Alcademics.com

New Liquor Launches in September 2012

Over at ShakeStir.com, I write the New Booze blog about new spirits products launching. Let's see what launched in September:

• Berg & Hauck's Fine Food and Cocktail Flavorings
• High West American Prairie Reserve Bourbon
• Hillrock Solera Aged Bourbon
• Four Roses 2012 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon
• Blue Ice G Vodka
• Shellback Rum
• Pumpkin Face Rum
• Buffalo Trace 2012 Antique Collection
• Courvoisier Gold
• 2012 Parker’s Heritage Collection “Master Distiller’s Blend of Mashbills”
• Art in the Age SAGE
• Montelobos Mezcal Joven
• 2012 Old Forester Birthday Bourbon
• Broken Shaker Vodka

Read all about them over at ShakeStir.com.

New SF Venues on WorldsBestBars.com

Hey, it looks like I'm writing for WorldsBestBars.com now. 

For my first installment, I wrote up three newish bars:

• Local Edition
• Tradition
• The newly-reopened Burritt Room. 

So if you haven't been to one of those yet, you might want to check it out over at WorldsBestBars.com.

 

Photo of Local Edition courtesy of Local Edition

 

Fizzy and Sticky: The Carbonated Liqueur Trend on Details.com

In my latest story for Details.com I wrote about NUVO sparkling liqueur and a couple of its modern spin-offs, the Timbaland-fronted Le SUTRA and the organic Prevu.

Is Carbonated Liqueur the New Cristal?
By Camper English 

There was really no way to predict that NUVO and its imitators would be more than a passing fad in U.S. bars and clubs. Cristal, Hennessy, Dom: Those kind of made sense when they blew up in pop culture over the years. They're luxury brands with luxury prices. The whole aspirational thing. But pink bubbly liqueur with a $30 price tag? What's more, there are at least two more NUVO-like products hitting store shelves this season.

How did this bizarre trend come to be?

 

I cover a short history of the brands and how they're being served at bottle service spots. 

Go read it!

Camper English to Receive Legends Award at San Francisco Cocktail Week

Well ain't I fancy! I'm happy to announce I will be one of the recipients of the Legends' Awards at San Francisco Cocktail Week on September 21. Scroll down for a big discount code to the awards ceremony.

The Legends Awards
Friday, September 21, 7:30-10:30 p.m.
Tickets: $85 in advance (booking a block of 10 will secure a table for groups) & $95 at the door

Location: The Swedish American Hall, San Francisco (2174 Market Street)
Tickets here. 

The second annual Legends Awards announces the recipients of the 2012 awards, going to the true innovators, influencers, mentors and historians of cocktail culture in the Bay Area. The 2012 award winners are:

• Trailblazer – Allison Evanow, CEO and Founder of Square One Organic Spirits, for her pioneering efforts in the development of high quality, organic spirits and green business practices in the industry.
• Mentor – Erik Adkins, Bar Director at Slanted Door Group, for developing pace-setting beverage programs and the skilled bartenders to execute them across multiple restaurants in the Bay Area over the last decade.
• Lifetime Achievement – Miles Karakasevic, 13th Generation Master Distiller at Charbay (pictured), for creating and building a family business that produces wine and spirits that attract worldwide acclaim and help to set a standard in craft production.
• Renegade – Martin Cate, Owner, Smuggler’s Cove, for being the torch bearer and leader for a new generation of Tiki cocktail culture and rum connoisseurship.
• Scribe – Camper English, Journalist, Alcademics.com, for his steadfast dedication to the craft of investigative journalism in spirits and cocktail culture, and his influence on the new generations of professionals and enthusiasts alike, seeking answers and debate.

I'm in some pretty good company there, right? 

Come bask in my glory at the awards ceremony - I'll make it cheaper for you to do so. What they haven't mentioned is that there will be food, TONS of drinks, blackjack tables, and 1960's style entertainment... including a Liberace impersonator! 

Use promo code LGNDS for a 20% discount on tickets to the Legends' Awards for Alcademics readers. 

I hope to see you there!

New Booze for August 2012

I write the New Booze blog over at ShakeStir.com, an online community for bartenders. 

I keep track of new products hitting the US market, and products reaching new distribution into new states. Here's what launched in August.

• The Balvenie DoubleWood 17 Year Old
• Glenfiddich Malt Master’s Edition
• Solbeso
• Banks 7 Golden Age Rum
• Plantation 3 Stars White Rum
• CSOA Coconut Arrack
• Larceny Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Dad's Hat Whiskey Now in California
• Atsby New York Vermouth
• Bunnahabhain Toiteach Single Malt Scotch Whisky Comes to the US
• Buffalo Trace Giant French Oak Experimental Collection
• Sparkle Donkey Tequila
• Plymouth Navy Strength Gin
• Colonel E. H. Taylor, Jr. Rye Whiskey

Read about all the New Booze releases over at ShakeStir.com.

Carbonated Cocktails in the San Francisco Chronicle

My latest story for the San Francisco Chronicle is now online. I wrote about carbonated cocktails and the many, many different approaches bartenders are taking to make them. 

Carbonated cocktails proving popular
By Camper English

A little fizz can do wonders for a cocktail, making it more aromatic, lighter and a bit more dynamic.Traditionally, drinks get that fizz from mixers like ginger ale, sparkling wine or soda water. But several new carbonating devices have given bartenders the opportunity to add sparkle to almost any drink.

Carbonating drinks directly "makes a more intense, more flavorful cocktail, as opposed to adding 2 ounces of soda water," says Cappy Sorentino, bar manager at Healdsburg's Spoonbar.

Read the rest of the story here.

At Chez Papa, Adam Chapman makes a Watermelon Carolina Cross using a carbonated cocktail shaker. Photo: The Chronicle / SF

Jamaican Rums Bring the Stank on Details.com

In my second story for Details.com, I wrote about the wonderfully pungent pot-still rums and blends from Jamaica. 

Bring the Funk: New Jamaican Rums Embrace the Stank

August 16 is National Rum Day—a virtual invitation for bloggers to post recipes for crappy blender drinks and liquid fruit salads. Not only does this celebrate dumb cocktails, it misses the bigger news about how new rums are embracing bigger, bolder, more assertive flavors. Yes, stankiness is in.

Read the story here on Details.com.

 The story discusses Jamaican rum-inclusive brands including:

• Smith & Cross
• Plantation
• Renegade Rum
• Denizen
• Banks
• Appleton Estate
• Wray & Nephew
• Black Tot

So go read it!

 

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Filtration in Spirits: A Primer

For CLASS Magazine online at DiffordsGuide.com, I wrote an article about filtration in spirits. This was based on the research I did for my talk on the subject at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic earlier this year. 

Don't Forget the Filtration Factor
By Camper English 

Nearly every spirit undergoes some sort of filtration, yet we rarely acknowledge it as part of production. But filtration makes vodka what it is today, practically defines Tennessee whiskey, is the standard in making white rum, and is changing the look of tequila. Filtration is important.

Generally speaking, filtration refers to the mechanical process of passing a liquid or gas through a medium that keeps out solids of a certain size. But in spirits, we include carbon filtration (sometimes called carbon treatment) as filtration too. Carbon filtration works differently: by absorption, the adhesion of particles to a surface, like flypaper. 

I researched filtration in spirits for a talk at this year's Manhattan Cocktail Classic. While I can't claim category-wide or hands-on expertise in this matter, I spoke with several industry sources who know their stuff. Consider this an introduction to the subject.

The article covers filtration in vodka, rum, tequila, whisk(e)y, and cognac. I hope you'll find it interesting. Get the full story here.