The Spirit World

With Plymouth finally exporting their sloe gin to the U.S., American drink enthusiasts no longer need to make their own—if you can get your hands on one of the few bottles, that is—yet there’s something awesome about putting up summer fruit for holiday cordial. This traditional British recipe can be made with sloe berries or […]

Bartending guides are like cookbooks, no two are the same and for enthusiasts the collection just seems to grow and grow and you can’t get enough of your favorites. If you’re anything like me, a good bartending book is priceless and - cocktail geek that I am - I’ll read every one of them […]

Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are filled with numerous groups, fan clubs and event listings for bartenders and mixologists but now there is a website that is strictly for the professional bartending community. The site is MySpeedRail.com and it launched in the beta version this past May and two weeks ago we […]

Glenfiddich has announced that the bottling of this year’s Vintage Reserve has now been completed.
Distilled and laid down for maturation in 1977, the Glenfiddich has made every one of its 31 years count to be carefully selected for bottling by the panel, who met each of the craftsmen during the selection process.
Glenfiddich Malt Master, David […]

You may already be aware, but following the great success of the last Twitter Tasting (details on Spittoon) - Bin Ends Wine (www.binendswine.com) hosts the next Twitter Taste Live this Thursday - Sept. 18, 7pm ET! 
The wines being featured are 4 wines from the prominent Sonoma winery Michel-Schlumberger: Chardonnay “La Brume” 2006, Syrah 2005, Merlot 2004 and Cabernet […]

I love beer that’s so thick you can chew it. I adore heavy stouts and I.P.A.s make my bottom all tingly, but there’s a special place in my being that’s purely reserved for barleywine. Just the fact that the IBUs can get well over 100 in this wonderful style of beer is enough to intrigue…well, […]

Bordeaux wines demystified in our webchat with winemakers
Chat date: Tuesday 16th September Chat time: 1.00pm
You might love French wines, but chances are you’ve found them labelled in such a way that it’s hard to know which one to choose, or even to remember which one you bought last time you went to the supermarket. Well […]

One of my friends and mentors, Bridget Albert, has written a cocktail book.  I know, I know, yes it’s another cocktail book.  But this one is worth exploring.
I attended the book signing party last week at the Drawing Room here in Chicago, and it was a great party full of fantastic cocktails and fun conversations. […]

If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a Greek god and hundreds of women are feeding you grapes, now you can. Just take a sip of
 
Bacchae
1 1/2 oz of Barsol Acholado Pisco
1/4 oz of Vya Sweet Vermouth
1/8 oz of Suze
1/4 tsp of Marie Brizard Parfait Amour
1/4 tsp of Grenadine

Stir for […]

In the wake of the European Wine Bloggers’ Conference, the first North American Wine Bloggers’ Conference will take place from October 24-26, 2008 at the Flamingo Resort in Sonoma, CA. The three-day program will feature a variety of activities, which include both wine tasting and winery visits, along with opportunities for live blogging and blog-related […]