The Beer Goggles Theory Has Been Debunked

The idea of having beer goggles just might not fly anymore. According to a recent study done by the University of Leicester, located in England, the infamous “beer goggles” theory has been proven to be only a myth. In the study, 240 men and woman in bars and cafes were asked to look at pictures of females and asked to comment on their age and attractiveness. The study included 120 sober men and women. The other 120 men and women had consumed alcoholic beverages. The pictures used were of ten different women, all of the age of 17. Some of the pictures had been digitally altered to show the same woman, aged at 13 years old and also at 20 years old and showed the women wearing makeup and without makeup.

The overall results of the study found that Read More...

Not Every Brand of Tequila Has its Own Distillery

There are over 900 tequila brands currently out on the market, yet there are only 100+ tequila distilleries. This means that many brands of tequila actually end up coming from the same distillery.

Did you know that every one hundred percent agave tequila must have a NOM number on the bottle? What is a NOM and how do you know the product in the bottle is indeed tequila? How do you know where the tequila inside the bottle comes from? Read More...

Why Some Bottles of Tequila Have Worms Inside

I remember when my parents took a trip to Mexico together, while I was in high school. One of the souvenirs they brought back for me was a small bottle of tequila with a worm inside of it. I was intrigued. There was a worm inside a small bottle of tequila, but why? My mom believed that if you ate the worm, it would make you hallucinate. Sadly, I never did get a chance to see if the worm caused hallucinations. I was only in high school when I received the gift. By the time I was of a legal age to drink, my small souvenir bottle of tequila with a worm in it had long been lost. So what is the deal with tequila that has a worm inside the bottle? Read More...

Southern Comfort is NOT Whiskey-Based

Southern Comfort. A product of the South. Created by a bartender in New Orleans in 1874. This product is used in popular recipes such as an Alabama Slammer, Slow Comfortable Screw, Scarlett O’Hara, and popular amongst the college-aged crowd, SoCo Lime shots.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that Southern Comfort is considered a liqueur. Southern Comfort doesn’t have a whiskey base, like most people believe there to be. Southern Comfort is a fruit, spiced, whiskey flavored liqueur. It’s a secret blend of flavors that include peach, orange, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon. Read more HERE about SoCo's history and fun facts.

Busting Bar Myths: Origins of the Mai Tai

The Mai Tai was not invented in either Hawaii or Tahiti. The drink was originated in Oakland, California. Drink recipe creator, Victor Jules “Trader Vic” Bergeron came up with the original recipe for a Mai Tai in 1944 while working as a bartender in the service bar of his Oakland restaurant, Trader Vic’s. Read More...

PS: I have included an instructional video on how to make the original Mai Tai in the article thanks to EverydayDrinkers.tv

Busting Bar Myths: Why Corona is Garnished With a Lime

Corona is the #1 selling beer in Mexico, the #1 selling Mexican beer in the world and the #4 selling beer in the world. Corona is considered a pale lager that is made with water, barley, hops and yeast and is served in a clear bottle. I have served thousands of Coronas during my bartending career so far and have always wandered why Corona is always garnished with a lime wedge in the neck of the bottle. Read More...

June Already?

Geez! It's June already. Man, where is the time going? I think I am still stuck in March. I still can't believe that I have lived here in San Francisco for four years now.

I still can't get over that I am in my sixth year of bartending. Who knew that bartending would be my career of choice? And what a fun and lucrative career it has become.

Speaking of career bartending, whoever said that bartending wasn't a real job? Be sure to read my Examiner.com article today:

Busting Bar Myths Monday: Bartending Isn’t a Real Job

New Series: Busting Bar Myths Mondays

I started a new series on my SF Bartender Examiner page called, "Busting Bar Myths Mondays."

So far, I have posted three parts:

Busting Bar Myths #1: Grenadine
Busting Bar Myths #2: Olive Juice
Busting Bar Myths #3: Simple Syrup (Newest Article!!)

I will be adding a new article, busting various bar myths, every Monday so be sure to keep checking back on my Examiner.com page.

Just when I think I know all there is to know about bartending, I learn something new. That's the beauty of bartending.

I don't care what anyone says, YES YOU CAN be a career bartender and it's nothing to be ashamed about.

Debunking Guinness Myths

Here is an interesting article I found on debunking 10 Guinness myths.

Hope everyone had a safe and sane St. Patty's Day!

Busting Bar Myths #2: Olive Juice

Time to bust another bar myth....

When someone orders a "dirty" martini, that means that they want olive juice added to their drink.

But let's think about this for a second. If you crush up olives, you don't get olive juice. You get olive oil. So what is that stuff they call olive juice?

The liquid you find inside jars of olives is considered olive juice, but it's technically pickled brine.

That's right, pickled brine.

Pickled brine is just a salt and water solution and has an olive flavor because this is the liquid that comes in the jars that olives are stored in.

So when someone orders a dirty martini, what they really want is a little pickled brine added to their gin or vodka, dry vermouth, shaken or stirred and served up in a martini glass, garnished with an olive.

Therefore, technically it's pickled brine that makes a martini dirty, not olive juice.

Busting Bar Myths #1: Grenadine

When I ask people what they think grenadine is they always say.....cherry juice.

Wrong!

Grenadine is a red syrup that was originally made from pomegranate juice, cherry juice and sugar. Not just cherry juice like most people like to believe. In fact, grenadine actually comes from the French word, "grenade" which means pomegranate. Now grenadine consists almost entirely of a high-fructose corn syrup base. Yummers!

Grenadine is used to make drinks like "cherry" cokes, pink lemonades, shirley temples and tequila sunrises.

So if someone asks you what grenadine is, you can tell them the correct answer. It isn't really just cherry juice. It's actually pomegranate juice with a bunch of sugar.