I have a story in the new Fall 2013 issue of Whisky Advocate magazine that's not online. In it I compared a range of devices meant to chill down whisky. Teroforma Whisky Stones [buy] Teroforma Whisky Stones MAX [buy] Balls of Steel [buy] Skybar's Wine Chill Drops [buy] Tilt Spheres... Read more →
I'll be speaking and leading tastings at this year's Bar Convent Berlin in October. The lineup of speakers is pretty great (I mean, if you exclude me), and include Matthew Bax (Der Raum, Gamsei), Stephan Berg (The Bitter Truth Bitters), Ian Burrell, Jack McGarry and Sean Muldoon (The Dead Rabbit),... Read more →
La Urbana opens on September 4 in San Francisco. The restaurant and bar features a large mezcal bottle and cocktail selection by Bar Manager Lucas Ranzuglia. Here is the menu, subject to change. I see: "chile water capsule," "tortilla water," smoking volcano bowl, and chimolera-extracted citrus oils in the margarita.... Read more →
The new mezcal bar in Houston, The Pastry War, comes from Bobby Heugel and Alba Huerta of the famous Anvil. The name is based on a French-Mexican conflict that began over a damaged bakery. I have not visited the bar but it's easy to see they're doing a lot of... Read more →
This week over the course of two days I helped judge the San Francisco regionals of the Bombay Sapphire Most Imaginative Bartender competition. We toured San Francisco and hit six bars to watch 8 bartenders make drinks. My co-judges were Borys Saciuk (former Michael Mina bartender, now with Bacardi), Dominic... Read more →
I didn't have a blog post written for Alcademics today, so I proposed a question on Facebook: What are things you'd like to see more of - or less of - in cocktail bars? Responses are below, starting with my own. Camper English: I'd like to see more low-alcohol cocktails.... Read more →
Absolut vodka is made in southern Sweden, in the town of Ahus in the Skane region. I took a trip there this winter to learn how the vodka is made. The distillery can produce 650,000 bottles of vodka per day and I had about that many questions for the producers.... Read more →
This post is sponsored by Frangelico. Frangelico liqueur is made in Italy with Tonda Gentile hazelnuts, which are also popular with confectioners as they are sweet, large, and have an easy-to-remove skin. The hazelnuts are gathered in the southern Piedmont region (where they have an DOC-like protection), and toasted and... Read more →