The Spirit World

Recently, Seattle Metropolitan magazine decided to put a few local (mostly Pacific Northwest) artisan distilled gins up against some of the old guard to see how they fared.  For this taste test they called upon our own Robert Hess to lead the tasting panel.  Also on the panel was Paul Clarke of Cocktail Chronicles as well […]

R and I are currently in Whistler, British Columbia where we will be doing lots of wine sampling and eating over the next few days at Cornucopia.  After last night’s function, a little Welcome Party sponsored by Washington State wineries, we meandered over to one of my favorite places in Whistler Village, Araxi. 
I first discovered […]

I’m heading up to Whistler this weekend. It’s too early for skiing but I’ll be attending Cornucopia, an annual food and wine festival held in the village.  Today’s Happy Hour at Home recipes are based on Whistler memories. 
The cocktail, the Holiday Starr, is one of a series of cocktails I created a few years ago.  […]

Congratulations to our own Nika Boyce who is one of Food & Wine’s Photo Contest winners!  Nika was awarded one of four First Place prizes for her photo of Spice cake with homemade dark chocolate sauce.  You can read more about her experience on her blog. 
Congrats Nika!  It is so very well deserved! 

We’ve talked about nut liqueurs here on The Spirit World in the past. But to the best of my knowledge this one, Frangelico, is the granddaddy of them all. 
From the first moment you see the bottle you know there is a story involved.  The bottle, shaped like a monk in robes and often even belted with […]

Just south of London Bridge is a covered market where you can buy all kinds of fresh produce: greens, artisinal cheeses, meats. There’s even a decent little open air bottle shop where you can find the best bottle conditioned real ale from the UK across from a wall of Belgian beers. This bottle shop has […]

It wasn’t that long ago, that muddlers were a fairly rare component to find in the average bartender’s kit bag, these days however they are almost as common as the cocktail shaker itself. The typical muddler is a long slender piece of wood, often looking a lot like a mini baseball bat. It is used […]

I recently attended the Gourmet Institute in New York.  It was a whirlwind weekend of classes and eating and more classes and more eating!  One of the sessions that I chose, that I thought would be one of my favorites, was called Celebrating the Season with Cocktails and taught by Nick Mautone.  Nick has been […]

 
Here we are well into November already!  It’s time to take stock of your cocktail glassware and accessories to see if there are gaps you need to fill for the upcoming season.  Here’s a little roundup of some of our favorites: 
Tree and Snowflake Highballs:  These glasses are great for so many types of beverages from […]

I recently visited NY for a few days and before leaving I’d asked some bartender friends where would be the one place they’d go. Ben mentioned Milk and Honey and so it made my short list.
Milk and Honey in NY is the little sister of a more famous membership club in London. In London, non-members […]