An afternoon at the home bar—an actual, concrete-topped bar—of the Coup’s Max Green and his three booze-industry buddies.
By Troy Patterson | June 21, 2017
…Later, when asked to fix a drink, Green will use cachaça—the Brazilian liquor most familiar from caipirinhas—in a variation on Ti Punch. His enthusiasm for the earthiness of Novo Fogo barrel-aged cachaça is quite sincere, but his friendship with one of its bubbliest brand ambassadors also influenced the decision….
“Mostly we drink the cocktails that people put in bottles,” say Green. Or cans. Here the roommates demonstrate their home-drinking technique by shotgunning carbonated caipirinhas.
Photographer: Gabriela Herman/Bloomberg
…What do these guys drink on the regular?
“I do not make drinks at home,” Green says, a statement that might seem shocking until he reminds you: “That’s the bartender thing—shitty beer, good spirits.” When drinking at home, he is probably working on a can of Bud or some similar lawnmower beer, “anything that’s light and crisp and you don’t have to think about.”
Sounds refreshing. But wait—they built a bar at home but don’t make drinks? Green clarifies: “We’ll make the same drinks that any bartender makes—Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, Martinis, Negronis—because those are things that are easier. Occasionally there’s a daiquiri that’s whipped up. But mostly we drink the cocktails that people put in bottles. The whole thing is, Do we have to make any ? Or do we have to clean up a bunch afterward?”
Despite this self-imposed limitation, the group has grand plans. There is conversation about installing a sink to make it a wet bar and a firm plan to rejigger the projector-screen situation for the sake of elevating Mario Kart tournaments.
“We’re also building a bar in the backyard,” Green says, modest but impishly grinning. “We have pieces. There’s a sink that we picked up on the street. There’s a bunch of wood and pallets and stuff. Its gonna be our tiki bar, essentially.” Thatched roofs and everything. “We just need a day to build it.”
Shifty Punch
When Green thinks about the drinks that he makes at home, his mind generally turns to tequila, rye, and beer. But for this, he says, “I wanted to make something that was interesting and dynamic but certainly accessible. There’s nothing worse than trying to make some complex cocktail at home. We’re not set up for it—even here, where we’re set up more than anyone—so it’s still a mess.”
“So I was like, Ti Punch,” he continues. “It starts in a glass, it’s essentially an Old Fashioned, so you don’t need that much crazy stuff.” This is a riff on that.
Ingredients:
1/8 of a lime
one barspoon cane syrup
1/2 oz. Laird’s 100-proof apple brandy
1/2 oz. Giffard Caribbean Pineapple rum
1 oz. Novo Fogo Barrel Aged Cachaça
Muddle lime and sugar in the bottom of a rocks glass, add other ingredients to glass, add ice, and stir. Garnish with wedge of lime.
Green’s variation on Ti Punch “bounces the woodiness of aged cachaça off of apple brandy.” He garnishes it with a wedge of lime: “If It’s a little too sweet, you can just squeeze a little of it in.”
Photographer: Gabriela Herman/Bloomberg
Try the Fail-Proof Punch This Top Bartender Makes at Home
Bloomberg, June 21, 2017