Hazy, Lazy Drinking

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In his ongoing "Cocktails Through Time" series, Chef George Krause offers drinks (and trivia) from throughout the decades.

As Chef George Krause’s “Cocktails through Time” finally moves through the late ‘60s, I’ve been all but expressly forbidden from mentioning Mad Men by Chef George himself, the mastermind behind the ongoing drink series at Doe’s Eat Place in Baton Rouge. (This might be due to how much I have already talked about it during our cocktail conversations, but no need to dwell on whose fault is what.)

I can’t help it, though. When I think of American drinkers in the past fifty or sixty years, I picture Don Draper in his dark suit, clinking the ice cubes in his highball glass and lobbing bons mots into the air.

As it turns out, though, Don, Roger, and the rest of the gang from AMC’s acclaimed drama were part of a rapidly fading world. For every bourbon-soaked executive, there was a host of teenagers crowding onto the scene. The new taste-makers. The gentleman—however truly mannered he was—was a dying breed.

Somewhere in the shuffle, the craft cocktail fell away. “You didn’t want what your parents were drinking,” explained Krause, who will be serving up cocktails from the 1970s and 1980s for the next month. “Those good and harsh spirits. No, you wanted a sweet, new-age drink.”

And the men behind the bar were loosening up too. “Bartenders got lazy,” said Krause. “They weren’t creating new drinks. [Bartending] became a transition thing, for kids between jobs or just home from college for the summer.”

Thus grievous sins were committed against the art of a fine drink. “Some bartenders stopped putting sugar in the Tom Collins so people wouldn’t order it. They even had do-it-yourself martini bars because the bartenders couldn’t be bothered to make the,” said Krause.

Blended drinks grew popular too, with the average recipe going something like “all the liquor and ice you can fit into the machine.”

Drinks such as the Grasshopper and the Pink Squirrel fell out of public consciousness. But innovation did occur: enter the shooter.

The terminology isn’t strictly adhered to these days, but as it turns out, a “shot” refers to a pour of straight spirit, usually about one to one-and-a-half ounces.

A “shooter,” on the other hand, is a slightly larger pour. Essentially a miniature mixed drink, it’s two to two-and-a-half ounces of liquids served in a slightly larger vessel. Ingredients include spirit, schnapps, fruit juice—you name it.

The shooter arrived at the tail-end of the 1970s. In fact, it was 1979 when the first documented shooter was served: the B-52, dubbed so after the then-emerging rock group, caught the attention of a Canadian restaurateur who tried it at the Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta. He began serving the drinks at his various establishments, and an unshakable trend was born.

Disco and synth music. Dark bars and bright, sweet drinks—“designed to get you drunk as fast as possible,” said Krause, who will be serving The Mind Eraser among other potent concoctions when the series creeps into the ‘80s later this month.

Are you feeling nostalgic or shuddering? Maybe a bit of both?

It’s a bleak time for the artisanal drink, but that won’t stop Krause from whipping up a mean Long Island Iced Tea for his patrons for the next couple of weeks. We just recommend you don’t enjoy it on an empty stomach.

Chef George Krause and the gang at Doe’s Eat Place will be serving ‘70s and ‘80s cocktails for the next month. Stop by 3723 Government Street for a heady dose of Doe’s. doesbatonrouge.com