July 12, 2018
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The Michelada is a weird drink. It’s a beer cocktail, but a strange one at that. It has no history, so we can’t point to the “first” instance of the drink and try to replicate that. It has no recipe or standard set of ingredients, it’s just… beer with some stuff of your choice mixed | Read More
July 2, 2018
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Only a month late for Negroni Week! I’ve been asked for this recipe and method for a couple of years now in person and on Reddit, and have finally gotten around to writing it down. Thanks for bearing with me. This wasn’t supposed to be a drink that I ever shared, it’s just been my | Read More
June 17, 2018
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Whiskey can be a challenging ingredient in cocktails. Gin is kind of the workhorse of the cocktail world; it works in pretty much everything and fails in almost nothing. But whiskey is a fickle thing. There aren’t a ton Irish whiskey cocktails, because Irish whiskey has a pretty unique profile. Cocktails made with smoky Islay | Read More
June 12, 2018
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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
May 25, 2018
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I was on Seth Meyers this week! I went on to promote my newest book, Drinking Distilled: A User’s Manual, but ended up making a Spanish Coffee instead and almost setting the whole place on fire. Such a trip getting a chance to do this! I was nervous as hell for like three weeks, even | Read More
April 10, 2018
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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
July 14, 2017
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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
April 19, 2017
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How come nobody ever talks about orange blossom water? It’s like, “Hey, welcome to the internet. Here’s a thousand articles about a bunch of bitters that you’ll never use, and no information on orange blossom water.” Okay, sure. There’s really only one classic cocktail that calls for orange blossom water, the Ramos Gin Fizz. But | Read More
January 9, 2017
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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
July 12, 2016
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The newly rediscovered interest in slushy cocktails has resulted in me being inundated with questions about how to properly operate a slushie machine. And so, as has always been my mission with this website, I’m here to try to help. You see, for the longest time operating a slushy machine was a lengthy experiment every | Read More
June 22, 2016
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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
June 14, 2016
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Man, there are few things out there more polarizing to people than creamy drinks. And it’s funny, you know, because I think it’s a pretty universal thing that our mouths just water at the sight of a creamy cocktail. Look at a properly made Ramos Gin Fizz. Or a White Russian. Or Egg Nog. How | Read More
February 24, 2016
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You know what I love? Horchata. There is nothing in the world like a giant Styrofoam cup filled with pebble ice and sweet horchata while you nosh on greasy tacos from a street truck. Having been born and raised in California, it is one of life’s great pleasures. And since I’m obsessed with all things | Read More
February 15, 2016
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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
February 8, 2016
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For many years, I’ve occupied two worlds: not only have I been behind the bar full-time for the past 20 years, but also I’ve been writing about it for well over a decade. People like myself, who not only publish their thoughts on spirits and cocktails but also work behind the bar on a daily | Read More
These are the books and tools I use every single day to make drinks at home and behind the bar. Clicking on a product takes you to Amazon, which helps me keep this site running, so thank you in advance!
