opinionated alchemist

It seems that the titles of my posts become more and more elaborate. But you have got to understand the background: I have posted a post - and a video, where I made ginger ale. I have to say, this ginger ale rocks - I still stand to my recipe. However there is a point, that we believe that in the past, everything was produced more “rustic” and more “naturally” - and I also assumed it.  Apparently the opposite is fact. Especially when it comes to sodas - the “ soda jerks ” in the 19th century and the early 20th century were mainly pharmacists, who didn’t used natural ingredients, but rather used chemistry, part was still big companies are using for their highly processed soda syrups - partly which is no more allowed, because it was either way dangerous and poisonous, highly addictive or both (the conspiracy that Coca Cola contained cocaine is not totally wrong). My friend Darcy O’Neil who thankfully isn’t only a good bartender, but also a soda historian and chemical research analyst...

When I am shopping my usual stuff, like groceries, I always explore things, which I don't know. A couple of days ago, I found Q Ginger in one local hypermarket [LuLu]. I have to say that both, my ginger ale and ginger beer are very tasty - and I didn't expected, that this ginger ale "blows my mind". The label however is quite bold: " “It should be the aim of every bottler to bring its brand of ginger ale to the highest possible perfection, since a bottler’s products are judged for better or worse by the merit or lack of merit possessed by its ginger ale.”  -  WB Keller, editor of the National Bottlers Gazette. 1893. Something happened. Today, ginger ale comes in two disappointing options. A high-fructose laden soda with a slight ginger flavoring or a ginger beer that combines garish amounts of ginger with loads of sugar.   Q Ginger is something different. Not too sweet, but clean and crisp with a gingery bite and real depth. We’ve used the best ingredien...

Usually I call them [out of laziness] mocktails - but really I never liked this denomination. As "mocktails" are usually long drinks, it is even twice wrong, to connect them to a cocktail [which is technically a short drink with alcohol].  Apart of this, I am not a big believer in mocktails. Sodas can be fantastic [home made grapefruit soda is fantastic, or homemade ginger ale, ginger beer or any other odd ingredient sodas]. Juices - fine. Lemonades - yes, refreshing and good. And iced teas - can be absolutely amazing. Hence you don't need sickly sweet syrupy juice mixtures. But yes - there are few good ones. Most of them a mimicking drinks with alcohol. You can make a pretty good alcohol-free Planters Punch, Hurricane or Mojito, if you are using Caribbean Syrup. Or you can use a juniper syrup for some alcohol-free gin drinks. A drink which I got to know long time ago, very early in my career, is a bit a different beast [well - you cannot call an al...

There are few mixed drinks, which I really appreciate as top notch - and even fewer in the category of highballs and long drinks. The El Diablo might be invented in the 1940's but the exact history remains unclear. There was actually a panel who discussed this drink for the New York Times . There the El Diablo didn't fared well with the taste of the panelists. Personally I have came across this drink more than a decade ago. And as soon as I tasted it, it became one of my favorite tequila drinks. Maybe poor products and poor measures can put this drink off - but produced properly, there is a lot of magic, which is created, when the sum is greater than the parts. El Diablo [the devil] 5 cl   100% agave tequila [blanco or reposado] 1.5 cl fresh lime 1.5 cl Crème de Cassis 12 cl  Ginger Ale Squeeze the lime juice into the ice cube filled highball glass. Add tequila and ginger ale. Float with crème de cassis and stir briefly. This is a very simple recipe. But fo...

It might sound strange, however ginger is one of the flavors, which is working fantastically in mixed drinks. Especially with aged spirits, it really shines. But even white spirits you can combine with ginger - hence it might be one of the most versatile flavors in the bar. There are different beverages carrying the aroma ginger - ginger liqueur, ginger syrup, fresh ginger which you could muddle, but the most common ones are ginger ale and ginger beer. But what are the differences between those two? One can be sure, that ginger beer was the first concocted ginger beverage. An interesting note is the traditional preparation. The strained liquid [you may call it juice], from fresh grated ginger, was combined with water, citrus juice and simple syrup and was fermented. However originally no yeast, but ginger beer plant was used. This ginger beer plant [usually abbreviated to gbp] is a composite organism - a in symbiosis living microorganisms- bacteria and yeast [lactobacillus...