photograph by Jennifer Hess

The 1948 first edition of David A. Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. This thing usually sells for upwards of $150-200, but Jen got it for a steal, from an online vendor who apparently didn’t know what he/she had. Although the dust jacket is missing, the condition of the book itself [...]

For my friend’s birthday party a couple of weekends ago, I wanted to take a special cocktail. One that I’ve been wanting to try at home is the Ward 8–which is rye, lemon and orange juices, and grenadine–but Jen’s allergic to orange juice, so I’ve never mixed it up here. However, I thought it might [...]

Charbay wins!

If you’ve turned on the teevee at all this month, you know that Cali got hit hard by a deep freeze that wiped out its citrus crops. To the tune of $800-million bucks, it seems.

Bad news for those of us who like some fresh juices in our cocktails. But not everyone’s so unlucky.

Just days [...]

Feast or famine around here. I either have nothing to write about or I have more to write about than I know what to do with.

I still owe Todd and Lauren’s friends a recipe for the Ward Eight, so that’s coming soon. Jen and I had an anniversary dinner/cocktail hour at Pegu Club this past [...]

Inspired by this post, by Sam Kinsey on eGullet, I decided to make a lime syrup for gimlets. Jen and I both enjoy gimlets, but I haven’t made them in a long while because I wasn’t too crazy about the way I’ve made them. I’ve tried gin and Rose’s, but that’s too sweet and artificial [...]

This month’s edition of Mixology Monday comes to us from that fine new magazine, Imbibe, whose editors have chosen the theme winter warmers, in keeping with the issue on the stands right now.

My contribution isn’t particularly original, but it’s a drink I’ve wanted to try at home for a while now: Irish coffee. Jen and [...]

My good friend Todd had a birthday brunch party today and to help him celebrate, I took along a couple of premixed drinks that seemed to go over well. I brought a Bloody Mary premix, and also a Ward 8 premix. I left the Bloody Mary stuff out for folks to pour into a glass [...]

I’ve been quiet, but I haven’t been a complete slug. The holidays were mainly a fall-back period, in which we enjoyed our favorite cocktails and didn’t try a lot of new drinks. I sampled a few new whisk(e)ys–bourbons, scotches, and ryes–during the holidays, and I’ve come up with a fun way to evaluate a new [...]

Inspired by drinkboston.com, I decided to try a Green Ghost, since I had everything on hand the day I read Lauren Clark’s post. We loved this drink. Thanks, Lauren!

photo by Jennifer Hess

Why should it be that when I search for “bar spoon” on Amazon.com, I get this little bit of creepiness?