Camper English's Blog, page 8
September 26, 2024
Absinthe Chat with Evan Rail in SF on October 12
On October 12th at 4PM I'll be chatting with Evan Rail, author of The Absinthe Forger at Book Passage in the San Francisco Ferry Building.
I really enjoyed the book and its look at the history of absinthe as well as solving a modern mystery of an expert and online community member who made high-quality fake absinthe and passed it off as vintage.
Swing by if you can! Details here.
September 18, 2024
Lemonade Recipe in Jerry Thomas Identical to Mrs. Beeton
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I learned this in Jeanette Hurt's new book The Whiskey Sour. She postulates that both authored cribbed the recipe from the same source, rather than Thomas getting it from Beeton's book.
The Secret Publisher of Black Cocktail and Cook Books
Those books are 173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails: Potations So Good They Scandalized a President, and Classic Cocktails: Over 170 Drinks from Yesteryear that You Can Enjoy Today.
Thanks to this article I learned that DJ Frienz is the pen name of Dianna Joyce Seay, who was also the founder of Howling at the Moon Press. She . She also republished a cocktail book by a black author.
I have been finding interesting contributions to the craft cocktail renaissance in the years before it really started, with many important books like this one written or published by women.
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September 6, 2024
Twenty (Twenty Nine) New Drink Books for Fall 2024
Update: Detailed reviews of many of these books in my story for AlcoholProfessor are here.
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I found more new books coming out since the original post, so I'll just add them here:
A Forager's Guide to Wild Drinks: Ferments, infusions and thirst-quenchers for every season
Sicilian Cocktails: Contemporary Island Mixology
Flavor Lab Creations: A Physicist’s Guide to Unique Drink Recipes
Cocktails from the Crypt: Terrifying Yet Delicious Concoctions Inspired by Your Favorite Horror Films
The Mindful Mocktail: Delicious, Nutritious Non-Alcoholic Drinks to Make at Home
MockTales: 50+ Literary Mocktails Inspired by Classic Works, Banned Books, and More
The Official Yellowstone Bar Book: 75 Cocktails to Enjoy after the Work's Done
Preserved: Drinks: 25 Recipes
The Cocktail Atlas: Around the World in 200 Drinks
Here are 20 new drink books coming out this fall. I'll have write-ups on all of them on an upcoming AlcoholProfessor story, but for now here are the titles and links to Amazon.
The Whiskey Sour: A Modern Guide to the Classic Cocktail by Jeanette Hurt
Rum A Tasting Course: A Flavor-Focused Approach to the World of Rum by Ian Burrell
Malort: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit by Josh Noel
The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit by Evan Rail
A Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin by Anistatia R Miller and Jared M Brown
Spirits Distilled: A Guide to the Ingredients Behind a Better Bottle by Nat Harry
Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Drinks by Dr. Kevin Peterson
Behind Bars: True Crime Stories of Whiskey Heists, Beer Bandits, and Fake Million-Dollar Wines by Mike Gerrard
Scotch: The Balmoral guide to Scottish Whisky by Cameron Ewen and Moa Reynolds
Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles
The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France's Most Notorious Drink
The Vedge Bar Book: Plant-Based Cocktails and Light Bites for Inspired Entertaining by Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby
The Sopranos: The Official Cocktail Book by Sarah Gualtieri and Emma Carlson Berne
Drink Pink!: Cocktails Inspired by Barbie, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, and More by Rhiannon Lee and Georgie Glass
Puncheons and Flagons: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cocktail Book
Cocktails and Consoles: 75 Video Game-Inspired Drinks to Level Up Your Game Night by Elias Eells
New Editions and Reprints
Jigger, Beaker, & Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker Jr.
Bartending Basics: More Than 400 Classic and Contemporary Cocktails for Any Occasion by Cheryl Charming
In Fine Spirits: A Complete Guide to Distilled Drinks by Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley
The World Atlas of Whisky 3rd Edition by Dave Broom
Twenty (Twenty Seven) New Drink Books for Fall 2024
Update: Detailed reviews of many of these books in my story for AlcoholProfessor are here.
I found more new books coming out so I'll just add them here:
Cocktails from the Crypt: Terrifying Yet Delicious Concoctions Inspired by Your Favorite Horror Films
The Mindful Mocktail: Delicious, Nutritious Non-Alcoholic Drinks to Make at Home
MockTales: 50+ Literary Mocktails Inspired by Classic Works, Banned Books, and More
The Official Yellowstone Bar Book: 75 Cocktails to Enjoy after the Work's Done
Preserved: Drinks: 25 Recipes
The Cocktail Atlas: Around the World in 200 Drinks
Here are 20 new drink books coming out this fall. I'll have write-ups on all of them on an upcoming AlcoholProfessor story, but for now here are the titles and links to Amazon.
The Whiskey Sour: A Modern Guide to the Classic Cocktail by Jeanette Hurt
Rum A Tasting Course: A Flavor-Focused Approach to the World of Rum by Ian Burrell
Malort: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit by Josh Noel
The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit by Evan Rail
A Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin by Anistatia R Miller and Jared M Brown
Spirits Distilled: A Guide to the Ingredients Behind a Better Bottle by Nat Harry
Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Drinks by Dr. Kevin Peterson
Behind Bars: True Crime Stories of Whiskey Heists, Beer Bandits, and Fake Million-Dollar Wines by Mike Gerrard
Scotch: The Balmoral guide to Scottish Whisky by Cameron Ewen and Moa Reynolds
Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles
The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France's Most Notorious Drink
The Vedge Bar Book: Plant-Based Cocktails and Light Bites for Inspired Entertaining by Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby
The Sopranos: The Official Cocktail Book by Sarah Gualtieri and Emma Carlson Berne
Drink Pink!: Cocktails Inspired by Barbie, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, and More by Rhiannon Lee and Georgie Glass
Puncheons and Flagons: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cocktail Book
Cocktails and Consoles: 75 Video Game-Inspired Drinks to Level Up Your Game Night by Elias Eells
New Editions and Reprints
Jigger, Beaker, & Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker Jr.
Bartending Basics: More Than 400 Classic and Contemporary Cocktails for Any Occasion by Cheryl Charming
In Fine Spirits: A Complete Guide to Distilled Drinks by Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley
The World Atlas of Whisky 3rd Edition by Dave Broom
Twenty (Twenty Six) New Drink Books for Fall 2024
I found more new books coming out so I'll just add them here:
Cocktails from the Crypt: Terrifying Yet Delicious Concoctions Inspired by Your Favorite Horror Films
The Mindful Mocktail: Delicious, Nutritious Non-Alcoholic Drinks to Make at Home
MockTales: 50+ Literary Mocktails Inspired by Classic Works, Banned Books, and More
The Official Yellowstone Bar Book: 75 Cocktails to Enjoy after the Work's Done
Preserved: Drinks: 25 Recipes
Here are 20 new drink books coming out this fall. I'll have write-ups on all of them on an upcoming AlcoholProfessor story, but for now here are the titles and links to Amazon.
The Whiskey Sour: A Modern Guide to the Classic Cocktail by Jeanette Hurt
Rum A Tasting Course: A Flavor-Focused Approach to the World of Rum by Ian Burrell
Malort: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit by Josh Noel
The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit by Evan Rail
A Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin by Anistatia R Miller and Jared M Brown
Spirits Distilled: A Guide to the Ingredients Behind a Better Bottle by Nat Harry
Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Drinks by Dr. Kevin Peterson
Behind Bars: True Crime Stories of Whiskey Heists, Beer Bandits, and Fake Million-Dollar Wines by Mike Gerrard
Scotch: The Balmoral guide to Scottish Whisky by Cameron Ewen and Moa Reynolds
Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles
The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France's Most Notorious Drink
The Vedge Bar Book: Plant-Based Cocktails and Light Bites for Inspired Entertaining by Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby
The Sopranos: The Official Cocktail Book by Sarah Gualtieri and Emma Carlson Berne
Drink Pink!: Cocktails Inspired by Barbie, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, and More by Rhiannon Lee and Georgie Glass
Puncheons and Flagons: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cocktail Book
Cocktails and Consoles: 75 Video Game-Inspired Drinks to Level Up Your Game Night by Elias Eells
New Editions and Reprints
Jigger, Beaker, & Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker Jr.
Bartending Basics: More Than 400 Classic and Contemporary Cocktails for Any Occasion by Cheryl Charming
In Fine Spirits: A Complete Guide to Distilled Drinks by Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley
The World Atlas of Whisky 3rd Edition by Dave Broom
Twenty New Drink Books for Fall 2024
Here are 20 new drink books coming out this fall. I'll have write-ups on all of them on an upcoming AlcoholProfessor story, but for now here are the titles and links to Amazon.
The Whiskey Sour: A Modern Guide to the Classic Cocktail by Jeanette Hurt
Rum A Tasting Course: A Flavor-Focused Approach to the World of Rum by Ian Burrell
Malort: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit by Josh Noel
The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit by Evan Rail
A Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin by Anistatia R Miller and Jared M Brown
Spirits Distilled: A Guide to the Ingredients Behind a Better Bottle by Nat Harry
Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Drinks by Dr. Kevin Peterson
Behind Bars: True Crime Stories of Whiskey Heists, Beer Bandits, and Fake Million-Dollar Wines by Mike Gerrard
Scotch: The Balmoral guide to Scottish Whisky by Cameron Ewen and Moa Reynolds
Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles
The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France's Most Notorious Drink
The Vedge Bar Book: Plant-Based Cocktails and Light Bites for Inspired Entertaining by Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby
The Sopranos: The Official Cocktail Book by Sarah Gualtieri and Emma Carlson Berne
Drink Pink!: Cocktails Inspired by Barbie, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, and More by Rhiannon Lee and Georgie Glass
Puncheons and Flagons: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cocktail Book
Cocktails and Consoles: 75 Video Game-Inspired Drinks to Level Up Your Game Night by Elias Eells
New Editions and Reprints
Jigger, Beaker, & Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker Jr.
Bartending Basics: More Than 400 Classic and Contemporary Cocktails for Any Occasion by Cheryl Charming
In Fine Spirits: A Complete Guide to Distilled Drinks by Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley
The World Atlas of Whisky 3rd Edition by Dave Broom
August 30, 2024
Book Review: Liqueur: A Global History by Lesley Jacobs Solmonson
This review first appeared on AlcoholProfessor.com.
Book Review: Liqueur: A Global History by Lesley Jacobs Solmonson
The Edible series of small, hardcover “global history” books now covers 95 topics by my count. The latest is Liqueur: A Global History by Lesley Jacobs Solmonson (August 2, 2024). This is not the only book about drinks in the series. In addition to the history of foods like sandwiches and ingredients like coconuts, beans, and avocados, there are boozy books about the history of gin (also by Solmonson), vodka, whiskey, rum, and other spirits, plus non-alcoholic beverages like milk and soda. I enjoy and trust the authors and information in this series, though some of the books from ten-plus years ago could probably use a refresh in light of new information.
In addition to her gin and new liqueur history books, Solmonson is the co-author of "The 12 Bottle Bar," a clever book with hundreds of cocktail recipes executable with one specific set of spirits. It predates many of the “three ingredient” and “equal parts” recipe books that came out in the race to the bottom of simple cocktail recipe books. (These were, in turn, a reaction to the impractically complicated recipe books requiring ten ingredients and a centrifuge to construct.) Solmonson’s writing leans toward the practical and direct rather than flowery and romantic, which is just what was required here.
In Liqueur: A Global History, the author has only about 150 pages to cover the topic. The history of liqueurs encompasses the entire history of alcohol and distillation, plus the history of sugar and other sweeteners, plus the history of spices as healing foods. Liqueurs were nearly all used as medicines long before they made their way into brunch cocktails.
In the first chapter, Solmonson presents the history of sugar and other sweeteners, along with that of distillation in the Islamic Golden Era (roughly 700-1200 ACE) and into the medical schools in southern Europe (1200s-1400s) where modern drinkable alcohol-based medicines were formalized. She then takes a step back to discuss the spice trade, including along the Silk Routes, the influences of The Crusades, and the later Age of Exploration. In that era Europe is introduced to cacao and vanilla, for example, and in exchange the Spanish oranges introduced to Curacao became the bitter oranges that would later flavor our Margaritas as curacao liqueur. Many of the “exotic” ingredients transported back and forth around the world wound up in liquified form.
Next, we study early printed distillation manuals and what they reveal about the production and purposes of medicinal alcohol, along with how the Dutch explorers converted their bounty of imported botanicals into liqueurs back at home, while also attempting to build sugar plantations in the New World. Into the 1600s, when liqueurs finally became associated with recreational drinking, but this was followed by the Gin Craze in London that saw gin used in a decidedly non-curative manner.
The author seems to have a particular interest in The Enlightenment, the intellectual and philosophical movement of the 17th and the 18th centuries favoring knowledge and rationalism that set the stage for the forthcoming Scientific Revolution. For this section, we turn to France and café and salon society, where people drank not just coffee but also liqueurs and lemonade in the build-up to the French Revolution. I enjoyed the mix of information about what distillers were making as well as how and where people were drinking and serving those distillates in different countries.
We follow along to post-Revolutionary Europe and the commercialization of the sugar beet (which radically altered the price of both sugar and sugar beet-derived alcohol), and detour into the history of monastic Chartreuse and Benedictine liqueurs. Then into the modern era we read the history of crème liqueurs and triple sec, before turning to Italy and its amaretto, sambuca, and maraschino. We also learn about gentian, cinchona, and other bitter botanicals found in amaros and fernets.
Then finally, it’s time for mixed drinks! We read the history of punches of the British before turning to America where mixology blossomed and maraschino, orange curacao, and absinthe made their way into the new “fancy cocktails” that were suddenly in vogue. We learn the specific history and birth of distillers like Hiram Walker and products including Southern Comfort, Forbidden Fruit, and other homeborn brands.
We pick up the cocktail trail after Prohibition and trace the journey into tiki drinks that, while great on their own, primed the palate for the sickly sweet disco drinks with high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors that came later in the 1970s. That era brought us the Alabama Slammer, Harvey Wallbanger, Midori Sour, and other liqueur-forward cocktails that led to the 1980s Fuzzy Navels and Screaming Orgasms. It was the best of times for liqueur; it was the worst of times for quality cocktails.
After a look at the Appletini, Cosmopolitan, and Espresso Martini, we enter the craft cocktail renaissance that inspired the recreation of “lost” liqueurs like Swedish Punsch and crème de violette. Everything old becomes new again.
Back material in the book includes about ten pages of cocktail recipes and a catalog of liqueurs from around the world.Liqueur: A Global History is a highly condensed history of a very big topic, covering world history through the lens of alcohol, trade, medicine, and mixology. It’s a trip through time, popping in to visit the producers as well as the consumers of liqueurs in specific countries in specific eras, like a time travel TV series where every episode that takes place in the past, informs the present.
August 28, 2024
Oslo in One Epic Day
At the end of August 2024, I visited Oslo Norway for 3 days and one evening. For two of those days, I was giving talks on an ice farm and at a cocktail bar (more on that in another post), leaving me with exactly one day to see the city and two evenings to explore its bars.
Here is the epic day during which I visited 7 museums, took 3 boat rides, and saw a ton of the city.
[sorry about any broken links to images, my website host provider TypePad is absolute garbage]
Morning
As I was jetlagged beyond sense, I had breakfast at my hotel (Scandic Byporten)’s associated restaurant Egon. Breakfast opens at 7AM and there are notes all around the hotel on how crowded breakfast can be, so you need to reserve your meal time. They weren’t kidding; it was busy even right at opening.
By 7:30 I was out of there and headed toward Oslo’s stunning . Much like in Sydney, the opera house is a water-side attraction with a view. There is are wide walkways all around it, and you can walk a loop with interesting views. You almost never see it without a few hudred other people there, so I took lots of pictures of it while it was empty.
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I then walked with the intention of passing by the old city , but it turns out I went on the wrong side of it and didn’t see much. (It wasn't open at that time of day anyway.) I arrived to the place where there is a public transit ferry over to the Bogdoy museums and hung out for a few minutes to take the first one at 9:20.
I bought an Oslo Pass, one of those things they have in a lot of cities that gets you unlimited local public transportation and museum entry. I maximized the value of that thing, as we’re about to see. The ferry fare was the first thing I used it for.
The ferry takes you to an island where there are 4 museums I visited. The first three are all right next to each other; the Folk Museum is about a 25 minute walk from there.
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Fram Museum - This museum is an A-frame building containing the Fram, "the strongest wooden ship ever built and still holds the records for sailing farthest north and farthest south." (After having visited The Vasa in Stockholm I’m a fan of boats-inside-buildings.) The museum was pretty great, though I was there at the same time three tour buses pulled up.
You get to walk through the boat, including on the top deck. Screens around the room play scenes of what sailing on it or being stuck in the ice on it was like. As you walk through there were interesting displays on what the sailors eat and drank, their rooms, etc. As I was trying to hit a lot of things I didn’t read too much signage.
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Next up was the Maritime Museum. This seems mostly built for school trips – there is a young kids section, some large model boats in display cases, and some art. I was in and out in 20 minutes max.
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Likewise I didn’t stay long at the Kon-Tiki museum, despite it being another boat-inside-a-building – two boats actually. The tour that was being led at the same time I was there was sounding a bit interesting, and I didn’t really give the museum a full chance, but I wasn’t all that into it.
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Next I walked through a neighborhood of gorgeous mansions to the Folk Museum, which is a campus of sort containing lots of building from different eras in Norway. I was only in it for one building though: The Stave Church!
I’ve always wanted to see a stave church in person and finally had my chance. I took a million pictures from every side (after waiting for people to walk out of the frame) and went inside it. It’s pretty tiny in there but I’m glad I did it.
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Three More Museums and Another Boat
I next hopped the commuter ferry back to mainland Oslo. From there I headed to my fifth museum of the day (it was about noon by this point), the Astrup Fearnley Museum. This is a modern art museum with two sides. Coincidentally one side was dedicated to an artist from California, Cauleen Smith.
The other side of the museum had a small collection of the greatest hits of popular modern art - Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Matthew Barney. It was cool to see some of the stuff in person but didn't take long. Which was good because I had more museums to hit!
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Next I walked to the National Museum. It was huge and incredible and I saw a small fraction of it as I was a bit burned out and tired by this point (1:15 in the afternoon). I would definitely spend more time there on another visit.
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A perfect place to rest for 90 minutes was about a fjord cruise, specifically this one. (Admission price wasn't included with the Oslo Pass but it did get me a discount.) It had nice comfy seating, concessions on board (almost nothing vegetarian so I went for a vegetarian sandwich in the form of a beer), and wasn't crowded. I rested for the first 45 minutes or so and then went outside for the rest. I would say this isn't a crucial tourist item to do but would be great when traveling with older folks and kids as it's comfy and self-contained. I had just seen a fair portion of the journey already that day on the way to the Fram museum.
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My final museum stop was the huge Munch Museum. It is a big splashy museum with a bar on top and a great view from up there. Most of the art was on two or three floors lower down. I had no idea how great an artist Munch is - The Scream is so not his best work.
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And by this time it was only 4:30 PM!
I visited four bars afterward, but that's a story for another post.
So for all the tourist activities I wrote down on my to-do list for Oslo, the only things I didn't actually get to were the and also the .
July 27, 2024
The Ice Book Wins Best Cocktail or Bartending Book at the Spirited Awards!
The Ice Book is the winner of the Best New Cocktail or Bartending Book at the 2024 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards!
This is the highest award within the global bar community. I am delighted!
The Ice Book’s photographer Allison Webber was there to accept the award for us both.
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photo: @jbrasted
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photo: Jackson Cannon
The official Spirited Awards press release is here.
Buy The Ice Book from Amazon, Bookshop, or from your local neighborhood indie bookseller.
