This war doesn’t come from a federal mandate — yet — but from actions taken by several states to control what they see as dangerous cocktails. These have been around literally for centuries, but the fizz is apparently so fraught that it requires the fuzz to stop it. Reason TV goes deep within the heart of the next big public health menace to risk life and limb and expose Katherine Mangu-Ward to the horrors of … egg white:
Beat a raw egg white into a citrusy cocktail and you get a meringue-like effect, frothy and delicious. The resulting beverage—technically classified as a flip or fizz—is irresistible, not just to cocktail connoisseurs but to regulators and food cops.
On January 19, 2010 one of New York’s cocktail hot spots, the Pegu Club, got in trouble with city health department officials for serving just such a drink.
Despite warnings printed on the menu, and raw egg white listed in the ingredients, a health inspector busted a bartender for failing to verbally inform a customer of the risky ingredient. Pegu Club had to yank the Earl Grey MarTEAni from the menu, restoring it only after the health department backed off serious penalties and a court summons.
It’s on the menu. It’s listed in the ingredients. It’s even prepared right in front of the customer. I’m once again reminded of Monty Python’s Crunchy Frog routine:
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