I entirely believe that it is as possible to care and be careful with spirits and cocktails as it is to enjoy food. The same nuances can be savoured from hand selected producers, provenance and authenticity that chefs and restaurants enjoy. You can be a gourmet when it comes to drinking.

Of course alcohol is intoxicating so of course moderation is key but it still possible and enjoyable in my opinion… to paraphrase Churchill “ to take more out of it than it takes from you”.

Preaching this message is my crusade and like any crusade it will be unpopular with some people as it involves an approach that requires more money and less drinks yet also will come thrown in with fabulous tastes, great nights and hangover free mornings. Or as we Bartenders like to call it, cocktail flu.

I don’t expect this to convert the world but it may resonate among people that are pouring more and more liquor of increasingly dubious virtue without really having any idea of what it is? They are drinking what clever marketing people and deep budgeted corporations want you to drink. 

And bartenders who really care about hosting their guests rather than just processing them like a vending machine will I hope appreciate this …manual… on how to be good at drinking. They can read it and learn from it and also bask in the glow that there are some connoisseurs of the bartender and the distiller’s art out there (and they tip well).