What’s shakin, cocktail fans?
Welcome to Episode 151 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!
Thanks for joining us for another interview episode, where we scour the planet for the best and brightest minds in the spirits and cocktail world so that we can share their secrets with you. This time around, we pull up a virtual seat with designer and cocktail author Nick Barclay (@nick_b_designs), who shares some fun insights from his book, Measurements: A Proportional Cocktail Guide.
In this conversation, some of the topics we discuss include:
How Nick made his way to Australia by way of the UK, and how the Land Down Under’s flourishing cocktail culture inspired him to start designing for the liquid medium.
What Nick means when he aims for “simplicity” of design, either in a print, in his book, Measurements: A Proportional Cocktail Guide, or in an actual cocktail.
Some of the challenges behind creating 2-dimensional visual representations of 3-dimensional objects like cocktail glasses and garnishes.
How color became an important consideration when representing the proportional relationships between different ingredients in drinks.
A few thoughts on the wine culture in Australia as compared to consumer tastes in Canada and the US.
The trials and tribulations of a cocktail lover who doesn’t enjoy the taste of whiskey
And much, much more.
This episode is a great companion piece to Episode 49, where we interviewed Melissa Wood, author of the book, Architecture of the Cocktail. So if you’re one of our newer listeners and this subject matter gets you jazzed, you might want to head back into the archives and check out that conversation as well.
We’ve been really expanding our glassware and bar tool offerings recently over on our eCommerce Store. In the past few months, we’ve literally DOUBLED our catalog, so if you haven’t checked out our eCommerce store in a while, maybe take a spin through the next time you’re bored.
Let us tell you about a couple new glassware pieces we absolutely LOVE. The first is the Barconic Luminous 11 oz highball glass – these things are gorgeous (see below). They’re heavy, faceted, and as the name implies, they really catch the light. This glass is perfect for sipping a Bloody Mary the next time you treat yourself to a dine-in brunch with the family.
The other two pieces we’re really stoked about are our Barconic Gold and Silver rimmed 7 oz coupe glasses. They’re only a couple bucks more expensive than the non-gilded variety, and wow – we can’t tell you how eye catching they are especially when there’s a Manhattan in there or a Negroni for contrast.
Check out these and all the other great glassware, bar tools, and cocktail mixers we’ve got for ya. The prices are VERY reasonable, and in the case of glassware, you can usually save even more when you buy a whole set. Finally – remember that we offer free shipping on orders over $40.
This episode’s featured cocktail is the Negroni Sbagliato, which is a cocktail that’s featured prominently in Nick’s book and in this interview. In Italian, Sbagliato means “messed up” or “mistaken,” but it’s not as bad as the more serious term “Errore,” which means that the Negroni Sbagliato is a drink that resulted from good intentions, but wonky execution. The legend is that a bartender at some point grabbed a bottle of sparkling wine instead of gin (or perhaps ran out of gin and needed to resort to the bubbly as a way to beef up the drink). Well, sometimes, in these moments, we learn that incredible results are often stumbled upon, rather than sought after.
To make the Negroni Sbagliato, you’ll need:
1 oz Campari
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Sparkling white wine (like Prosecco)
Now, unlike your classic Negroni, the Sbagliato riff is actually a “built” drink, rather than a stirred one. And that simply means that you’re going to take a rocks glass with ice, add your Campari and sweet vermouth, top it with a 1 oz pour of sparkling wine (or perhaps a bit heavier pour…who are we kidding), and then stir gently to combine the ingredients before garnishing with a classic orange twist.
Now, Negroni fans, don’t get salty here, but you could argue that the Sbagliato improves on the classic Negroni in two noteworthy ways: it simplifies the mixing process and lightens the ABV of the cocktail significantly. This makes the Sbagliato an excellent brunch or porch sippin’ drink, so in those moments when your brain thinks “Negroni” but your body isn’t quite ready to get on board, the Negroni Sbagliato might just be the bastardized formula that saves the day.
In this interview, we cover a lot of design-related topics; for example – how to keep a clean, minimal aesthetic while still visualizing the complexity and unique character of a given cocktail. Below, you’ll find links to some of the particular people, places, and things we mention during the conversation, as well as a number of pictures and videos from the book.
Some notes on “The Gin Revival” by Wayne Curtis
Angus Winchester – instrumental in helping Nick to bring the book to life
Penfolds – one of Eric’s favorite wine houses.
Check out above images and Alternate Reality (AR) GIFs from Measurements: A Proportional Cocktail Guide. If you download the Artivive app, you can actually interact with these visualizations when you purchase Nick’s Book.
My favorite was a Negroni, but I feel it’s a bit of a punish sometimes, so I err toward a Sbagliato. On a really hot day in Australia, it’s a nice afternoon drink.
I would be a Fernet. Love it or hate it, it’s one of those. I think it’s very misunderstood, but I firmly believe that a shot of Fernet at the end of the night drastically reduces your hangover.
Probably a drink with my best friend’s late dad in his living room chatting about things that you don’t get to say. He’d have a beer and I’d have a nice red wine. Just some nice, relaxed, chatty drinking.
I’ve never had Amaro Montenegro in a drink.
I think Vodka is a perfectly suitable spirit to go in a drink
TAKE YOUR CREATIONS TO THE NEXT LEVEL
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