Cocktails, spirits, and the stories they carry
1. Original written works of scholarship. 2. Bespoke historical research and publication services. 3. Thought-provoking masterclasses. 4. Online resource for cocktail and drink historical research.
Pour yourself a drink and join us for a while. We've been around since Halloween night 1995 as Shaken not Stirred®: A Celebration of the Martini (aka: Martiniplace.com) and show no sign of leaving (even though we have become Mixellany.com). One thing remains the same. We are dedicated to presenting thoughts about all things related to the history of cocktails and spirits, bartenders and bartending: plus a few anecdotes and recipes. Most of all there's healthy dose of reminding you that quality over quantity counts in the true appreciation of the spirits and mixed drinks. (Also being of legal drinking age in your particular country of residence when you enter this site will make all of us feel a whole lot better.)
About us
We traced the first use of the word "cocktail" in print to 1798 on London's Downing Street. We know where the Savoy's Harry Craddock is buried. We discovered Harry Johnson's true birthplace and gravesite. We know how the Martini got its name. And we know who created the Bee's Knees.
We are Jared Brown and Dr. Anistatia Miller—the directors of Mixellany Limited®—a consultancy and publishing company that specialises in anything and everything to do with spirits and mixed drinks. Since 1995, we have written more than 36 books, including Shaken Not Stirred: A Celebration of the Martini (1996), the two volume series Spirituous Journey: A History of Drink (2009 & 2010) and most recently A Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin (2024), The Spirit of Sugarcane, plus The Spirit of Juniper (2026).
New! We are now on YouTube. Come visit The Drink Historian for more stories, histories, and mysteries solved.
Research & publishing
Mixellany's publishing division was responsible for the Mixologist series of cocktail journals, the republishing of the rare classics The Café Royal Cocktail Book and El Arte de Hacer un Cocktail y Algo Mas, and titles by other noted authors, including Gary Regan and Shawn Soole. They have also inaugurated a new series called The Spirits Series, which refreshes previously published knowledge and adds Miller and Brown's new findings.
In addition to the numerous books on cocktail and spirits history they have published since 1995, Miller and Brown have regularly written for CLASS, Imbibe UK, The Cocktail Lovers, The Observer Food Monthly, and the Financial Times, Wine Spectator, Cigar Aficionado, World's Best Bars, and many other publications in the UK, USA, and Europe.
They have conducted masterclasses on building new drinks from historical foundations, and appeared regularly at Tales of the Cocktail, Berlin Bar Convent, London Cocktail Week, RumFest, and bar shows from Moscow to Florence. They built education programmes for Bacardi and Dewar's in the early 2000s, were part of the English Gin Road Show that revived the English gin category from 2007 to 2010, and organised the Havana Club Grand Prix education and competition programmes from 2012 to 2019.
Both are former bartenders who practise what they preach. Brown is co-founder and Master Distiller of the multi-award-winning Sipsmith Limited, the first newly licensed pot-still distillery to open in London in over 180 years. Miller helped develop Havana Club Unión and Pacto Navio, a Cuban rum aged in French Sauternes casks. As consultants, both Brown and Miller have worked on Beefeater 24, No. 3 Gin, and Penny Blue Rum, and won a Beverage Testing Institute Best Spirit award for Heavy Water Vodka.
They co-founded the Museum of the American Cocktail with Dale and Jill DeGroff, and spent three years in the south of France restoring the Exposition Universelle des Vins et Spiritueux and cataloguing its 8,000+ bottles and 1,200 menus. They now curate a free online library of vintage cocktail and distillation books dating back to the 1750s at the EUVS FREE LIBRARY.