Once a proprietary “medicine” once sold as “Seabury’s Union Bitters” that would be found “grateful and comforting” in all cases where manhood needs to be restored, or where men have lost their self-respect and interest in each other’s welfare. This is pretty typical marketing for these types of “medicine” in the 1800s. Some historical documents claim it was to be

Historically referred to as stomachic or aromatic wines, Turin type vermouth is typically a sweet or sweetened wine with a high alcohol level. The alcohol content should be 42° underproof. Grape based wines are traditional, but fruit wine is also allowed if it is declared. The sugar should be dissolved in wine as the wine itself must not be diluted.

Possibly of Canadian origin from the 1875 to 1885 time period. Royal Bitters Recipe: Fennel 6 oz Coriander 6 oz Cloves 6 oz Cassia Cinnamon 6 oz Bitter Orange Peel 1¼ lbs Lemon Peel 1¼ lbs Calisaya Bark 1½ lbs Peppermint Leaves 2 lbs Balm Leaves 2½ lbs Instructions To make Ivan Bitters take 60 ml (2 oz) of the bitter

A Latvian specialty bitter / liqueur. It is considered to be a good cold remedy and is used to treat digestive problems. Riga Balsam Recipe: Oil of Mustard Seed 1 tsp Oil of Thyme, red 2 oz Oil of Marjoram 1 oz Oil of Lovage 2 oz Lemon Oil 2 oz Oil of Elecampane 8 oz Saffron Tincture 2 oz Instructions Take 1

After a day of working in the hot sun, a cool, refreshing drink is usually in order. What happens when you discover you have no lemons or limes? Beer is always an option, but there are other choices. If you look back a few hundred years, one of the common refreshers was Switchel. If you go back even further you’ll come across

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 the small things that are often overlooked and led to the downward trend in quality. When we understand the simple things, it allows us to create more complex

The heat and humidity have finally arrived and it is time to break out some summer sippers. The Planter’s Punch is a pretty common summer drink and one that I haven’t had in a very long time. I remember having one many years ago, but it was pretty basic and was probably just rum, sour mix and grenadine. Lots of

Canadian whisky has been around for a very long time and is the number one spirit imported into the United States. It currently accounts for 11.5% of spirit consumption in the US and only trails behind vodka for market share. The key reason for this is the smooth nature of Canadian whisky. For most people, drinking is a casual affair,

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 lime in place of lemon and sugar is optional. The Tom Collins and Gin Fizz are both good refreshing drinks

When someone says Caesar the first thing that might come to mind is a salad, or possibly an old dead Roman, but if you are in Canada, you will probably think cocktail. If you were to pick an official cocktail for Canada, the Caesar would be it. For some reason, this cocktail is the most popular cocktail in Canada. It