The Emperor’s New Bitters

The long line in which I waited to get into this sold-out seminar last Thursday was unsurprising. Bitters, as you’re undoubtedly aware, are a hot topic among bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts. We were hoping we’d taste things both new and old, and we weren’t disappointed. (As we waited and chatted amongst ourselves, we were offered [...]

Stop Press! The secret of the El Presidente

STOP THE PRESSES!

Well, that was dramatic. My apologies for the additional post and the drama, but unfortunately we’re unable to edit our posts once they’re published, and I left out something important.
The El Presidente, a classic cocktail of Cuban origin from the era we discussed during David Wondrich and Jeff Berry’s Around the World via [...]

Around the World by (Brass) Rail

I wish my high school history classes had been a tenth as fun as this one.

Historian-of-booze David Wondrich and guru of all thinks tropical and drinkable Jeff “Beachbum” Berry led us on a survey of the global reach of America’s greatest ambassador to the world at large — the cocktail (and the julep, cobbler, smash, [...]

Colonial-Era Cocktails

Fire, red-hot metal, smoke and sizzle — now that’s my kind of seminar! (More in a bit.)
And oh, the punch! We do love our punch, and punch is undergoing quite the revival these days, now that we remember how to do it properly. Punch lost its cachet for a while, thanks to an image of [...]

Setting up your in-house soda program

“The entire soda market is dominated by one or two huge corporations,” said Darcy O’Neil during today’s soda program seminar. “I think it would be great if we could get more sodas created by bartenders in our bars,” said his co-presenter Andrew Nicholls.
Absolutely right.
Don’t buy little bottles, don’t use the hose guns … control what [...]

So where y’all wanna eat? (This one goes to eleven!)

“Oh yeah, we’re going to New Orleans for Tales this year! I hear the food’s good!” (Well … yeah.)
I thought it only proper to continue the four-year series of posts I’ve been writing about places to eat and drink in my hometown as you descend upon it for Tales, but first a few logistical notes [...]

Sneak Preview: The Emperor’s New Bitters

Given my propensity for acquiring and quaffing just about every type of aromatic or drinking bitters in existence (a propensity I’m sure more than a few of you share with me), there’s one particular Tales seminar that I’ve very much been looking forward to: “The Emperor’s New Bitters,” moderated by New Zealand bartender Jacob Briars [...]

Sneak Preview: The Chicken or the Egg?

Ever heard of a rotary evaporator? Me either. (Well, not until recently.)
Here’s what one looks like:

They run about 25 grand, and it’s the kind of thing you see and use if you’re a professional chemist, or a grad student in chemistry, or … a bartender at 69 Colebrooke Row, a lovely, fairly tiny (35-seat) bar [...]

Spirited Dinner at Feast, Drinks by Jackson Cannon

You know what the worst thing about Tales of the Cocktail is?
Well, other than oppressive heat in New Orleans in July (solution — stay inside and drink!), forgetting to avail yourself of the spit bucket while tasting spirits all day long (ooh, learned that one the hard way) or having two fantastic seminars taking place [...]

Sneak Preview: David Embury and the Fine Art of Mixing Drinks

Undoubtedly there are many of you in the cocktail world — bartenders and non-professional enthusiasts alike — who know the name David Embury (1886-1960). His book, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, first published in 1948, is a highly respected tome on the essentials and basics of making a proper cocktail, with strong emphasis on [...]

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