French 75

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This is the time of year we’re all supposed to be reading about low-proof cocktails, right? Well, move over Spritzes, because this one is possibly my favorite. I’ve talked about the French 75 in great detail over the past many years. But to be honest I’m writing about it now for a few reasons: I | Read More

French 75 Cocktail – “I Never Got It”

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The French 75 always seemed weird to me, mainly because of the glass you typically see it served in. A had an epiphany one day while browsing some old cocktail books and the rest, you might say, is history. Watch this to see what the French 75 really is, and why it’s so much better | Read More

The Complicated History of the French 75

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Just about every classic cocktail out there comes with a whole lot of mythology surrounding its origin. The Manhattan was supposedly created by Winston Churchill’s mother, for instance (it wasn’t). Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer, was reportedly the first person in Cuba to combine rum, lime, and sugar – a premise that astounds me. | Read More

The Jasmine: A Modern Classic Sour

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You know what I love drinking this time of year? Sours. Any kind of sour, really. A Whiskey Sour with a little orange marmalade on a warm, cloudy spring day makes me just as happy as drinking a French 75 on a bright, sunny Sunday morning. Who am I kidding, actually, I love a sour | Read More

The Misunderstood Ramos Gin Fizz

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I’m going to go out on a limb and say that one of the most misunderstood drinks out there is the Fizz.  It’s a regular thing when someone comes into my bar and orders a Fizz and is genuinely confused about what they receive. Lots of people are confused by the lack of egg white. | Read More

Mezcal Negroni

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There aren’t as many spirits with quite the popular trajectory these days as mezcal. That smoky, spicy, wild parent of tequila, the original agave spirit in fact, has seen a major boom in recent years thanks in part to increased education, better harvesting and distillation practices, and more widespread distribution. But despite the fact that | Read More

Explaining the Refreshing, Confusing Cocktail, the Fizz

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The Fizz is one of the most misunderstood drinks out there, in my book. To many it conjures up images of something along the lines of a French 75, with its pale yellow hue and refreshing peaks of ice. To others, a Fizz wouldn’t be a Fizz without a creamy head of egg white overflowing | Read More

Sip Sip Soirée!

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Cause a stir among friends with a laid back summer drinks party. Much lauded Portland, Ore., mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler of hot spot bar Pepe Le Moko and tavern-style eatery Clyde Common dreamed up a cocktail for everyone in your crew. Plus, each recipe is easy to make in batches! Sparkling Lavender Lemonade “This one is | Read More

Bowie Knife: A Pink Cocktail for All You Manly Men

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Many self-proclaimed manly men wouldn’t dare order a glass of pink wine, let alone bubbly pink wine. One look at that pale hue, and they think strawberries, bubblegum and Sex and the City. But if manly men believe those qualities bear any resemblance to rosé, they’re letting their eyes deceive them. Rosé is where the lush, | Read More

Old Cuban

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Around the holidays—most especially post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s Eve—I am approached with endless requests for champagne-based cocktails. Yet until a few years ago, I almost always disappointed all of those who asked. If for no other reason than I couldn’t name too many champagne-based cocktails appropriate for late December or that I thought tasted particularly great. | Read More

Tales of the Cocktail: Day Zero

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I’m calling this “Day Zero” since the events don’t officially start until tomorrow. Although, you’d never know it by the sheer quantity of cocktail luminaries amassed in the French Quarter right now. My day started with an internal miscommunication about the actual date of my departure (that’s what I get for booking the trip three | Read More

How the Lowly Lemon Drop Changed Bar Culture Forever

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The bar is as important to the history of the world as it is the history of the cocktail. And sometimes the two are intertwined. In fact, I’d say that it’s important to know a thing or two about how bars have worked historically if you really want to understand the history of cocktails. Before | Read More

Thanksgiving Meets the Tropics—A Pumpkin-Spice Dark And Stormy

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At first glance, a Dark and Stormy seems out of place at the Thanksgiving dinner table—normally the exclusive purview of turkey, sweet potatoes and canned cranberry sauce. After all, the Dark and Stormy is Bermuda in a glass, the official drink of the island nation. And so, it’s the drink for when you’re marooned in | Read More