What if I told you that there was a tiki style drinking establishment before tiki bars even existed? What if I told you it existed in 1917, 16 years before Don Beach opened Don the Beachcombers. In this case it wasn’t a bar but a soda fountain doing “Hawaiian Week” in March 1917. Effectively it…

For many years I have flirted with the idea of developing another blog project or starting a YouTube channel; however, I didn’t want it to be Art of Drink where I substitute a different topic. About six years ago, I briefly started a blog called Yokel, which was about the things I was doing on…

What would you say if I told you the literal translation of grenadine from French didn’t mean pomegranate in the context of the sweet red syrup called grenadine? What would you think if I said modern grenadine is an over-simplified corruption of a once complex and interesting product? I’m sure you would be curious, so…

    The 3 key benefits of the essential oil method are 1. You can make a consistent, cinnamon syrup by knowing the oil content while saving money. Starting with 250ml of cinnamon extract will yield 8 to 10 litres (2.5 gal) of cinnamon syrup. Cinnamon bark (sticks or powder) typically has 0.5% to 1%…

Moxie was originally promoted as a cure for dipsomania (alcohol and drug addiction) much like Coca-Cola’s addition of cocaine was done to help opium addicts. The first version of Moxie contained narcotics, though at the time it wasn’t a soda, but a tonic syrup. Early medical journals mention that Moxie contained a combination of strychnine…