Behind The Stick: Barrel-Aged Boulevardier At 312 Chicago

By Paul Leddy in Food on Dec 5, 2012 7:00PM

Normally, when you order a cocktail at a bar, you watch the bartender add a few ingredients and ice into a stirring glass or cocktail shaker and after a certain amount of dilution and chilling, the cocktail is poured into a glass. What if all the work that goes into the cocktail making was done two or three weeks before?

In today's video, bartender Dan Andruss from 312 Chicago talks about the barrel-aged cocktail program at the restaurant. Barrel aging helps impart the charred and oaky flavors from the wood into the cocktail and can also help to soften the strong flavors in the cocktail. For example, the cocktail in our video today, the Boulevardier, contains Campari, which can be a pretty bitter ingredient for the uninitiated. A couple weeks in the barrel helps to soften Campari's bitterness and makes the cocktail more harmonized and approachable.

The bar program at 312 Chicago is undergoing quite a few exciting changes. Things like the barrel-aging of cocktails, Dan's incorporation of the rooftop garden in his cocktails, and the start of an in-house bitters program all make 312 Chicago a great place for regulars and tourists alike.

312 Chicago is located at 136 N. LaSalle Street.