My latest article for DRiNK is on cocktails with Irish whiskey – check it out. Irish whiskey has a habit of getting overlooked. Researching this article was the perfect opportunity to remind myself of how excellent the stuff is. Unlikely to ever become the world’s favorite mixer, Irish still deserves to be used in cocktails more often. Mind you, it is so pleasant straight that it hardly needs messing with.

Since writing the article I got to make a couple of visits to beautiful Taipei, where I happily stumbled across – and out of - Speakeasy. (more…)

I recently did some experimenting with amontillado sherry and Dominican Republic rum. While I do not drink it nearly often enough, sherry might be my favorite wine – it has amazing complex flavors. Rum of course is something I ingest rather more than my fair share of. It seemed efficient to try to combine my rum and sherry drinking, hopefully to the benefit of both liquids.

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My latest story for DRiNK was on the Bamboo Cocktail. Follow the link to check it out. I like the Bamboo for a couple of reasons. First, it is one of a relatively small number of cocktails that use sherry. Sherry seems underrated both as a wine to drink straight and as a mixer. Second, it is sometimes nice to drink cocktails that contain no spirits.

Around the time I was putting that story together I also did some experiments with amontillado sherry and Dominican Republic rum. I think I got at least one winning drink out of it, maybe two. More on that a little later.

A new issue of DRiNK just came out. This issue looks at  single malts, and so I wrote an article on the Rusty Nail. It’s an excellent drink for the northern winter so mix one up.

Much as I like peated whiskys, I think this drink works better with something lighter. Incidentally, if going that route, the recently released Drambuie 15 might be fun to experiment with. It is dryer than the regular Drambuie, and contains a higher ratio of single malt and older whiskys. I have not yet played with it, but am sure it would make a good Rusty Nail.

While writing this article I decided I rather liked Rusty Nails with a grapefruit twist instead of the standard lemon. A very simple way to take this cocktail in new directions.

No experiments for me right now though. I am headed to tropical Burma where I will no doubt imbibe a Pegu Club or two.

As mentioned previously, I had an article on the Mojito published in a China bar industry magazine, Drink (??). Drink does not have a website yet, but you can read the article here.

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While offering pleasant sojourning, the Guatemalan rum landscape does not exactly excite with its variety. Everything comes from a single company, Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala, though that company produces at least two labels – Zacapa and Botran.

Zacapa represents the glamorous international face of Guatemalan rum: attractive, commercialized, definitely expensive, and while it makes for exceedingly pleasant company, you can’t help suppressing the occasional yawn and wondering how thick that make up is. Botran in contrast is the slightly homely stay-at-home sister, working a nine-to-five job and hurrying home to cook instead of mixing with high society, and generally getting taken for granted by all and sundry. Zacapa smugly preens itself from little clusters of high priced bottles in duty free stores and on the top shelves of smarter bars, while Botran runs itself ragged covering the shelves of local supermarkets and bars, where it jostles for attention with the anise liqueur that is ubiquitous in Latin America.The question then is this: does Zacapa deserve to be Guatemala’s Ambassador of Rum?

Being a rebel, and a fan of rum with a glow to it, I’m going to support the underdog and say I rather like Botran.

Exhibits A through E follow.

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The Haitian earthquake was what greeted me when I got online this morning.

Haiti has never had it easy and the last few years have been especially rough. The country has had to deal with the Gonaive floods, the horrible school collapse in Port-au-Prince,  the political strife and social anarchy that followed the ouster of Aristide and led to Haiti playing host to a UN peacekeeping deployment, and now this earthquake. It’s too early to say how bad this earthquake really is. Maybe the casualties are light. Probably they run into the thousands. Key government buildings in Port-au-Prince have collapsed, and the devastation is almost certainly far worse in the shoddily built slums that dominate the city. Life in Haiti is difficult even at its best, and this latest event is simply tragic.

Now seems an appropriate time to mention a couple of things about my visit to Haiti that I somehow never got around to writing about earlier. . . (more…)

I like checking out Chinatowns in different cities.  A week or so ago I took a walk around the Santo Domingo version.  Chinatown in the Caribbean, pretty exotic.

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Tales of the Cocktail is now less than a week away.  I thought I would post my likely schedule.  If you are going to be attending some of the same sessions then do say hello.

Tuesday 15th

- Arrive early evening and have a drink in the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone.  There I hope to run into Jay Hepburn of Oh Gosh!  Go for dinner some place.

Wednesday 16th

- Try to get up early enough to explore New Orleans in the morning.

-  2.00pm –  Toast to Tales of the Cocktail

-  4:30pm – Bloggers Reception

- 7.30pm – Save the Daiquiri Party

Thursday 17th

-  10.30am – To Have and Have Another: The Hemingway Bartender’s Companion

- 12.00pm – A bit of a toss up between Juniperlooza and Bourbon, Blues and Bluegras

- 2.30pm – Cognac and Armagnac: Understanding the nuances of the Spirits (this is a spirit I am very ignorant about so it should be interesting).

- 4.30pm – Haven’t quite decided, but possibly Latino Libations.

- 5.30 pm – Cocktail Hour

- 8.00 pm – Spirited Dinner at The Delichaise.

Friday 18th

- 10.30am – Amore, Amari

- 12.30pm – Rum, Ron, Rhum

- 2.30pm – History of Liqueurs

- 4.30pm – Impossible to choose here!  All four sessions look so interesting: Cocktails of the Old Raj; Essential Guide to American Whiskey, Rye Nation, and Sensory Perception in Mixology.  I guess I’ll just decide at the last minute or something.

- 8.00pm – I may check out Rum and all that Jazz.  On the other hand I may just go for a wander out on the town.

Saturday 19th

- 10.30am – The Cafes of Paris

- 12.30pm – History of Herbsaint (though the egg session also looks interesting)

-  4.30pm – Making your own cocktail ingredients

-  6pm – Possibly the Tiki party or maybe just check out the town.

Sunday 20th

- 10.30am – The Gentleman’s Companion: The life and times of Charles A Baker

- 12.30pm – The Flowing Bowl: A history of punch

- 5pm – Wormwood Society absinthe soiree

Monday 21st

Head on to the Caribbean