Busted Flush. I’m sometimes asked how I name my cocktails. Mostly I’ll look for a connection between  the main ingredients and see if anything suggests itself but when that fails I turn to The List. Huh? Well, whenever I hear ..read more

Pulu + Lonkero. A Finnish friend, knowing me to be of the cocktaily persuasion, once told me of a drink that was popular in her youth that was called a lonkero. Upon hearing that this “cocktail” came in a can ..read more

More than a feeling… Newbury + Mr. Boston Bartender’s Guide. Recently a good friend* lent me his 1941 Old Mr. Boston Bartender’s Guide an iconic tome that has been in print continuously since 1935. I got my first (2006) copy as a gift in the naughties and it wasn’t great; full of terrible recipes and gaudy illustrations but with a few almost correct classic recipes hidden between. With its continuous updates it is often said that Mr. Boston is something of a window into what the average American is imbibing at the time of publication. There might be something to that but I reckon any given p ..read more

To a new home in the sun.   After the Gold Rush. The Gold Rush is a delicious and simple cocktail of just Bourbon, lemon juice and honey syrup that has long been a go-to cocktail for me when I’m feeling a little lazy but I’ve felt for some time that it could use a little more flavour complexity. It’s always a bit of a risk messing with a rock solid drink but I think my little modifications keep the spirit of the original while elevating it enough to be worthwhile of a new name. Inspiration was delivered unto me by a couple of other classic whisky cocktails, the New York Sour and the Pen ..read more

Where is my Mind?   Hive Mind. A fair old whiley ago we talked about making some chipotle infused tequila for use in my very own Sun Stone. I don’t really like having ingredients that have just a single use so I feel it’s about time to do something more with our smoky, spicy tequila which you can read the instructions for making here. It’s worth noting that the prices for good quality, additive free, 100% agave tequila have gone through the roof since then so I’d add that if you’re strapped for cash you could just about get away with a less diligently made tequila or even decent mixto ..read more

It’s Gin o’clock! Three budget gins. The cost of living crisis has been tough on a lot of people and these days everything seems more expensive. Although the price of spirits has (at least in my experience) has not risen as fast as other food and drink there can still be less left in your pocket to splash out on luxury items. Like gin. The good news is that you don’t need to break the bank to get a decent mixing gin. The ongoing resurgence in popularity gin is currently enjoying has put a lot of more expensive luxury gins onto the market – and very fine and interesting many of them are too ..read more

Fly away with me. Frigatebird. It’s no secret that I’m a huge Tiki fanboy and am particularly awed by the work of Don The Beachcomber who single handedly created a cocktail genre nigh-on a century ago. Tiki drinks are once more in vogue with a plethora of modernist variations tagged onto the staples created by Don B and Trader Vic many of which rely on more recent products techniques. I recently challenged myself to come up with a new Tiki cocktail that used only the more limited assortment of liqueurs and spirits that would have been available to Don in the 1930s. It would need to be flavou ..read more

1,2,3 1,2,3 come get it now… Remember Your Name + riffing on classics. The dirty little secret of the craft cocktail movement (I dislike the term, but whatever) is that the vast majority of cocktails on the menu are just riffs on classic recipes. In fact I quite enjoy going through the modern cocktail menu – which is typically just a list of flavours followed by a price – trying to spot which one will be the Old Fash rehash, the Daiquiri derivative, the Manhattan mutation, the Collins conversion or the phoney Negroni. The tweaking of the age old classics might at first glance seem a little l ..read more

The Maine event. Remember the Maine. I first approached the Remember the Maine with the intention if riffing on it because I hate the name of this drink so much but then I remembered how good it actually tastes and have left my riffed version for a later date in order to share this hideously named drink with you. So about that. In 1898 an American warship USS Maine exploded in Havana harbour killing most of the crew. While it was known almost immediately to be a accident (burning coal and gunpowder not being a peaceful combination) the USA decided to blame the Spanish and proceed to nab the ..read more

Legends of the fall.   Fallback. This autumnal cocktail, which was created by the late legendary cocktailista Sash Petraske, caught my attention because of the somewhat unusual preparation instructions. According to his book Regarding Cocktails the ingredients are just built (cocktailspeak for poured into) in a whisky glass, a large ice cube added and then stirred until “sufficiently chilled”. This goes against everything we have been told about making aromatic style cocktails and almost all subsequent re-tellings of this drink attempt to normalise it by using the usual techniques of st ..read more