The Spirit World

Most people are familiar with the Manhattan cocktail, a wonderful combination of American whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. Few however are as familiar with its Gaelic cousin, the Rob Roy.
The Rob Roy first makes its appearance in the 1890’s (about 10 years after the Manhattan) in New York. There are apparently two things that specifically […]

Looking for a little something to spice up your glass collection? Check out these rocks glasses available from environment337. Prices range from $50 to $60 for a set of four.

Have you been looking for a good place to stash your hooch? Besides the cabinet over the refrigerator, which seems to be the location of choice for many families, there are tons of free-standing solutions. Your options are limited only by your imagination.
Visit any furniture or import store and you are […]

If you read this blog with any regularity you’ll know that I don’t too often talk about beer. There is good reason for that - I don’t know that much about beer! And, to be quite honest, it’s not something that I’ve felt the need to learn about - I have enough vices […]

It seems the latest item to fall victim to the designer and artisanal trend is ice. Yes, I said ice.
Now, I guess this shouldn’t really surprise me as this trend actually started years ago. We all know how to make an ice ring from fruit slices and lemonade, orange juice or […]

It has been hot here in the Northwest - not as hot as some areas of the country but very hot for those of us with webbed feet!
On Monday I had a little gathering at my house and found the perfect beverage to serve. Light and refreshing, and best when prepared several hours […]

Raki, the Turkish national drink has a interesting and intriguing history. A distilled spirit it is also known as “Lion’s Milk” because when mixed with water it turns a milky white. It is distilled from various fruits but was originally made from grapes. At one point a shortage of grapes resulted in versions made from […]

I just got back from a week long tour of Seattle and Tacoma area brewpubs. On the flight from New York to Seattle, I was thinking about the chapter in Ken Wells’s Travels with Barley about the Portland, Oregon beer scene. I was impressed with the numbers that Wells’s printed concerning the craft […]

Consider the Martini, a drink which spans more than 100 years. It is an elegant and sophisticated drink which has come to be such an icon of the cocktail, that what was once considered to be just a cocktail glass, has been essentially rechristened the “Martini” glass in it’s honor. Today, the majority of Martini’s […]

The good people of Navarra, i.e., the region bordering northern Spain’s Basque Country, have given the world more than just the annual spectacle of drunken men being gored in the ass at Pamplona. No, the Navarre have also given the world Patxaran (pronounced paht-chah-RAHN).
Patxaran is a sweet, fruity, aromatic digestif produced by macerating sloe berries […]