Building a home bar is an exercise in setting priorities. Spicy rye whiskey, decent mixing gin and a bottle of Cointreau? Right up there at the top of the list. Maraschino liqueur, Campari and Chartreuse? Maybe around level B, after all the basics are covered and you’re ready to explore a little bit. Dutch-style gin… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Vermouth
Burnt Fuselage
Screw eBay. Over the past few years, I’ve put together a modest library of drinks-related books, most of them out-of-print and many fairly old and somewhat rare. Apparently, I haven’t been alone; as I check out the usual places on eBay and other online sources for old books, I’ve seen prices rise exponentially, just in… Continue Reading
El Presidente Revisited
It’s been a good week for cocktails in the media. Today I received by e-mail an invitation to visit a website I’ve never seen before. Nothing unusual there–beyond the typical enticements to check out the online poker, the performance enhancers and “Me and mY reD-Hott grrrlfrindxxx,” there’s the occasional note, typically worded in a quick… Continue Reading
One More Drink with Pastis and Then I’ll Shut Up
Before I settled on the Asylum for my Mixology Monday drink, I was batting around the idea of posting this one. It’s actually a much tastier drink, and after I became enamored of the whole Seabrook story, I resolved I’d come back around to this one, just so I could post a really engaging pastis… Continue Reading
St. Moritz
The Manhattan’s less-interesting cousin. I came across this drink while flipping through David Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. Embury calls for a standard dry Manhattan with orange bitters and 2-3 dashes of Chartreuse, and explained that some recipes call for equal parts vermouth and Chartreuse. I split the difference, with not unpleasant results.… Continue Reading
