12 Drinks of Christmas: Cat’s Collar Welcome to the Twelve Drinks of Christmas. Over the next two weeks and change, bringing us to the very edge of Christmas Eve, we’ll be giving our top twelve suggestions of cocktails to make your holidays merry and bright. Some of them are good pitcher drinks, perfect for your Christmas party; others are best enjoyed with a friend or two by the fire. Feel free to drink along. But...
Read MoreDrink of the Week: Thanksgiving Smash We’ve been having fun recently experimenting with smashes. A smash is a very old and, until recently, mostly dormant style of cocktail involving sugar and seasonal fruit (the Mint Julep is a smash that stayed current during the quiet period). Smashes aren’t terribly sophisticated-they come after all from the very beginnings of mixed drinks-but they are, however,...
Read MoreWhy We Find Ourselves Planning a Trip to Pittsburgh We had the most delightful of Veteran’s Days. It was a glorious fall day; and the fact that in mid-November there is still a bit of color in the trees and a bit of warmth in the air makes us think we could get used to DC living. We started the day in our favorite way, with a bike ride; and we ended it with a leisurely dinner with our favorite neighbors. And in the middle we had...
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Girlfriend Drinks: The Elderflower Manhattan In case there was ever any doubt who is writing which post, today will be an easy one. Girlfriends. They’re the best. It’s pretty vogue to be the tomboy and exclaim “Oh, I only ever was friends with boys growing up,” but despite liking what’s vogue, that was never my thing. I had sisters, and was shy, and truly loved every stereotypical gender norm that one...
Read MoreWhat We’re Drinking: Bonal and Rye At my latest trip to the liquor store, I ran across a fortified wine I’d never noticed before. When that happens, the odds are better than even that I’ll end up adopting it, like an irresistibly cute puppy from a pet store. Sure enough, I found myself the proud owner of a bottle of Bonal Gentiane Quina. It didn’t occur to me to wonder what I’d do with it until I already...
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...
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