Issue 30

Posts From Binoy Fernandez

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Binoy Fernandez

Binoy Fernandez

Perfect Pour: A Craft Cocktail Competition

What comes to your mind when you envision a fundraiser? I’m used to charity events where there’s a silent auction, sometimes a live one, and a standard meal consisting of overcooked beef, steamed vegetables and a starch of some sort.

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Portrait of a Bartender: Justin Swanson

This issue I find myself near a hotel in downtown Omaha, searching out a looking glass.  Through that looking glass I go, and I wait for permission to go through a wall.  Behind this wall of unopened liquor bottles lies

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Portrait of a Bartender: Benton Alexander 0

One of the things I’ve learned over the past several years, ever since I started my journey in bartending, to be honest, is that bartenders come in all shapes and sizes. They all have different areas of focus, knowledge, attitudes,

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For Local Cocktails, Look No Further than a Syrup

When people talk about the craft of the cocktail these days, they focus on how fresh the juice is, how clear the ice, and where the spirit came from. However, this only addresses two of the four critical components of

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The Foundation of a Craft Cocktail

One of Sour, Two of Sweet, Three of Strong, Four of Weak. – Bajan Rum Punch recipe In making cocktails there is one mantra to keep in mind, and that is the poem above. Dating from the days before the

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Build a Better Bar 0

Vodka, gin, bourbon, rye, Irish, scotch, brandy, tequila, rum, dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, olives, cherries, Collins glasses, ice trays, coke and beer. That’s just to name a few of the items we need in our home bars to say we

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The Craft of the Bar

Cocktails have always been big. Maybe not as big as beer or wine, but bartenders have never been short of orders for a mixed drink, and, understand me, that is all a cocktail is: a mixed drink consisting of at

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Speaking Easy

Prior to Prohibition it was said the cocktail was king among drinks, more consumed than either wine or beer and considered a flavored rival to water. It was so popular, in fact, that it required an amendment to the Constitution

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Ice, Ice Baby

Lately, if you’ve been to a craft bar, you’ve had a drink with a giant cube or a large sphere of ice in it. Some places have even started using spears of ice for the tall Collins glass. What’s the

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The Julep

Every year, on the first weekend of May, the horses race. It’s the day for Churchill Downs, for floppy hats and sundresses, for an off-white suit, fedora, and pocket-watch, and it’s a day for Juleps. The exact reasons why Churchill

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