The Lauer household has been decked out for Christmas and logs are busy crackling away in the fireplace (or rather, they will be, if the temperature drops to the 40s during the day...not likely). There also happen to be a fair number of drinks being made to stave off the cold weather. While we won't be mixing any hot drinks... Continue Reading →
Happy Repeal Day, folks! That's right, 78 years ago Prohibition officially ended, and booze flowed freely again in the U.S. Of course, it hadn't particularly stopped flowing during America's "Noble Experiment," and in some cases consumption actually increased, but hey, it was back to being legal. Well -- and here's one more caveat -- it was legal... Continue Reading →
Last month, Imbibe ran a piece on Irish Whiskey that caught my attention, namely because I hadn't tasted or mixed with very many Irish whiskeys. If you've paged through a large number of cocktail books, you'll understand why -- it's just not used in cocktails very often. According to Imbibe the scene is changing, however, and... Continue Reading →
Not too long ago, Jason Wilson wrote an article about a curious liqueur named ROOT (I'd prefer that it was simply "Root," but Art in the Age seems rather fond of the all-caps title). I was very intrigued, but not by the fact that he described as an American amaro based on the predecessor of... Continue Reading →
Almost time for the second meeting of the Heron Social Club! This time our crew of cocktailians will be focusing on drinks made with bourbon and rye whiskey. Neighbor Dave G. and I spent an evening testing out a few drinks, narrowing down the choices to the following (in the order that they'll be mixed):... Continue Reading →
We're getting closer and closer to Fall, and apple brandy is quickly working its way into my drink rotation. Autumn and apples get along splendidly, probably because it's the harvest season, and the marriage of the two (as an idea) has worked its way into the American psyche over three centuries. Today's drink, however, is... Continue Reading →
Somehow, cocktails that are simple, elegant, and timeless get overlooked. More often than not, these drinks involve simple mixological maneuvers that, once performed, seem obvious under the scrutiny of 20-20 hindsight, but had simply never been done before, and never recorded. Somewhere, sometime, somebody must have thought, "You know what? I'm going to add some... Continue Reading →
A while ago I ordered a copy of Left Coast Libations, a cocktail tome I had seen mentioned once or twice in the Blogosphere and had paged through while sitting at the bar at Merchant. While I still recommend it to anyone interested in craft cocktails (you gotta love Ted Munat's devil-may-care sense of humor, the meticulously researched recipes,... Continue Reading →
Well, as usual, I'm getting impatient. Fall is entirely too far away; it's fresh, cool air and brightly colored leaves, which contrast with the oh-so-necessary crystal-clear blue sky, make it my favorite season. There should be a faint hint of woodsmoke in the air and a jacket over your arm. Curiously enough, what you'd like to... Continue Reading →
A truly exquisite little drink, the Tip Top is one of those well-hidden gems that deserves to be known better. Don't be afraid of the amount of vermouth in this one: Tip Top 2 ounces Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat Original Dry) 1/4 ounce Bénédictine 2 dashes Angostura Bitters Stir with ice and strain into a... Continue Reading →
Tempered Spirits 