I’m experimenting with trying to make these videos generally shorter, quicker, and tighter. Any comments would be appreciated.
I have to send the nice HD camera back to Sony soon, so expect a drop in video quality if I go back to plain old miniDV.
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So then, is this a French Sidecar or an English Sidecar? Love the format — tight, crisp, and quick. And made me go look it up in wikipedia, to see what other variations I’ve been drinking.
Where do you stand on sugaring the rim?
I actually recorded a segment saying “You can sugar the rim. If you’re a girl.” But I cut it because it was snarky and made the clip needlessly longer.
Between you and me, I can take the sugared rim or leave it, but I never do it at home because it’s too fiddly. To the extent I like it, I like it more for the texture than the taste.
I tend towards English (read: more cognac!) sidecars, but as with anything, your mileage may vary. I’d say start with equal proportions of all the ingredients, and then over time adjust them to your taste.
Good: nice tight editing, proper emphasis of the importance of real lemon juice, lovely classic cocktail
Bad: too much sound compression, camera too low and close with wide lens, did not include proportions (2:1:1 is classic), classic cocktail served in wine glass
I though it was a brandy drink.
Pickiness about using the ‘right’ glass is pointless. It’s the drink that matters.
Go too far down the must-use-the-right-glass line and you end up like the wankers who won’t drink wine unless they have precisely the right $50 Riedel glass for it so they can properly feel superior to everyone else.
Also, I think Nelson might be confusing the French and English variants with the “2:1:1 is classic” comment — from what I’ve read, French-style Sidecars are traditionally 1:1:1, while the English style is 2:1:1.
At least according to Wikipedia, the two original published recipes were 1:1:1, and the 2:1:1 style came along later.
Hooray for sidecars! When my new iPod arrives, I think I will store this video on it, so I have it at the ready when a bartender doesn’t know how to make a sidecar.
I agree there’s no need to be overly picky about glassware, but a wineglass still doesn’t seem right for this. Can we get you some nice cocktail glasses at an antique store? Perhaps if everyone chips in a couple of bucks.
Also: I like your long-form videos — more relaxed, in-depth discussion — but this style probably has greater appeal to the youngsters. Maybe you can combine the styles and find a happy medium.
The peel-away transitions never work though. Stick with the jump cuts and fades.
“Pickiness about using the ‘right’ glass is pointless.”
Heck, if you feel that way, then use a coffee mug. Just rinse it out first.
Of course the glassware matters! A cocktail is the comma in your day, the pause between work and pleasure. If you’re going to go through the trouble to make a proper cocktail with fresh fruit juice, then put it in a proper cocktail glass! Crate and Barrel has cheap serviceable martini glassware for $4 a stem, less than the cost of a sidecar in a bar.
If I’m at a friend’s house and was served me a well made cocktail in a wine glass of course I’d gratefully accept it. But if someone makes a video about how to make a cocktail and asks for critique then pickyness is entirely appropriate!
Sorry for the confusion on proportion. 2:1:1 is the traditional proportion for a classic American cocktail; 2 parts spirits, 1 part sweet, 1 part balance. Works for a lot of drinks. Other proportions are fine too if your guest prefers. Just suggesting some guidance be provided in the video.
I appreciate all the comments people have given here. Some I will take to heart, some I will disagree with as part of my creative choices (for example, the camera angles), but I appreciate everyone who is taking the time to give me your feedback. Thank you.
I have a personal thing about “parallel hands”, where my hands are doing the same thing on opposite sides of my centerline, as you do in the initial shot. This doesn’t bother most people though, so you can decide whether Hamlet’s instruction “do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus” applies to you or not.
Excellent energy–obviously it’s a subject about which you care deeply–and the editing is quite tight, except that the tighter it gets the more obvious become the places where video and audio are being cut at the same time. A little overlapping (cut the audio before the video, even just by a couple frames), and/or bridging a cut with additional ambient, would fix a fair amount of the remaining “blippiness”.
Personally, I’m a fan of the bourbon side car:
http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/tweaking-a-classic/
So this will probably get drinks thrown at me, but why are fancy shakers necessary? I’m one to not care if my drink comes in a (clean) coffee cup. What is the point of a “proper” shaker rather than say… a spoon to stir with?
*ducks*
Doug, some drinks are shaken because that’s the best way to mix the ingredients. Anything with cream, for example, or syrup.
Martinis and Manhattans are better when stirred. Stirring means that less air is incorporated into the drink, so the liquor stays clearer.
But people seem to like the whole shaking thing, because it’s more dramatic, so they shake just everything. Or else they shake their drink because that’s what James Bond would order.
I’d say that there are a few reasons to shake some drinks, in addition to those provided by Cynthia.
- It makes them colder more quickly than stirring can.
- It dilutes them to the ‘right’ level, and then stops (because you’ve removed the drink from the ice.
- Most importantly, it gets a little bit of air into the drink. This gives it a tiny bit of sparkle that gives the drink a bit more life in terms of mouthfeel.
Regardless of tradition, I think that just about any drink with citrus is improved by a bit of vigorous shaking.
Thank you both, I learned something today! (In that academic way, I’ll have to get a shaker and try it to properly internalize the information).
“I have to send the nice HD camera back to Sony soon, so expect a drop in video quality if I go back to plain old miniDV.”
Are you posting these things somewhere other than YouTube where we might notice any video quality at all, or are you just name dropping for the sake of it?
Nevermind, hadn’t gotten to the Sept.4 post yet.
Right — the high quality versions are all up at http://gallery.mac.com/pgberger