Smoky Martini Cocktail
One of the delights of the Smoky Cocktail is its accommodating nature. There seems to be no canonical recipe, only a loose ingredients list: gin (or vodka), Scotch (or Irish, blended or single malt), dry vermouth (optional), lemon twist (optional). Here is flavor opportunity broad enough to satisfy the tastes of any Scotch drinker, and even those who do not consider themselves in the Scotch–drinking ranks.
The Negroni Cocktail
The Negroni cocktail is a delight to the eye, handsome in a rocks glass, clear and red; it is “not for fence-sitters,” as Mark Kingwell observes in his amusing Classic Cocktails, A Modern Shake. A proper Negroni is fully one-third Campari, and that’s a lot of Campari by anyone’s reckoning. That bitter astringence is an acquired taste, and after the first sip you already know that you want to learn more about it, or you swear off forever. Read more 
Five Ways to Wreck a Martini
Why is it so hard to find a good martini? It’s such a simple drink, what could go wrong? Here’s my list of five ways that bartenders have screwed up my martinis:
