Alcademics

Gin and Tonic cupcakes.

An LA bar goes with big ice.

This AP story on sake does a great job of explaining the surge in sake sales over the past decade. Here's the meat:

"Distribution of sake was limited to Japanese trading companies. They sell you the food, the plates, the sake. It's one-stop shopping for sushi restaurants. In that environment, sake wasn't getting its due. And the majority of the sake exported was table sake, which isn't very good."

But about 10 years ago, two things changed that.

In the U.S., Asian food trends boomed. Asian and Asian-fusion restaurants flourished, non-Asian restaurants served dishes with ingredients such as miso, wasabi and edamame, and grocers offered more ethnic fare.

At the same time, the Japanese began turning their noses up at sake. In Japan, young drinkers view sake as old fashioned, favoring beer and wine instead. As a result, sake consumption has fallen sharply since 1995.

To survive, premium sake (pronounced SAH-kay) brewers in Japan turned to Americans and began working with importers, who introduced sake to the fine wine market.

Cheryl Charming lists all the drinks mentioned by name in the horrid movie Cocktail.

Combing through my old links, I found this one I don't think I linked to before: Toby Cecchini wrote one of the best and most practical stories about shrubs (VINEGARWATCH CONTINUES) and includes a recipe.