Featured Issues

— No. 134 —

The Fencer

The Lucien Gaudin is a clas­sic but obscure cock­tail that cel­e­brates the well dec­o­rat­ed French ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry fencer of the same name. You may notice it shares sim­i­lar­i­ties with the Negroni. Both fea­ture gin and Cam­pari. The Lucien Gaudin how­ev­er has the dis­tinct pres­ence of orange, both from the fla­vor with the Coin­treau and in aro­ma of the orange peel gar­nish. The Lucien Gaudin is a dry, crisp clas­sic that is light on its feet. Lucian Gaudin 1 oz …

— No. 133 —

Grapefruit Hop Syrup

Inspired by my recent hob­by of home brew­ing, I cre­at­ed a unique grape­fruit hop syrup to exper­i­ment with. IPAs that have a strong grape­fruit palette are my favorite. I’ve found that cas­cade and amar­il­lo hops have a nice grape­fruit and cit­rus pro­file to them and I want­ed to try this fla­vor com­bi­na­tion in cock­tail recipes.

— No. 130 —

Signs of Spring

This cock­tail is named for its inclu­sion of elder­ber­ry, long thought to her­ald the begin­ning of spring. All the Year Round: A Nature Read­er by Frances Lucia Strong and Martha Allen Lane (1896) is a book designed to inter­est young school chil­dren in nature and includes the pas­sage: “How warm the sun­shine is!” exclaimed a lit­tle bud on an elder­ber­ry twig. “Yes,” answered her twin sis­ter, “I believe spring has come at last. How glad I am!” And how glad …

— 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. 127 —

Red Bell Pepper Infused Rum

It nev­er hurts to think ahead. Warmer months are just around the cor­ner. If you’re any­thing like me you’ve prob­a­bly had your fair share of bour­bon. Not that bour­bon will ever be replaced, but it’s about time to start think­ing rum drinks. This red bell pep­per infused rum is quite pos­si­bly the eas­i­est and one of the most reward­ing infu­sions you can make. It’ll only take 24 hours to infuse and the result is a culi­nary epiphany that’ll have your guests pleas­ant­ly sur­prised. …

— No. 126 —

Old Faithful

Are you hav­ing peo­ple over for the Raven’s game this week­end? The last thing you’ll want to be doing while your Ravens are tak­ing it to the Patri­ots in the AFC Cham­pi­onship game is mak­ing drinks for every­one. The best way to keep your guests hap­py and liquored up while main­tain­ing fives on your seat is to pre­pare a punch. I got this recipe from Dan Sear­ing’s book The Punch Bowl. The Old Faith­ful is a recipe by Gina Cher­se­vani …

— No. 125 —

Absente Video

Are the in-laws com­ing over to your place for a lit­tle hol­i­day get togeth­er? The North Star is the per­fect way to turn an awk­ward hol­i­day par­ty around, loos­en­ing every­one up and get­ting the vibe a bit more fes­tive. The North Star is a cock­tail I came up with for Cril­lon Importer’s prod­uct Absente, Absinthe Refined. As you may already be aware absinthe and cream go togeth­er nice­ly. The kirschwass­er adds a cher­ry note to this cock­tail and of course …