After a day of working in the hot sun, a cool, refreshing drink is usually in order. What happens when you find out you have no lemons or limes? Beer is always and option, yes, but there are other choices. If you look back a couple hundred years, one of the common refreshers was Switchel. If you go back even further you'll come across its precursor Oxymel. What do these two drinks have in common? They both contain vinegar as the acidulant. If you read on, you'll see it's not as bad as it sounds.

It's almost time for Tales of the Cocktail 2009, and this year I'll be presenting two sessions. The first session is Drinks from the 1600's, a historical look at what, where and why people drank. Not many people have an idea of what people drank 400 years ago. Did they drink anything similar to a cocktail? What kinds of spirits were popular? Where did they drink, and what did those places look like? This session will give you an interesting and entertaining glimpse into the past. Anyone truly interested in drink history must attend.

Walk into any bar in Canada and order a "rye and ginger" and the bartender, without even blinking, will have one on the bar lickity-split. Sounds like heaven for the cocktaphiles in the crowd; a country where rye is recognized. However, most will know that the term "rye", in Canada, simply means any Canadian Whisky, more on the confusion later. The familiarity with the "rye and ginger" order even flows into many of the US states. If you put the politics aside for a moment, we should realize that whisky and ginger ale is a great combination, possibly even better than the, dare I say, a Dark 'n Stormy.

One of the crown jewels in the cocktail world is the Margarita. Like some of the classic French and Italian recipes every chef should know, the Margarita is something that every bartender knows. Since it's such a well known, and simple cocktail, you'd think getting a decent Margarita would be easy. Well, that assumption would be wrong. The problems stem from judicious recipe modifications and the increased use of sugar in food and drink. What was once a well balanced cocktail, is now a giant, fluorescent green, sugar laced, culinary nightmare. It's not beyond repair, and hardcore Slurpee lovers may be surprised to find that the original Margarita is still a great drink.