Author: Darcy O'Neil

Lemon Soda Phosphate
Soda

Lemon Phosphate Soda

When flavoured soda water became a thing, lemon was the preferred choice. In fact, it was the most popular flavour for 30 years. Modern variations of this classic flavour include Sprite and 7-Up.

Vodka Pays the Bills Cocktail
Cocktails

Vodka Pays the Bills

Simple vodka cocktails are an easy way to get people to try new things. Not everyone likes brown, bitter, stirred so the trick is to use something they are familiar with.

How to make a French Martini
Cocktails

French Martini

When Chambord decided to do a promotion to help sell their liqueur, the French Martini recipe was born, and it is one of the few corporate creations that has developed a loyal following.

Soda Jerks History in Atlanta
History, Soda

Beverage Business (1886)

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, […]

Lunar Milkshake Phosphate
History, Soda

Talk with the Soda Men of Atlanta (1885)

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 […]

Cocktails

Summer Beverages for the Thirsty of Gotham (1884)

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 […]

acid phosphate
Soda

Horsford Acid Phosphate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6cs6at18QQ 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 […]

Grenadine Syrup Recipe
Ingredient

Grenadine Syrup

Note: I’ve done some new research on the topic of grenadine and it has a lot of implications for pre-prohibition cocktails. Check it out: What is Grenadine Made From? In the never-ending quest to discover what makes a great cocktail, I’ve embarked upon a study of grenadine. Sure it may seem like a trivial subject, but I’ve learned that it’s […]

Cocktails

Diablo Cocktail

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 […]