The phrase “cocktail safety” may sound like an oxymoron, or the punch line of a barroom joke. After all, we’re talking about alcohol, and a brandy Alexander is hardly as harmless as a smoothie.
But as modern bartenders dig into their cocktail chemistry sets for new techniques and arcane ingredients, Camper English, a drinks writer in San Francisco, decided it was time to create a website to head off potential disaster: CocktailSafe.org.
“Bartenders today are obsessed with experimentation, which I think is for the best,” Mr. English said. “But it’s often confusing as to what is safe and what is legal to