Europe’s Biggest Cocktail Convention in NYC: Bar Convent Brooklyn in its Second Year
When you’ve been in the cocktail/spirits industry as long as I have, you’ve attended a few hundred industry events and conferences around the globe, packed with bartenders and owners, restaurant and F&B managers, press, distillers, importers and distributors. I’ve...
Hunting the Black Cat
Spirit and cocktail history is a strange thing; it is rare that the definitive truth will ever be discovered, and the history at any one time just gives a snapshot of our understanding. Ask any drinks historian worth their...
Unlocking Belgian Distilleries
Belgium, like the United States, has experienced a steady growth in the demand for and production of artisanal spirits over the last decade or so. The typical Belgian consumer is drinking less, and drinking better, and is willing to...
Hawaiian Shochu Company
For more than 200 years the histories of Japan and Hawaii have been intertwined. On May 5, 1806, the first Japanese people ever recorded to have set foot in Hawaii arrived as survivors of the cargo ship Inawaka-maru, which...
Grains Are Grapes
American whiskey and, in fact, most American spirits of any type, are made from a combination of cereal grains. Regardless of their origin, however, all of these grains and even most fruits grown for use in beverage alcohol share...
One-Shot vs. Concentrate or Concentrating on Gin with a Single-Shot
There are many different ways to create gin, even before you switch on the still. Even after the distillate is produced, a whole range of different decisions and options exist.
A simple way to produce gin is to put botanicals...
Bring Back the Medicine
As imbibers, we saunter up to a bar and ask for our medicine with a sagacious smirk. The bartender knows what we mean. Libations have been affectionately referred to as “medicine” for as long as they have existed. From...
Spice up your rum
Spiced rum is the beach in a bottle, a dash of pirate in a cocktail, or a sophisticated and eminently palatable spirit to sip. With this wealth of guises it is no surprise that spiced rum is increasingly popular....
