Win a little taste of Ardbeg

A little about sochu

About shochu: The world’s single largest consumed spirit is made from many things, but the Japanese producers (including Iichiko, Japan’s largest seller) brought three main varieties made from sweet potato, rice or barley. All recipes included yeast, of course, but also koji, a cultured rice mold. One other variety is called Awamori and made on the island of Okinawa with only rice, yeast and black koji. Awamori also differs in its single fermentation regime; all others are fermented twice. There were even a couple that used brown sugar as a source of fermentation, I think.

Bols cocktail compitation

The sixth edition of Bols Around the World, the global bartending competition launched by Lucas Bols in 2006, has officially started.

Bols Around the World is looking for the most inspiring, talented and charismatic bartenders across five continents. In the coming four months, they will be competing for 12 places at the Grand Finale to be held in Amsterdam in May 2012.To make it to the final, bartenders will compete in three heats that will test the three facets of the true bartender.

This is a call to all true bartenders. Those bartenders who master the art of mixing, the fundamentals of bartending and above all those passionate individuals who live the profession at their hearts and portray their own personalitie
life experiences through their creations.

As an international bartender brand, we are constantly on the lookout for new industry trends and trendsetters. Our aim: to build a strong bartender community. In order to connect with the best people we ask for your help to get the message out there.

For more info visit http://www.bolsaroundtheworld.com

Noisy bars / Sweeter drinks

Alcohol tastes sweeter in noisy environments, and in particular when music is played, research has found.

And drinkers find it more difficult to distinguish alcoholic strength when exposed to music, leading to increases in alcohol consumption, the University of Portsmouth research concludes.

The news offers a new opportunity to bartenders to manipulate customers’ drinking experiences through the strategic use of music, but further highlights issues for drivers, the bar industry and local authorities.

The findings build on earlier research which has found there is a correlation between speed of drinking and the quantity of consumption when louder and faster music is being played, while other work has also shown that manipulating volume affects perceptions of freshness in certain foods.