Category: history
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Why Are Spirits Called Spirits?
I wrote my take on this subject for The AlcoholProfessor, where the story first appeared. Why is Distilled Alcohol Called Spirits? The word “spirit” has many definitions but most center around either the idea of the conscious self as opposed to the physical body; or an attitude, as in “the spirit of the movement”…
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Thirty Four New Drink Books for Fall 2024
Update 2: Now this list is up to 34 books Update 1: Detailed reviews of many of these books in my story for AlcoholProfessor are here. Citrus: A World History A Forager's Guide to Wild Drinks: Ferments, infusions and thirst-quenchers for every season Sicilian Cocktails: Contemporary Island Mixology Flavor Lab Creations: A Physicist’s Guide…
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The Gibson is a New York Drink Gone Big in San Francisco
It was believed that the Gibson cocktail was created in San Francisco. In this 2008 blog post I cited what David Wondrich told us on a tour. The information is repeated in the Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails: But now new information has come to light. Martin Doudoroff shared information from a tweet on…
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Aqua Vitae Vs Arrak, Terminology and History
I am reading The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails in order with the Alcademics Book Club, which you may join on Facebook if you wish. (We're on the A's in early January.) I've already learned so much new information and also old information I'm seeing in a new light. One example of the latter…
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Did British Gin Come from Dutch Genever? Part 2
I watched a video by Philip Duff on the history of gin – is gin the British interpretation of Dutch genever? Or does it come from a more or less independent distilling tradition since British spirits were usually based on a neutral base distillate? I watched a seminar by Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller that…
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The Five Best Drink Books of 2023
This year I read more than 40 books, mostly about drinks. My top five favorites are below. This list is not actually the best drink books of the year, but my favorites. (And my favorite technically came out in 2022.) I wrote the title for SEO! What I want out of drink books is new…
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Black Caterers in Food and Cocktail History
In a nice coincidence, right after reading Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice that I reviewed here, [amazon][bookshop] my other book club chose High on the Hog [amazon] [bookshop] as their pick for the month. I just finished up the book (haven't seen the Netflix series yet but will watch next month- having only heard…
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Monks can’t make enough of this famous spirit. Can an alternative from S.F. replace it?
For the San Francisco Chronicle, I wrote about the Chartreuse shortage and how some bartenders are looking locally to Brucato Chaparral as a stand-in.
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Distillation in Ancient India? Not So Fast
After reading my book Doctors and Distillers, Harold McGee (On Food and Cooking) pointed out to me that proof of distillation in ancient India (supposedly from the fifth century BCE) is not as well established as previously thought. Many histories on distillation cite work from 1979 that claims that elephant head stills were found along…
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Vanity Fair: The Glaciers May Be Melting—But Status Ice Is Trending
I was interviewed for this terrific story in Vanity Fair that brings together the modern manifestations of clear ice with its history as a luxury item that quickly transforms into an everyday necessity over and over again. I think the writer did a great job with it. Read it here.