Author: Camper English
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EU Regulations for Vermouth, Americanos, and Quinquinas
I've had to look up this information a few times so this blog post will make it easier for me to find this information in the future. In the EU Vermouth = fortified aromatized wine with artemisia (wormwood) species. Americano = fortified aromatized wine with artemisia (wormwood) and gentian species. Quinquina = fortified aromatized wine…
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How Much Alcohol Do Bitters Contribute to a Non-Alcoholic Drink?
I was a speaker on a panel for Tales of the Cocktail 2020 in which I said that we should be careful about bitters in non-alcoholic cocktails. In my experience, if you ask someone who orders a non-alcoholic cocktail if "a dash of alcohol is okay" to put bitters in the drink, most people get…
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Kold Draft Ice Machine History from Dale DeGroff
I was emailing with Dale DeGroff about the new edition of his book The New Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Think Like a Master Mixologist, with 500 Recipes and ice came up, as it does. It turns out he was using the big 1.25 inch (32 mm) Kold-Draft cubes at…
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Halloween Ice Fun 2020: Bats, Skeleton Hands, Finger Puppets
This isn't the first year I decided to freeze some goofy stuff in ice for Halloween. Remember that all the years of ice experiments can be found at the Index of Ice Experiments page. Some previous years I've done: Creepy Halloween Mask Frozen In Ice Blocks More Eyeball Ice Balls and Ice Fangs for Halloween…
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Designing A Club Soda From Scratch
I was recently in touch with Top Note Tonic founders founders Mary Pellettieri and Noah Swanson about their new Club Soda that was created specifically for making highballs with whiskey. They went into the process with specific goals in mind to pair it with whiskey, researched styles of water and other brands' mineral content, then…
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Testing Out The Ghost Ice Clear Ice Tray Insert
Tony Gonzales is a bartender and fellow ice nerd who had clear ice cube trays made. The brand is called Ghost Ice. Well, not really trays, they're inserts that fit into insulated coolers to take advantage of the directional freezing. If you're familiar with the method of poking holes in the bottom of silicone ice…
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Distilling Honey Into Vodka: An Interview with Caledonia Spirits Owner/Distiller Ryan Christiansen
Years ago when I first heard of – and tried- Barr Hill Gin, it was a revelation. The gin is neutral spirits with added juniper and honey- that's it. The honey brings with it other aromatics from the flora the bees feed on. The gin is made by Caledonia Spirits in Vermont. A recent press…
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Getting Nerdy About Soju Production: Sticky Rice, Nuruk Fermentation, Multi ABVs, Korean Production
I received an email from a newish soju brand Tokki Soju with a really interesting story. Given the technical skill of one of the founders, I thought I could get some additional information, and that's just what happened. First, the background: The brand was launched in 2016 by Founder Brandon “Bran” Hill and CEO Douglas…
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Quinine and Tonic – New Info from Just the Tonic Book
I recently read the book, Just the Tonic: A Natural History of Tonic Water by Kim Walker and Mark Nesbitt. As you know, I also wrote a self-published book about the history of the Gin & Tonic, but mine doesn't have the rich illustrations of this handsome hardbound book – and this book brings forth…