Author: Camper English

  • Jameson Irish Whiskey Distillery Visit

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    Camper English
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    In early February I visited the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery – actually two of them. The original Jameson distillery is in Dublin, but it is no longer made there. In 1971 it moved to the Midleton distillery in Cork. The reason is because in the late 1960's Irish Distillers was formed, a merger of Jameson,…

  • Chartreuse Secrets

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    Some friends who meditate told me about the movie Into Great Silence, which follows the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps. As I barely stop talking you can bet they weren't telling me about its depiction of the silent lifestyle of the monks as something of interest, but because there is…

  • High-Falutin’ Boozin’

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    Another magazine I write for that is not usually online is Caviar Affair, for which the tagline is, "Celebrating wordly indulgences and luxury living." That's so *me*, right? Actually it really is, except that other people indulge me in the luxury to which I've become accustomed. Anyhoo, they did put the new issue online. Unlike…

  • Flowers and Champagne

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    Here's something you already know: Sparkling wine + Floral liqueur = fun drink. I hadn't realized until I started writing my latest Fine Cooking blog entry just how many new floral liqueurs have hit the market. In recent years several new floral liqueurs have been brought to market, including St. Germain (elderflower), Esprit de June…

  • Big in Germany

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    I try to link to all my writing available online, but you really only see two-thirds or so of it. And even if you could see it all, most of us couldn't read it because it's in German. I am a regular contributor to Mixology magazine, based in Berlin, and for this magazine I write…

  • Which Vermouth is Which?

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    In Friday's FineCooking.com blog entry, I have a little story about how I remember which vermouth is which: sweet, French, white, Italian, dry, red. I could never keep them straight until I came up with a mnemonic device. Read it here. Plus! There is also the recipe for the Bamboo cocktail.

  • Sherry, Reconsidered in the Los Angeles Times Magazine

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    **Update: This story is no longer on the LA Times Magazine website, so I have pasted it here.   In yesterday's LA Times Magazine I have a huge feature on sherry. (photographs by Nigel Cox) As a wine category, sherry has practically everything going for it: a tremendous range of flavors, a rich history dating…

  • Cocktails and Italian Spirits

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    Last week I spoke on a panel in New York for the Vino 2011 convention. The event mostly focuses on Italian wines, but this year they also offered a cocktail seminar. The seminar was called “Renaissance of the Cocktail in America: Top Spirit Professionals Assess the Role and Opportunities for Italian Spirit.” The panel was…

  • Absinthe Apparatus

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    In my latest post for FineCooking.com, I discuss what all that absinthe-serving equipment is for. The fountain is not, of course, filled with absinthe, as in this music video. It is filled with plain old ice water. Read more about that here.

  • Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana

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    In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana, which is located in Sanlucar de Barrameda.  (La Gitana is their most famous brand. It's a manzanilla; similar to fino but aged in Sanlucar.) (The bodegas were wonderfully old, moldy, and dusty.) (One of the…