Art of Drink

Copyright & Cocktails

2010-09-09T00:56:12+00:00

The topic of protecting ones creative cocktail works has amp’d up lately. After Eben Freeman's session of cocktails and intellectual property (which unfortunately I couldn’t attend due to a conflicting event) the conversation has started to polarize and two camps are forming - for protection and against protection. Articles have been written in The Atlantic, Accidental…

Champagne Smash

2010-09-06T16:29:12+00:00

In the world of drinks, a smash is usually a drink that contains a spirit, mint, sugar and sometimes lemon or lime. The Mint Julep and Mojito are technically smashes. From this basic recipe you can make a wide variety of drinks that encompass a corner of the cocktail world. The key component is obviously mint, but the name…

Italian Soda

2010-08-22T16:29:12+00:00

Ask most people what an Italian Soda is and they’ll usually describe a combination of flavour syrup and carbonated, or seltzer, water. If you search its origin on the Internet, the majority of the results describe it as an invention created by two Italian immigrants, who made the drink popular in San Francisco around 1925. But the reality is very different, and I find it odd that Americans have allowed one of their core culinary strengths (drinks) and truly unique inventions to be taken…

Fix The Pumps Amsterdam!

2010-08-14T21:53:12+00:00

If you happen to be residing in Europe, or loitering around the area on vacation or other such adventure, there is a little event happening in Amsterdam on August 23rd at Vesper. Philip Duff has offered to host this intimate soiree and introduce attendees to some lost drinks and interesting soda fountain ingredients from the book Fix the Pumps. Philip has provided all the entertaining details below.

Fix the Pumps Amsterdam
19th Century…

Seltzer Works

2010-08-13T20:31:12+00:00

Very rarely do I post PR material, but in some cases the information is actually interesting and useful. This one isn't even about a product, more about a TV show on PBS looking into the world of seltzer and the people / companies that sell it the old fashioned way, in glass syphon bottles. For anyone who liked Fix the Pumps or is interested in using real seltzer water behind the bar / starting an in-house soda program, this might be something you should set your PVR to catch. Now I'm…

They Thirst for Cocaine

2010-08-08T16:27:12+00:00

The title of this post may sound like something out of a fictional tabloid you get at the grocery store checkout, but it comes from the Los Angeles Times (February 25, 1902 edition). I’ve posted the newspaper article because it is an excellent example of what soda fountains were really like at the turn of the 20th century. Plus it is a very interesting read when compared to the “evils” of the saloon. If you’ve read Fix the Pumps,…

Last Gasp of a Dinosaur

2010-08-06T14:05:12+00:00

There is an interesting post over at the Bartending Magazine blog about the new complex nature of cocktails. To summarize the post, the author laments the fact that progress is interfering with “classic cocktails”, like the Rum & Coke and Screwdrivers, because these newfangled cocktails require things like egg whites and uncommon liqueurs. From the post one thing is apparent, he’s…

Lactart

2010-08-04T02:01:12+00:00

Acid Phosphate may have been all the rage during they heyday of the soda fountain but that didn’t mean it was the only alternative beverage acidulent. There were actually a number of competitors, most of them trying to cash in on Acid Phosphates popularity. Some used hydrochloric acid, a not so great drinking option. Another one was called Lactart and it was a much better option for consumption because it was made from lactic acid. It was popular enough that Lactarts became a class of drink…

Acid Phosphate

2010-07-31T23:48:12+00:00

The most popular drink in the world was once made using Acid Phosphate. Today, Coca-Cola no longer uses this unique ingredient, instead they have simplified their formulation by using phosphoric acid, which still makes it a phosphated soda, but not the classic version. The “phosphate” was the most popular drink at soda fountains for over 70 years, but once Acid Phosphate disappeared the real phosphated soda disappeared…

Tales 2010 Summary

2010-07-31T00:50:12+00:00

Wow, what a week. This year was bigger and better than last year. In fact there were so many people I wanted to have a drink with that there just wasn’t enough time. But I did manage to drink my fair share and chat with a lot of people. This year I went as a presenter and not media. I presented 3 sessions, plus helped out on Andrew Nicholls Essential Oil session so I was busy. I tend to feel obligated to do what I’ve agreed to do, and as a media blogger I would have felt compelled…