My latest story for the San Francisco Chronicle is about all the ways bartenders are liquifying olives in their Martinis - in the vermouth, gin, vodka, brine, leaf tinctures, oil-washing everything, and even an “olive turducken.” Here’s a gift link so you can read it. Read more →
Bartenders joke about male customers who ask for their cocktails to be served in a “man glass” - an Old Fashioned rocks glass rather than in a cocktail glass on a stem, fearful that the Martini glass will make them look gay. I am reading the preview of the forthcoming... Read more →
I wrote about oleo citrate and super juice for the San Francisco Chronicle. These are techniques for increasing the yield from citrus fruits by eight times or so, using a touch of citric and malic acid powder in a specific way to bump up the flavor and texture of citrus... Read more →
My first story for Food & Wine just went live. I took advice from 95 years of cocktail etiquette books, beginning in 1930 and ending with the publication of How to Be a Better Drinker last week [amazon] [bookshop]. I had fun going through my cocktail book collection to find... Read more →
Esquire magazine printed an article with the Ten Best Cocktails of 1934 - the year after Prohibition was repealed. They included at the end a list of the Worst cocktails as well. Esquire’s link to the story is here, but it requires a subscription to view. DiffordsGuide has the list... Read more →
"The Drunkard has the Right to be Indiscriminately Loud" Illustration by Don Herold. From The Future of Drinking (1930) by Gilbert Selder. Read more →
Here’s a fun excerpt: The American Mercury 1924-09: Vol 3 Iss 9 CLINICAL NOTES BY GEORGE JEAN NATHAN AND H. L. MENCKEN The cocktail, once observed George Ade, follows the American flag. That was twenty years ago. The flags of all nations today follow the cocktail. Its fame has spread... Read more →
I keep a close eye on new books on drinks (mostly cocktails and spirits rather than beer/wine), and I read most of them that come out every year. On this post I'll keep track of them. I probably won't include every cultural franchise tie-in cocktail book (Harry Potter, Star Wars,... Read more →