I make and sell a grenadine through my company Small Hand Foods. It differs vastly from what is currently on the market, and some people have been asking why. First and foremost is the issue of taste. There are generally two kinds of grenadine on the market: […]
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As a pretty geeky bartender, I like to scan old bar books looking for drink recipes that call for obscure ingredients (see Capillaire and Orchard Syrup). I first came across Sirop-de-Groseille in the Savoy Cocktail Book, although it’s also listed in Harry McElhone’s “Barflies and Cocktails.” It’s […]
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I’ve been enamored of the curdled/strained milk addition in cocktails ever since I made Italian Lemonade. It’s often called for in milk punches, although bartenders tend to make milk cocktails to order. Shaken and consumed immediately, one often avoids curdling the milk, at least in the glass. […]
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How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas is usually the first reference for anyone looking into pre-prohibition cocktails. But as a confectioner as well as a bartender, I am equally intrigued by the appendix added to this book, almost as long, titled A Manual For The Manufacture […]
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I read cookbooks like novels. Cover to cover. You know how a lot of dudes have stacks of books in their bathrooms? My stacks are cookbooks. (And I like to take baths.) Being the diligent bar geek that I am, I love old bar books. Most of […]
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I finally received my copy of David Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, courtesy of the bartender’s dream publisher, Mud Puddle Books. They’ve been reissuing out-of-print cocktail books, including Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual (1900) and How To Mix Drinks: A Bon Vivant’s Companion by Jerry Thomas […]
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