Last week, two customers of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen restaurant in Las Vegas were transported to the hospital “for injuries involving a drink,” the Associated Press reports. No, they didn’t drunkenly stumble down some stairs; they were injured by the Rum Donkey, a rum-based cocktail that the Las…
Life never manages to be as simple we’d all hope. A kiss isn’t just a kiss; a job isn’t just a job; and a cocktail is never just booze in a fancy glass. In a culinary era when “craft” rules, cocktails have been elevated from mere potable to immersive culinary experience. You think specialty cocktails begin and end…
All-inclusive resorts are the worst thing to ever happen to frozen cocktails. I know this because as a young, sunburn-prone college senior, I stayed at such a resort during an all-girls spring break trip to Jamaica. No more a cliché vacation could have existed: Friends and I pounded layered “Bob Marley” shots,…
For some summer cocktail lovers, there’s no concoction like the Negroni: equal parts vermouth, gin, and Campari. It’s a little on the sweet side, but can be tempered with a slice of citrus, and its shimmering red-orange color, thanks to the Campari, is like no other.
Have you ever really watched your bartender shake your cocktail? There are many motions, as different as the bartenders themselves. But as this Punch piece—charmingly illustrated—how a cocktail is shaken also depends on its ingredients, type of ice, etc. Fascinating stuff for fellow cocktail dorks. [Kate Bernot]
Ah, summer. The time when you can chuck that red wine and dark beer in favor of fizzy drinks and cocktails crying out for an umbrella. But in the dog days of July and August, when the thermometer goes north of 90, we are going to have to check out this summery item at Costco.
Snoop Dogg paid homage to his favorite beverage 25 years ago with “Gin And Juice,” the second single off of his debut album, 1993’s Doggiestyle. A few days ago, he topped even that by breaking the world’s record for the largest gin and juice ever made: some 132 gallons.
Even if you consider yourself interested in cocktails, how deep is your home liquor selection, really? My bar cart has nice bottles of the stuff I like—gin, aged rum, fernet, a few types of whiskey, armagnac from a trip to France—and standards like vodka, white rum, and tequila to round those out.
We promise to always be straight with our readers, so here’s the truth: Restaurants and food companies come up with dumbass, stunt ideas all the time so the media will go “Whoooooaaaaa” and write 500 words about it.
The thought of drinking a glass of fat probably brings to mind the episode of Friends where Ross agrees to drink a hearty portion of an unspecified greasy substance in order to be forgiven by on-again, off-again, off-again girlfriend Rachel. The act as portrayed in the episode is quite disgusting. But in 2007, Don…
Imagine selling the Bloody Mary to a focus group today: “Say, you know what goes well with vodka? Tomato juice!”
In our season finale of A.V. Cocktail Club, Chicago bartender and Louisiana native Laura Kelton teaches us the proper techniques to make the quintessential New Orleans cocktail: the Sazerac.
The Toronto cocktail is a refreshing twist on the classic old fashioned. This one gets a splash of Fernet-Branca, which gives the drink a minty and floral finish. Chicago bartender Laura Kelton shows us how to make one.
The American Trilogy is a recent cocktail innovation. Invented a decade ago at New York’s Little Branch bar, it’s reminiscent of a brandy old fashioned, but uses rye whiskey and apple brandy to give the drink softer, more rounded edges.
Concocted at the famed Carousel Bar in New Orleans, the Vieux Carré is a sophisticated and classic cocktail that evokes the spirit of the French Quarter. Fans of a Manhattan or brandy old-fashioned will find much to love about the Vieux Carré. Chicago bartender and Louisiana native Laura Kelton shows us how.
The Gold Rush is smooth and easy-going bourbon drink that’s similar to a whiskey sour. Here, instead of simple syrup, we employ honey to give the drink richness.
Of the many spirits beneath the whiskey umbrella—Scotch, bourbon, rye—what’s the difference? Chicago bartender Laura Kelton explains in this Cocktail Club Extra.
In this season of A.V. Cocktail Club, Chicago bartender Laura Kelton offers tips on making classic cocktails. The key to an ideal pineapple daiquiri, Kelton says, is to source the freshest, highest-quality pineapple juice you can get your hands on. If you can juice the fruit yourself at home, even better.
What is fernet, and why should you have a bottle for home use? In this Cocktail Club Extra, Chicago bartender Laura Kelton explains the aromatic bitter and how best to use it. For more, check out our Gateways To Drinkery guide on the spirit.
This season of A.V. Cocktail Club focuses on classic cocktails that are easy to make at home. This week, Chicago bartender Laura Kelton shows us the Hanky Panky—if you’re a fan of the negroni, you’ll enjoy this classic gin cocktail that adds minty notes, courtesy of Fernet-Branca.
