opinionated alchemist

via TasteCocktails.com There shall be a place for any produce and product in the bar. Sugar syrup is quite convenient. To be honest, I don't really understand, how bars (*cough Le Lion Cafe de Paris) buy commercial products and don't make it themselves. It is really easy - and you need just a digital scale for a very good consistency. But you also save thousands of "currency" per year if you do so. You do have further the choice between different strengths and variations: simple syrup (my least favorite version) - which is 1:1 - rich syrup (my workhorse) which is 2:1 ratio - candy rock (you don't really need it) which is up to 7:1 - demerara syrup - I would suggest again a 2:1 ratio - this time though with demerara sugar (...). But this is not the story here. For normal cocktails, rich syrup does a very good job. However fine caster sugar, works often better because of following reasons: It doesn't dilute with additional water - hence you have bett...

First learning: I originally wanted to use the headline: what my coke addiction taught me... then I rephrased due to obvious reasons... Jokes aside - I know, how unhealthy soft drinks are. Having this in mind, I have been for the look for an alternative. There is for example Coke Life - Coca Cola which is partly sweetened with normal sweeteners and partly with stevia, Coke light or Coke Zero which is sweetened with Aspartam (or other artificial sweeteners). But also Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry, Diet Mountain Dew Cherry Zero and so on. What I learned is, that sugar (and high fructose corn syrup) doesn't only changes the mouth-feel. It heavily effects the taste perception. I am calling this here taste perception, as taste and aroma are far more scientific and "constraint". But anyway - on a personal, subjective note, these products "taste" different than their "fatty" counterparts - and this is kind of a big deal. That means in reality not only...