Post #757266 by mikehooker on Thu, Jan 14, 2016 10:31 AM

I log most every drink I make in an enormous "Notes" document on my iPhone. They are alphabetized by drink name, then I list the recipe with instructions on how it's made, garnish, etc and give ratings (1-10) for each variation I make including the list of ingredients I used. Anything rated 6 or below is banished. Drinks rated 7 I try to tinker with to escalate them to an 8 or better (through changing rums, syrups, proportions, etc). Anything rated 8 or 9 is typically put into regularly rotation. I've yet to give anything a 10 rating because that's the "unobtainable" perfect drink which motivates me to continually play around with every recipe regardless of how much I love it (I have over 20 Mai Tai variations logged with several rated 9, but still no 10. Maybe one day).

I have a separate document on my phone for "Recipes to try" which is where I list things I've found on websites, podcasts, instagram, etc. So whenever I'm feeling ambitious I check there and pick something based on ingredients I'm in the mood for. Then I rate it and move it into the other document.

The system works for me but the documents are getting so ridiculously long I'd probably like to get it into a searchable database on a permanent website or something that can't be accidentally deleted by slipping my finger on the trash can icon. Reminds me, I should email these lists to myself on occasion as back up.