Author: Camper English
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How to Classify Bottled Waters
Most books about bottled water seem to trace the history and environmental impact of the industry, but Fine Waters by Michael Mascha is quite a different book from that. Mascha is a water sommelier and runs the website FineWaters.com, which contains pretty much all of the information in the book as far as I can…
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More Mineral Water Info from a Book on Soda
Another useful resource in my exploration of water in spirits and cocktails is Darcy O'Neil's book Fix the Pumps. The book focusses on the history and mechanics of the pre-Prohibition soda fountain. Though largely filled with information on sodas, it includes a chapter and some recipes on mineral waters. Before global shipping became easy, soda…
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Paloma Recipe Round-Up: 20+ Paloma Variations
In my research on the Paloma I have come across many variations on the drink, so I thought I'd link to them here. Typically the Paloma is made with tequila (always use 100% agave!), grapefruit soda such as Squirt or Jarritos, a squeeze of a lime wedge and a pinch of salt. Esquire's standard recipe…
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Perfectly Clear Ice Balls – A Clever Trick
One of Alcademics' readers figured out a simple way to make perfectly clear ice balls by using a silicon ice ball mold, a piece of wire, and a pot of water. His name is Craig Belon and so he calls it the Belon Method. No actual parrots are required. [update: Check out easier ways to…
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Building Better Mineral Water: Deconstructing Mineral Waters
In the Water Project here on Alcademics, I'm looking at what is in commercial brands of sparkling mineral waters and reconstructing them. To do so, first I looked at how to get all the dissolved solids out of tap water. Then I measured properties of commercial mineral waters – pH and dissolved solids- and compared…
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Top Bourbon Historical Myths on Details Daily Blog
My latest story is up on Details.com. I took a look at Michael Veach's amazing book Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage and wrote about a few of the many bourbon myths he busted. These include who invented bourbon, why it's called that, what they used to put into it to make it taste older,…
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Tasting the Regional Waters of Scotland
In my search for information about water sources used for various spirits as part of the Water Project, I came across Uisge Source, a company that bottles waters from different regions in Scotland. The waters from Speyside, Islay, and the Highlands are meant to be representative of the waters used by distillers in those regions…
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Salad in a Glass: Arugula, Spinach, and Kale Cocktails
In my latest post for Details.com, I talk about the interesting trend of leafy green salad vegetables making their way into cocktails. Shut Up and Drink Your Salad: Cocktails Embrace Spinach, Kale, and ArugulaBy Camper English The West Coast style of cocktail in which bartenders muddle a cornucopia of fruits and herbs in their drinks…
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Making Mineral Water: Starting from Scratch
In the Water Project I'm studying water in spirits in cocktails, from the source water for fermentation through to the sparkling water we use to dilute drinks. As part of the latter research, I'm looking into deconstructing and reconstructing mineral water. Much of the work on this has been done by other people and I'll…
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The Geology of Scotland and the book Scotch on the Rocks
In my studies of water in spirits and cocktails, I picked up the book Whisky on the Rocks: Origins of the 'Water of Life' by Stephen and Julie Cribb. The book is about the geography of Scotland and how that influences the water sources for scotch whisky. It turns out Scotland's geology is pretty varied…