An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

A Beuchert’s Saloon employee pours bright orange syrup into a glass, adds ice, and pulls the handle to a soda fountain draft releasing a stream of carbonated water. The result is a house-made orange crush soda.

“It’s very creamy,” said Rachael Lopez, 24, a patron at Beuchert’s. Her husband, Ben Berkow, 26, enjoyed the smooth taste and the subtle vanilla flavor he got.

This new Capitol Hill restaurant recently installed three soda fountain draft arms originally assembled by the Liquid Carbonic Manufacturing Company and dated somewhere between the late 1880s and the mid 1910s.

While tasting whiskey is the most important introductory step one can take to begin understanding the vast world of whiskey, EDUCATING one’s self about whiskey is step number two. As you begin reading about how whiskey is made, you will not only learn the science behind the process but the history of whiskey will begin to reveal itself. So start reading! As a whiskey connoisseur and whiskey teacher, I stress the importance of reading as it is through this process you will begin to understand the quality of what you are drinking.

So where to begin reading? Begin by buying David Broom’s book, The World Atlas of Whisky: More Than 350 Expressions Tasted – More Than 150 Distilleries Explored. Not only is this a beautiful coffee table book, but this is the one-stop shop for understanding the whisky world. Do you know who David Broom is? If not check out his biography and a class he offers online here.

The above resources have been instrumental to my personal whiskey journey and I hope you will find them helpful as well. One last tip: as you start reading about the various whiskey flavor profiles, never underestimate your own taste palette! Keep tasting and taking notes along the way and you yourself will quickly become an expert. Good luck with your reads and please feel free to share other materials you find helpful here as well.

Hey folks! My friends at Casa Oaxaca are hosting a tasting dinner with Fidencio Mezcal this Wednesday, June 20th at 7:30pm.

The dinner is going to be 4 courses paired with four different mezcals. Tickets are $75 a person. Additionally, I have it on good authority one of the cocktails that will be served during the dinner will use Scofflaw’s Den Lavender Bitters!

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

Cheers!

This Sunday, March 25 at 5:30pm is our next class at Last Exit. “Drink Like Mad Men” will celebrate the 5th season of AMC’s Mad Men with a primer on four cocktails that are featured on the show. Learn all about the history and making of iconic drinks such as the Manhattan, the Old Fashioned and the Dry Martini. There will also be a cocktail to commemorate the lovely ladies of Mad Men and quite possibly a Scofflaw’s Den cocktail creation just for students! Each student will also get a laminated recipe card of the cocktails featured during the class!

After learning about, and tasting, drinks from the show, stick around Last Exit to talk cocktails and enjoy dinner and drink specials while watching the season premiere with other fans of the show.

There are only a few seats to the class left so sign up below now to secure your seat!

Cost: $50.00 per student
Where: Last Exit, 3155 Mount Pleasant Street, N.W., Washington, DC
When: March 25, 2012 at 5:30 pm