In this story in The Guardian, I'm mentioned as "perhaps the pre-eminent cocktail ice scholar," in the section about ice snobs. I'll take it. The story isn't about me at all, but it's a long read (no really, it's a very long read) about the packaged ice industry through the... Read more →
For over ten years now I've been making clear ice in an Igloo cooler in my freezer, a method I first developed in 2009. You fill a hard-sided cooler with water, stick in the freezer with the top off, and the ice freezes perfectly clear from the top-down, leaving only... Read more →
It's time for the annual Alcademics drink book round-up! Below are all the books that have come to my attention in 2020. I don't follow wine/beer closely so there are only a few in that section. The links below are to Amazon and to Bookshop.org. If you buy stuff after... Read more →
I've had to look up this information a few times so this blog post will make it easier for me to find this information in the future. In the EU Vermouth = fortified aromatized wine with artemisia (wormwood) species. Americano = fortified aromatized wine with artemisia (wormwood) and gentian species.... Read more →
Dale DeGroff released a new version of his 2002 book The Craft of the Cocktail as The New Craft of the Cocktail [Amazon] [Bookshop] this summer. If you have been in the game for a while, you probably have the first version too. And if you have both books, you... Read more →
A last blast of new booze books before the end of the year! As usual, the descriptions come from the publishers and are not reviews. How to Drink Like a Royal by Albert W. A. Schmid buy on: [Amazon][Bookshop] "Royalty." A single word that invokes daydreams of champagne, lavish lifestyles,... Read more →
I was a speaker on a panel for Tales of the Cocktail 2020 in which I said that we should be careful about bitters in non-alcoholic cocktails. In my experience, if you ask someone who orders a non-alcoholic cocktail if "a dash of alcohol is okay" to put bitters in... Read more →
I was emailing with Dale DeGroff about the new edition of his book The New Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Think Like a Master Mixologist, with 500 Recipes and ice came up, as it does. It turns out he was using the big 1.25 inch... Read more →