I love apéritif wines. Byrrh, Lillet, Dubonnet, Cocchi, you name 'em, I'll drink 'em. These complex, Continental concoctions are wonderful on their own -- or with a wedge of citrus and some soda, a universal truth of drinking -- but sipping a tall, cold glass of quinine-tinged wine on a lazy afternoon sometimes feels just... Continue Reading →
Where Has All the Pumpkin Beer Gone?
Search me. After a reading a number of articles on Serious Eats about all the pumpkin beers that are (or were) out and about on the market, I headed to a couple of the local booze shops to buy some. Nothin' and nada. No luck. I'm serious. No pumpkin beer! Well, maybe a few straggling bottles... Continue Reading →
Drinking New Orleans, Part 2: Cocktail à la Louisiane
Following on the heels of the Vieux Carré is a drink with remarkably similar ingredients but a drastically different taste: the Cocktail à la Louisiane. Like the VC, it was salvaged from the pages of S.C. Arthur's Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em, deservedly brought back from the edge of the unknown by fellow cocktail geeks: Cocktail à la... Continue Reading →
Back to my ROOTs
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 →