Mash: Chemistry 101
Sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics. A refresher on a seemingly familiar topic can be… well, refreshing.
Mash chemistry is one of those topics that a lot of folks feel like they have a solid handle on....
Book Reviews
The Cocktail Bar: Notes for an Owner & Operator
by Chall Gray
Hayward, White Mule Press, 2018
122 pages
$25
ISBN: 9780996827799
Chall Gray has opened six bars including Little Jumbo, in Asheville, NC, and he leads the bar-consulting firm Slings & Arrows Consulting. With...
Adventures in Co-Packing
In 2013, Caitlyn Krug moved to Spain after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles. She aspired to work in the hospitality and tourism industry and took a job as a bartender in the Basque Country region. It...
Heirloom Grains
Like a piece of weathered old hardwood furniture that’s been restored to its former glory, distillers are rediscovering heirloom grains and finding that they have character and story that commodity grain just can’t match.
Some distillers and farmers are focusing...
It’s Time to Take Ethyl Carbamate Seriously Again
Ethyl carbamate (EC), also known as urethane, is a compound found in fermented foods and beverages. It’s an ester of carbamic acid. It’s also a known carcinogen (cue ominous-sounding music), making it an important compound to know and understand...
Book Reviews
The Art Of Distilling, Revised And Expanded: An Enthusiast’s Guide to the Artisan Distilling Of Whiskey, Vodka, Gin And Other Potent Potables
by Bill Owens, Alan Dikty and Andrew Faulkner
Beverly: Quarry Books, 2019
176 pages
$24.99
ISBN: 9781631595547
Bill Owens, Alan Dikty, and Andrew...
The Skinny on Canned Cocktails
For many, summertime means going to the beach and lying by the pool. Unfortunately, packing a bottle of traditional craft spirits means bringing glass, which is cumbersome and typically prohibited. One viable option for a convenient, portable and refreshing...
The Art of the Barrel
Coopering was a craft integral to the American colonies, its practitioners relatively prosperous and influential due to their centrality to the burgeoning trades of gunpowder, cement, whaling, crude oil, ciders and distilled spirits — none of which could have...
The Barrel in the Basement
Blending spirits is an expertise that may seem like the perfect and intimidating combination of high art and skill that master blenders spend years honing, with results likely impossible to emulate as a newcomer. But it’s not a practice...
Be Safe. Save Money. Build Your Own Lab.
For craft distillers, the key to success in product development and production is to document what you do and continuously improve your methods to help you achieve your goals more easily, cheaply and with the best possible results. Building...
