Cocktail

I just spent the last two Saturdays whipping up some cocktails at the LCBO and came to the realization that there are some big gaps in the knowledge people need to make a decent martini, or any cocktail for that matter. Art of Drink has always been about the dissemination of information for the betterment of cocktails so we’re going back to basics. Even though a lot of us are good at discussing… [Continue]

With the James Bond flick Casino Royale having been in theaters, many cocktail enthusiasts eyes were looking for the appearance of the Vesper Martini. This cocktail is a “James Bond” original, actually an Ian Fleming original, but who cares. For the most part it is a variation on a Martini, and all bartenders know… [Continue]

The class of drinks called “sours” are pretty common. The general recipe is spirit, lemon/lime, sugar, egg white and sometimes bitters. The Whisky Sour is a classic sour, which is probably the most commonly ordered in North America. But you can have a brandy sour, a Midori sour or a Pisco Sour. Pisco is the national spirit of Chile / Peru and they are currently still fighting… [Continue]

With all the rum reviewing going on, I decided it was time to stop and take a cocktail break. I’m still on this rum kick so a cocktail made with a good rum might hit the spot. Since my last rum review was on Pusser’s Navy Rum, the obvious cocktail choice… [Continue]

While I was thinking about what to write, I glanced up and notices my collection of Food & Drink magazines from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). I decided somewhere in one of those magazines there must be something that would inspire me to write. The first issue I pulled out was from the summer of 2004 and had a recipe for the Mint Divine, a rye, mint and lemonade recipe. Basically… [Continue]

Mint is one of those flavours that has two parts, one being a slightly sweet flavour, the other being a “cooling sensation” when you drink a cocktail made with mint. For me, the flavour is good, but the cooling effect… [Continue]

Guest Post by Caroline O'Neil

Don't let the girly pink colour scare you away. The Cosmopolitan, or informally known as a Cosmo, is a relatively new cocktail that was created in 1985. The Cosmo has become very popular in recent years with the help of one of my favourite… [Continue]

This topic has been debated a lot and nobody really knows where the word came from, but every once in a while somebody comes across an old newspaper article discussing this topic. Well, as I was researching through some archives of old newspapers, I came across a couple of articles discussing the origin of the word "cocktail". I decided to share them. The articles are interesting in that they are… [Continue]

The origin of the word “cocktail” is one of those persistent little mysteries that many people would like to solve, but information doesn’t come easily. I’ve looked at this a couple of times, basically putting my spin… [Continue]

As other cocktail bloggers begin writing about the approaching spring and hay fever, I'm still stuck in the great white north deep freeze. It's warmed up a good five degree's since my last post, so, with the wind chill, it's a balmy -19. Even though I don't mind that temperature, as long as it is sunny, I still feel that this has been a long winter. Maybe it's the one year… [Continue]

After the successful first edition of the Gin Connoisseurs Program (GCP) in 2010, G’Vine has started looking for the top gin bartender for 2011. This year G’Vine is looking for fifteen bartenders to compete. The top two bartenders from each of the following countries (Canada, Germany, Spain, the UK and the US) along with five “wildcard” bartenders from anywhere in the world… [Continue]

For some reason bartenders are drawn to the idea of infusing spirits with tobacco. After my post on the Bar Sorcerer, where I made a statement that “tobacco infusions are a bad idea” I’ve had a number of people ask why? The simple answer is toxicity, but that answer doesn’t provide the details intelligent bartenders are looking for, so in this post I’ve expanded on… [Continue]

This is a classic cocktail that is fruity and strong with the two star ingredients being rum and passion fruit. With other fruit juices added, this drink comes out like a type of fruit punch, with a big alcohol kick. It is believed that the drink was first… [Continue]

Lychee fruit in drinks has… [Continue]

Last year I drank Sazerac's, this year it seemed Vieux Carré's were my drink of choice. New Orleans has such an interesting history, especially as the birth place of the cocktail. But, finding a good cocktail in New Orleans can be a task. Forget Bourbon Street, except for a rare few establishments. Some other places in the French Quarter offer potential, but aside… [Continue]

There are some classic cocktails that use bitters as a key ingredient, the Negroni being a primary example. The problem is with the modern North American palate and its fixation on sugar laden drinks. Sweet, salt and sour seem to be fine but most North Americans shun bitter flavours. There is a small,… [Continue]

A fan of Anthony Burgess, Stanley Kubrick or possibly Rob Zombie may understand the name of this cocktail, but for the unenlightened the phrase "red red kroovy" comes from the book/movie “A Clockwork Orange”. It is used by the main character, Alex, to describe blood in the fictional nadsat language. The phrase was subsequently used in the chorus of Rob Zombie’s song “Never… [Continue]

I’m not sure who decides these things, but today (June 11th) is World Gin Day. So what does one do on a day that celebrates gin? I’d hazard a guess that we’d enjoy a gin cocktail. The obvious choices are the Negroni or Martini, but may I suggest The Filby? Yes, I’ve written about this cocktail before, but that was prior to having some very interesting information given to… [Continue]

As much as the maraschino cherry is reviled by professional bartenders, it is lovingly embraced by the consumers of sundae's and artificially flavoured fruit “martini's”. Why do people love the artificial variety? Aside from the brilliant red colour, the cherries remain plump like a cherry should be, and not shriveled like the head of a 105 year old person. Oddly, a portion… [Continue]

Here is another old cocktail (fancy drink), circa 1873, that is named after Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia. The drink comes from an article published in the New Orleans Daily Picayune (1873 and was created by Mr. E.F. Barry, a bartender at the Everett House hotel in uptown New York. You may remember Mr. Barry as the one of the compounders of the Moral… [Continue]

Even before I wrote the maraschino cherry post, a number of people had asked me whether the quantity of cyanide in fruit pits / stones (apricot, peach, cherry, etc.) was significant enough to harm someone and whether there was a way to remove the cyanide from the kernels. Since the world has a fascination with deadly ingredients,… [Continue]

Another Mixology Monday is upon us, with the topic being Bourbon and our host being Scofflaw's Den. When I think of bourbon, I sometimes reminisce about the perception it has compared to Canadian whiskies. Bourbon is bold, fiery and strong; Canadian whiskies are light, easy going and smooth. Obviously this isn't going to apply… [Continue]

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… [Continue]

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… [Continue]

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… [Continue]