Drink

The cold rain outside my window here in New York reminds me that it’s still brown liquor season.  Not that there’s anything wrong with whiskey in summer (or white jeans in winter), but there’s something really nice about a warming brown drink on a cold wet night. This is one of my new favorites.  It [...]

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I like the idea of Holiday cocktails –and not just because many of us are in particular need of a drink during this season. But I often don’t like the drinks themselves. They’re usually too sweet, and the flavors can be pedestrian (usually some spiced winter fruit spiked with a neutral hooch).  And just thinking [...]

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Last week for Julia’s spring break we traded the hustle, glamour and grime of New York for the laid-back charms of Hawaii.  (It’s odd to be suddenly back on a school holiday schedule at my age, but it makes for a nice excuse to take a vacation.) We stayed at a lovely resort on the [...]

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Sophisticated sweetness:  that’s what’s on offer here, and what could be better for a Valentine’s Day drink? Cocktail aficionados will recognize this drink as a variation on the Martinez, a classic 19th century cocktail sometimes thought to be the ancestor of the contemporary martini.  The classic drink combines gin, sweet vermouth and maraschino liqueur in [...]

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Scotch whiskey has a following of purists who prefer to drink it “neat,” or maybe with a single cube of ice or a splash of water. The reason for this, of course, has to be the unique and complex flavors of many single malt Scotches that don’t, and shouldn’t, play well with other spirits. Blended [...]

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This cocktail is inspired by a drink I’ve never actually had.  My friend (and fellow cocktail enthusiast) Dan read about a drink called the Jam for Frances created by the Denver restaurant Beatrice and Woodsley that involved unspecified quantities of Colorado whiskey, a local blackberry liqueur, lime and some sort of tarragon infusion.  It sounded [...]

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