Alcademics.com

Why Add Sugar to Rum When it's Made from Sugar in the First Place?

As mentioned in yesterday's post, rum is distilled from any sugar cane derivative like fermented fresh cane juice or molasses. But some producers add sugar to their finished rum after distillation. Adding sugar to any spirit can soften it and hide some flaws, but if you look at the (allegedly) sweetened rums in this post on RefinedVices.com, you'll notice two general patterns among the rum bottlings that allegedly have sugar added: They come from big companies that shouldn't need to add sugar to cover a bad distillate. They know how to distill. They're aged rums, rather than white rums. Well... Read more →

Live from Buenos Aires: David Wondrich on Drink History in the Americas

Hello from Tales of the Cocktail on Tour in Buenos Aires! I am attending three seminars today held at the lovely Intercontinental Hotel. (Then the rest of the time I'll just be in bars.) The first seminar was a talk by David Wondrich called Drinking the Americas from Punch to Prohibition Below are notes I took in the seminar, mostly unedited, but let me know if these raise any questions and I'll try to answer them. When Columbus arrived some South American and North American peoples had localized fermented beverages but not really any trade or exchange in them. When... Read more →

Cognac Meant for Mixing

In my latest story for Details.com I wrote about the new cognacs designed with mixology in mind. I ended up rewriting the story to be less nerdy than the first version, but the first version has more dates and price specifics. I pasted that stuff below, but you'll want to visit Details for the intro. But a few brands are coming around. One of the first to do so was Courvoisier, which launched Exclusif in 2007, and was billed as “the only cognac designed specifically to be mixed.” But bartenders balked at its $50 retail price. It was discontinued, and... Read more →

Rum, Cognac, Curacao, Honey, Lemon

On FineCooking.com, I posted a recipe from Amber West of Central 214 in Dallas. It contains Ron Abuelo 12 rum, Pierre Ferrand Ambre cognac, Grand Marnier, honey syrup, and lemon juice. Get the recipe here. Read more →

How Cognac D'USSE is Made

While I was in Cognac with Grey Goose, I made a quick trip to the Chateau de Cognac where they make cognac Baron Otard in addition to the new product for the US market, D'USSE. I previously visited this chateau to learn about Baron Otard, which was then just called Otard. Baron Otard is the sixth largest cognac brand. D'USSE is also made here, so I wanted to learn what makes it different. I met with Philippe Jouhaud, Sales and Marketing Director of Chateau de Cognac. Production Jouhaud described the ways that the cognacs here are different from other brands.... Read more →

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... Read more →

A Couple of Cocktails

On my FineCooking.com cocktail blog, I've listed two wintry cocktails over the last two weeks. The first was created by Willie Shine for 1534. It's a simple cognac-based tropical style drink using Disarrono where orgeat might normally go. That recipe is here. The second one is from David Delaney Jr. of Worcester, Massachusetts. It was a finalist in this year's Angostura cocktail challenge, and contains a bunch of things that seem like it would taste like pie: cherry, cinnamon, allspice, apple, and maple syrup. (Photo by CJ Foeckler) On Second Thought By David Delaney Jr. of Still & Stir 1.5... Read more →

A Brandy Cocktail for Fall

In last week's FineCooking.com post, I listed a receipe for the Orchard Sour, a drink created by Darren Crawford. It contains brandy, peach or pear or apricot liqueur, cinnamon syrup, and lemon juice. Simple and so good. Get the recipe here. Read more →