Alcademics

Category: camper_clips

  • 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. 

    Details salad

    Shut Up and Drink Your Salad: Cocktails Embrace Spinach, Kale, and Arugula
    By Camper English

     The West Coast style of cocktail in which bartenders muddle a cornucopia of fruits and herbs in their drinks has long been known as a "salad in a glass," but that term is taking on a whole new meaning as mixologists move to mashing leafy greens like spinach, kale, and arugula into drinks this spring.

    Check it out on Details.com. 

     

  • The Ice King of the Internet

    I was interviewed recently for a story in a magazine for the iPad/iPhone called The Magazine.

    During the interview we were joking that I'm the Ice King of the Internet. The quote didn't make it into the story, but I've adopted that as an official title. Hail your new king! 

     

    Ice king
    In the story, writer Alison Hallet covers the history of ice in drinks, current ice machines, how bars are using big ice, and how to make big ice at home (with my cooler strategy). I get too much credit for bringing an iceberg from Newfoundland to last year's seminar at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic (that honor belongs to Wayne Curtis), but as long as my glory is increased it is for the greater good.  

    A preview of the story is here, but you'll have to subscribe ($1.99) to get the whole thing. Or sign up for a free 7-day trial, read everything, then decide whether or not to cancel before the week is up. Looks like they have a good amount of booze coverage. 

     

  • Cocktails in the Champagne Style

    For CLASS Magazine/DiffordsGuide.com, I interviewed Jeff Josenhans of San Diego's US Grant Hotel.

    He's been quietly doing pretty cool stuff over there. He implemented one of the first cocktail herb gardens, has barrel aged cocktails that he is able to sell commercially, and now features the "Cocktails Sur Lie" program. 

    IMG_7075_tn

    Cocktail ingredients (minus the base spirit) are fermented like wine, then put into champagne bottles and fermented a second time like champagne. Then they pop off the caps to get rid of the yeast and add base spirit in the 'dosage' step. 

    As he partnered with a winery production center, he now has the winery do the production work after he develops the recipes, which not only ensures consistency in the bottled beverages, but they can legally sell them at retail. 

    A truly clever part of this system is that the hotel does tons of events, and having these fancy bottled cocktails that pop open like champagne allows them to serve the same quality cocktails as you'd find in the bar at the events- just pop off the cork. 

    Read the interview here. 

     

    Grant grill1_tn

    (normally the bottles have a cork unlike in this picture)

     

    Related articles
    San Diego's Best Cocktail Bars
    The History of Grenadine Use in Cocktails: Literature Review
    Drink Like Hemingway With Philip Greene's New Book

  • Bartenders Dosing Drinks with Acid (Phosphate)

    My latest post for the Details.com Daily Blog is about acid phosphate and its popularity in cocktails.


    Details acid phosphate

    I mention Darcy O'Neil's Fix the Pumps book, of course, as well as his line of acid phosphate and lactart.

    I name-check a few bars serving acid phosphate drinks as well, including:

    • The Ice Cream Bar in San Francisco
    • The Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia
    • Honor Kitchen & Cocktails in Emeryville
    • Russell House in Cambridge, Mass
    • Still & Stir in Worcester, Mass

    Anyway, check out the post on acid phosphate over at Details.com! 

     

  • Cocktail Trend Predictions for 2013 on the Details Blog

    In my latest story for Details.com, I wrote a list of five trends for cocktails in 2013. 

    Details predictions 2013

    The include low-alcohol cocktails, the butcher and bartender connection, carbonated cocktails, bulk cocktails (punches, bottles, and cocktails on tap), and new molecular techniques. 

    Check it out!

    Related articles
    Drink Like Hemingway With Philip Greene's New Book
    Book Review: Destination Cocktails
    Lesser Classic Cocktails in a New Book

  • A Huge Interview with Camper English on Eater.com

    I've got something to say! Apparently.

    Eater.com did a big interview with me about the SF cocktail scene and now it has gone live.

    I blab about everything from the lack of molecular mixology in San Francisco to the death of muddling to the rise of carbonated cocktails. It goes on and on.

     

    Camper Vertical

    Photo by Aubrie Pick www.aubriepick.com

     

    You'll have to let me know, but I think I didn't make too much of an ass out of myself. Read the story here.

     

  • Leave Negroni Alone! (A Story on Details.com)

    In my latest post for Details.com, I talk about the Negroni. That poor cocktail is less famous than the Martini and Manhattan, yet suffers more at the hand of bartenders.

    "Everywhere you look, the Negroni is being deconstructed, smoked, solidified, gelatinized, flamed, dehydrated, foamed, carbonated, frozen, clarified, and subjected to other forms of mixological torture."

    The story then goes on to describe some bars in which the Negroni is currently being tortured. 

    Check it out on Details.com! 

     

    Smoky-Negroni-Hakkasan

    Smoky Negroni at Hakkasan

     

  • A Quick Bit on Flips on Details.com

    My most recent story for Details.com is about flips: drinks made with whole eggs.

    In the piece I talk about silver and golden fizzes, noggs, and a few places to find flips around the country.

    Go check it out!

     

  • Carbonated Cocktails in the San Francisco Chronicle

    My latest story for the San Francisco Chronicle is now online. I wrote about carbonated cocktails and the many, many different approaches bartenders are taking to make them. 

    Carbonated cocktails proving popular
    By Camper English

    A little fizz can do wonders for a cocktail, making it more aromatic, lighter and a bit more dynamic.Traditionally, drinks get that fizz from mixers like ginger ale, sparkling wine or soda water. But several new carbonating devices have given bartenders the opportunity to add sparkle to almost any drink.

    Carbonating drinks directly "makes a more intense, more flavorful cocktail, as opposed to adding 2 ounces of soda water," says Cappy Sorentino, bar manager at Healdsburg's Spoonbar.

    Read the rest of the story here.

    Chez papa bartender

    At Chez Papa, Adam Chapman makes a Watermelon Carolina Cross using a carbonated cocktail shaker. Photo: The Chronicle / SF

  • Jamaican Rums Bring the Stank on Details.com

    In my second story for Details.com, I wrote about the wonderfully pungent pot-still rums and blends from Jamaica. 

    Bring the Funk: New Jamaican Rums Embrace the Stank

    August 16 is National Rum Day—a virtual invitation for bloggers to post recipes for crappy blender drinks and liquid fruit salads. Not only does this celebrate dumb cocktails, it misses the bigger news about how new rums are embracing bigger, bolder, more assertive flavors. Yes, stankiness is in.

    Read the story here on Details.com.

     The story discusses Jamaican rum-inclusive brands including:

    • Smith & Cross
    • Plantation
    • Renegade Rum
    • Denizen
    • Banks
    • Appleton Estate
    • Wray & Nephew
    • Black Tot

    So go read it!

     

    • Appleton 50 Yo on white
    • Banks rum
    • Plantation 3 stars
    • Bottle - White Background - 2012 04 28
    Bottle - White Background - 2012 04 28