Gin

Gin is not a spirit that I've worked with a lot. Sure, I've had a gin martini and a number of gin slings and fizzes, but when I look at my spirit inventory I only have one bottle of gin!*  And I call my self a "mixologist", well… [Continue]

No discussion on cocktails is complete with out discussing the Singapore Sling. The history of the Singapore Sling was thoroughly documented by Mr. Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh in the Journal of Mixology (a book in which I also contributed an article). However, this post is going… [Continue]

Digging up old cocktails, or in this case fizz recipes, has led me to this interestingly named drink called the Peach Blow. The article is from the May 2^nd, 1909 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. A reader asked for the recipe of the Peach Blow and the Lilac Fizz. The newspaper was happy to oblige. Now, almost 100 years later, and right in the middle of peach season, I'm… [Continue]

"Oh yay, another post on the Monkey Gland", is what a lot of people might be saying. Sure, it's been a topic of interest among bloggers and the Cocktail Brain Trust™ for the past few years. Most reviews are glowing, kind of like Canadians over President Obama. Personally, I suspect a lot of people like the cocktail because it makes people giggle like little school girls when they hear… [Continue]

The problem with cocktails, like the Aviation, is that they require ingredients that maybe hard to find, well at least if they are to be done properly. Of course when I make a cocktail, I want it done properly, so I am constantly on the look out for ingredients that are not in my inventory.… [Continue]

On any given day, if I were offered a properly made Ramos Gin Fizz I would never turn it down. This is a drink with a long history, dating back to 1888 and a unique taste and consistency that is hard to find in almost any other drink. The trick to the Ramos Gin Fizz is… [Continue]

Having a good name for a cocktail is essential, especially if you want to get it into a bar or publication. Part of the fun, if you can call it that, is creating a name with a meaning. The problem with that is people just don't get the connections and then the name gets lost to time.Well the Internet has fixed that, so creatively is a must. Here is an example of how I named a recent accidental… [Continue]

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]

There are cocktail competitions and then there is the G’Vine Gin Connoisseur Program. Most cocktail / bartending competitions are relatively simple affairs that pit one cocktail against another with the winner having the best cocktail of the moment. Sometimes it’s as much luck as it is the whims of the judging panel. The G’Vine program is very different and the final… [Continue]

Very interesting things happen when you take a group of bartenders, mix in some of the best spirits and cocktails in the world and then stick them in a hotel together. And I'm glad I waited until the morning to right this post because we've got some killer material. Whenever an Australian does a striptease to Waltzing Matilda, on boat, you know it's going to be one of "those"… [Continue]

After an exhausting 3 days of challenges, drinking, traveling and assorted other activities the winner of the G'Vine Connoisseur Competition was Stephan Hinz from Germany (Shephard Bar in Cologne). Really, this wasn't an easy victory. Any one of the twelve bartenders could have challenged for the top position, but circumstances, preparedness and the ability to know when to… [Continue]

Bartending competition results can never tell the whole story, nor do they reflect the true strengths of each competitor. However, numbered rankings often seem harsh, especially to those who didn't come in first. Like those old "No Fear" t-shirts from the 1990s that claimed "second place is the first loser", numbers are merciless. So for a little more balance, and a little humour,… [Continue]

And here are the final bartender summaries for the top six competitors. Sometimes circumstances have an interesting effect on the final positions in any competition. There is no doubt that things like jet-lag, smoke inhalation and the sniffles can make or break a competitor. But, the top competitors always find a way to rise above these things and still give outstanding performances.

Few people know the difference between these two drink because they both contain gin, lemon and soda water. Some people throw the Gin Rickey into the equation to make things even more confusing. Just for the record, Gin Rickey's use… [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]

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]