These old newspaper articles about soda fountain provide a glimpse into the period and city they were written. This article comes from the Rocky Mountain News in Denver circa 1886. Reporters would just report on the happening of the local soda fountain and the new drinks being served. Cocaine, again, makes an entrance to a new city via the soda fountain,

This is a great article from the June 7th, 1885 Atlanta Constitution detailed the state of affairs at the local soda fountains. The reporter interviews a local soda proprietor and gets all the goods. One of the great things about this article is that it mentions Coca-Cola for the first time, though the reporter spells it “coco cola”. If you

Before I began my long hiatus on Art of Drink, I had accumulated hundreds of old newspaper articles about drink and cocktails in the 1800s. My intentions were to write about and share/transcribe them, but cocktail blogging kind of died with Facebook taking over, and I never wanted to post stuff to Facebook, because that would be like working for

The most popular drink in the world was once made using Acid Phosphate. Today, Coca-Cola no longer uses this unique ingredient, instead they have simplified their formulation by using phosphoric acid, which still makes it a phosphated soda, but not the classic version. The “;phosphate drink” was the most popular drink at soda fountains for over 70 years, but once

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

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

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

Some days I like an ice cold beer. It is easy to make, especially when it is a twist top. Most of the beer I stock is microbrew because I like flavour. After I had come home today, I went to the fridge and popped the top off of a J.R. Brickman Pilsner and headed to the computer to read

This drink was wholly inspired by aged whisky. When creating a new drink, the inspiration should come from something, and not just the random mixing of fruit juices, which is happening too much lately. Whisky can be intimidating to a new drinker, partially because they usually buy the cheapest stuff and secondly because the modern palate is geared towards sweet,

Bullets and grenades was what I was thinking when I whipped up this cocktail. As samples arrive on my desk, they sometimes gather into little groups. The Bulleit Bourbon and Zwack bitters were hanging out, which looked like they were plotting a coup or something. For those in the dark, Zwack is a Hungarian company that makes a range of