Featured Issues

— No. 128 —

Caledonia Spirits

I don’t claim to be an expert on hon­ey. Spir­its has always been my world. But recent­ly, I had the dis­tinct plea­sure of meet­ing the Mary­land native and founder of Cale­do­nia Spir­its, Todd Hardie, who’s built his career at the inter­sec­tion of those two interests.

— 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

  • 1 750-ml bot­tle of bourbon
  • 1 2/3 cups of Saint Germain
  • 4 cups of fresh grape­fruit juice
  • 1/2 cup of pow­dered sugar
  • 20 dash­es of grape­fruit bitters
  • 1 750-ml bot­tle of sparkling water
  • 30 mint leaves
  • 20 stripes of grape­fruit peels
— 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 …

— No. 123 —

Hidden Charms

  • 1 3/4 oz blend­ed scotch
  • 1/2 oz Carpano Anti­ca Sweet Vermouth
  • 1/2 oz Aperol
  • 1/4 oz Nux Wal­nut Liqueur
  • 1/4 oz of Laphroaig 10 yr
  • 2 dash­es of Amar­go Chun­cho Bitters
  • Gar­nish with a lemon twist
— No. 121 —

Strega

Halloween is just around the cor­ner, so what bet­ter liquor to fea­ture than Stre­ga (Ital­ian for witch). Leg­end has it that the town of Ben­even­to, where Stre­ga has been made since 1860, was the meet­ing ground of all the witch­es of the world. I keep pic­tur­ing a gag­gle of witch­es sit­ting around a bub­bling caul­dron, cack­ling and stir­ring the 70 ghoul­ish ingre­di­ents that make up this liquor. Beyond the con­nec­tion to Hal­loween, You’ve got to love the tra­di­tion. Today Stre­ga is …

— No. 120 —

Suze

Suze Gen­tiane Liqueur is a bit­ter aper­i­tif that’s been pro­duced in France since 1889. Although, I did hear this lat­est recipe has been toned down a bit for the mod­ern con­sumer. It’s cre­ator, Fer­nand Moureaux, cen­tered this liqueur around the fla­vor from yel­low gen­tian root. The wild gen­tian is har­vest­ed from the moun­tains of the Jura and Auvergne regians. Gen­tian root is the main ingre­di­ent in bit­ters and is the main cul­prit for the bit­ter prop­er­ties. Oth­er notable fla­vors are vanil­la and …