Stories about drinks – where they come from, why they work, and how to make them
Winter was all about citrus and managing acid. Spring was all about bitter roots and herbs. We’ve had 6 months of intense flavors, but now summer is all about fresh fruit. Melon, berries, stone fruit (or drupe if you want to get fancy) – bright colors, sweet flavors, right from the farm. I grew up … Read more
Yes, it’s essentially summer at this point. But, it’s not so deep into Summer that every day or activity involves working up a big sweat and needing to cool off quickly. That was the case last weekend, when we went with a big group to camp at Salmon La Sac.It looked like we were in … Read more
I was planning to write this before Twitter started talking about the Aperol Spritz. That was driven by a pretty bad take from Rebekah Peppler in the New York Times, which I won’t spend any more time on expect to say this: If your take hinges on the idea that something is bad because it’s … Read more
I’ve mentioned amaro in (I think) at least half of the posts on this blog in some form or fashion (and even more on Instagram). Usually, that’s been Campari and (more recently) Cynar. But, it’s a massive, ill-defined category that I want to have a much better understanding of despite starting to try more in … Read more
There’s not much that I’ve drunk that isn’t available in most good liquor stores, to be honest. Sure, I’ve had a few special releases at distilleries or gotten a pour of something quite rare at a good bar, but those are still possible to find if you really want to and know what you’re doing. … Read more
I’m watching the Masters, so a dad joke in the title felt seasonal. Get it? Cynar, artichokes, choke, chalk… Anyways, as I mentioned, Spring is all about growing things, but not much is actually ready to eat yet. Artichokes are an exception; these thistles are best in April, and right around now you’ll see them … Read more
Starting a new job and spraining my right wrist pretty badly on pretty much the same day has not been good for the blog – sorry about that! As we head into spring, I’m going to focus on plants and herbs – some strange ingredients that are going to make for great deep dives. But, … Read more
A lot of my friends are in NOLA for Mardi Gras or Rio for Carnival, and we had paczki at work this week, so it felt right that while I’m in the sunny PNW I should make some drinks that would fit with those celebrations. Those happen to work great as flask cocktails, so one … Read more
After messing around with the Cosmo last week, I was looking for a good riff on that drink. Essentially, this means incorporating citrus and cranberry. It helps that cranberry will almost certainly make the drink pink, which felt right for Valentines Day. This is an original cocktail that, while certainly informed by reading a whole … Read more
Once I decided I was going to be writing a lot about triple sec this winter, I knew I was going to write about the Cosmopolitan. I expected it to be a takedown of the cocktail culture of the 90s because the drink sucks but got popular anyway because of a TV show. Unfortunately for … Read more