Category: history
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Summer Cooler Cocktails to Enjoy in 1967
An interesting selection of summer cocktails from a 1967 calendar.
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Popular Scotch Cocktails of 1967
A vintage calendar from 1967 reveals cocktails made with scotch from that era.
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San Francisco’s Second-Oldest Drinking Spot
The bar Elixir was recognized this weekend as being the second oldest (known) drinking location in San Francisco by the wacky historical/drinking club E. Clampus Vitus (aka The Clampers).
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(Almost) All the Cocktails & Spirits Books Published in 2015, For Reading or Gifting
My annual list of most all of the cocktails and spirits books that have been released. This year we see tons of whiskey books again, and a whole segment of bar-specific cocktail books and a new category of narrative cocktail history.
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How Drinking in 1948 was like Drinking in College, or in 2005
A post-WWII quote reminds me of drinking in 2005.
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Vermouth: History and Legal Regulations
A ton of information about the history of vermouth (both sweet and dry kind of come from the same place) and its legal definitions in the European Union.
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Peru, Bird Poop, and the Birth of the Agro-Industrial Complex
Peru is an exciting country for drink nerds like me, as it is the birthplace of the potato, pisco, and the cinchona tree that produces quinine for tonic water. I didn’t realize until recently that it was also the birthplace of the international guano industry, perhaps the world’s first exported industrial fertilizer.
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2500 Words on the Blood and Sand Cocktail
The Blood and Sand is one of the rare recipes that appears first in The Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930. The recipe makes no sense when you see it written: It is equal parts whisky, orange juice, Italian vermouth, and cherry liqueur. It sounds excessively sweet, bland, and fruity, but in reality is fresh and…
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When Vodka Was Made From Potatoes
Despite the common belief that all vodka is made from potatoes, very little of it is. We’ll look at when and where vodka was first made from potatoes as we trace the spirit’s history.
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The History of the Potato, Part II
We have looked at what a potato is and the introduction of the potato to Europe. Now we’ll look at the slow spread of potatoes around the continent, then talk about french fries, yum.