As busy host/hostess, anytime you can offer a fun, engaging, self-serve cocktail bar, expect your guests to rave about your entertaining prowess! A tonic bar is a simple way to allow your guests open access to create their own drinks while you get to enjoy your party too. Its versatility…
Making tonic water at home and in bars became a widespread fashion in the early 2000’s. An internet search for ‘DIY tonic water’ will result in a number of recipes. Jeffrey Morgenthaler posted a recipe in 2008, (found here), which became one of the most popular. Since then, he has…
I met the Nelson brothers, of Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, at this year’s San Antonio Cocktail Conference and visited with them again at TOTC. Their Belle Meade Bourbon is one of my favorites and with it I have created a number of cocktails. I first tasted their Nelson’s Green Brier…
Treaty Oak Distilling is aging their gin in whiskey barrels to create their Waterloo Antique Gin. This is truly a unique gin. It has the sweet caramel nose that you would expect from the barrel aging but with the addition of the herbaceous input of gin. The flavors are citrus,…
I think that Fords Gin cries out for grapefruit. It so happens that grapefruit is one of the primary flavors in Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s tonic recipe. His quinine syrup, that you can add to club soda to make tonic water, is simple and takes less than an hour to make. I…
Simply Delicious Cocktail Recipes You Can Make at Home Creating craft cocktails at home can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. I personally prefer easy, and if you’re set up right, even complicated drinks can be simple to make.
Page updated February 26, 2023 Read on to learn the basics of barrel aging and how to get started. To see some additional barrel aged cocktails and spirits go here. Once the concept was introduced by Jeffrey Morgenthaler around 2010, barrel aged cocktails became the next great drink and are…
We have two offerings for this Month’s Mixology Monday, “I’ll take Manhattan!” This one, from our fearless MxMo leader, Frederic of the CocktailVirgin blog, challenges us to revisit the classic cocktail. Our first submission is the Manhattan 2.0 – a “Modern” version of the Manhattan with the added nuance of…
For the the bourbon in this cocktail, we tried Basil Hayden and Belle Mead. Both were excellent. The bourbon brings flavors of maple, tobacco, smoke and vanilla. This blends well with the rich, earthy Carpano Antica’s tastes of herbs, spice and slight bitterness. Tasting this without knowing the ingredients, one…
Here we are with another excuse to party! Fat Tuesday always means Mardi Gras and New Orleans. So to celebrate, let’s take a look at two iconic libations from the Crescent City, the Vieux Carré and the Sazerac.