Alcademics

The Blood and Sand is one of the rare recipes that appears first in The Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930. The recipe makes no sense when you see it written: It is equal parts whisky, orange juice, Italian vermouth, and cherry liqueur. It sounds excessively sweet, bland, and fruity, but in reality is fresh and juicy, rich yet nuanced, and it can be made masculine and smoky or light and easy depending on the brand of scotch used. Read more →

September 2013: One of many enormous aging warehouses for Jameson Irish Whiskey in Cork, Ireland. Read more here. Read more →

Commercial ice machines like the Clinebell freeze blocks of clear ice by freezing from a cold plate on the bottom, while a water pump near the surface keeps water circulating (thus preventing ice from forming on the surface). An Alcademics reader wrote me to tell me about a method he developed that sort of combines these two methods for the home user, producing a mini-Clinebell-type block. Read more →

It covers what I could learn about eggnog at the time (keep in mind this is 4 years ago), including the history of the drink and its possible relation to British egg drinks like posset and wassail, along with other American drinks like Grog and the Tom & Jerry. Read more →

Details.com likes me to write about the trendiest of trends, so I skipped the big macrotrends like mezcal and expensive bourbon, and focussed instead on the small stuff. Read more →

August 2011: Ellinge Castle, a small castle near Malmo, Sweden where Purity Vodka is distilled in the former stablehouse. Read more here. Read more →

June 2011: On a trip to Sweden with Karlsson's Vodka, we spent a night out in Stockholm. This picture was taken from Eriks Gondolen. Read more →

A bunch of new spirits hit the market before the end of the year. Read more →