The convention is a meeting of the second tier of the three tier system: the distributors who buy from the producers and sell to either bars or liquor stores as required by US law. Read more →
I'll be giving two talks at the first Chicago Cocktail Summit on May 22 and 23, 2016. The summit is divided into two days: the first one for consumers and home enthusiasts, and the second for industry folk and bartenders. Read more →
Directional Freezing is a simple method to make crystal clear ice by controlling the direction that water freezes. It was first explained here on Alcademics.com by Camper English in December 2009. The method has been written about in books, used in commercial products, and is employed in many small cocktail bars around the world. Read more →
I have abandoned inferior ice picks in favor of these awesome new ones. Read more →
A refinement of the method of making clear ice balls using a mold and a thermos. This method uses a beer koozie instead. Read more →
You can make a clear block of ice using an insulated cooler with the Directional Freezing method. You can also use this method to freeze objects inside of ice blocks including freezing a full-sized bottle inside an ice block. If you are able to add an aquarium pump to the mix, you can make clear ice from the bottom up without any cloudy parts at the end; a method that mimics how professional ice block machines work. (All of the many, many ice experiments posts are located here in the Index of Ice Experiments.) Today we'll talk about how to... Read more →
This technique to freeze a bottle inside an ice block uses directional freezing (freezing inside an insulated cooler with the top off so that it only freezes from the top-down), with the bottle raised high so that it's in the clear part of the ice block. Read more →
Another method of making super clear ice spheres using different molds in a cooler. Read more →
