Classic

— No. 150 —

Dandy

Did you know that Bal­ti­more defied Pro­hi­bi­tion and still served alco­hol? It’s true, Bal­ti­more was a wet city dur­ing Pro­hi­bi­tion. When the rest of the nation went dry dur­ing Pro­hi­bi­tion, Mary­land was the only state that refused to pass an enforce­ment act to sup­port the fed­er­al restric­tions. Thanks to stub­born, free-think­ing Mary­land rule-break­ers, the Chesa­peake Bay became the prime port of call for the nation’s boot­leg­gers, mak­ing Mary­land the wettest state in the union. Ok enough with the his­to­ry lessons. …

— No. 137 —

Corn ‘n Oil

Through all of my research I haven’t been able to iden­ti­fy the ori­gin of this fan­tas­ti­cal­ly sim­ple cock­tail. If you do your own dig­ging you’ll find a few infor­ma­tive arti­cles out there and most of them will list Cruzan Black­straps Rum as the base liquor. It’s this rum that gives the cock­tail it’s crude oil com­plex­ion and it’s fit­ting name. How­ev­er, I find that the Cruzan Black­strap Rum over pow­ers the sub­tleties of the faler­num, the real star of this recipe. …

— No. 129 —

Bee’s Knees

The Bee’s Knees cock­tail is a gin, lemon and hon­ey clas­sic that dates back to pro­hi­bi­tion. The phrase “bee’s knees” was pro­hi­bi­­tion-era slang for “the best.” In that time, the addi­tion of ingre­di­ents such as cit­rus and hon­ey were often used to cov­er the less than ide­al smell and taste of bath­tub gin. Improv­ing the taste of an infe­ri­or gin may have been the goal, but the result was a fan­tas­tic con­coc­tion that can hold its own today. Cale­do­nia Spir­it­s’s …

— No. 115 —

Mint Julep

Call me what you will, but I shake my mint julep. I don’t like my straw get­ting clogged with all that mint. It hin­ders the drink­ing expe­ri­ence. So this is how I make my julep. Recipe 2 1/2 oz over­proof bour­bon (Noah’s Mill) 3/4 oz sim­ple syrup (1:1) 12 mud­dled mint leaves Crushed ice 1 mint sprig for gar­nish Dust top with pow­dered sug­ar 1 small drink­ing straw Add the sim­ple syrup in a shak­er tin. Then add 12 mint …

— No. 107 —

Trader Vic’s Mai Tai

It’s get­ting hot out, so I’m shak­ing up a Trad­er Vic’s Mai Tai. Before I get into the recipe there are a few things we should prob­a­bly dis­cuss first. The Mai Tai comes with its fair share of dra­ma. First, this clas­sic cock­tail has been slaugh­tered so many times that most patrons would­n’t rec­og­nize the clas­sic ver­sion if you put it down in front of them. You know what I’m talk­ing about. That neon pink con­coc­tion dom­i­nat­ed by bot­tled pre-mix­es, …

— No. 103 —

Daiquiri

The clas­sic Daiquiri might just be the most con­ve­nient and appro­pri­ate rum drink you can make on your beach vaca­tion. In fact, it’s so sim­ple it only includes three ingre­di­ents. That means you’ll want to choose a qual­i­ty rum. I just hap­pened to be in a coun­try that allowed me to pur­chase Havana Club Añe­jo 7 Años (Score!). So it was a no-brain­er to use this rum in my Daiquiri. Some­times the sim­plest drinks are the most enjoy­able. I guess that’s why it’s a …

— No. 68 —

Coffee Cocktail

1 1/2 oz brandy 1 1/2 oz ruby port one whole egg 1/4 oz sim­ple syrup (I like to use cin­na­mon sim­ple syrup) Gar­nish with grat­ed nut­meg Add all ingre­di­ents in a mix­ing glass. I use a hand­held frother to incor­po­rate the egg, or you could use the dry shake method. Then add ice and shake. Strain into a wine glass. Gar­nish with grat­ed nut­meg.