Q: “Is it rude to use my laptop at the local watering hole? My neighborhood pint-puller always shoots me the stinkeye when I open my MacBook by his taps.” As long as you’re a good customer, you have every right to compute while getting buzzed. “If you’re spending money and tipping well, and you want | Read More

Another drink-slinger who’s putting the Pacific Northwest on the cocktail map is Jeffrey Morgenthaler, bartender at El Vaquero in Eugene, Oregon. “There are amazing drinks being made in this region right now and people don’t really know about it.” He’s doing his best to change that. Of late, his favorite drink is an Old Fashioned | Read More

Oregon-based mixologist/blogger Jeffrey Morgenthaler … recently posted an excellent list of mojito dos and don’ts, which should be posted behind every bar in America, along with his recipe for a proper mojito, which has given me hope that the mojito still has a chance.

“Bartender Jeff Morgenthaler is a skilled mixologist with distinctive charm and a talent for invention. His “senuous cocktails” (each $8) include special selections of classics (43 Manhattan, Planter’s Punch) and Morgenthaler’s own ideas (Red Agave, Pink, Irish Laundry). The revival of interest in the cocktails couldn’t have come at a better time. Morgenthaler’s corner of | Read More

At El Vaquero in Eugene, Ore., bartenders have also taken to using house-made falernum instead of the commercial versions. “I think the reason we’ve been pursuing the do-it-yourself approach is because we’d like to turn the clock back to a time when there were so many more flavors available to mixologists,” says Jeffrey Morgenthaler, bar | Read More

The Richmond Gimlet, adapted from a recipe by Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Head Bartender, El Vaquero, Eugene, Oregon. … Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add the ingredients. Shake for approximately 15 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

“The great thing about blogs is they’re so specialized,” says Jeffrey Morgenthaler, head bartender at El Vaquero restaurant in Eugene and author of a mixology blog. … “(The best part) is being able to connect with like-minded people. My area is so specific. There aren’t a lot of people in town that I can talk | Read More

A bartender (or barman, barmaid, barkeep, mixologist) is a listener, a counselor, a joke-teller, a gossip, a pal, a mediator, a matchmaker, a diplomat and a sage. A great bartender recognizes customers and puts to memory our names, our drinks, our quirks and our foibles. He or she can lend insight into entertainment options beyond | Read More

Feel like a nice tall glass of history? Seventy-three years ago today, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, striking down the 18th (which took booze out of the hands of Joe Bartender and put it into the hands of Joe Bootlegger). To honor the repeal of the 13-year-long national nightmare known as | Read More

Blogger and mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler is a man on a mission. His goal: to help spread the news of Repeal Day, the only holiday devoted solely and entirely to drinking. Celebrated on December 5, Repeal Day marks the anniversary of the day the 18th Amendment (that would be Prohibition to you and me) was repealed, thereby allowing all God-fearing Americans | Read More

Everyone knows you use triple sec in a Margarita. What kind of lunatic uses Cointreau? Someone said that to me recently and I had to explain to the poor unenlightened one that Cointreau, no matter what the label says, is triple sec, and it’s my triple sec of choice whether I’m mixing up a batch | Read More

On an unremarkable night last year, I was at Luckey’s, and I was bored with my drink. “I don’t know what I want,” I said to the bartender. “Have you ahd a Richmond Gimlet?” he asked. “No,” I said. “What’s that?” Simply delicious was the answer: a gimlet made with Tanqueray No. 10, fresh lime, | Read More