Stuff

Bartenders getting naked yet again

It’s that time of year again: the lads from Melbourne’s Black Pearl are parading their pastiest parts, showing off their bartender tan and stuffing santa hats with their swizzling sticks in their 2014 calendar.

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…

Discover the anatomy of a mezcal

You could be forgiven for being a bit confused when it comes to mezcal production and the processes involved — though the rusticity is part of its charm, mezcal producers can be a bit opaque in terms of providing information. That’s where anatomiadelmezcal.net comes in…

The Dead Rabbit’s masterful cocktail tome now available

The hot new NYC bar from Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog, have just taken their shop online into the interwebs. There you can buy your own copy of their wonderfully bound and printed “mixed drinks list” — the same one that they conducted painstaking research in compiling. It’s sure to be a resource in the future as much as the Savoy Cocktail Book is today, we know we’ll be picking up a copy.

Books: The Drunken Botanist

Hipster bartenders, gather round, cos this is a drinks book that is right up your alley. Get set to take over your local community garden or herb pot (as it is in Surry Hills) because this tome will take you on a journey through all the plants that are responsible for the booze in your sacred bottles. Think sake from rice, Scotch from, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn.

The Cocktail Studio connects bartenders with content

Campari’s National Brand Ambassador, Oliver Stuart, says that often the information that bartenders find most interesting during training sessions is the tidbits that come up in the course of presentations, often as an aside. And it’s this avenue he hopes their recently launched blog, The Cocktail Studio will go down. The blog has already had great feedback from bartenders, becoming the kind of place where bartenders can come and share ideas, recipes, stories — and these little gems of trivia.

Web watch: drinkhacker.com

Yep, it’s American, so there is a bit of a yankee-centric feel about this website but if you’re interested in hunting down new and unique spirits, you’re sure to find something here.

Web watch: Silo Design

Silodesign.com is a Paris based design website with some pretty spectacular kit. Since 2005, the company has specialised in tableware, due to the outstanding recognition received from the professional restaurant industry.

Book review: Drinks by Tony Conigliaro

Once in a while a book comes along that’s a real game changer and Drinks by Tony Conigliaro is one of them. If you’re a doubter then turn to the first page where Heston Blumenthal sings Conigliaro’s praises: “Tony Conigliaro is a revolutionary. He is at the forefront of a new energy in cocktail making.”

TMD Launches Sugar Cane Spirit

This is Australia’s first high quality ‘Cachaca’ styled spirit. Produced from Queensland’s finest sugar cane juice the method of copper pot distillation, plus the exceptional purity of Tamborine Mountain’s spring water results in a grassy smooth drop full of flavour and smoothness.