Sours are among the oldest class of cocktails, and as mixology goes, they’re pretty basic stuff: mix booze, lemon and sugar, then chill and serve. Nothing could be easier, and from this base simplicity comes the sour’s true charm — after all, it’s nothing more than that sentimental classic, lemonade, assuming you make your lemonade… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Brandy
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
Gettin’ Jerry With It, Part III: Japanese Cocktail
Thanks to Robert Hess for reminding me of this drink in a post over at The Spirit World. As Robert points out, the Japanese Cocktail is one of only ten “cocktails” listed in Jerry Thomas’ 1862 The Bartender’s Guide. It’s unfortunate that this drink has fallen by the wayside–its flavor is deep and evocative, yet… Continue Reading
Hot and Cold
If you were to rank Yuletide peculiarities of otherwise reasonable people on some sort of oddness scale, the seasonal demand for rich, eggy, booze-laden beverages is situated several points below the desire to wear a reindeer sweater adorned with shiny, jingly things, and the genuine conviction that anybody honestly wants a scented candle as a… Continue Reading
A Gesture Toward the Season
Good Lord, is it December already? Thanksgiving breezed by, and since then major work issues have kept me glued to the phone and computer, doing unpleasant yet unavoidable tasks, for near every waking moment. And now, blast it, it’s Christmas–time to be stringing lights and mixing eggnog, elbowing shoppers in a department store and watching… Continue Reading
