Brian Christie envisions a future where all cocktails are made with natural ingredients and love, where hangovers don’t exist, and where everyone wants to experiment, explore, and enjoy life. As a grip/dolly grip, he’s worked on such shows as The O.C., Heroes, Iron Man 2, Gangster Squad, Horrible Bosses 2, Agents of Shield, and most recently Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. When not on set, he can be found traveling the world in search of new experiences and cocktails. His exploits include drinks in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Muskegon, Munich, Boise, Prague, Phoenix, Dublin, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Sydney, and most recently Edinburgh.
In a previous blog post we dealt with the subject of cocktail names. You can give a cocktail, or anything for that matter, a fancy intriguing name but none of that matters if the drink is unappetizing. The Complete Bartenders Guide is abundant with amazing cocktail names but (if you’ve been following along) lacking in flavorful cocktails. Once again…
Ale, ale, prunelle. Like some outlandish alcoholic version of Duck Duck Goose, today we delve into some early cocktail history and end with a defunct liqueur. We also have a guest with us today, James Mann. Eric and I have known James for quite a while. We all met early on in our careers in…
We met Therese and Jake of Mosswood Distillers at the San Francisco Craft Spirits Carnival. We talked booze and tasted whiskey. They were warm, honest, friendly, and all-around great people, so we decided that we had to meet them in their element and see their operation. So on a warm fall morning we make our way…
What’s in a name? Mr. Bill Shakespeare aptly used this question in Romeo and Juliet to show that names are but labels and that the worth of the person is all that truly matters. Today we measure the worth of a few cocktails with the names ALABAMA FIZZ (not too intriguing), ALABAZAM (piques interest), and ALASKA (it’s…
You’ve just boarded a plane. Maybe you’re off on that trip you have always wanted to take to Bali—or maybe you’re on your way back home from that horrible business trip with Ashton from marketing. Whatever it is you just want to sit back and relax, but there are few things on a plane that…
In Part 1 of the After Dinner Aggravation, Brian, Eric, and Guest Taster Jason tried out two separate “After Dinner” drinks with unprecedentedly positive scores, while still kind of hating them. We pick up where we left off, with Rituals crew building the AGGRAVATION: Next up we have a drink that uses Kahlua and of…
I hop in the Lyft I requested minutes ago. As I sit into the front seat bottles can be heard clanking and clinking. “How’s your day going,” the driver asks. To which I reply, “It’s about to get better. Heading to a friend’s to have some cocktails.” This is how most of my Lyft rides…
Previously on the Rituals: We dutifully marched through the ADDINGTON (a nothing drink) and the ADIOS AMIGOS (a worse-than-nothing drink) without feeling any sense of life fulfillment. But we still need to meet the Admiral—or three creepy versions of the Admiral, anyway, like some boozy version of The Prestige. So, like gluttons for punishment, we soldier on to…
Prohibition was a double-edged sword. Organized crime and bootlegging were bad for the United States but they were great for the world of cocktails. Would we have the cocktails we have now if there was no Prohibition? Questionable. If I had a DeLorean that could take me back in time to the days of Prohibition…
Last week was Negroni week—a week of Negronis, Negroni variations, and charity brought to you by Imbibe and Campari. Bars across the United States that participate in Negroni week donate a portion of their proceeds to a charity of their choice. Negroni week is a wonderful reason to drink up and give back. I recently…
The A section of The Complete World Bartender Guide has 113 cocktail recipes, 8 liquors, and 7 punches for a grand total of 134 beverages we need to make and consume. Not every session can be cocktails and fun. Some days we need to make the liquors and punches. This week we have decided to tackle a liqueur…
In the world of cocktails there is nothing more Ritualistic than absinthe. After the first session Eric and I are optimistic for the next few drinks in the book, which all contain absinthe. While we are attempting to follow along with the drinks in the book, there are a few we can’t get to because…
I wake up feeling pretty good today. Feeling pretty good because I had had a few cocktails the night before and I felt better than expected. I make breakfast and tend to some small chores around the house. I keep passing from my kitchen to the bathroom. One of the rooms along that path is the…