The Spirit World

I almost missed the sour cherry season this year—bad booze nerd! All the smart cocktail geeks know that now is the time to put up cherries for this winter’s Manhattan season. There are many different schools of thought as to how best to make these treats. What is universally agreed upon is that anything is […]

Ok, so I got really sick of having the choice of paying out the wazoo for true maraschino cherries or needlessly suffering through the lye-soaked mess that they pass off as “cherries,” so I made my own. I made a mishmash of brandied cherries and maraschino cherries, and they turned out fantastically.
Cherries A La Kincke […]

This classic recipe for preserving the short seasoned-yet-delicious raspberry comes from The Vintner’s, Brewer’s, Spirit Merchant’s and Licensed Victualler’s Guide (1826), but looking through old housekeeping or inkeeping instructional manuals, it seems to be a pretty standard one. The result is a sort of brightly-flavored brandy cordial, as opposed to a dry fruit brandy or […]

Many people of a more mature age than myself remember brandy from california to be from producers like Gallo, Guild, Christian Brothers, Paul Masson, Korbel, etc. and made to be quaffed alone, but often in coffee, eggnog, or in mixed drinks.
There was (and still is in many cases) in these products, very little resemblance to […]

So mixed drinks have made a comeback and you are thinking “what am I to do with all my brandy, vodka, absinthe, etc. that I have been enjoying neat (without ice, by it’s onesies)? Well, sure you could buck the trend and keep on with being a neat-freak, or you could experiment with ingredients that […]

These days, cocktail folks the world over are brushing the cobwebs off classic cocktails and returning them to circulation. Their digging into dusty drink books of yore have given us such delicious new-old hits as The Last Word, The Aviation, and The Clover Club, just to name three. Research in this area surely continues, to […]

Each year, and with fairly little fanfare, there is a fairly exhaustive spirits judging that takes place in San Francisco. Anthony Dias Blue is the founder of the competition, which saw its eighth year in operation when it held its 2008 judging in mid March.
There were 847 products submitted, across 439 different brand classifications. Judging […]

Ever eat a pine tree?
Now that the holiday season is over, and that Christmas tree is begging to be put out to pasture, it might be worthwhile to consider alternate ways at disposing of it besides just putting it out on the curb. While carving it up at the kitchen table might be something only […]

For many years now, elderflower syrup has been a somewhat common ingredient for a variety of cocktails. At least in Europe, and specifically in London. I’ll often get calls or e-mail from some bar here in the states asking where they can get elderflower syrup for some cocktail they want to add to their menu. […]

Maybe it’s just me, but there are several words that are just so dang confusing when it comes to trying to figure out how to pronounce them properly. For years, I had seen “orgeat” in print, but never pronounced. To look at the word and apply crude American pronunciation to it arrives at something like […]