I was lucky enough to come across a sampling of Concannon Irish Whiskey, a new brand that launched in early 2012. Concannon debuted as a joint project between a California vineyard and an Irish distillery and the resulting collaboration is a unique spirit. While many Irish Whiskies are smooth and somewhat character-less due to the …
The process of creating a new cocktail is usually riddled with average drinks before finding the formula that tastes right. It’s a lot of trial and error, sometimes with glorious results. Those results come more quickly when the drink makes sense conceptually and when you are working off of a base that has some grounding in cocktails …
Inevitably, as people start getting more and more into cocktails, the cocktail tools continue to get better and better. There are, at this point, a few tools that I can no longer live without. A great cocktail takes a number of different things working together in harmony. It takes quality spirits, an understanding of the …
This needs very little introduction. The problem with the internet is that anyone can write anything at any point in time and people might just believe it. Here are the worst cocktail recipes I’ve come across this month. Enjoy (or, preferably, don’t.) 8. The Bikini Martini – This stellar “martini” combines two kinds of pineapple …
Cocktails are all about ratios, ingredients and substitutions. I know, it seems obvious, right? But let’s start with the basics and not over complicate things. People always want to start with 15 different spirits combined in 0.000005 oz increments to get complexity. But that’s not the best approach. To me, you need to take a …
I’ve been on a slight hiatus due to a move to Philadelphia, but I’m back and i’m making cocktails again like they are going out of style. On my most reent quest to find something delicious, I came across this, a 100% rye whiskey infused with botanicals. Matt, the spirits master at my former local … Continue reading »
The Paloma is a simple and delicious cocktail that showcases grapefruit (the super citrus) alongside tequila, lime and soda. It is refreshing, simple to make and surprisingly tasty. I like palomas, but my spirit of choice as of late has been tequila’s smokey cousin, Mezcal. I often find myself combining mezcal and tequila which gives … Continue reading »
There is a lot of good cocktail information out on the web these days, along with a lot of absolutely horrible garbage. Often times, it’s hard to differentiate between the two or find good sources. This week I’ve come across a lot of interesting stuff, so I thought I’d compile and share. Here are my … Continue reading »
I often find my way back to the classics, as you may know, and the whiskey sour is no exception. The reality is, sometimes I need a drink with some citrus to soften the booze. There are moments that I just don’t want another Negroni (although that doesn’t happen often) and when those moments come, … Continue reading »
Reblogged from Punk's Backyard Grill: As you may or may not have noticed, we decided to add a little bar to the dining room at Punk’s. It’s a natural extension of what we are already doing, as we’ve been selling you good people a lot of beers for a good amount of time now. Given … Continue reading »
It’s cold outside and that means I fall back to variations on tried and true cocktails that use brown liquors. Bourbon, rye, brandy, and rum top the list of things I want to drink when the weather is cold. To me, there are no bitters that have more of a winter feel to them than … Continue reading »
I haven’t been posting about cocktails very much in the last few weeks, mainly because I’ve been drinking through my beer cellar. I’m not sure what came over me, but I felt inspired to stop sitting on these delicious beers and just drink them. In doing so, I discovered that my preferences really don’t lie … Continue reading »
