Q&A With Dale DeGroff

By Kurt Maitland

Dale Degrof,
aka King Cocktail
(Credit: Dale DeGrof)

When talking about the modern mixology movement, few men qualify as a “founding father” style figure more than Dale DeGroff. Also known as “King Cocktail,” DeGroff started laying the groundwork for the modern trend in the 1980s. His standing is cemented not only by being the author or co-author of three cocktail books, his own line of bitters, and his numerous appearances on television, but also by his role in founding The Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans.

KM: So how did you get into making cocktails?

DD: I needed work. I started as a dishwasher in the biz in the Times Square Howard Johnson’s… I had a series of waiter jobs, actually in pretty fancy places, The United States Steak House where I served lots of luminaries from chef Andre Soltner to President Jimmy Carter who had peanut soup and a steak. Soltner dined with Joe Baum for whom I would work for many years later. They both ordered steaks, baked potatoes and hot fudge sundaes! I learned tableside service for Caesar Salad and Steak Tartar.

My drink-making career began with a waiters job at the original Charley O’s in Rockefeller Center, a Restaurant Associates property under Joe Baum’s presidency. The restaurant had changed hands when I went to work there. I knew it well because I had been a guest there many times through the largesse of my best friend’s older brother Ron Holland who did the advertising for Restaurant Associates and was a close friend of Joe Baums… that relationship would impact my life dramatically through the years eventually ending up as the key to landing my job with Joe Baum both at Aurora Fine and at the Rainbow Room.

KM: What cocktail books did you rely on before you created “The Craft of the Cocktail”?

DD: Joe Baum got me on track with the historical volumes but for a modern – all purpose book I used John Poister’s Bartender’s Guide, first published by Signet in 1989.

KM: What are some of your favorite whiskey/bourbon cocktails?

DD: Perfect Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Oxacan Old Fashioned, Boulvardier, Sazerac.

KM: What do you think that bourbons and ryes bring to a cocktail?

DD: That is a big question, the wheated bourbons are softer in cocktails than the rye heavy mash bill bourbons…. And of course straight rye whiskey is very spicy and peppery when compared to bourbon.

Having said that American whiskey is much more versatile in the cocktail than scotch whiskies. Scotch is so idiosyncratic that finding flavor matches is more difficult and requires some culinary flavor expertise.

KM: In your opinion, since the release of your books “The Craft of the Cocktail” and “The Essential Cocktail”, how much has the cocktail world changed?

DD: My intention in the writing of Craft of the Cocktail was to produce the book that I needed in 1974 when I was trying to find real answers … actual recipes with fresh/real ingredients… there was very little information to be had.

Craft was the first book for many young bartenders and it provided a foundation for them to build on… I am in the 12th hard cover printing of Craft. Some of that reflects the general market but much of those sales are in on-trade.

The internet has opened a floodgate of information and allowed bartenders world-wide to have a dialogue  … this revival and more is driven in a large part by the level of available information.

KM: In what ways has the releases of so many new bourbons and whiskeys over the past few years changed how you go about creating cocktails?

DD: The simple answer is the craft bartender has a much broader palate of flavors to work with. The numbers of well made spirits available today is unprecedented.

KM: One question I meant to ask – what whiskey cocktails do you recommend for those people who “don’t like brown liquor”?

DD: (loud) I have a drink called the Whiskey Smash.

Inspired by the Gerry Thomas drink of the same name but altered considerably. It is very punchy and even non-whiskey drinkers respond well to this recipe:

Ingredients:
4 lemon pieces (cut a lemon in half and then quarter one of the halves)
5 mint leaves
1 ounce simple syrup
1 1/2 ounces Bourbon
Lemon wedge for garnish
1 mint sprig for garnish

Muddle the lemon pieces, mint leaves, and simple syrup in the bottom of a Boston shaker glass. Add the bourbon and shake well with ice. Strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with a mint sprig and a lemon wedge.

Note: In the summer season when tree-ripened peaches are available, I add two peach wedges to the muddling process and then garnish additionally with a peach slice.