So I got to spend a couple of days in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago thanks to the lovely people at Bols. We checked out the House of Bols Cocktail and Genever Experience, spent a good few hours tasting lots of Genever with the Bols Academy's head bartender Rob Rademaker and sneakily checked out where head distiller Piet van Leijenhorst ages the Corenwyn. There were photos taken, good times had. Oh, and kopstootjes, of which there are no photos. None.
Freakonomics: The Creative Cocktail - a guest post Remember that whole thing from 2010 when Eben Freeman started talking about not being correctly credited for pioneering certain techniques? Maybe, like me, you're just repressing the memory. Anyhow - a good overview of that. (Via Bibulo.us)
BarLife UK: Absinthe - Understanding the controversial spirit and its place in modern times Absinthe expert Ted Breaux kicks off a series of posts on the history, production and mythology of the green fairy - which is a good a reason as any to add a link to Wired's coverage of his attempts to unravel the spirit from back in 2005.
London Evening Standard - Bartender's record-breaking cocktail dream in ruins ...which is a thing that can happen if you leave £50,000 bottles of Cognac lying around.
Congratulations to Matthew Rowley who has just been made a contributing editor at Distiller magazine.