So there I was, making tongue-in-cheek statements on Twitter when I went and stuck my foot in my mouth, or so it seems. My offending statement was about applying for a bartender job in places where t...
Creating a good cocktail is tough, making it popular is even tougher. There are currently thousands of very talented bartenders around the world who take their profession seriously. Many have honed t...
Its one of those often repeated debates that goes nowhere: Why didnt prohibition work? Both sides of the debate ante up and hences forth argue ad nauseum. So with the help of Googles Ngram Viewer Im ...
Tasting history is one of the more enjoyable aspects of classic cocktails, however many of those original ingredients have been lost to time. Abbotts bitters is one of those ingredients, and without ...
Just prior to prohibition, a great little booklet was put out by The Wine and Spirit Bulletin called Beverages De Luxe. It is a collection of articles, and recipes, written by owners of distilleries ...
With the start of the new year, the cocktail events for 2012 begin once more. One of the first is Tales of the Cocktail Vancouver (February 12-15) which takes the Tales experience on tour. Every year...
When I was at the Moscow Barshow (September 2011) I had the opportunity to judge the cocktail competition that pitted the best bartenders in Russia against one another. Robert "Drinkboy" Hess...
For those who dont follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I have finally recreated the bitters recipe database. It was originally "lost" when I migrated from one hosting company to another, but I ...
This morning I woke up, infused my body with caffeine and then read some news. An article in the Toronto Star seems to have "gotten my goat". It is an allegory written by Ann Dowsett Johnston...
The Phosphate was the defining category of drink during the soda fountains golden era and the Wild Cherry Phosphate was the most popular, but not far behind in popularity was the Chocolate Phosphate....
In part one we figured out how much cyanide was contained in fruit pit kernels and their toxicity. To summarize, yes there is cyanide in the kernels and there is enough to harm you. The next obvious ...
Even before I wrote the maraschino cherry post, a number of people had asked me whether the quantity of cyanide in fruit pits / stones (apricot, peach, cherry, etc.) was significant enough to harm so...
As much as the maraschino cherry is reviled by professional bartenders, it is lovingly embraced by the consumers of sundaes and artificially flavoured fruit “martinis”. Why do people love...
Tales of the Cocktail may have finished up 10 or so days ago, but I need to summarize things and thank a few people. Aside from the rough start with US Customs & Border Protection that turn...
Tales of the Cocktail always starts off with a bang, and this year was no different. Aside from my sixteen hour travel day, where I was temporarily refused entry to the US and missed three flights, T...
Anyone who knows anything about cocktails is aware that Tales of the Cocktail is just about upon us. For those that don’t know what “Tales” is, it is the largest annual migration of...
Digging through some historical ephemera, I found this interesting ad from the 1800s for Burdock Blood Bitters. It was recommended to treat the four greatest afflictions in America; dyspepsia, biliou...
I’m not sure who decides these things, but today (June 11th) is World Gin Day. So what does one do on a day that celebrates gin? I’d hazard a guess that we’d enjoy a gin cocktail. T...
Today the nominee finalist list for the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards was release and Im very happy to say that Ive been nominated in two categories (Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book and Bes...
Last week Trevor Easter (bar manager of the Rickhouse in San Francisco) asked me a question about Jamaica Ginger for a cocktail that he was researching. It just happened that I did know a fair amount...
With Tales of the Cocktail 2011 a mere 90 days away (or less) it’s time to start getting your flight booked, hotel reserved and sessions picked. This year I am a co-presenter on two session, on...
A fan of Anthony Burgess, Stanley Kubrick or possibly Rob Zombie may understand the name of this cocktail, but for the unenlightened the phrase "red red kroovy" comes from the book/movie &ldq...
What happens when you age a cocktail? Does aging help or hinder the flavour and what is happening chemically to the liquor mixture inside the barrel? Do you really need a barrel to make them? These a...
For some reason bartenders are drawn to the idea of infusing spirits with tobacco. After my post on the Bar Sorcerer, where I made a statement that “tobacco infusions are a bad idea” I&rs...
The idiom “jumping the shark” is defined as the moment in time when a creative effort moves beyond the essential qualities that initially defined its success and progresses into absurdity...
After the successful first edition of the Gin Connoisseurs Program (GCP) in 2010, G’Vine has started looking for the top gin bartender for 2011. This year G’Vine is looking for fifteen ba...
Tales of the Cocktail is on the move and is headed to the great white north, well Vancouver anyway. This the first time Tales has moved beyond New Orleans to bring some of the worlds most knowledgeab...
blog
A recent research paper published in Psychological Science has shown a relationship between bitter flavours and judgement. The interesting result was that after tasting something bitter, people were ...
I just spent the last two Saturdays whipping up some cocktails at the LCBO and came to the realization that there are some big gaps in the knowledge people need to make a decent martini, or any cockt...
You are no longer following . Undo?