Sometimes things converge nicely, and sometimes they don’t (see: static electricity + Hindenburg or celluloid + Michael Bay + my eyes) and in this case, they did. I was contacted and subsequently interviewed in October by Jessica Troiano of Columbia News Service on a piece she was researching regarding the resurgence of classic cocktail by both enthusiasts and professionals alike, and specifically, the role Maraschino Liqueur has played (read her fine ‘Maraschino (No, Not the Cherry) Makes a Comeback’ article here). During the course of the interview I told her I had yet to land a bottle of Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur and, unfortunately, had only tried Stock’s liqueur which I understood to be an inferior product. Oddly enough, on a trip to Kansas City, MO the following week and in visiting a couple of liquor stores I came across I happened upon a lone and not-too-dusty bottle of Luxardo Maraschino on a shelf next to Strega and a shady-looking Tequila of dubious origin. Naturally, thrilled with finding such a treasure in an otherwise fruitless venture, I bought it and let it sit in its wicker-wrapped goodness. Now, if you haven’t clicked above and read the article, do so. I even referred her to Darcy who has a bit in there and she takes the trouble to clear up the pronunciation, so check it out and then come back. Read More »

The 'Aviator' is a variation on one of my favorite cocktails, the 'Aviation', which started me on the road to cocktail obsession. This particular recipe is from a collection I recently purchased while at the bookstore (I seem to find myself stopping by there when it's out-of-the-way for my errands, like a literate H.I. McDunnough at the local Kwik-E-Mart) in the Food and Wine Cocktails 2007 guide. Now, I'll write up a full review of this uneven, if well-produced, guide later on but you should know that essentially it's a compendium of cocktail (and some bar food) recipes from around the U.S. that the Food & Wine magazine editors compiled in their research and visits during the past year. Thus, it was natural in flipping through it that I was attracted to the 'Aviator', developed by Jay Crabb at the 'Martini Monkey' bar in the airport at San Jose, California. It takes the basic 'Aviation' cocktail and puts a spin on it that includes creme de cassis, egg white, and throws in some orange bitters to boot to keep the drink more balanced against the sweet liqueur. Read More »

There was a period of about a year and a half where I almost exclusively drank champagne¹ (come to find out this is neither the most financially viable concept nor the best for your reputation: see tagline above). So once I discovered the art and craft of well-made cocktails, making cocktails with champagne seemed a natural marriage. Apparently our forebears agreed seeing as how the Champagne Cocktail is one of the first documented, and certainly one of the longest-living, cocktails. But first, some background on my tastes; I drink champagne on the dry side (anything north of 'Extra Dry' and I jump ship) with my favorite non-special-event-look-we-spent-over-$100-on-this! being Piper-Heidsieck's Brut Cuvee. However, if you use this delight for mixing I will seriously have to come to your house and put the hurt on you. So, for mixing purposes I like to hang in the respectable 'methode Champenoise' $14-$20 range with goodies such as this, this, or this. And, again, I stick with the Brut as I think mixing with anything sweeter than Extra Dry, unless specifically called for as with the Bellini, throws the drink way off. Thus, with my love of the bubbly, and classic cocktails, the wife and I had an evening of fizzy lifting drinks and worked our way through a few champagne-based mixed drinks. The results were lovely. Read More »

1. I'm using the term 'champagne' for sparkling wines as well but I know and appreciate the difference I assure you [↩]

Chartreuse fascinated me long before my foray into classic and vintage cocktails. At my favorite liquor store, the green elixir would stare down at me in a lonely fashion, awkwardly surrounded by grappas to the left of it, fruit brandies to the right of it, and it, stuck in the middle with me. But, at $42 a bottle, I couldn’t justify the expense lest it taste of raspberry and ketchup and I get stuck holding the bag (note to self, generally recipes that have survived for 400+ years don’t taste of ass…). Fortunately, my wife in her telepathic wonderfulness (ok, I may have dropped a few whine-intoned hints) wrapped a bottle for Christmas and made this cocktail nerd a very happy man. 

That evening, upon opening the bottle, I was astounded at the smell; with very strong and complex herbal tones of, well, just about everything (130 ingredients indeed!), I had just never smelled anything like it. ‘I simply must drink this now‘, I thought. But, given the in-laws still hanging around, the kids still opening presents, and it being 10am I thought the better of it. So, anxiously awaiting the witching hour of 4:30pm (my personal mark for when it’s acceptable to begin ‘hitting it’) I researched it instead. Read More »