This past weekend, the weather came dangerously close to 70 degrees...in February. Man, life is tough in Georgia. Anyway, it felt so much like Spring that I found myself wanting a drink that matched the weather. One of my all-time favorite Springy drinks is a recently (well, relatively) re-discovered classic, the Last Word: The Last... Continue Reading →
Arrrr, it be time for more rum drinks, me hearties! This time, we're covering a broader spectrum of this sugarcane spirit and delving into dark and spiced rum. The cocktail club is nowhere near covering the full range of rum -- a nearly impossible feat -- but we're getting there! Tiki Drinks will wait 'til summer, methinks.... Continue Reading →
Ever heard of aquavit? No? Well, neither had the cashier at Pop's. My bottle of Linie received an intent stare and a question when checking out. Completely understandable, given that Scandinavian liquor hasn't been flying off the shelves in this country since...well, it's never flown off the shelves. It went something like this: "So...what is this?" asked the puzzled cashier.... Continue Reading →
Ah yes, A Christmas Story: a true yuletide classic. Jean Shepherd's composite tale of his childhood Christmas during the Great Depression has always been a family favorite -- I'm sure a lot of people love it -- and I was pleasantly surprised when, upon opening my holiday issue of Imbibe, I discovered a cocktail entitled "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out." Obviously... Continue Reading →
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 →
Right now, applejack is quite possibly my favorite spirit. Sure, I love sipping whiskey and trying out new gins, and cognac is great and I'm gradually warming to tequila, but I'll always love applejack. For those of you familiar with this quintessential American spirit, skip ahead a few paragraphs and get to the drinks. For... Continue Reading →
There is a certain period of time that's referred to as the "Dark Ages" of mixology...somewhere between the 1950s and the 1990s. Yes, certain pockets of resistance still existed during these decades, especially in the better bars and Tiki restaurants, but mixed drinks as a whole seemed to suffer, especially during the 70s and 80s... 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 →
What's that? A cocktail contest, you say? Hmm... If you haven't run across it yet, About.com has a fairly extensive cocktail cocktail site set up. Helmed by Colleen Graham, the site includes a drink database, weekly articles, reviews, tips -- just about everything you'd find in a paper-and-print cocktail guide. They've also started a monthly... Continue Reading →
Tempered Spirits 