Skip to main content

Posts

Why you shouldn't use egg whites in cocktails!

I read today an article on VinePair: Ask Adam: Why is it safe to drink eg white in cocktails.
This article isn't very deep though.

Adam Teeter could have gone into the controversy between EU regulations and the US regulations: that the EU prohibit to wash egg shelves, as it weakens the barrier of the shell, so salmonella and other bacteria can get into the egg. While the US gets into vaccinate every chicken against salmonella (which likely creates super-bugs - bacteria which is resistant). By the way, it really shows politically, how different the thinking of both regions are: EU is cautious and tries not to change the whole game, as nobody knows, how these big decisions turn out - the US goes just full into it... and probably finds out decades later, that they did a big mistake...

 I don't really underline the safety problem. I think, it is not smart, to challenge something, which is very controversial for a lot of guests - just for the sake of it. On the other side, there is…
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

"Cultivate Sodas" - a primer to water kefir

We are living in a time, in which soft drinks are in steep decline, as scientists learn more and more about the harmful effects of the over-dose of sugar.
While I am a big fan of drinks like coke (soon, there will be a review of the new Coke mixers yay!), I am also aware, that these beverages are detrimental - not so much due to the sugar for one drink, but for our habit to drink far too much of it instead of water (people who know me, will point now a finger in my direction).  Now people are very quick of pointing out, that juices are an alternative. They are not! Most juices (even if these are juices and not nectars and juice cocktails / beverages, which do not even have 100% juice content) are (almost?) as bad as sodas. They contain pretty much the same amount of sugar - which is the main culprit here!  People would argue, that it is healthy to eat an apple - how can it be unhealthy to drink the juice of an apple? Well - it is not that difficult to answer:1) First it is the quantit…
Post a Comment
Read more

Categories of drinks

This topic is rather for the pro's for us. It is pretty controversial - and it is rather important when you teach. I believe though, that drinks categories are also important, when it comes to understand drinks and drinks culture - and to memorize many drinks - what you categorize you will remember...

Let me be frank. Through more than 2 decades I found that below categories make sense. It is not the answer to anything - and I don't claim that. At the end it is a theorem, which depends on your views (but also off priorities and cocktail history).


First shocker: cocktails are short drinks! Always. We are not discussing here what average Joe (and Jane) are calling cocktails. This is about people who have an insight into drinks. No Piña Coladas and Mojitos are no cocktails. Neither are frozen drinks.
We can further consider categories as an evolutionary tree. There are "living fossils" being still created (and going strong) - for example the Old Fashioned Cocktail. Like…
1 comment
Read more

The Espresso-Vodka (Espresso Martini) - doing it better: the perfect Espresso Vodka

Look - there are a ton of recipes out there to make an Espresso-Vodka (aka Espresso Martini). It is a drink which gets into its 30's  but it is still very popular.

Why I do pick it up now? Because of the brilliant video below of "How to Drink". Even those folks are often a bit off - the videos are brilliantly entertaining - and more often than not inspirational.


What more to say?

First of all the elephant in the room (which more and more is accepted by a lot of bartenders - but it is and stays an elephant in the room): The Espresso-Vodka (the original name of the EM) is nota martini cocktail!
Please, please, please - stop to mix up and confuse categories of drinks with the glasses they are served in (or other common denominators). A warthog is not an elephant - only because of its tusks (and the fact that it is a mammal, has 4 legs, 2 eyes, a small tail - you get it). How stupid would it be to assume that one animal is another animal only because of its "teeth"…
1 comment
Read more

Drinks in the age of fake news

I like Punch. It is an online magazine about drinks. About cocktails. Mostly cutting edge. It is an inspiration.

One of their latest article made me wonder: 
Microwave Your Manhattan Ryan Chetiyawardana has an unorthodox method for upgrading stirred classics. Look, my routine of making drinks involves quite unique techniques (compared to a normal "mixologist"). Techniques include using immersion circulators (precision "cooking"), using a vacuum pump and off course vacuum sealers and so on. But Microwaving stuff? Nope.
So I read this article - and unfortunately Ryan Chetiyawardana is squabbling quite a lot of sciency gibberish - which the editor of the article just loves to "take in" and spread.
From my perspective, the microwave oven just offers one particular advantage: it heats up liquids quickly. To be honest, I love to cook things in the microwave (vegetables are steamed perfectly in a  microwave and it is quicker and easier than anything else!) - but …
Post a Comment
Read more

Trending Topics in the Bar - Ladies in the Bar.

This is a very controversial topic - and I try not to activate any "booby traps" (probably the first word, which could have been chosen more wisely - for this topic).

I see myself as feminist. I am not afraid of women in the workplace. One of the best bosses I have had (EAM F&B and GM) were women...

So I am probably the least biased person (at least who is a man).

Should women earn the same as men? Hell yeah.

Should women have the same chance as men? Off course!

Should there be some "ladies only cocktail competitions"? A bit weaker yes for this one (would it be not a bit awkward, if there would be minority competitions e.g. for African-Americans only?) But I can understand, that it kinda makes sense...

Should be women behind the bar a trend? Clear no!
Why? Because it is basically the opposite of feminism. Most bars would not have women behind the bar, because they know as much (or more) than their male counterparts, but because they are "trendy" and …
Post a Comment
Read more

Old Fashioned Barrel Finished Malt

The older I become, the more I see opportunities to do some really significant (and new stuff) without using arsenic in cocktails and poison people (or like a trend a couple of years ago, make tobacco infusions, which are basically more poisonous than arsenic - as nicotine is quite a bit more poisonous...). Off course I am kidding - however you don't need to mix Bourbon with Mountain Dew to do something really exciting...
In the place I have worked before we did a barrel aged Last Word. This was actually a great idea - the cocktail was pretty awesome. But as we used a very small oak vessel, the oak was quickly exhausted and we tried to age Glenmorangie in it (Last Word finished Glenmorangie 10 years old). It was a success - not for everyone (especially the Chartreuse gave the whisky a hint of funk, which isn't often experienced) - but it was subtle enough and I loved how different yet recognizable (Glenmorangie) it has been 
 Now we are aging Negroni (thanks to the original Je…
Post a Comment
Read more