Darcy S. ONeil

Recent Updates and a Unicum Bitter Recipe

As we move through summer, I've picked up the pace of video-making, so here is a quick update on some of the things happening around here.

The How to Make Chartreuse video has done well and it is good to see it trending up. For paid members, I have posted 32 recipes collected from different...

How to Make Chartreuse

Chartreuse has become a rare commodity, but it was scarce in the 1800s as well. Luckily, chemists and distillers documented many clone-type recipes (32 and counting posted below) for the prized elixir, allowing us to start making Chartreuse at home with some historical guidance.

Historical ...

Electrolyte Mineral Water Formula Sheet

Mineral waters, sometimes called electrolytes, originated from natural springs and volcanic mineral waters millennia ago. We still drink these waters today, just like Romans did thousands of years ago. However, we mostly drink them from bottles today under brand names like Perrier, Gerolsteiner, ...

What Alcohol Percent to Use for Extracts & Essences

What type of solvent or alcohol by volume (abv) for what extract/essence is a common question, so let me answer it as best I can. Technically, there is no one solution that works for everything, but if you want the simple answer, I'd suggest that when in doubt, go with 60% to 65% alcohol (ethanol...

Tarhun Formula Sheet

When I made this video I said there was going to be an formula sheet available, but for some reason I never got around to it until now. So if you've been looking for the written formula, here it is. If you have questions, let me know.

Belfast Ginger Ale Info Sheet

Since I'll be doing a follow-up video on the Ginger Ale recipe, with a comparison between the 2+-year-old aged version I originally made and the new "fresh make" sample, I decided to put an info sheet with all the recipe details in order. For the video, I'll be comparing the original recipe, but ...

April 2024 Update: Back in the Saddle

Here are some quick updates about the course, the denial-of-service attack and a few resources to help you on your beverage development journey.

Now that the Flavour & Beverage Development&n...

Course Launch & Discount Codes (Updated)

The course is ready to go, but a couple of notes. If you are in a rush and want to jump on the course right away, send me a message here or at dso@artofdrink.com for your Patreon discount code. I will be sending them out to active users this week, but there are a lot of codes to generate, so if y...

Quick Update: Course & Beyond

The Flavour Development for Beverages course is almost complete. It should be available by next Monday, March 18, subject to change. It consists of 33 lessons, 30 with videos, and 4 quizzes. I need to redo a video on Emulsions to explain things better, specifically how to use them in beverages. T...

Flavour Development for Beverages

The course is pretty much complete. I'm just going through it and adding additional information in the text sections, and there might be one video that needs a reshoot just because it needs to be clearer. It will be released in the first week of March. I'm taking a quick five-day break, starting ...

Preview: Flavour & Beverage Development Course

This is a quick update to show you the curriculum I've assembled for the flavour and beverage development course. It should be done in the next two weeks, as there are only six more videos to make. And yes, most of these lessons are video-based, and there will be about 30 videos in total, with as...

January 2024 Update

Though things may seem quiet here, a lot of work is going on in the background to make this Patreon account better for you. I'm still currently a "one-man show," so everything that gets done on Patreon, YouTube and the websites is done by myself, which means things go slower than I want, but ther...

Root Beer: Video Feedback?

I want your opinion. Sometimes, I spend a couple of days making a video, edit it, and then watch it and decide the video isn't good enough. That doesn't mean the content isn't good, it just means if I publish it on YouTube, it won't get the engagement because I'm trying to take a complex topic an...

Root Beer, Sassafras and Cancer

Root beer has a long history; one of the key ingredients was sassafras, which contained safrole. The chemical safrole was found to be carcinogenic in the 1960s and was banned from commercial use. Many people seem not to believe this, based on erroneous posting on Internet forums, so I've done a w...

Root Beer Formulation Sheet

Fact: almost all sources on the internet get root beer wrong. Time has consolidated a once broad and interesting category of drinks into one generic liquid and a few minor sidekicks. There is much information to share. For starters, there are many dozens—possibly nearly one hundred—old root b...

Hot Drops | Patreon Exclusive

One of the missing links in low and no-alcohol beverages is the sensation from alcohol, the burn or heat as it is often called. Back in the early 1800s, a product nicknamed Hot Drops was added to root beer to give it some kick. Hot Drops was actually No.6 Rheumatic Drops which was a simple mixtur...

How to Prototype a Flavour

There is an easy way to combine flavours without making hundreds of litres worth of flavour essence. In fact, with this method, a few drops of your flavour compounds can be used many times over to combine aromas and prototype a flavour combination before you invest in making an essence.

The...

Flavour Zone

As we get more into beverage formulations, I decided there needed to be a better way to share information, recipes and documents. Patreon is great for linear things like podcasts but not so great for the stuff I do, so I put together a website that can do that, and it works seamlessly with Patreo...

Quick Carbonation Parts List

Here is the list of parts for the rapid carbonation setup. All of the parts are in this list are good for 90 psi of pressure. If you are only pressurizing to 30 or 40 psi, you can use a Blichmann Quickcarb...

How to Make Tonic Water, and Why You Probably Shouldn't

Tonic water has a long history, first as a medicine to fight malaria, but it morphed into a popular cocktail when mixed with gin, hence the Gin & Tonic. Many people have asked me about making their own tonic water, and it can be done, but some important issues need to be discussed before you ...

Soda as a Beverage Business

Obviously, many people are interested in making a beverage and turning it into a business. It's probably the number one question I get asked. Getting a product to market is fairly easy, though there are a lot of knowledge gaps that prevent people from going the distance. But do know it is probabl...

Info Sheet: Zero Calorie Simple Syrup

A bit delayed but the information/instruction sheet for the Zero Calorie Simple Syrup video is here (see PDF attachment below). The instructions include the formula for each individual component and then the final...

Ad Free Videos?

Who is interested in ad-free videos (in parallel with YouTube posts)? YouTube is super convenient, but the number of ads has increased over the past year, creating a less-than-ideal learning environment. Think of a college professor stopping a lesson to read a 30-second ad placement every few min...

Easy Flavour Emulsions (Patreon Exclusive)

In the world of flavours, emulsions are king. The problem up until now for anyone without a corporate budget is that making a stable micro-emulsion can be prohibitively expensive or require alcohol. This method solves both issues, opening the world of flavours to hobbyists, bartenders and aspirin...

Flavour Emulsions

When it comes to making water-based flavours, it is well known that oil and water do not mix, unless you emulsify them. And that is what this video is about, and if you have asked about making flavours (essences) without using alcohol, this is the starting point.

If you've watched the video...

Out of Office Canoeing

I'll be "out of the office" for a week canoeing in the backcountry with no internet. If you send me a question, I will answer it when I return. And once September rolls around things should speed up with the frequency of content creation. Cheers

Improved Super Juice

I was initially going to do a video on Counter Pressure Bottle Filling, however I had a few "learnings" while doing it. The first, is that while figuring out the counter pressure system, I released all the CO2 from the keg, which wouldn't be a big deal except it was sitting around 2°C (36°F) an...

The Summer Update

Here is a quick summer update about what is being planned in this busy time of year, at least for me. Some important videos are in the queue, primarily based on feedback or messages I get. So if you have a request, let me know, and I'll put it on my list. And I read every comment, so if you've ma...

Coming Soon: Quick Carbonation Details

Just a quick update to let you know I am working on getting a sketch and parts list assembled for the quick carbonation video. I'm am in no way an artist so I'm outsourcing it to Fiverr and once that is done I will post the results with a complete list of the parts. 

Carbonated Mineral Waters

The world is littered with bottles of carbonated water—and the empty bottles—but what makes good-tasting mineral water? Though there are many names, like seltzer, club soda, soda water, Vichy and sparkling mineral water, they are all pretty much the same, other than their mineral content. And...