#cocktail-preparation

#cocktail-preparation

"We're a new distiller - we don't have the luxury of waiting to know if our whisky is going to be great. It has to be great from the outset."

"Our study confirmed that in an environment of loud noise, our sense of taste is compromised. Interestingly, this was specific to sweet and umami tastes, with sweet taste inhibited and umami taste significantly enhanced," Robin Dando, one of the study's authors, told the Cornell Chronicle after the study came out.

But then the playoffs arrive, and you and I are reminded of what makes twilight football-outdoors and on grass-special. You start off in broad daylight as both teams fuck around for a quarter or two. Then the sun slowly begins to bleed away, taking all distractions along with it as it sinks below the horizon. Now we're in primetime, when everyone is watching. Now every player on the field is in the spotlight, and you, the viewer at home, are dialed in.

Fans of the Hot Toddy will love the warming, boozy flavors of a well-made Mulled Wine. This drink is about as timeless as it gets, with origins in ancient Rome. At its essence, it's a warm drink featuring red wine, orange slices, honey (or maple syrup), wintry spices and an additional spirit like brandy or whiskey (or any spirit you have on hand).

Contrary to popular belief, rye was actually America's native spirit. George Washington owned the largest rye distillery in the country after he left the White House. Historically, it was a very important cocktail ingredient. But by the end of the 20th century, rye had practically disappeared from stores and bars.

just before we collectively stumbled into this shitty timeline marred by "fake news" and idiot fascism, a journalist did that thing that journalism used to do: hold power to account. In this case, the power was Big Bay Leaf, and the reporter was Kelly Conaboy, writing for the Awl on a "vast bay leaf conspiracy" that-then as now-cons well-meaning home cooks into buying weird leaves that taste and smell like "nothing."

"I wouldn't say the bramble is the only way to enjoy contemporary gin, but it's absolutely one of the most flattering cocktails to highlight the category," says Justin Lavenue, co-owner of Austin's famed cocktail bar The Roosevelt Room. "Contemporary gins, which tend to lean away from heavy juniper and more toward citrus, floral, root, and herbaceous notes, shine in cocktails where those subtleties have room to breathe. Unlike many other gin-based classics, the bramble gives them exactly that platform."

In Regarding Cocktails, Sasha Petraske's posthumous 2016 book, written by Georgette Moger-Petraske, Solomon shares the drink's origins. "I was inspired to create the Bensonhurst as an alternative to the Brooklyn cocktail, partly because of the lack of original-formula Amer Picon," he says in the book. "Vincenzo Errico had already created the Red Hook at Milk & Honey in 2004 as the first of the Brooklyn variations, which set the precedent of choosing other Brooklyn neighborhoods to name the variations it spawned."

Triple Sec is the name for a category of dry orange liqueurs: it translates to "triple dry" in French. The other major family of orange liqueurs is Curaçao, which are sweeter (and sometimes blue, like in these Blue Curacao cocktails!). Within the Triple Sec category, you'll find a wide range of quality and price: check out my guide to Cointreau vs Triple Sec.