Classics Week: The Vesper (aka: James Bond’s Drink) We reach the grand finale of our James Bond Classics Week. There’s nothing more iconic than James Bond drinking a martini. In fact, among the movie Bonds, it’s the only thing that George Lazenby and Roger Moore ever drink. While Timothy Dalton’s bond prefers Champagne-how very 80s of him-Pierce Brosnan mostly returns to form, only straying from his...
Read MoreClassics Week: the Sidecar James Bond famously avoided the Sidecar-but since the sidecar in question was of the rocket-propelled, explosive, motorcycle variety, who can blame him? No one would go out of their way to avoid the sidecar cocktail. Like with yesterday’s daiquiri, the keys to the sidecar are simplicity and balance: just three ingredients, with sweet and sour perfectly poised. The sidecar is one of those...
Read MoreClassics Week: The Sazerac Believe it or not, cocktails in general and many of the classic cocktails in particular have their roots in the very beginnings of pharmacy. For instance, yesterday’s drink, the daiquiri, started as a preventative medicine against scurvy. And bitters-those extra-intense alcohol mixtures that play an especially prominent role in the beginning of cocktails-all began as proprietary cures...
Read MoreClassics Week: The Daiquiri As we’ve mentioned, rum is not our strong suit. What’s become of the daiquiri might go a long way toward explaining our prejudice against rum. When we think of the daiquiri, we think of artificial flavors and artificial colors, basically frozen Kool-Aid with a splash of rum thrown in. As we’ve come to learn, this is entirely unfair to the daiquiri. Ernest Hemingway wasn’t drinking...
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Fall Five: Spiced Rum Old Fashioned Other fun fall drinks | Rosemary Bourbon Sour | Apple Margarita | Apple Manhattan | Fall Ginger Smash | Pumpkin Pie Shooters We start day two of our five-day celebration of fall with a book recommendation. Perhaps our favorite cocktail recipe book this year has been Eric Prum and Josh Williams’ Shake. It’s organized by time of the year; so at the change of every season, we’ve...
Read MoreShortly after getting engaged, Brian and I took a trip down to the Big Apple. We had been on a speakeasy kick ever since visiting the Violet Hour in Chicago and then discovering Back Bar right in our very own Union Square. Our tiresome research (okay Brian’s) led us to the Raines Law Room. In true speakeasy fashion we wandered up and down the street searching for the nondescript entrance to our destination. We found the smallest...
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