Food & Wine: Cocktails 2008

Food & Wine’s Cocktails 2008 has recently been released, and I think that any cocktail enthusiast should add this year’s guide to their collection. Read more

The Aviation Cocktail

On the heels of my unintentionally pot-stirring article about Texas wine, I figured I would run with the controversy and write about one of the most talked about and highly debated cocktails of late: the Aviation. Mention its name in the presence of anyone at all interested in cocktails, and you invite upon yourself a dissertation’s worth of material regarding its history and, of course, enough recipes on what makes a “proper” Aviation Read more

North Shore’s Sirène Absinthe

The lovechild of Derek and Sonja Kassebaum, North Shore Distillery in Chicago, has plans to release its new absinthe Sirène next week for those of you who live in and around the Windy City. I used to be able to get my hands on North Shore products when living near Chicago about a year ago, but nowadays, I have to settle for my few remaining ounces of their Distiller’s Gin No. 6. I knew I was going to miss out on more North Shore products when I moved away, but their absinthe plans seems to have been classified until just recently. Read more

Real Ale Devil’s Backbone Trippel Finally at the Bar

Texas is a big place; we have shore lines, high plains, wide valleys and a beautiful hill country. In amongst the green trees and white rock outcroppings of Texas’ hill country lays the small town of Blanco, the home of Real Ale Brewing. Real Ale is one of Texas’s smaller breweries offering only 4 beers year-round in 12oz bottles and draft, but small size can be a useful trait if used correctly. Read more

Quady Winery: Deviation

Working behind the bar definitely has its ups and downs. Down? Last Saturday. Someone forgets to screw the cap all the way on the gallon of simple syrup; it falls as you pick it up, and you are literally covered from head to toe in a sticky mass of pissed-offness. Read more

St. Arnold’s Summer Pils

As the mesquite smoke floats off the coals, past the sizzling steaks, and into my eyes, I retreat into the garage and pop open the beer cooler. After a long day of grilling, I need something to hydrate me long enough to finish off the rib-eyes. My cooler homes a plurality of beer types from different regions; perhaps, I should have a big IPA, a nutty brown, a cellared barley wine, or a black lager? Read more

Carpano Punt E Mes

I consider one of my purposes in life to introduce Campari to as many people as possible. I just think you should try and make a difference in the world before you go. But, helping people to appreciate Campari is kind of like teaching a child to play catch. You know you’re going to hit them in the face, Read more

Rhubarb Cocktails

While rhubarb certainly isn’t going to abduct you anytime soon or appear in a Will Smith movie, it is almost an alien to the world of bartending. One of the greatest things about working at the bar is the relationship we as bartenders have with the kitchen. When we don’t have time to do it ourselves, our executive chef, Dax, has a habit of whipping up a cool new syrup or ordering us some newly available produce for us to play with. Read more

Apple Tinis & Paris Hilton

Sometimes at the end of the day, I get home and gaze into my liquor cabinet—my eyes wandering over the plethora of bottles, contemplating all of the possibilities. Then I get a bit of a panic attack trying to decide what to have. Something new? Something tried and true? Something complex? Something mind-numbingly simple? Something sweet or sour? Something boozy? Read more

The Margarita Alternative: El Diablo Cocktail

The measure of a good bartender for the majority of eager patrons in Texas is the margarita. This standard is generally unfair as the criteria for the most classic of tequila cocktails is constantly under attack from inferior orange liqueurs like Patron Citronge, this month’s “best margarita mix”, and the notorious frozen varietal. With such a wide spectrum of margarita preferences, it is anyone’s guess what the guest staring at me from across the bar is requesting. Read more

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