Drinking the French Quarter: The Vieux Carré Cocktail
The Vieux Carré is New Orleans’ contribution to the Manhattan family. More specifically, it is a Saratoga, sweetened with a splash of Bénédictine and the city’s historic Peychaud’s bitters. Read more
Why is there cognac in my Sazerac?
The Sazerac has been one of my favorite cocktails for years, and its status as a “go-to” drink has become more entrenched as a wider selection of rye whiskies has come into my market, and especially as proper absinthe became available again. Read more 
Rye and Absinthe: The Sazarac Cocktail
The Sazerac is a love-it or hate-it kind of cocktail, with no middle ground. It’s a whiskey cocktail embellished with Peychaud’s bitters and an absinthe wash. If you’re put off by the anise and wormwood of absinthe, then the Sazarac will not be your cocktail; otherwise, keep reading—you owe yourself this New Orleans delight. Read more
The Champagne Cocktail
OK, so you have champagne for your New Year’s brunch. Seems a little blah, doesn’t it? Try the Champagne Cocktail instead.
The Champagne Cocktail is one of the oldest of cocktails, and one of the quickest and easiest to make. It turns a glass of everyday champagne into a much more sophisticated flavor treat. Read more
Dangerous Drinks: The Whiskey Sour
The Whiskey Sour is all about flavor balance. The drink is very simple—just a spirit, some fresh lemon juice, sugar and water. Too much lemon is just plain harsh. Too much sugar is cloying. Somewhere in between is a simple, tasty refresher. Like the Old Fashioned, it provides a welcome break from the flavor complexities of more sophisticated cocktails. Read more
Floating through Repeal Day: the Twelve Mile Limit Cocktail
December 5 is Repeal Day in the United States, the anniversary of the December 5, 1933, end of Prohibition. (Don’t get me started on Prohibition… )
Reason enough to examine a couple Prohibition-themed cocktails.
Got bitters? — the Seelbach Cocktail
It’s the Seelbach Cocktail’s extraordinary ingredient list that caught my eye. The Seelbach is a champagne-based cocktail, which in itself is uncommon—there are only a handful of champagne cocktails in the canon. And it includes a healthy dose of bourbon as homage to its Kentucky heritage. But the shocker is that it also includes seven dashes—seven—of Angostura bitters.
But wait, there’s more: we need seven dashes of Peychaud’s, too. What th’…? Read more
The Metropole Cocktail
I characterize the Metropole as a brandy-based cocktail, though the original formula suggested equal parts brandy and vermouth.
Probably invented somewhere around 1890, the Metropole was the house cocktail of New York City’s Metropole Hotel. Read more
