The worst mistake I’ve ever made as an amateur bartender (so far, anyway) was refusing to make a Vodka Martini for my friend Tracy. Actually, it wasn’t so much a… [Continue Reading]
Category: Thirst Quenchers
The trendiest spirit of the past decade is mezcal. And like Instant Pots and puppies, the liquor became even more popular during the pandemic. Once a hard-to-find niche item often… [Continue Reading]
I was, for far too many years, an insufferable beer snob. I know: Beer is not typically associated with elitist tastes and nose-wrinkling attitudes. At least, it wasn’t until the… [Continue Reading]
Over the course of more than two decades as a writer, editor, and columnist for local newspapers, I came to conclude that our readers mostly fell into two broad camps:… [Continue Reading]
With little argument, New York can probably lay claim to inventing more popular modern cocktails than any other city in the Western Hemisphere, with Paris and London perhaps not far… [Continue Reading]
The oldest item in our liquor cabinet isn’t a vintage cognac or an antique whiskey. It’s a bottle of blueberry schnapps, about to enter its fourth decade of gathering dust…. [Continue Reading]
Of all the negative consequences of the misguided exercise called Prohibition—organized crime, government corruption, economic decline, and an actual increase in deaths due to alcoholism and tainted moonshine—one downside is still… [Continue Reading]
The worst thing that ever happened to mint was toothpaste. It’s just sad. This superb herb, one equally serviceable in culinary applications both sweet and savory, is instead most closely… [Continue Reading]
Somehow I missed the great smoked-cocktail trend. It seems to have peaked around 2019, just prior to the pandemic, but also before it could make much of an appearance in… [Continue Reading]
These are the glory days for cranberries. The weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas and on into the New Year are the moments when the ruby fruit seizes the spotlight, not… [Continue Reading]