Master mixologist, will travel
Intemperance Cocktail Consulting Service can mix your drink and tell you its history
LIBATIONS | Kathy Petitte Jamison
Edward Burch of Springfield can fix an extraordinary Martini with dry rye gin, blanc vermouth, and old-style Boker’s Bitters while recounting the drink’s unique history and the nuances of each ingredient in great detail.
Recently while serving cocktails to friends, he began the evening by offering a glass of water for hydration and a lineup of hors d’oeuvres for sustenance. Then, surrounded by a back bar of various bitters (some he’s concocted), classic cocktail guides and key spirits, he selected the critical combination. His Martinis were stirred, not shaken, and served to his guests to their utter delight.
Perhaps next, he said, he’ll make a batch of Old-Fashioneds.
Burch owns Intemperance, a cocktail consulting service that can offer a Cocktail 101 for a small group, help someone set up a home bar, consult with local taverns, or mix the cocktails for a larger gathering.
“I prefer for almost all the cocktails I make to go back to the Prohibition era. In that version the Old-Fashioned is as barebones as possible. It’s spirits, sugar and bitters and a little peeled citrus rind to get some of those essential oils, and that’s it,” Burch said. Prohibition-era cocktail recipes focus on quality ingredients and technique, such as measuring. “All those old, basic cocktails were so great. Why do we want to change them?” Burch will carefully mull over and select from a choice of bitters for his drinks. Different bitters do different things. “On occasion the bitters will be noticeable, but the best thing about them is that they bring together the different elements of the drink. Such as with a well-seasoned meal, you don’t necessarily notice the salt, but if it’s not there, you will notice it,” he said. As he made an Old-Fashioned for friends, he chose Jerry Thomas bitters and pointed to his copy of the classic bartender’s guide from 1862.
“Bitters actually do amazing things for a cocktail, and without fail, even if a recipe doesn’t call for bitters, I can usually find one on the shelf that will work for it,” he said.
They even top off some non-alcoholic Prohibition-influenced beverages that can be made in a Collins glass. He uses ice, his homemade simple syrups and soda water, and tops it off with bitters. He experiments here and there and would like to try acid phosphate, at some point, to offer classic soda fountain beverages, like vanilla, chocolate or a Green River, which is a Prohibition-era soda. “It would be another range of nonalcoholic options to offer people that is period and complementary to the other type of things I like to do,” Burch said.
“As much as I love making the boozy cocktails, it’s also nice to have other options available,” so that if someone wants to take a pause or just doesn’t drink, they can still have some fun, he said.
Prohibition-era cocktails have a great basic structure. “Some are crazy with a whole lot of detail, like making a Ramos Gin Fizz, but they’re mostly simpler. So many of them will follow similar modes of construction so that it’s very easy when you have the formula internalized to then know how to break the rules,” Burch said.
He has a few cocktail recipes of his own.
“Some are just riffs on things that have already been done.” One is named Intemperance, after his service. “It’s a Manhattan with Benedictine,” he said.
Burch noted that the ice that goes into a drink is an often-overlooked aspect of good cocktail making. He makes big round ice balls that allow a drink to be chilled, but not too quickly diluted. “That’s the way that you’re manipulating the drink that will go into the glass. And then once it’s in the glass, how long it will stay.”
This brings up the preference for “shaken not stirred.” With some drinks, stirring means “it’s not as violently disrupted and has become chilled but not bracingly cold.” Stirring allows the nuances of a drink to come forth. Some drinks are better shaken, but when James Bond popularized his preferred method for a Martini, he was toying with the rules, Burch said. Yet, if it’s bad gin, shaken might be preferred.
Creating the cocktail, for Burch, is about the appreciation of all aspects of the drink. “The main thing is I like making something tasty that people like and turning them on to either a style of drink or a particular spirit, something that they hadn’t had before or even previously eschewed,” he said.
Intemperance can be found on Facebook.
Burch often provides his services for area organizations and events. On Saturday, Feb. 28, he’ll re-create a mid-19 th century punch for the Edwards Place Grand Reopening Gala.
Kathy Jamison of Springfield is an associate professor in the communication department at University of Illinois Springfield, where she teaches journalism and media.
