Tag: Craft
-
Cocktails and the AI-Revolution
Like many people, I’ve watched the capabilities of AI unfold with wonderment. I’ve been a fan but only to the point of amusement. Chat GPT can write a long epic poem in perfect iambic pentameter, it can write up legal contracts and it can create new cocktail recipes. Bars have already ventured into featuring AI-created… Read more
-
Bawon’s Benediction
The ingredients for this cocktail are inspired by the lore of Baron Samedi, loa of the dead in Haitian Vodou. Read more
-
Kapuhona: Turning Sex on the Beach into a Craft Cocktail
Kapuhona: Turning Sex on the Beach into a Craft Cocktail Sex on the Beach is one of those cocktails that everybody knows. Yet, it’s hard to imagine a craft bartender or discerning drinker treating it as a serious culinary cocktail. Lore has it that a Florida bartender invented the drink to try to sell peach… Read more
-
How to Become a Bartender!
There is no one route to becoming a bartender. I can tell you what I look for and appreciate in a prospective hire, but it’s not universal among bar managers. If you approach me for a job while claiming prior experience, I will ask you to make me a cocktail, and if you do an… Read more
-
Spook
To be clear, Spook is an old-fashioned and it’s quite traditional (well because we’re using simple syrup we might as well just call it a brandy cocktail). While typically associated with bourbon or rye, brandy has been used in old-fashioneds for as long as old-fashioneds have been made. This particular crafting uses clear Copper &… Read more
-
Inescapable Fate
Cocktail writers such as Jennifer Fiedler and Camper English have defined a new category of the tiki genra: Goth Tiki. It’s a trend illustrated with themes such as voodoo, zombies, and skulls. But to be honest, the seed was planted from the very beginning with Donn Beach’s original Zombie cocktail. The genre is as much… Read more
-
Another Old-Fashioned Controversy: What About That Muddled Sugar Cube?
Based on a review of vintage recipes, the “old-fashioned” historically referred to a specific way of making the now defunct-in-name “whiskey cocktail,” as there was a time when cocktail books had recipes for both the old-fashioned and the whiskey cocktail. They were essentially the same drink, except the whiskey cocktail was sweetened with gomme syrup… Read more
-
The Qualities that Make a Great Bartender
The qualities that make a good bartender are going to vary from establishment to establishment. For instance, someone with high-level flair skills may not be a great fit at a craft cocktail bar where there’s an emphasis on precision in measurements. Conversely, a craft bartender probably isn’t going to be happy working at a college… Read more
-
The Momsen
The Momsen The Momsen is an elegant and refined elaboration of the Lemon Drop. Subtle floral hints combine with mint and honey to conjure a sunny summer field. The Momsen is a rift on the Lemon Drop. It’s also an example of how recipes evolve. Since its conception two years ago, it has gone through… Read more
-
The Colonel
The Colonel is a craft take on the dirty old-fashioned. It’s common to see the old-fashioned garnished with a cherry and orange wedge but fine restaurants and craft bars generally stick to the classic form, which is garnished with only a lemon peel. Any fruit in the drink makes an old-fashioned “dirty,” which is an… Read more