Exploring the World One Drink at a Time since 2005
Last week bartender Trevor Easter asked me a question about Jamaica Ginger for a cocktail that he was researching. It just happened that I did know a fair amount on the subject. While doing research for Fix the Pumps I came across some old recipes for the production of Jamaica Ginger (1800s) and its fall from grace. For some reason, […]
With Tales of the Cocktail 2011 a mere 90 days away (or less) it’s time to start getting your flight booked, hotel reserved and sessions picked. This year I am a co-presenter on two sessions, one of them being “Sodatender or Barjerk” with the esteemed David Wondrich. With my book on soda fountains (Fix the Pumps) selling decently and Dave’s […]
Two days in New Orleans is insufficient, however anytime in New Orleans is better than none at all. This was the case with my presentation at the Museum of the American Cocktail. What made up for the short time was the stir* of bartenders from some of the finest New Orleans bars that showed up to help prep the session […]
With Tales of the Cocktail 2011 on its way, nominations for the Spirited Awards are being solicited. With that being said, I’d love to get Fix the Pumps nominated in the Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book category. I’m setting my expectations at a reasonable level, considering that it is my first book and was self-published, just being nominated would be a […]
In life there are few things we automatically like or love, we usually need a positive introduction by a trusted person to acquire a taste. This process is called “Transvaluation” and is the technical term for positive contamination. Transvaluation is rare compared to negative contamination because it requires an object or person, of significant influence, to imbue another item with […]
It is that time of year where people like to predict what’s going to happen in the near future. And since I’ve been jumping on a number of bandwagons lately, why stop. Most of my predictions are less Nostradamus prophecy and more progressive thinking about where drinks are going. Or more likely, where I’d like drink trends to go. Feel […]
Darcy S. O’Neil was born in Sarnia, Ontario and spent many of those years living near the beach. A cold Canadian beach, but a beach none-the-less. After high school, the decision of a career choice was whittled down to chemistry or the culinary arts. Chemistry was the winner. At the time it seemed logical that laboratory skills were more transferable […]
Now that David Wondrich has made the punch bowl popular again, with his new book Punch, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and post a few holiday punch recipes I discovered in Baltimore Sun article from 1898. Actually, I found them while looking up eggnog recipes, but since they were in the article, I decided to share them with […]
Making soda from scratch is not as hard as you might think. Creating a flavourful soda syrup using a few simple techniques can open up a whole new world of culinary creativity.
A few years ago I wrote a piece on the Secret of Cola and the ingredients used to make cola flavoured beverages. Obviously, Coca-Cola is the king, but Pepsi isn’t doing too bad. The fact is cola flavoured products are tremendously popular, but very few people actually know what makes that flavour so unique. I’m not going to rehash that […]
If you had a hangover in the early 20th century and you asked a pharmacist or saloon keep for a solution to your problem, this would have been a common drink that would get you functional again.
Adding things to Coca-Cola is a time honoured tradition, one that immediately comes to mind is rum. Another is Aromatic Spirits of Ammonia. Now, this isn’t kitchen cleaner ammonia, which would be a big mistake, this is a pharmaceutical preparation that has been used for over a century, even before Coke was invented. For druggists, this preparation was an over-the-counter […]