Bartenders, Mixologists and home bar enthusiasts alike have known BarProducts.com, on the internet since 1995, as a source of barware and bar tools. Over the years, the stale look of the old website had caused Barproducts.com to fall behind the needs of its customers, often missing key features that the... Read more →
At the Tales of the Cocktail convention this year, I moderated a panel with three distillers who run column stills; one 5-column rum still, one continuous bourbon still, and one pot-column hybrid. Kevin Curtis is the Distillery Operations Manager for Michter's Whiskey. This company is building a new distillery with... Read more →
Sorry about the alliteration. I couldn't help myself. If you haven't read enough about batch and partial-batch cocktails here on Alcademics, I'll refer you to a story I wrote for the industry magazine FSR Magazine, for which I am the Spirits Editor. It stars such bartenders as: Joy Richard of... Read more →
Ziryab has long been one of those restaurants that stands out when you go past it on Divisadero Street in San Francisco, with a rock facade and front patio with hookah-topped tables. Well now they've given the place a renovation and have a full liquor license. They've brought on Zach... Read more →
This appears to be the summer of the Gin & Tonic, particularly with Spanish-style super-garnished tumblers of tonic making the rounds at several bars. In Washington, DC, Jon Harris the restuarant Firefly has combined Spanish-style G&Ts with Japanese-style drinking of spirits with tea to come up with a G&Tea program.... Read more →
Though I often write for DiffordsGuide.com, this time editor Ian Cameron wrote about me, or rather, my talk on water at Tales of the Cocktail. Some of the information in the seminar you may have read here previously on Alcademics as part of the Water Project, and some information from... Read more →
During Tales of the Cocktail this July in New Orleans, I helped judge the Merlet Sidecar Competition, along with Audrey Saunders of the Pegu Club, Chad Solomon of Cuff & Buttons, and last year's winner Mike Yen of San Diego. I was excited for the competition, as the Sidecar has... Read more →
Before I went gallavanting around the globe for the last few months, I wrote up a few of San Francisco's newest bars for WorldsBestBars.com. They were: Coqueta, the Spanish-influenced Gin & Tonic-heavy restaurant on the Embarcadero by Michael Chiarello. Novela, the high-volume cocktail bar featuring punch on tap and a... Read more →