Category: history
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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.
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Making Rye Whiskey at Anchor Distilling in San Francisco
Anchor Distilling makes three unique rye whiskies in a tiny corner of a big brewery in Potrero Hill in San Francisco. I visited, probably for my 6th time, to learn the story of how it all started and how the whiskies are made.
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The US Gin Launch Timeline
For the purposes of categorizing and tracking the American gin renaissance of the late 1990s, I created this huge timeline of when different gin brands launched in the US.
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The Great Decline in Irish Whiskey
Irish Whiskey was once one of the most popular spirits in the world and declined from thousands of distilleries down to just two by the late 1900s. Sales are once again skyrocketing on the back of Jameson's success, but things were pretty grim for a while. I knew many of the causes of the decline…
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A Tribute to Harry Craddock on the 50th Anniversary of his Death
In January I flew to London for an event to celebrate the life and career of Harry Craddock, author of the Savoy Cocktail Book. The event was sponsored by Plymouth Gin, which is mentioned by name many times throughout the Savoy. The tour was attended by Plymouth's distiller Sean Harrison, the top London bartenders, and…
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When Did Grenadine Become an Artificial Ingredient?
We all know that grenadine is supposed to be a syrup made of pomegranate juice and sugar, often with orange flower water added in. But most commercial grenadines are little more than red food coloring and sweetener. We might think that artificially-flavored cocktail ingredients like grenadine all came to be in the post-war 1940s and…
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The History of Grenadine Use in Cocktails: Literature Review
When was grenadine first used in cocktails? I thought this would be a simple question to answer, but not so much. Along the way to figuring this out, I've had to split up this one blog post into several. First we'll look at the cocktail books from 1862 – 1930 and see where grenadine is…