On November 15th, 2019, the world lost one of the great bartenders. Gary was a long-distance mentor of mine, and then he became an idol of mine, then a colleague, and finally a friend. When we lose someone, I think it’s nice to share some fun stories about them. Gary was a true bartender, and | Read More

You know, I’ve been thinking about this story for a while now, and it’s really been bugging me, so I thought I’d get it off of my chest. Also, I have zero desire to name any names or start some sort of brand boycott. This is just a little look inside my head. Here goes: | Read More

I had the pleasure of sitting down (in front of my computer with gmail open) with Celine Bossart of VinePair to talk about my current favorite spots in Portland to eat and drink. I realized that some of you might actually want this information, I know I get a fair number of emails about it, | Read More

Continuing on the photography bent that I’ve been on for the past year, my latest piece for The Daily Beast is now live. For those of you who missed the last one, I’ll just sum it up for you: My pal Noah Rothbaum over at Half Full on the Daily Beast website noticed me messing | Read More

Dave writes: Hey man, You ever post anything about interviewing potential bartenders? I used to think I was pretty good at it but my lack of success in hiring the right people is making me question myself. Cheers. Dave Hey Dave! Funny, I’ve been thinking for a long time that I should probably post something | Read More

Okay, look. I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m trying to be a kinder, gentler version of myself. You’ve seen me tear apart other bartenders here and here for teaching people how to make shitty drinks. Because it genuinely offends me to see people irresponsibly teach others when it’s so, so easy to | Read More

Oh man am I excited about this one! For the past few months I’ve been working with my friends over at Stumptown Coffee on their seasonal beverage program. Craft cocktails, meet craft coffee! I mean, obviously I’ve always been a huge fan of coffee cocktails, but this is the first time I’ve gotten the opportunity | Read More

A few weeks ago while I was in New York for my most recent book tour, I had the chance to sit town with my pals Noah Rothbaum and David Wondrich at The Daily Beast to talk about drinking rules, drinking stories, and of course, Drinking Distilled. It ended up being a really fun conversation | Read More

I’m so proud to announce that my second book, Drinking Distilled: A User’s Manual, is out now! Just a couple of years in the making, this one is radically different from my first book, The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique. Drinking Distilled is a sort of how-to manual for those of us who enjoy | Read More

One of the worst things to ever happen to the liquor industry was the health craze. Those seeds were planted in the Seventies, grew in the Eighties, and have been harvested more and more every decade since. I still remember being stuck eating carob-covered banana chips while my mom was in Jazzercise class at the | Read More

Happy New Year! I hope the holidays treated everyone well, especially you professional bartenders out there. I think the only folks who have it harder than we do during December are our friends in the retail business, so now that we’ve moved on to January, let’s all raise a glass. Hey, there are a lot | Read More

If you don’t tend bar for a living, or haven’t at some point in your past, you probably don’t understand the quick thinking that we have to do every single second. So, in order to demonstrate what sort of complicated math we do regularly to those who don’t tend bar, and to act as a | Read More

Okay, I know. This is some seriously low-hanging fruit and I should be ashamed of myself for making fun of it. But come on. It’s so bad, but it’s so fun. So sit back, and enjoy this video from one of our longtime favorites. Ladies and gentlemen, the Sazerac. A drink that originilated in New | Read More