Category: Cocktails
I like a nice cocktail. A perfectly prepared, impeccably presented, cocktail. I like the whole process of a cocktail. The amassing of the very best ingredients. The high-tech gleam of good stainless steel bar tools. The shimmering, sparkling crystal of very good barware. I like the entire ritual. Maybe the allure is that certain bit…
The Vichy Cycle cocktail is a sophisticated collaboration of French vermouth and German kümmel with a clever name. Have you ever noticed that some of the best cocktails have clever names? I suppose that’s because it’s easy to be clever when you’re drinking. I first encountered this drink several years ago at the Zig Zag…
As I sip this unusual Five-Spice Butternut Bourbon Cocktail I’m filled with a bit of post season summer nostalgia. I look at the calendar and I plainly see that autumn is in full swing. But still, I sometimes find myself looking over my shoulder searching for the invisible hand tugging on the back of my…
I wrote a book called Savory Cocktails, but even I recognize that a truly balanced drink requires a sweet element. There’s even a sing-songy saying designed to help you make a balanced cocktail without a recipe: 1 part sour, 2 parts sweet, 3 parts strong and 4 parts weak. Sugar is often the sweet in…
It’s March. It’s getting warmer (in varying degrees) all across North America. Here in Los Angeles springtime came early, kicking El Niño from his little crib. The trees in my garden would have preferred that Punxsutawney Phil had missed seeing his shadow a bit longer, but facts are facts. Spring is in the air you…
