Adam Seger's guest appearances

Adam Seger

Bartender Journey - Cocktails. Spirits. Bartending Culture. Libations for your Ears.

Stop & Taste Conversations - New Holland Brewing

This Craft Nation

The Connected Table Live

Dale DeGroff

Nico Martini

Warren Bobrow

Neal Bodenheimer

Julie Reiner

Dave Pickerell

Alexander Smalls

Joel Salatin

Nick Offerman

Ed Schoenfeld

Mary Gorman-McAdams

Victoria James

Larry Stone

Eric Asimov

Adam Ford

OwlTail

Today we talk with Adam Seger, Chef Bartender/Corporate Sommelier at iPic Theaters and TUCK Hospitality Group.  Upstairs from the iPic Theater at South Street Seaport is the Tuck Room. Adam invited Hazel and myself in to the secret room behind the sliding bookshelf.     Among other things, Adam and I will talk talk about cocktails on draft.  Also, a little bit about wine knowledge for Bartenders.   Book of the Week: Adam Seger recommends Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Complete Wine Course.  You’ll hear him talk about it in the interview, so we’ll make that our book of the week.     Please visit our Patreon page and consider supporting Bartender Journey with a small monthly pledge.   I went to an interesting seminar this week.  Dale DeGroff gave the talk called I’ll Take Manhattan.  It was sponsored by Woodford Reserve. Dale used the Woodford Reserve Rye to make a batch of Manhattan’s, but without bitters.  We each had 5 small portions of the Manhattan in front of us, and 5 small cups of 5 different bitters. We went through and smelled each of the bitters and added a couple drops of each to our Manhattan’s.  Then we tasted through them all and talked about what we all smelled and tasted. You’d be amazed how different each of these tasted! The Angostura Aromatic bitters were first, and actually, of the five, they were the least bitter, which interestingly made that Manhattan seem to be the sweetest.  Just as sour balances the sweet in a Daiquiri or Margarita, bitter works in a similar manner.    Dale’s point in all this was to show you don’t have to use a lot of ingredients or obscure ingredients; just put the right ingredients in your cocktial.    Cocktail of the Week: Manhattan experiment.     Try this experiment:  Make a batch of Manhattans with no bitters - you can do 2:1 whiskey of your choice, use 2 parts of that Woodford Reserve Rye or other whiskey.   1 part red vermouth.   (Or you can do as Dale did for us:  4 parts Rye, 1.5 part Dolin red vermouth and .75 Dolin white vermouth).   Stir with ice until very cold.  Then strain it into 4 glasses. Add one type of bitters to the first 2, and a different to the second 2.  Then do 2 different garnishes. Cherry and Orange twists are the most popular. I happen to love my Manhattan with a lemon twist.  Of course expressing the oils from the citrus is key. Using a Y-peeler is the best way to make a twist where you can express the oils really well over the top of the drink.     Use the Y-peeler to cut your twist.  Myself and many other bartenders cut twists to order for freshness.  Put it between your thumb and index finger and pinch it slowly to spray the oils into the drink.  If you want a fun party trick - hold a match or lighter and express the oils through the flame. It flares up for a second like a magic trick.  If you do this over your drink it will of course give a different flavor. Dale DeGroff revived that trick in the 1980’s when he was running the bar program at the Rainbow Room.  It was reportedly invented by bartender Pepe Ruiz in Beverly Hills for the Flame of Love cocktail created for Dean Martin.   The point of all this is to show how one small change to a cocktail can make a big difference.  I think it also points out just how important every single ingredient is to the final drink.    Toast of the Week:   Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me I may not lead. Walk beside me And just be my friend.

Today we talk with Adam Seger, Chef Bartender/Corporate Sommelier at iPic Theaters and TUCK Hospitality Group.  Upstairs from the iPic Theater at South Street Seaport is the Tuck Room. Adam invited Hazel and myself in to the secret room behind the sliding bookshelf.   Among other things, Adam and I will talk talk about cocktails on draft.  Also, a little bit about wine knowledge for Bartenders. Book of the Week: Adam Seger recommends Kevin Zraly’s <a href="http://amzn.to/2GoIe4t" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Windows on the World Complete Wine Course</a>.  You’ll hear him talk about it in the interview, so we’ll make that our book of the week.   <a href="https://www.patreon.com/brianweber" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Please visit our Patreon page and consider supporting Bartender Journey with a small monthly pledge.</a> I went to an interesting seminar this week.  Dale DeGroff gave the talk called I’ll Take Manhattan.  It was sponsored by Woodford Reserve. Dale used the Woodford Reserve Rye to make a batch of Manhattan’s, but without bitters.  We each had 5 small portions of the Manhattan in front of us, and 5 small cups of 5 different bitters. We went through and smelled each of the bitters and added a couple drops of each to our Manhattan’s.  Then we tasted through them all and talked about what we all smelled and tasted. You’d be amazed how different each of these tasted! The Angostura Aromatic bitters were first, and actually, of the five, they were the least bitter, which interestingly made that Manhattan seem to be the sweetest.  Just as sour balances the sweet in a Daiquiri or Margarita, bitter works in a similar manner. Dale’s point in all this was to show you don’t have to use a lot of ingredients or obscure ingredients; just put the right ingredients in your cocktial. Cocktail of the Week: Manhattan experiment.   Try this experiment:  Make a batch of Manhattans with no bitters - you can do 2:1 whiskey of your choice, use 2 parts of that Woodford Reserve Rye or other whiskey.   1 part red vermouth.   (Or you can do as Dale did for us:  4 parts Rye, 1.5 part Dolin red vermouth and .75 Dolin white vermouth). Stir with ice until very cold.  Then strain it into 4 glasses. Add one type of bitters to the first 2, and a different to the second 2.  Then do 2 different garnishes. Cherry and Orange twists are the most popular. I happen to love my Manhattan with a lemon twist.  Of course expressing the oils from the citrus is key. Using a Y-peeler is the best way to make a twist where you can express the oils really well over the top of the drink.   Use the Y-peeler to cut your twist.  Myself and many other bartenders cut twists to order for freshness.  Put it between your thumb and index finger and pinch it slowly to spray the oils into the drink.  If you want a fun party trick - hold a match or lighter and express the oils through the flame. It flares up for a second like a magic trick.  If you do this over your drink it will of course give a different flavor. Dale DeGroff revived that trick in the 1980’s when he was running the bar program at the Rainbow Room.  It was reportedly invented by bartender Pepe Ruiz in Beverly Hills for the <a href="http://imbibemagazine.com/flame-of-love/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Flame of Love cocktail</a> created for Dean Martin. The point of all this is to show how one small change to a cocktail can make a big difference.  I think it also points out just how important every single ingredient is to the final drink. Toast of the Week: Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me I may not lead. Walk beside me And just be my friend.

TUCK Room with Adam Seger

Ali Rosen

One of the nation's top mixologists, Adam Seger is Chief Bartender/Corporate Sommelier for iPic Theaters and The Tuck Room, with locations in New York City, Houston, Miami and Los Angeles. He also produces Hum, a hibiscus-based American botanical spirit. South Carolina native and NYC Resident Ali Rosen is host/founder of the IACP Award Winning TV seres "PotLuck with Ali Rosen"(nominated for an Emmy Award) and author of "Bring It! Tried and True Recipes for Potlucks and Casual Entertaining."This show is broadcast live on Wednesday's at 2PM ET on W4CY Radio –  (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (http://www.talk4radio.com/) on the Talk 4 Media Network (http://www.talk4media.com/).

One of the nation's top mixologists, Adam Seger is Chief Bartender/Corporate Sommelier for iPic Theaters and The Tuck Room, with locations in New York City, Houston, Miami and Los Angeles. He also produces Hum, a hibiscus-based American botanical spirit. South Carolina native and NYC Resident Ali Rosen is host/founder of the IACP Award Winning TV seres "PotLuck with Ali Rosen" (nominated for an Emmy Award) and author of "Bring It! Tried and True Recipes for Potlucks and Casual Entertaining." This show is broadcast live on Wednesday's at 2PM ET on W4CY Radio – (<a href="http://www.w4cy.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.w4cy.com</a>) part of Talk 4 Radio (<a href="http://www.talk4radio.com/)" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.talk4radio.com/)</a> on the Talk 4 Media Network (<a href="http://www.talk4media.com/)" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.talk4media.com/)</a>.

Adam Seger and Ali Rosen

TCN14 is from day six of our trip, featuring Dale Degroff and Adam Seger. We’d been adapting to the pace of New York City, which had us hustling through public transportation and urban navigation. We arrived to the IPic theater, and followed the signs up the escalators to The Tuck Room. Adam pulled a book, pivoting it from its bottom corner, and the entire bookshelf revealed itself to be a door, opening to an expansive, magical “green room.” If you’ve had a cocktail, you have benefited from the influence of Dale DeGroff. He goes by the well-deserved moniker of King Cocktail, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that his work and his writings have directly or indirectly influenced every working bartender out there today. Adam Seger is a remarkable barman, connector and educator with a knack for bringing elegant and sophisticated presentations forward in an adventurous and comfortable way. It was a pleasure to talk to them both about cocktails, over cocktails.

TCN14 is from day six of our trip, featuring Dale Degroff and Adam Seger. We’d been adapting to the pace of New York City, which had us hustling through public transportation and urban navigation. We arrived to the IPic theater, and followed the signs up the escalators to The Tuck Room. Adam pulled a book, pivoting it from its bottom corner, and the entire bookshelf revealed itself to be a door, opening to an expansive, magical “green room.” If you’ve had a cocktail, you have benefited from the influence of Dale DeGroff. He goes by the well-deserved moniker of King Cocktail, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that his work and his writings have directly or indirectly influenced every working bartender out there today. Adam Seger is a remarkable barman, connector and educator with a knack for bringing elegant and sophisticated presentations forward in an adventurous and comfortable way. It was a pleasure to talk to them both about cocktails, over cocktails.

TCN 14 - Talking Cocktails - Dale DeGroff & Adam Seger