Camper English's Blog
August 28, 2025
Alcademics Alert: Website Extreme Maintenance
The website host/software I have been using for this site since about 2008 is suddenly shutting down with barely any notice. I will attempt to transfer much of the content under a different provider, but I expect a lot of problems with it- broken links, missing images, messy. My message to you is:
If you need any of the information on Alcademics.com, CocktailSafe.org, or CocktailGreen.org to refer to going forward, I recommend you save the pages to your local computer.
Thanks for understanding and pardon my mess going forward!
August 24, 2025
San Francisco Cocktail History Tour Dates for August and September
I’ve added more dates to the calendar for my SF Bar and Cocktail History Tours. I’m doing the tour every Saturday.
Can’t make a Saturday afternoon? I can do private tours most anytime- reach out.
On the tour, which begins in San Francisco’s Financial District and end in North Beach, you’ll learn:
Learn about shanghaiing, sailors, bars inside boats, Emperor Norton and Barbary Coast saloons, the Bank Exchange and the Pisco Punch, earthquake whiskey and drag royalty, the influence of vermouth and grand hotel bars, Cocktail Bill Boothby and the House of Shields, The So Different and “pretty waiter girls,” slummers’ tours and tropical drinks. The tour ends at a 1907 saloon that upholds the traditions and décor of an earlier era of cocktails in San Francisco – and we’ll share a drink together there!
Information and tickets are here.
August 17, 2025
September 2025 Drink Book Releases
Here are new cocktails and spirits books being released in September 2025.
To see all the New Drink Books of 2025, visit this link.
Savory and Sweet Shrubs: Tart Mixers for Delicious Cocktails and Mocktails
Amazon
Bookshop
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American Whiskey Master Class: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Bourbon, Rye, and Other American Whiskeys
Amazon
Bookshop
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The Whiskey Bible: A Complete Guide to the World's Greatest Spirit
Amazon
Bookshop
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Get Lit: Cocktails That Bring Your Favorite Books to Life
Amazon
Bookshop
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Soju Party: How to Drink (and Eat!) Like a Korean
Amazon
Bookshop
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Classic Cocktail Revival
Amazon
Bookshop
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Tequila, Mezcal & More: Discover, Sip & Mix the Best Agave Spirits
Amazon
Bookshop
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The Mixology Way: Classic cocktail recipes to master the art of mixology
Amazon
Bookshop
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The Japanese Way of Whisky: Japan's Whiskies and how to Enjoy them
Amazon
Bookshop
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Both Sides of the Glass: Paired Cocktails and Mocktails to Toast Any Taste
Amazon
Bookshop
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The Comic Book History of the Cocktail: Five Centuries of Mixing Drinks and Carrying On
Amazon
Bookshop
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The Whisky World Tour: A curated guide to unforgettable distilleries and their whiskies
Amazon
Bookshop
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August 1, 2025
Stinky Ice Bad
I am in Food & Wine again, but this time as a source rather than the author of the story.
Ice can get stinky from freezer or even fridge smells. I had something to say about it.
Read the story here: The Sneaky Way Your Freezer Is Ruining Your Drink
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And as always, you can learn more about ice in The Ice Book!
July 21, 2025
Using Pressure to Preserve Juice for Cocktails
About ten years ago, I was writing some stories for Popular Science. There was an editorial change or layoffs or something like that and one article I wrote never went up on the website, even though I’d been paid for it. This can be a real bummer for a writer because you’ve interviewed people who’ve lent their time to you.
Anyway, that article now appears on the website, with a publication date of 2021 (as opposed to 2016ish when I wrote it). I only discovered it last week as I was looking for other work I’d done for the site.
I took a press trip to Vegas at the time the new arena was opening, and wrote a story about the technology that allows them to serve “fresh” cocktails to thousands of people at a time. I learned about HPP technology and got to see one of the liquor rooms where they have racks of bottles connected to tubes that run down to the liquor guns on lower floors. Here’s the resulting story.
Squeezing Juice At 6,000 Atmospheres Of Pressure Makes Fast, Fresh Cocktails On Tap
At the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, they’re eliminating your need to track down that one bartender way in back who you know makes good drinks. Nearly every hot dog station and drink stand in the 20,000-person arena serves strong cocktails made with fresh cold-pressed juice, poured through an enormous custom-designed draft system.
At arena scale, cocktail are typically made in a rush with heat-pasteurized mixers squirted from the soda “gun,” or sometimes poured from kegs containing pre-mixed fast-spoiling fresh ingredients, but this new system, created by a company called RIPE Bar Juice tidily straddles the line between fast and fresh. At a facility in New Haven, Connecticut, freshly-squeezed juices, agave syrup sweetener, and other ingredients are mixed, put into 5-gallon bags, and sent through a high-pressure processing (HPP) machine that looks sort of like a flume ride into an MRI.
June 26, 2025
July 2025 Cocktail History Tour of San Francisco Dates Added
I’ve added new July 2025 dates for my "Bar & Cocktail History Hop” walking tour.
In July, I have one taking place after work on a Tuesday, another on a Friday afternoon for those who want to blow off work or call it a ‘teambuilding’ event, and then a regular Saturday afternoon one.
More information and tickets are here.
June 24, 2025
Glow in the Dark Ants in Ice Cubes
I was trolling the dollar store for things to freeze into ice cubes, as I do, and found these large fluorescent ants.
I froze them into ice cubes using my Clearly Frozen tray. Then I shined a blacklight on them. They look awesome, even better in a glass with a drink.
There is a video of that here on my YouTube channel.
For more fun tips, check out The Ice Book.
June 19, 2025
Bartender’s Ketchup is Back on the Menu in SF
I wrote a story for the SFStandard about elderflower liqueur making a huge comeback. It was so popular when the brand St. Germain first launched in 2007 that it was given the nickname “bartender’s ketchup.”
It’s so back, but now bartenders are using a wide range of products. Read the story here.
June 16, 2025
Put a Ring In It: Ring Inside a Clear Ice Cube
I was browsing in the dollar store for stuff to freeze into ice cubes, as I do, and found a bag of party favor rings. They’re made for kids and so can only fit about halfway up my pinky finger, but it’s proof of concept.
To freeze the rings into ice, I used my IceOlogy clear cube tray, which has an open top. I simply put a piece of bamboo skewer across the top of the opening, hanging the ring in the top part of the water.
They came out great. One of the rings was a little deeper into the ice than the other (making it really hard to wear), but that can easily be controlled.
Here are some pics.
For more information about clear ice and my book The Ice Book, check out this page.
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June 13, 2025
When Fizzy Water Was Medicine
My fellow drink writer Liza Weisstuch wrote a story about seltzer and the specific affinity that the jewish people of NYC have for it.
The story includes some quotes from me, as I covered the medicinal history of spas and the soda fountain in my book Doctors and Distillers.
The story is very fun and super interesting - read the whole thing here.