August 8, 2007
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From time to time, I’ll pop in to Paul Clarke’s liquor cabinet to see what I should have to drink. The only problem is, he lives several hundred miles away and I can’t actually have any of the goodies located therein. However, I can post a list of what’s in my liquor cabinet so that | Read More
August 8, 2007
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This is my interpretation of a classic style of Brazilian drink. Often these are blended, but variations appear here and there that are on the rocks like this one. I like to use Leblon cachaça at the bar because it’s a multi-distilled, and therefore lighter, product.
July 30, 2007
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For the past few months, I had my heart set on attending Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. However, after weeks of painful deliberation, the Girl and I decided to stay home and focus on domestic matters. So I sent out my heartfelt regrets to all of my so-called friends and told them I | Read More
July 16, 2007
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Greetings, and happy Mixology Monday! Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles is hosting this month’s get-together, and the theme is Blog Love. Yikes, what a name, huh? But it’s a great idea: we’re all going to try out recipes that we’ve seen on each other’s sites, and report on our findings. Because we’re bloggers. And we | Read More
July 13, 2007
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If you’ve been reading this website for a while, you probably know that I spout the virtues of fresh ingredients and encourage people to eschew the use of pre-made drink mixes. So, I was a little taken aback when I received a package containing two bottles of Dirty Sue Dirty Martini Mix in the mail | Read More
July 10, 2007
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The mojito education bus keeps on rollin’ on over here. Thanks to Joe Bartender for finding this brilliant (read: boobalicious) instructional video embedded below: To recap, here’s the recipe: 1. Pick some mint for your mojito. Wink! 2. Put some ice like America. 3. Split half of the cup to half of the cup (to | Read More
July 5, 2007
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Well, it’s mojito season here in the northern hemisphere, which means it’s time for a little lesson for the novice and experienced mojito drinker alike. Follow these helpful hints, dear reader, and you won’t dare go wrong. Do use crushed ice in your mojitos. Crushed ice will melt faster, which is a good thing in | Read More
July 4, 2007
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My friend Paul Clarke just published a fantastic article about bartenders making their own liqueurs in the latest Imbibe magazine, and El Vaquero has the honor of representing falernum. We’ve been making a variation of Paul’s falernum recipe for a few months now, to great reviews. When you’ve wrapped up reading his article in Imbibe, | Read More
June 27, 2007
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Stephen Beaumont once referred to my “borderline obsessive list-making“, and although this post certainly won’t help my reputation in that area, I’ve wanted to do it for a while now, and I think it will be good times for all. Now, people ask me all the time what my favorite drink is, but it’s hard | Read More
June 26, 2007
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Over the past few weeks, my friend Darcy over at The Art of Drink has helped lash together the rafts and bring together the best in spirit and cocktail writers (for some reason he felt I could be included in that category) and create a new form of advertising superpower: the Spirit and Cocktail Ad | Read More
June 19, 2007
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Quick! Can you name the five main whisk(e)y-producing countries in the world? Scotland? Check. Ireland? Mmm-hmm. Canada? Yep. United States? Definitely. But then you’d go, “Five?”, and I’d be all, “Yeah, five!” And then you’d be all, “Like, where else?” And then I’d be all, “Japan, dude!” And you’d be all, “No way!” And I’d | Read More
June 18, 2007
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After a brutal weekend of making drinks for what seemed like every single graduate of the University of Oregon this weekend (and their parents), I’m propping myself up at my computer to once again take part in the Mixology Monday festivities. I did some advance planning (a first) and started working on this recipe last | Read More
June 13, 2007
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On a busy night, there is always one guy lurking somewhere in the bar who will try to make you a rose out of a paper cocktail napkin as a romantic gesture. This man is Satan and he drives a van. Do not trust him.
June 10, 2007
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There are so many bad Mojitos out there that I just had to share what I think is the most perfect, simple Mojito recipe. While a lot of people want to overthink the drink, I think it’s important to take a step back and look at the cocktail for what it truly is: a Rum | Read More
June 4, 2007
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While working on a host of new drinks for the El Vaquero drink menu, I found several references to a Nacional Daiquiri, created at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba using apricot brandy. Never able to leave well enough alone, I fooled around with proportions and flavors until I came up with this twist on | Read More
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