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COCTELIER &

  AUTHOR

A lifetime ago, in my early twenties, I became fascinated with cocktails when I read Charles Baker's Gentleman's Companion. Being a creative type I had long been inventing cocktails. When someone asked me to teach a course in Mixology, I began asking myself just how I instinctively invented new cocktails. After much introspection, I was able to systematize a method and the result was The Fundamentals of Mixology. It is not a book of recipes or lore, Rather it is a practical manual designed to teach anyone who knows the basic principles of bartending how to invent new cocktails quickly and easily.

 

The book can be purchased on Amazon or directly from me.

Being a jack-of-all-trades, and this being an art site, I probably should mention that I took the photograph, designed the book cover and the labels of the bitters that follow.

Red Beeler's Tabackycrack is an aromatic cocktail bitters. But it wasn't Red who invented them, I did. Why give "Red" the credit then? To tell the truth I couldn't resist. It just so happens that Red Beeler was the most famous "revenoor" agent in the history of the United States. During his career he dynamited thousands of moonshine stills on behalf of the government. Since I grew up near the Smokies, I met Red when I was a kid because he lived right next door! So it's kind of a left-handed compliment to name a bitters in his honor.  But why "Tabackycrack?"  It's because the scent  of this bitters is almost identical to a freshly opened package of cigarettes. The irony is that the bitters contain no tobacco, just as there's no angostura bark in Angostura Bitters. Beeler's is every bit as good as Peychaud's or Angostura. When Beeler's Bitters are added to a cocktail, you can't taste them directly but they intensify the other flavors. 

Rosenkavalier Rose Bitters is a rose-flavored bitters that is essential in several original cocktails such as the Rose Marie in the cocktail section of this web page. A booklet of recipes for cocktails made with this bitters is available upon request.

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