Month: November 2013

The Artistry of Mixing Drinks by Frank Meier

Frank Meier was the head bartender at Paris’ The Ritz during the 1920s and 30s. We referenced him — and this great book, The Artistry of Mixing Drinks from 1936 — in our piece on the Black Velvet. Meier was German by birth, worked in NYC and was working against the Nazis during their occupation of Paris…

Caribbean drinks — it’s all about the rum…

The Caribbean: we often talk about the Caribbean in passing when we’re talking about rum and rum drinks. But how much do we really know about these places? We’ve put together a couple of snaps, a few stats and more importantly, a few drinks that you might see at each of the following stops in the Caribbean.

Introducing: Adelaide’s Monica Place

This former Rookie of the Year has only been in the game for three short years but with her dirty jokes, love of quality movies and a dedication to the bar biz, she is definitely one to watch.

A sticky situation: some sweet wines worth sampling

For many modern wine drinkers, sweet wines are little more than an introductory drink to our more popular dry table wines. This is at odds with the quality and variety of sweet wines available though, and some basic knowledge of these different styles (and they are very different) can help you introduce customers to a brilliant array of wines.

Postcard: Drinking down in New Orleans

There’s a certain smell to Bourbon Street in July. It’s there in the afternoon, when the asphalt is cooking from the sweltering heat. It’s there when you leave the hotel lobby at seven o’clock at night and the sun is still out; it’s there still, in the morning, after they’ve sprayed the streets with water and soap and the bubbles are left baking in the gutters in the morning sun.

Lagers in a cold climate: the yeast behind the brew

We’ve talked about beers brewed with wild yeasts before, of the great sour beers that come out Belgium during the colder months that have been fermented by naturally occurring yeasts (like brettanomyces) living in and around the breweries.

This was the way that all beers were made before old mate Pasteur investigated microbiology.