All Entries in the "Blogs" Category
Gaz Regan’s 101 Best New Cocktails Pt 2
Gaz shares his ‘101 Best New Cocktails’ with us, which will ultimately appear in his 2011 Manual for Bartenders.
The Crapple direPhone 4
The hour you spend in store upgrading is the only time a network will treat you with dignity and respect and, to be honest, I’ll take a little bit of love wherever I can find it.
Vote for Pedro
Do we really need another award that recognises individuals already recognised as being at the top of their game?
Hey old timer – Shut up
Over the past 12 months it seems that more and more of our industry’s well respected and well loved characters have been busy spending their time telling us all how lucky we are and how good we have it.
Gaz Regan’s 101 Best New Cocktails
St Clements Stone Sour: Adapted from a recipe by Alex Orwin, Group Head Bartender for The Rushmore Group (formally The Match Bar Group), London.
Christmassy Cocktails
The Gooch brings you some Christmassy cocktails from Gaz Regan, Angus Winchester, Dushan Zaric, Jeff Beachbum Berry, Riki Carter and Tim Philips. Cheers.
Bars We Have Visited in 2010
As 2010, and BarLifeUK’s first year, draws to a close, we thought we should put together a list of the bars we visited.
London Cocktail Society Christmas Party
Last week the London Cocktail Society Christmas party marked the end of a high-flying first year with a party at Callooh Callay.
Top 5 Cocktails from 1980 – 2010
Here’s my top-five cocktails of the last 30 years. Recipes are mine and may have been adapted from the original.
Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Most bartenders don’t need to be educated about absinthe – but there’s no doubt that their customers do.
Salvatore Calabrese to run the new Playboy Bar? Yes Indeed
High profile members-only launch? Celebrities? Casino? We thought that had Salvatore written all over it, and we were right.
The Nightjar: new Old Street speakeasy
I have no doubt that the bar will be a magnetic jazz and cabaret venue when it launches, but what kncked my socks off was the cocktail menu.
A tale of two tastings
Chester Brown, brand ambassador for Mount Gay, was named the world’s best ambassador for the spirit; El Dorado’s Stefanie Holt the best in the UK, but the differences between the two stuck out like cocktail umbrellas in a Old Fashioned.
Biggin’ up my borough
And I feel quite lucky at the moment because it seems North West London is having a surge of new bars and clubs.
Tim Philips is A Class Act
A lot of people ask me what it’s like to compete and be judged ‘Best Bartender in the Country’. A lot of people don’t care. I tell this story to them if they care or not…
Michael O’Leary Hates Bartenders
There are few things as likely to make you question your worth as a human being as much as a Ryanair flight. They are not so much a passenger airline as a human haulage company.
Not for Human Consumption
Tim Philips gives us his top 5 drinks to avoid in the land of the free.
Don’t Drink and Dial
For a while you wrack you brain, trying to remember what you did last night, and where this ominous feeling is coming from. Did I act like a wanker in my bar? Did I get in a fight? Did I spend too much money? Did I kiss someone I shouldn’t have?
The Four Faces of Rum
This is not a list of types of rum, nor is it meant to be a definitive list of the movements with which rum has been associated… just a personal description of what I see as the Four Faces of Rum.
Consumer Reporter Blog: Shorebitch Soul
Located on Ravey Street, a little side street off the main bars on Great Eastern St, you will find a little black metal door with the number 5 written above and a Victorian lamp with stenciled characters of the three blind mice logo.
Tim Homewood’s Blog – Diary of a Molecular Bartender
After a night at Wax Jambu after Bar Show, I decided that perhaps I should write a blog on just how easy molecular mixology is… A few days later a kit arrived for me in the post and I’ve been playing ever since.
The Gooch: Drinks, Chutes and Leaves
Flight Attendant Steven Slater’s meltdown begs the question: How much shit should we, as service people, put up with?
Consumer Reporter: Bar Crawl – New York Style
First up, carrying on with the whiskey theme is Highlands. A great little bar and restaurant recommended to be me by a friend. Located in the west village, this hidden little gem is hard to spot due to its dim lighting.
Tim Philips’ Blog – The New Guy
I’m not going to lie to you and tell you work is fun for me at the moment. Ive always enjoyed going into work and being personable, charming, and happy. That’s because i’ve generally always been really good at what i do.
BarLifeUK’s new consumer reporter tastes some bourbon
Bourbon is one of those drinks that conjure up images of cowboys and westerns, deep southern twangs, hard leathery faced men downing shots, a drink not for the faint hearted should I say. So could I be converted to a whiskey drinker?
Bar Vs Imbibe. Fight, Fight, Fight….
If Imbibe’s intent was to show that you can run a drinks-based exhibition without attracting every staggering, drunken student in London, they succeeded
Don’t Mock the ‘Jito
The Gooch is back and explains why Pre-packaged cocktails are good and American’s on YouTube are bad
Tim Philips on the subject of Equality
Along with vintage coca-cola cans, 1993-1996 NBA basketball cards, and jokes about feminists I collect classic cocktail recipes.
Tim Philips’ American Odyssey
I have now been in the big apple for a total of 12 hours. Enough time to land, get a coffee the size of my head, eat a hot dog, drink 15 Miller High-Life’s, pass out and sleep.
Brand Ambassador Bashers – Love Thy Neighbour
Everyone needs to pay the rent, and as long as they try to do a good job and bring something to the trade, full power to them.
I’m old school… For now, by Tim Philips
Bartenders all around the globe still spend their days off making their own bespoke ingredients for their drinks. This is where I have changed. Do I still do that? No.
World Cup Cocktails: Second Half
As we all know football is a game of two halves, and cocktail shakers are an implement of two halves – coincidence? We don’t think so. Welcome to World Cup Cocktails Part Deux
Leave Your Ego at Home by Tim Philips
Tim Phillips reckons that if you are too up yourself, dedicate your lives to dehydrating unicorn tears, have no regard for being ‘hospitable’ in the hospitality industry, you are rubbish
World Cocktail Day by Tim Philips
May 13. The 133rd day of the year. Who cares yeah? Another day, another quid. Well, you’re wrong! Today is World Cocktail Day.
The Seasonaire – Tim Philips’ First Blog
As long as you can buy your beer, pay your rent you can ride all day. This is the life of a Seasonaire.
Killed by a Kinky Monkey
On the train back from Manchester, we felt like we had been slaughtered, vacuum packed and put up for sale on a Lidl ‘about to pass its sell-by date’ shelf…
Three Hours on a Virgin
Skinny jeans on men over 30, or under 30 with a paunch, make you look like a cock. Stop it immediately. Thank you.
5 a day, the liquid way
The Gooch gets hungry, gets annoyed, gets drunk and then gets even – his mission? 5 a day through the medium of the cocktail….
Going it Alone
This week I’ve been starting to realise just how cool it is to be working on a project of my own, as opposed to something owned by someone else.
Hello, welcome.
Come in, no need to take your shoes off. You can smoke in here too, and play loud music. Just watch the paintwork… some of it is still wet. We’ve only just finished the place you see. It’s brand new.
