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Alcademics is a Best Publication Finalist for the Tales of the Cocktail 2014 Spirited Awards

This morning the four finalists in each category of the Tales of the Cocktail 2014 Spirited Awards were announced.

As mentioned previously, your host Camper English (for Best Writer) and this website Alcademics (for Best Publication) were on the long list.

Alcademics.com has made it through to the four finalists for the Best Publication. Hooray! Not bad for a mostly-one-person operation.

The other finalists are Imbibe Magazine (for which I also write), Punch Magazine, and Ginger Magazine from France (which I can't seem to locate online).

The winner will be announced at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards celebration on July 19th.

Thank you for reading!

June 6, 2014
A Cup That Keeps One’s Mustache Clean

In the Drink insert in Saveur Magazine for the June/July issue, I wrote a small story about the very cool mustache teacups at Dead Rabbit.

Check it out here.

Related articles

A Wide Range Of Amari & Cocktails In Which To Use Them in Saveur Magazine

What Cocktail Bars Need More (And Less) Of

Ginger Beer Cocktails in Saveur's June Drink Insert

June 5, 2014
Rye Cocktails and Advanced Barrel Aging in Whisky Advocate
In the Summer 2014 issue of Whisky Advocate magazine I have two articles.

This is a rye-themed issue and it's pretty great, so you should probably just get a subscription or run out to a retail store that carries it. They don't typically put anything from the print magazine online so that's the only way to read these.

Advanced-Level Barrel Aging – Of Cocktails

Bartenders are doing some amazing things with barrel aging. In the story I cite new/cool/innovated techniques from:
- Tradition in San Francisco
- Bergerac in San Francisco
- Jamie Jones of Manchester
- The Barking Dog in Copenhagen
- Bon Vivant in Edinburgh
- Manhattan Bar at The Regent, Singapore
- Jack Rose Dining Saloon in DC
- Liberty in Seattle
- Pint + Jigger in Honolulu
- Pomodoro in Boston
- Half Step in Austin
- Citizen Public House in Scottsdale
- Ryan Chetiyawardana of White Lyan
Phew, that was a lot of bars to include in a one-page article.

The Rituals of Rye

Now that rye whiskey is back, what do you do with it? This story has a lot of new cocktails (like, a lot of cocktails), but I think the really interesting part is about which classic cocktails demand rye versus bourbon.

It includes recipes and/or quotes from:
- Nathan Burdette of Los Angeles
- Jonathan Smolensky of Canada
- Vincent Toscano of Rye in San Francisco
- Brad Peters of Hock Farm Craft & Provisions in Sacramento
- Enzo Errico of Milk & Honey, New York City
- Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club, New York City
- Brian MacGregor of Wingtip, San Francisco
- Chris Neustadt of Jimmy at the James Hotel in Chicago
- Brian Means of Fifth Floor Restaurant, San Francisco
- Anthony DeSerio of Splash restaurant in Guilford, Connecticut
- Ted Kilgore of St. Louis
- Andrew Freidman, Liberty, Seattle
- Molly Wellmann of Japp's in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Michael Callahan, Bartender-At-Large in Singapore
- Abigail Gullo of SoBou in New Orleans
- Tamir Benshalom, Bull Valley Roadhouse in Port Costa, California
- Geof Anderson of Annunciation Restaurant in New Orleans
- Ray’s and Starck Bar in Los Angeles
- The Passenger in DCAudio Discotech in California
- Elixir in San Francisco
- Barrel in Washington DC
Pick up a copy!
June 4, 2014
A Great Big Story about Gin & Tonics in Saveur
In the June/July issue of Saveur Magazine, I have a bunch of drink stories. The biggest, longest one, which took me a few months of research to put together, is on the Gin & Tonic.

It has a bunch of history, a bunch of recipes, and a bunch of tasting notes.

The main text of the story is here.

Types of gins with different flavor profiles are here.

Bottled tonic waters and tonic syrups are here.

And recipes include:
- Plymouth G&T from Barceloneta in Miami
- Dill G&T from Jordan Gold
- The Pretty Tony by Brian MacGregor of Wingtip in SF
- Mother of Pearl from Optimist in Atlanta
- Conquistador from Coqueta in SF
- Los Gintonic from Aragona in Seattle
- Queen Victoria Tonic from The Other Room in Nebraska
- Bar Code Gin & Tonic from Barcode in Bellevue, Washington
June 2, 2014
Ginger Beer Cocktails in Saveur’s June Drink Insert
Saveur magazine has an insert in the June/July issue that is a mini-magazine called Drink. I wrote a handful of stories for it.

I'll post them as they show up online (get excited, ice fans!), but the first to appear is a story on ginger beer. It's a bit of history, a bit about the difference between ginger ale and beer, and several recipes for drinks that show how it goes with everything:
- Audrey Saunder's Gin-Gin Mule (gin)
- Erick Castro's Kentucky Buck (bourbon)
- Horse's Neck (cognac)
- Dark 'N' Stormy (rum)
- El Diablo (tequila)
I'm not sure if the Chilcano (pisco) will appear anywhere, but that's a pretty easy one to figure out.

The main story with fun illustrated recipes as above is here.

Or to see the recipes written in normal format, you can follow this link.
May 27, 2014
Alcademics and Camper English in Top 10 Finalists for Tales of the Cocktail 2014 Spirited Awards

Today Tales of the Cocktail announced the top 10 finalists in all categories for the 2014 Spirited Awards.

This website, Alcademics.com has made the list for Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication.

Camper English, your host, has made the list for Best Cocktail & Spirits Writer.

Hooray!

Voting for the Spirited Awards is already complete – the voting panel doesn't revote on the finalists but just from the initial list of many nominees. The list of the top 4 finalists will be announced later, and then the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in New Orleans in July.

The full list of finalists in all categories is here. Congratulations to all.

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Does Water Matter in Spirits Production?

May 24, 2014
Ice Trends in Drinks International Magazine
The April issue of Drinks International magazine, which I just received in the mail, contains a series of articles about trends at the World's 50 Best Bars.

I wrote the one about ice, which should come as a surprise to nobody at this point.
Unfortunately the story isn't online yet, so I just wanted to alert subscribers to look for the ice story on page 15 of the insert.

If the story appears online, I'll be sure to update this post with the link.

Related articles

The Ice King of the Internet
May 23, 2014
It is Now an Accepted Axiom that the North Pole Cannot be Reached Without Lime Juice

Vintage Rose's Lime Juice Cordial Ad

April 30, 2014
Specialty Cocktail Ice Providers
This is a list of specialty cocktail ice providers – companies that make large, clear ice such as 2-inch cubes, spheres, and spears. Many of them also make sculpture ice but this list is not for that.

I haven't put them in any order, so you'll have to look through the list to find ones in your area.

Outside USA

Image: Chisel-It
- Ice Rescue, Wellington, New Zealand
- Mammoth Ice – Sydney, Australia (Ships to Australia)
- On the Rocks Ice – Vancouver, Canada
- Eskimo Ice – London, England
- Ice Cubed, Manchester, England
- Crystal Group – Paris, France
- h-eis - Dresden, Germany
- IsCompaniet – Stockholm, Sweden
- Park Island Ice Department – Stockholm, Sweden
- Les Marchands – Quebec, Canada
- Ice Up – Greece
- The Iceman– Toronto
- Minus 9, Bangkok
- The Nice Company, Paris
- Navy Strength Ice Co for Melbourne
- Bare Bones Ice Co for Sydney
- Ice Studio, London
USA
- Custom Craft Ice Sculpting – Arizona
- Chisel-it Ice – Concord, CA
- IceBulb – Los Angeles, CA
- Penny Pound Ice – Los Angeles, CA
- Cold Star Ice – Santa Ana, CA
- Blind Tiger Ice – San Francisco Bay Area, CA
- JustIce – Chicago, IL
- Brookline Ice Co. – Boston, MA
- Cocktail Kingdom Logistics – NYC
- Hundredweight – NYC
- Ice Occasions – Las Vegas, NV
- PDX Ice – Portland, OR
- Cape Cod Ice – East Providence, RI
- The Cold Standard – Dallas, TX (no website)
- Glace Luxury Ice – Ships to the US
- Standard Ice – Greenville, NC
- Mixology Ice – Miami, FL and New York, NY
- The Ice Doctor – Gainesville, FL
- Fat Ice – Austin, TX
- Minnesota Pure & Clear Ice – Minneapolis, MN
- Les Marchands, Montreal, Canada
- The Clear Ice Company, San Jose, CA
- Crook Factory, Savannah, GA
- US Ice Corp, Michigan
- Kentuckystraightice.com
- West Coast Ice – Los Angeles, CA
- Bar Alliance, Nashville TN
- Michigan Clear Ice
- Favourite Ice Co – Mid-Atlantic Region
- King Cube Ice in Atlanta Georgia
- Mr Ice Guy – Miami, Florida
- Artisan Ice, Phoenix, AZ
- Creative Ice, Seattle, WA
- Doro Ice Company, Jacksonville, FL
- Melt, New Orleans, LA
- Okamoto, NYC
- Colorado Ice Works, Denver, CO
- Beaker & Flask Beverage Company Milwaukee/Madison, WI
- Ice Cubed, Denver, CO
- Hailstone Ice, Brooklyn, NY
- Manhattan Ice, NY
- IceBox, Charleston and Greenville, NC
- Vault Ice, Oklahoma City, OK
- Ice Cubed, Honolulu, HI
- Brilliant Ice Co. in Salt Lake City, Utah brillianticeco.com
- Deep Water Ice, San Francisco, CA
- Abstract Ice, SF Bay Area
An index of all of the ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.

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Freezer Harvest: A History of Ice Cubes
March 19, 2014
Freezer Harvest: The New Ice Era on ModernFarmer.com

I have a big story on ice up today on ModernFarmer.com.

It covers the history of ice in cocktails from the first person to sell pond ice internationally through to today's booming cocktail specialty ice businesses.

I think you'll like it. Have a read.

For all the stories about ice here on Alcademics, check out the Index of Ice Experiments.

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March 18, 2014