Interested in the bar scene outside your home market? There are a flood of drink, cocktail and bar websites that are basically well-written diaries about one or another enthusiast’s infatuation with drinks, and that’s good. But sites that get out and about and meld the amateur’s interest with the professional world of bars, bartending and drinks — that’s a rare balance.
Which is why this week I suggest Oh Gosh, the home of 20-something Brit Jay Hepburn’s cocktail quests. He’s an information technology guy who stumbled upon the drinks world, and the site charts his self-education in cocktails, mixology and bars. He videos what he sees; currently, there’s a post of bar legends Charles Schumann, Peter Dorelli and Hidetsugu Ueno in conversation with Jörg Meyer at Bar Convent Berlin, and the results of his search for something called Martini Bitters.
Hepburn’s not a constant updater, which is a relief — most sites, blogs and otherwise, could do with less pressure to post and more to think. What you will find are nuggets of bar info sprinkled amidst an enthusiast’s constant search for the new, the old and the good.