The Clover Club: A Pre-Prohibition Drink Most Bars Get Wrong
Pink, foamed and faintly ridiculous-looking, the Clover Club spent most of the twentieth century as a punchline — the drink a certain kind of drinker would not be…
Author: Flash Fry
The Sour: The Template Behind Half the Cocktails You Know
There are only so many ideas in a cocktail list. Learn one of them and a great many drinks stop being individual recipes to memorise and start being…
Which Beers Are Actually Worth Cellaring?
Cellaring beer has acquired a mystique it does not entirely deserve. The great majority of beer is at its best the week it is packaged and gets worse…
Why Beer Skunks, and Why the Bottle Is Usually Green
Almost everything people believe about skunked beer is wrong. It is not caused by warmth, it is not caused by the beer being old, and it has nothing…
Draught vs Bottled Beer: Which Is Actually Better?
Ask the internet whether draught beats bottled and you will get a confident yes. Look at who is answering and a pattern appears: keg manufacturers, draught-system installers, and…
The French 75: A Cocktail Named After an Artillery Gun
Most cocktails are named after a person, a place or an ingredient. This one is named after a field gun, on the grounds that drinking it felt like…
The Meyboom: Brussels Has Planted a Tree Over a Beer Tax Since 1308
Brussels has a great many festivals, and one of them is a city carrying a tree through its own streets against a deadline. It happens on the same…
What Is a Beer Flight? How to Order One and Actually Taste It
A flight is the cheapest way to find out what you like. It is also the most commonly wasted thing on a bar menu, because most people order…
Dubbel, Tripel, Quadrupel: What the Names Actually Mean
Three words do most of the work on a Belgian beer list, and all three look like they mean something arithmetical. Double the strength, triple the strength, quadruple…
Why Is Belgian Beer So Strong?
Order a pilsner almost anywhere and you are drinking something around 5%. Order a Belgian ale and you may be handed 9% in a glass the same size,…