Sauced

Jay Kuehner’s Signature Drink: The Caracas

It’s more ritual than drink, says Sambar’s longtime bartender.

Posted by: Andrew Bohrer on Jan 25, 2012 at 12:30PM 2 Comments

Sambar’s Jay Kuehner, in his native habitat.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

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Sambar’s Jay Kuehner, in his native habitat.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

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Prepping the sugar.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

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Muddling, er, grinding.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

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Next up: coffee and a thinly sliced lime.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

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Slices get dredged in sugar and coffee.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

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Readying the rum.

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Eat the lime wheel.

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This photo should be self-explanatory.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

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And finally, the Pampero Aniversario.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Welcome to local barman/writer Andrew Bohrer’s occasional series, explaining the signature concoctions of esteemed local bartenders.

There is a King Cocktail, and there is a Cocktail Historian, and Seattle used to have a Cocktail Whisperer though he no longer calls himself that.

I require more organizational skills for the following moniker, but what I aim to be for you is a Cocktail Cartographer. Seattle is a fine city to get a great cocktail but where can you best get your whistle wetted, and by whom?

The most enjoyable drinks aren’t necessarily on the menu; ask a bartender and he or she likely has a signature concoction. I plan to map out where to find these hidden gems and cult cocktail classics. The result: a most useful compendium of where find our city’s finest drinks. First up, the Caracas…

The Drink: The Caracas
Made By: Jay Kuehner

One of Seattle’s greatest drinking experiences is walking into Sambar and having the extremely talented (and often unbuttoned) Jay Kuehner give you a shot. Jay has been the longtime bartender at the worth-the-hype drinking hole attached to Le Gourmand in Ballard. Though most of Jay’s cocktails are gentle like downy feathers and composed like sonnets, the Caracas stands out as its own ritual.

How do you order the Caracas? “We will decide if you are in need of it,” says Kuehner. It isn’t a cocktail that you order; it is a cocktail that happens when the time is right. The Caracas is a very simple drink, just a shot of rum with a little bit of a snack. The snack is a wafer-thin lime wheel, with one half dipped in super fine coffee and and the other in super fine sugar. This black-and-white citrus wheel is for you, the brave consumer, to eat whole.

At some point during chewing, you’ll be handed a shot of Pampero Aniversario Venezuelan rum. Just throw it back. The result is a bitter, sweet, tannic, dry, citric roller coaster of flavors that one single cocktail can’t match.

The Caracas

1 wafer-thin lime wheel for each shot
Finely ground coffee
Finely ground sugar
1.5 ounces Pampero Aniversario rum

Instructions: Dip one half of the wheel in finely ground coffee and the other half in finely ground sugar. Eat the lime wheel. Shoot the rum. Consult the slideshow if you need more guidance.

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Tags: Sambar, Cocktail Cartography, Jay Kuehner, Andrew Bohrer

Five Questions for the A Cocktail Chef: Cameo McRoberts

Cameo McRoberts is not a bartender, but that doesn’t mean she can’t make you a very good drink. Just don’t be snapping your fingers in her general direction.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 07, 2010 at 11:11AM 3 Comments

Cameo McRoberts, not a bartender.

Working for Kathy Casey Studios, Alaska-native Cameo McRoberts (who—prepare to be impressed—was once sous chef to Rick TopChefMaster Bayless at Chicago’s Frontera Grill) creates plenty of cocktails, as well as bitters and syrups. But she’s careful not to call herself a bartender.

“Only because I know most of the bartenders in this series and they will make fun of me!” explains McRoberts.

“Coming from the kitchen I have a pretty strong knowledge of flavors and what pairs well,” she says. “As Kathy’s Executive Chef I work on tons of cocktail development with her and I put together all of our seminars. So in the past year I’ve had a crash course in cocktail culture, spirits, classic cocktails, cocktail history, and the whatnot.”

All I know is, she can make me a drink anytime—preferably using the amazing cherry bounce she keeps jarred up at the funtime cocktail lab she and Mrs. Casey call an office.

Here, five questions for cocktail chef Cameo McRoberts.

What is the most underrated spirit?

There is no bottle left uncorked in the cocktail world right now, it’s like a massive flavor unearthing. It’s really fun. Among the non spirit-geek crowd: definitely gin. It’s not the gin that hurts the next morning, it’s all the sugar in that tonic water! Good gin is like Dusty Springfield, sweet and gritty at the same time.

What’s your favorite Seattle bar?

The usual suspects: Rob Roy, Vessel, Zig Zag, Liberty, but the Ballard crawl is quite nice too: Moshi Moshi, Hazlewood, Oliver’s Twist (not Ballard, I know), and, as always, Sambar to finish.

What drink do you order at that bar?

Cocktail bars: anything the bartender wants to give me. Usually whiskey or gin-based. Everywhere else: shot of whiskey and glass of bitters and soda, with extra bitters.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen someone do in a bar?

My mom bartended in Alaska when I was younger so let’s just say I’ve seen some crazy stuff. Service-wide, I am not a fan of the snapping of the fingers.

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.

Proximity to the motherland (Alaska).

The water, the trees, the views—it really is breathtaking a lot of the time.

Seattle’s delicate balance of big pond/small pond, especially in the service industry.

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Tags: Cocktails, Hazlewood, Kathy Casey, Rob Roy, Zig Zag Cafe, Vessel, Gin, Whiskey, Seattle Bartenders, Five Questions for the Bartender, Sambar