The Proust Questionnaire: Lukas Smith

I already had a full drink when I realized Lukas was mixing me another one. He was pouring different colored liquids into a pint glass and getting ready to stir them up. It is exciting to watch him work.

Most bartenders don’t think about flavors the way this guy does. Unfortunately, many bartenders don’t put the same amount of effort into drinks as Lukas does. He wants each cocktail to be a raging success.

“I got into this because I do what I like,” Lukas said as he picks bottles from the shelf for his next concoction. The lights of Last Exit were dim but one could see how intensely serious his eyes were when making that statement.

We'd been talking about doing this interview for more than a month. When I finally had the opportunity to sit down with Lukas, I knew it was going to be a good one.

Are There Other Heroes of Craft Brewing?

Jim Fallows of The Atlantic shows his admiration for Jim Koch - not just for his beer but also for his approach to initial public offerings (IPOs) when Boston Beer Company hit the New York Stock Exchange in the mid 90's. The beauty of what Koch did, he says, was that:

"The heart of his idea was giving actual customers -- people who loved his beer -- a favored place in line for IPO shares, and a bargain price."

Everyone, by now, has heard about some of Facebook's IPO beneficiaries - not exactly institutional investors. But Koch, New York Times writer Jeff Sommer explains, was quite different:

"He sold shares at two prices. Some went to his customers, who, in a startling reversal, got a better deal than Wall Street insiders: $15 a share for the customers, versus $20 for those who bought at the opening price in a public offering run by Goldman Sachs."

Then, something fantastic happens... Fallows receives and filters a surge of comments from his beer enthusiast readers. Some want Fallows to expand on his idea of the "Hall of Beer Heroes":

"Don't forget Fritz Maytag on your list of heroes! He single-handedly saved a  classic beer style from extinction, and was the first to introduce what we now think of as American Pale Ale. A great modern-brewing pioneer!"

One reader expresses a much more political perspective. They write:

"I personally know of 3 people who began home brewing when [President Jimmy Carter] sparked the legislation that made home brew legal. One of these people ... is a commercial brewing concern now! One of several here in the greater Springfield, MA area."

I'd like to think that one day writers will look on with admiration at the good folks at DC Brau (Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock), Three Stars (Mike McGarvey and Dave Coleman), Chocolate City (Ben Matz, Jay Irizarry, Brian Flanagan, and Don Parker), or Hellbender (Patrick Mullane and Ben Evans, whom I've profiled).

Those people are making their mark in a town that isn't really revered for its own indigeneous booze production - yet.

Who would you put into a "Hall of Beer Heroes"?

DLDGLG Goes Griswold: Paris by Foot

The following post is part of a series called "DLDGLG Goes Griswold" highlighting my recent trip to Europe from December 19th to the 30th. Stay tuned for additional posts in the coming months...

In the morning, Nic and I woke up and jumped out of bed. We’d slept a little longer than planned and wanted to soak up as much of Paris as we could.

It had been raining intermittently since the night before. The clouds were hanging low but it was still a perfect day.

We got dressed and left our hotel heading towards Boulevard Saint-Germain still formulating a plan for breakfast.

Our eyes scanned past the store fronts and bistros with Noël decorations. On impulse, Nic and I entered a restaurant at the corner called Le Danton.

After being seated in this scarcely occupied restaurant, we ordered food. Nic requested a ham, cheese and egg crepe. I wanted the croque madame.

"I have a confession for you: I can’t remember how to make a Mai Tai..."

"... for the life of me I can never remember if it’s a half ounce of orgeat and a quarter ounce of simple syrup, or a quarter ounce of orgeat and a half ounce of simple syrup. Honestly, I probably get about five Mai Tai orders a year at my bar, so there’s a lot of time to forget exactly how to make one."

And here I thought I was the only one. I want to remember how to make any cocktail off the top of my head. But it's kind of like walking into a room and forgetting why you went in there. It's the sort of thing that makes you wish you hadn't smoked so much pot in college. (And then you remember you didn't even smoke any pot in college!)

"... Well then I told her I'M the Mixologist..."

Everyone's seen it by now but I figured it should be posted for posterity.

Some of my personal favorites:

- Cherry-bark cayenne bitters

- "Don't ever shake that drink or you'll kill it..."

- Candied kumquat

- "Am I the only one who gets smoke on this?"

Next Song for the Jukebox