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{"id":2182,"date":"2015-04-03T16:04:34","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T16:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/?p=2182"},"modified":"2016-04-21T00:57:50","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T00:57:50","slug":"mixologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/innovation\/mixologist\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixing Maestro: How one mixologist honors the past in a glass."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Edward Burch is serving up history with Prohibition-style cocktails <\/span>
\nWords by Sami Smith | Video by Grace Wenzel, Amanda Horvath and Faith Brar | Photography Courtesy of Rachel Leibowitz and Intemperance Cocktails | April 3, 2015<\/p>\n

Nothing on the gold-flecked bartop is out of the ordinary. Strainers, shakers, and cocktail napkins blend in. But the shelves behind it \u2014 where typical bars stock cheap liqueurs and jars of chewy Maraschino cherries \u2014 hold this mixologist\u2019s secret: books.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>

The secret touch to many of Edward\u2019s best drinks? Homemade, barrel-aged bitters \u2014 added just after the iced shake shown here.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Edward Burch doesn\u2019t just drink. He reads about drinking. He talks about drinking. He sees it as an art. He looks at an empty glass like a 6-year-old looks at a puzzle. Start with a base piece \u2014 the perfect, high-quality spirit. Test a handspun, pineapple-infused simple syrup to see if it fits. Lock it together with a real brandied cherry and two dashes of homemade, barrel-aged bitters.<\/p>\n\n

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This precision and passion for exceptional ingredients make this mixologist a master. His specialty is Prohibition-era cocktails \u2014 classic mixes of simple syrups and high-quality spirits like those secretly made during America\u2019s dry 1920s. Saloons and Prohibition-style taverns are the places to be if you\u2019re adventurous and searching for more than J\u00e4ger bombs or a rum and Coke. The secret to these watering holes is the intensely trained tenders behind the bars.<\/p>\n

Burch became one of them 10 years ago. He had been a beer drinker and musician touring with former Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett, and washing down the occasional whiskey shot. He didn\u2019t pester bartenders with complicated orders, just \u201ca decent beer.\u201d But after moving to Austin, Texas, he happened upon an expansive, big-box spirits store and that piqued an interest: the history of alcohol. Gradually, he collected spirits and started mixing, recreating Prohibition-era cocktails. \u201cThe elements that go along with these early versions of drinks are also very much intertwined with how the nation came together,\u201d Burch says. \u201cWhether it\u2019s us in the U.S. dealing with whiskey after the corn surplus or France with grapes and cognac. I have this fascination with the historical element.\u201d<\/p>\n\nhttp:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/howtomartini_V2_032915.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\n

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After a few years of mixing on his own, Burch started offering his talents to others, and the word got out. After he moved to Springfield, Illinois, his hobby became a business \u2014 Intemperance Cocktails<\/a>. Burch now travels throughout the Midwest as the liquory link to the past at historical events and celebrations. He scoops a 19th century punch or stirs classic sidecars for hosts at home events. He hand-selects and pours cocktails to replicate what Orson Welles may have been drinking at the Chicago Arts Club in 1938.<\/p>\n

But through all of the study and practice of Prohibition-era mixology, Burch says there is room for modernity. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be a complete purist thing about the older era,\u201d he says. \u201cEven though we have a blessing of riches today with a lot of great bourbons, ryes, and cognacs, we live in the 21st century. We can\u2019t try to completely reproduce what was happening back at that time. Processes and distillations are just different now. But we can certainly keep to the general spirit of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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Burch wants the world to know that improvisation while staying true to the spirit is OK. \u201cIf a thing just remains what it is forever, then it\u2019s going to die out,\u201d Burch says. \u201cThe cocktails I make today aren\u2019t exactly what people would have been drinking in the Prohibition-era. But we\u2019re remembering and respecting the traditions that preceded us. If we didn\u2019t have those things from before, we wouldn\u2019t have the things we\u2019re doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burch notes the time and turns to his bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the violet hour,\u201d he says, mixing himself a boulevardier with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Campari. \u201cThis is the time when you should<\/i> be having a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

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