In my latest story for Details.com, I wrote about the return of apples in cocktails and spirits.
The story mentions the return to drinks after the great Appletini shame and lists a ton of mostly-new apple products.
Category: trends
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Syrups are the New Bitters on Details.com
Have you looked through your December magazines yet? In just about every one that I get (and I get a lot of them), there is a recommendation for a specialty cocktail syrup of one flavor or another as a suggestion for gifting.
By the time I noticed this, I'd already written my latest story for Details.com, which we ended up calling Syrups are the New Bitters. It's not to say that you no longer need bitters now that there are more syrups on the market, but rather where once there was a lack of variety of bitters on the market and bartenders turned into entrepreneurs to develop their own brands, now syrups are at that same place.
I mentioned many brands specializing in syrups dedicated to particular cocktails, seasonal syrups, and a whole section on tonic syrups.
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High-Tech Bar Equipment on PopSci.com
In a slideshow for Popular Science, I wrote about ten pieces of bar equipment you not know about as they're hidden behind the scenes.
The story includes equipment used by some of the world's most innovate bartenders and includes equipment including rotovaps, machine-engraved ice, sous-vide cooking, and many others.
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Breakfast Cereal in Cocktails is as Pretty Big Thing
In my latest post for Details.com, I took a look at the multitude of ways that people are using breakfast cereal in cocktails.
Initially I thought I'd only find it in a few places but I think there are more than a dozen mentioned in the story and they're located everwhere from London to Bordeaux to Miami to San Diego. Some folks are serving them up in bowls with a spoon, while others are infusing cereal into milk or directly into liquor.
Check it out over at Details.com.
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Caring for Mini Barrels – Beware of Chlorine!
image from wikipediaIf you're using barrels or wood chips to make barrel-aged cocktails, be aware that they can develop 246-TCA, better known as "cork taint."
Cork taint doesn't only come from corks, it turns out; it can come from barrels. One way that it forms (in part) is when chlorine bleach is used to clean corks (or barrels).
Wikipedia says, "Chlorinated phenols can form chemically when hypochlorous acid (HOCl-, one of the active forms of chlorine) or chlorine radicals come in contact with wood (untreated, such as barrels or pallets.) The use of chlorine or other halogen-based sanitizing agents is being phased out of the wine industry in favor of peroxide or peracetic acid preparations."
Much tap water contains chlorine or chloramine, so don't clean out your barrels with untreated tap water.
Depending on whether your water is treated with chlorine or chloramine you may take a different approach to getting rid of that in the water (as opposed to buying gallons and gallons of distilled water). Chlorine and chloramine require different filters or amount of time boiling the water or time to leave it to fizz off.
A little bit of research gives widely different answers as to how long you'd have to boil water to eliminate chloramine (that's what's in San Francisco's drinking water). The answers are everywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours to 2 days of boiling. Carbon filters also remove chloramine, but they have to be really good/fresh filters. Some detailed information from a brewing perspective is here.
This was first brought to my attention by Carl Sutton of Sutton Cellars. I asked him what a good cleaner for barrels would be and he recommended Proxycarb. Some research tells me that has the same active ingredient (Sodium Percarbonate) as OxyClean (though I don't know if OxyClean is food-safe so you should probably buy it from a wine/beer store).
Have fun with your barrel aged cocktails, and remember to avoid chlorine when cleaning them out.
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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.
Shut Up and Drink Your Salad: Cocktails Embrace Spinach, Kale, and Arugula
By Camper EnglishThe 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.
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Bartenders Dosing Drinks with Acid (Phosphate)
My latest post for the Details.com Daily Blog is about acid phosphate and its popularity in cocktails.
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!
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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.
The include low-alcohol cocktails, the butcher and bartender connection, carbonated cocktails, bulk cocktails (punches, bottles, and cocktails on tap), and new molecular techniques.
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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.
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.
