Alcademics

I wrote a story for AlcoholProfessor on how we’re backsliding into calling things Martinis that are not Martinis, the causes of that, and the previous thinking (circa 1990s) on the definition.

I noted in a previous post that Saratoga water was coming from different source now.

“At the Leopold Bros distillery in Denver, Colorado, brothers Todd and Scott Leopold go to great lengths to create high quality spirits using slow, inefficient, Old-World techniques.

In my book Doctors and Distillers, I wrote a lot about the medicinal history of bittering agents used in many aperitifs, herbal liqueurs, and amaros.

This is a long way of saying that I didn’t find the specific 12 bars I was looking for.

On one of my Bar and Cocktail History tours, a guest asked (or rather suggested) that the whole “Don’t Call it Frisco” thing is specifically anti-Black.

I added some dates for my Water Tasting classes.

I wrote a post for LinkedIn but I’ll cross-post it here as I wanted to share photos from my Tales of the Cocktail Seminar anyway: I create hands-on, interactive learning and tasting experiences around cocktails and spirits (and ice and water) for bartende…

I was the guest in the newsroom at KTVU, based in Oakland, CA, to talk about my Water Tasting Classes.

In my Water Tasting Classes, we use low-end TDS (total dissolved solids) meters to check the TDS of still waters before tasting them.

A friend sent me the link otherwise I might never have known.

It has been many months since my last contribution to Food and Wine, but I have a piece on the website right now about a flavor trend: Alpine.

I have just watched the documentary The Donn of Tiki, which is available for rent on Apple TV on August 21, 2026.

I’m giving this talk as part of Nerd Nite at the Rickshaw Stop.

I’ve finalized my schedule for Tales of the Cocktail Foundation this year, with three speaking events in 24 hours, plus another couple I’m attending in between.