I just finished reading Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History by Frederick H. Smith. (Buy it from these links on Bookshop or Amazon and I earn a tiny commission.) The book brought me so much new information, and I strongly recommend it. Most of the time when we study... Read more →
I decided to measure the rate of freezing of an ice block in my (pretty crappy) freezer at home. It's just a standard apartment freezer. For all four times, I began with the same set of parameters: Igloo Legend 12 cooler 6 liters of cold tap water (this fills up... Read more →
Bar Iris, the Japanese-influenced cocktail bar in Russian Hill, currently lists 7 cocktails on the menu. The drinks, including Okinawa (rum, okinawa yam, calamansi, oat milk, plum) that I wrote about for Eater, are the result of tons of prep work for the ingredients before service. A lot of the... Read more →
The brand Gin Mare and the Madrid bar Salmon Guru have collaborated on a project aging cocktails in amphorae under the Mediterranean Sea, and then recreating that in a tank. The rest of this post is pasted from the press release. The aim of this project, which is still in... Read more →
There are now at least three brands of nonalcoholic cocktail bitters on the market. It was formerly commonly believed that Fee Brothers bitters were nonalcoholic, but that is not true: they have a glycerin base, but the flavor extracts used in each have alcohol. Their bitters range in overall alcohol... Read more →
This is a story I wrote that first appeared on AlcoholProfessor.com, reprinted here with permission. Can Brucato Amaro Capture California's Diverse Terroir in a Bottle? Brucato Amaro Bottling by Camper English The production facility for Brucato Amaro is not found deep in California’s redwood forest, nor in its orchards or... Read more →
I just realized that this is my tenth year at making The Big Drink list for 7x7 Magazine. It's a list of iconic cocktails in San Francisco. Check out the 2012 version here. As usual it's a list of super classics like the Irish Coffee at The Buena Vista and... Read more →
I recently read the book Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney W. Mintz [amazon][bookshop]. This book compares sugar production and consumption patterns specifically looking at the place of sugar in England as it grew from a luxury item to an everyday necessity. The book... Read more →