Bartending and Your Boobs

Posted by Darcy O'Neil on April 21, 2012

So there I was, making tongue-in-cheek statements on Twitter when I went and stuck my foot in my mouth, or so it seems. My offending statement was about applying for a bartender job in places where the idea of talented mixologists has yet to entrench itself. My exact words were: "Should I consider breast implants before applying for a bartending gig?" Considering I'm a guy, I thought it was funny, as did a few others. However, a talented bartender… Continue

Irish Mermaid Cocktail

Posted by Darcy O'Neil on April 16, 2012

Creating a good cocktail is tough, making it popular is even tougher. There are currently thousands of very talented bartenders around the world who take their profession seriously. Many have honed their skills so they can mix high proof spirits with bitter components to make a worthwhile cocktail, which is no easy task. Once you have a good cocktail, how do you make it popular? That's actually the hardest part, but with enough publicity, anything is possible.

The inspiration for… Continue

Why Prohibition Didn’t Work

Posted by Darcy O'Neil on April 11, 2012

It's one of those often repeated debates that goes nowhere: Why didn't prohibition work? Both sides of the debate ante up and hences forth argue ad nauseum. So with the help of Google's Ngram Viewer I'm going to provide a simple, visual explanation of human nature and why prohibition failed. If this doesn't explain it, nothing will.

Google's Ngram Viewer is a cool little tool that graphs the occurrence of words… Continue

Abbott’s Bitters Quest

Posted by Darcy O'Neil on April 06, 2012

Tasting history is one of the more enjoyable aspects of classic cocktails, however many of those original ingredients have been lost to time. Abbott's bitters is one of those ingredients, and without it we really don't know how the original Manhattan tasted. Sure, there are those rare vintage bottles of Abbott's bitters floating around on eBay, but those bottles are at least 70 years old and have undergone some serious aging. The extreme aging basically creates a new flavour,… Continue

Beverages De Luxe (1914)

Posted by Darcy O'Neil on April 01, 2012

Just prior to prohibition, a great little booklet was put out by The Wine and Spirit Bulletin called Beverages De Luxe. It is a collection of articles, and recipes, written by owners of distilleries and others in the business. Some of the contributors include George Brown (Brown & Foreman) and A.M. Hanauer (Hamburger Distillery, Pittsburgh, PA) among many others. Hanauer wrote a piece on rye whisky and quotes Bismarek (sic - most likely Bismarck) as saying “Beer… Continue