opinionated alchemist

This is an amazing documentary about the historic backgrounds of Irish whiskey! I have seen with interest, that Midleton - launched a product portfolio, which brings back Irish Pot Still whiskey, which I think is more than smart. It just separates and gives a real authenticity to the whiskies. These brands [all Pernod-Ricard]: Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy [yeah - normal Midelton is a blended - but the Legacy is a Pure Pot Still] Green Spot Power's John Lane release and off course the venerable Red Breast [also with 'new' premium releases of 15, 12 cask strength and 21 years old]. The call it Single Pot Still whiskies, which I find a bit... confusing - maybe even disturbing [they are not "single" as "single malts" - as they are not made by individual distilleries]. But overall I am very happy, that Irish whiskey gets back on its authentic feet! Looking forward to try a lot!

Yeah - I know - just another tonic water review??? Yes- but the friendly guys from TopShelf Beverages met me in the hotel, and left me a couple of samples - one was 1724 [which was basically why we met]. Anyway... previously I have reviewed the Fentiman's here and here  - the outcome was, that it was different - lemongrass'y.  Then I have reviewed East Imperial here . Oh wow - this was even more different. The friendly guys at East Imperial also contacted me, and informed me, that a bold, but more conservative [speak sweet-sour] variant is coming soon. Looking forward to it! But again - East imperial was different - root'y and very unique, indeed. And now we have got 1724. I spare you again the story. I am not working for the marketing department of any soft drink firm - and I guess, they can do best, to explain the origin, story and other marketing b.s. [no offence!]. You can find it here . And again - 1724 is since a quite short time available in Dubai - whoop...

A nice video about pre-batching... let's call it cocktail essentials. Great job Chris.

To be honest, I shied away of this topic, because I think, people can misinterpret this - big time. I don't want to be part of the problem - I want to be part of the solution!  But when Chris, over at A Bar Above  discussed this subject- I literally could not resist to join into "the discussion". Here is the video: I - however take a bit slower approach than Chris. What is citric acid? Chemical Compound Citric acid is a weak organic acid with the formula C6H8O7. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic or sour taste to foods and drinks. Wikipedia Formula: C6H8O7 Molar Mass: 192.124 g/mol Melting Point: 153C Density: 1.66 g/cm3 Boiling point: 175C Soluble in: Water Why is it controversial? In my "mixology world" it is controversial, as citric acid is the stuff, which makes the nightmarish sour mix [ preferably in powder form ] sour. Yeah - citric acid is the main ingredient in one of the most ...

This might be the tonic water you might not find directly. To be honest, I haven't heard of it before. When Florence from our supplier Classic Fine Foods asked me for a meeting, she made quite a mystery about the product, she wanted to let me try. We sat down and I tried - first of all neat - and than with gin [and ice]. I will spare, to bombard you with another story [which might or might not be created in a marketing department ]. But you want to know how it fares? The Presentation: This is just wow. The label coloured in a purple with silver fonts, is just beautiful. The funny thing is, that it comes also in very small bottles - 150 ml. But while the 125 ml of Fentiman's is really too short, the 150 ml seems really to work much better! Kudos to them - they really might have thought about it! However I still would prefer a bottle which is around 180 ml - I love my G&T double - and for a double, 150 ml might just be not enough! Neat: This tonic water seems dir...

If you are reading about some products, or even see youtube videos, which celebrate the "latest" new tool, you might fantasize, what you would be able to achieve with it. More often than once I was disappointed when reality stroke! One of this too good to be true appliances is the Vulcanology vaporizer. Simon of www.muddle-me.com loaned me this machine, to take it for a spin. [Big thank you to the guys at www.muddle-me.com - they are awesome - and you really should pay their website a visit - especially if you are living in the Middle East!]. What is it? Basically it was designed to vaporize active ingredients from Marihuana and other pot head stuff. An avant-garde chef (I guess it was Grant Achatz- but cannot say for sure), had the idea to use it also for conservative herbs and spices. They used air pillows, which they placed underlates, but also glass domes over the food to add the aroma. Eventually some "mixologists" had the glorious idea, to use t...

Since I have had this blog (inclusive the previous installment of it), I have shied away of doing bar reviews. If you work as manager in a bar (or in my case even as beverage manager), you know, that you shouldn't question too much others, as your own courtyard might not be that clean... But then I still make exceptions - this happens specially if bars receiving awards (and/or taking themselves too serious and  This apparently happened in Speakeasy in the Ramada Plaza. Let's first off all get the most obvious from my breast: the name.... It is an audacity in the light of modern speakeasies (you can't compare anyway a bar to historic speakeasies - unless it is e.g. Located in Saudi Arabia - and well, a review there wouldn't be that clever, to say at least! Anyway - the name is stupid and misleading. However please note, that this bar received the Best New Pub Award of TimeOut Dubai! So it has to be good? Well, I went with a friend and colleague to this place. I am just f...