have some tools at my disposal. The kitchen, just off the hall, was the size of small school with lots of busy chefs to stare at me questioningly. It is a beautiful facility and I am sure they have more than one. Jason Stoops is the Executive Chef and treated me like one of his staff members.

On a gross side note, entering the walk-in freezer brought me back to my brief days in a commercial kitchen when my boogers froze up. Kinda funny how that odd sensation triggered those memories.

I created two cocktails for the cocktail hour. The one pictured above was called Walter’s Experiment. It was served in a beaker which was rimmed with home made pop rocks. This sounded like a great idea in my head but was a bit messy and the pop rocks were more like rock candy. Pop rocks fizz because of CO2 trapped in the sugar crystals. On the DIY side, you use baking soda, on the commercial side they use extremely high pressurized gas.

All of the drinks featured Valentine’s products.  This one was vodka with cherry juice, lemon juice and a bit of simple. I made it to pair with the grilled bleu cheese sandwiches on cherry walnut bread.

The cherry juice was really tart which balanced with the sweetness from the faux pop rocks. People loved this drink and I served over 30. However, I was really disappointed with it and thought it had too much kitch. Grades: Execution: B, Taste: D+, Overall: C

Side note: I ordered 60 of these beakers from Amazon. 25% arrived broken. I was not happy, but luckily, I had enough.

The other drink of the cocktail hour course was a variation of a Mint Julep. I wanted to pair with the lamb appetizer and incorporated a high quality mint jelly along with fresh mint and raw sugar into a syrup. It was delicious. it didn’t taste canned at all and the mint flavor was really intense. This paired with the Woodward Whiskey and crushed ice made for a Mint Julep called Lane’s Last Stand. I went through extra effort to crush a giant bin full of ice and hold it for service. I am glad I did as this added to the drink. Grades: Execution: B+, Taste: B, Overall: B

The first course, after everyone was seated, was scallops with polenta and cilantro oil. I wanted something to cut through the fishiness and made up a variation of a Gin Fizz. This included lemon juice, simple, Vernor’s (a requested ingredient of at least one drink) and Liberator Gin. It was garnished with fresh ginger and called Sour Dr. Cooper. It was largely meh. Grades: Execution: C, Taste: C, Overall: C

I really wanted to do an egg white foam and called on the bartender crutch, St. Germain. This mixed with the egg whites, lemon juice, fresh strawberry coulis and a bit of water was awesome. I got a lot of people to try raw eggs that would have never done it and they loved it.

This course was before the main and I had lots of time to interact with the guests. I took my new quart whipper around and offered people samples of the foam on their spoon. Not a single person disliked it and I killed the whole can.

The foam was used as a topping for vodka mixed with some Macadamia Nut Liqueur. The final drink was accented with a bit of Black Walnut Bitters floating on the foam. I called the drink, the Cameron and Mitchell.

The macadamia nut and St. Germain foam was a good pair but it obliterated the vodka which became just more booze for the drink. The course for this selection was a salad of arugula, strawberries and walnuts. Grades: Execution: A-, Taste: B-, Overall: B

The main course was slow braised short ribs with beet puree. I picked up the beet puree and did a 72 hour beet infusion with vodka. I roasted the beets with olive oil for 3 hours and they were easier to work with and very delicious. This tasty mixture was placed in a giant container with two bottles of vodka for 3 days. When paired with carrot juice and club soda, it was cool and refreshing.

I called this drink the Tom Schrute (Tom Collins + Dwight Schrute). Grades: Execution: B-, Taste: B+, Overall: B

The final course was grilled lemon pound cake stuffed with lemony cream cheese. I made some hot tottys and called them Hot Swansons. It was Michigan honey, hot water, Woodward Whiskey & clove stuffed lemon slices.

The drink wasn’t as hot as I wanted and I would have liked to warm the whiskey but there wasn’t a way to do it quickly before the course. It was too strong for most people and I should have used more hot water which would have also added more heat. The cloved lemon slices were very impressive but took about 1 hour for that garnish alone. Grades: Presentation: B+, Taste: B-, Overall: B

Trisha and Audrey, the gals of Drink Michigan, seemed very happy with the event (seen above). To top it off, they raised $10,000 for Michigan First Step. I was even asked to help create and serve cocktails for a private event. I think her name was Mrs. Robinson.

Budmo!