The Spirit World

On Long Island St Patrick’s Day is not just a day, it’s a season. Starting the weekend before and sometimes running until the week after March 17th are the community parades commemorating… what? St Patrick? The Irish? One would almost think it was the time of year for people to stand around Main Street and […]

For this month’s designated driver drink, I had to stretch beyond the trite Saint Patrick’s day “stock drinks”. I also didn’t want to explore virgin Irish coffees, whats the point?!
Today’s non-alcoholic drink is a fusion between Colombia (my childhood influence) and a drink popular in the 1970s here in the US, the Grasshopper. I put […]

As you know, I just got back from a week in Denver, drinking Denver brewed beer and sipping (not so wee) drams of single malt scotch. On my last day in Denver I walked over to Flying Dog for their weekday afternoon tour (4 pm). I wish that I had found the Flying Dog tasting […]

IDOL Vodka is made from wine-quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, something that has never been done before, and combined pure water from Cote d’Or, Burgundy France. 
IDOL Vodka is the latest creation from notable wine aficionado and producer, Jean-Charles Boisset. It has taken him over seven years of experimenting with a variety of grapes, waters, filtration […]

I took the Brewsday road show to Denver for a little recreational drinking last week. Since I’m working on this beer cocktail series I thought I would chat up the Denver bartenders about the sort of stuff they put in their beer, but instead of blends and mixes, I found a city where it’s fairly […]

Often described as the bitterest of bitters, Campari is definitely an acquired taste.
I still recall my very first experience with Campari. I hadn’t yet fully entered the world of cocktails, but my culinary sensibilities still urged me to be adventuresome at discovering new flavors and experiences when the opportunity arose. In this particular case I […]

Recently, I took my family into Manhattan for a long weekend and, of course, some beer research. The first night we decided to get some barbecue at Virgil’s (152 West 44th Street, just off Broadway in the Times Square vicinity). Of course, I had a couple of beers (Brooklyn Pilsner and a Mardi Gras Ale […]

If you look through enough old tomes of cocktails, you will no doubt encounter references to “Amer Picon”. This product is produced and sold in France. While it used to be relatively easy to find, over the last couple of decades it has become increasingly scarce. At the current time there is no distributer that […]

February has been teasing me. I look out the window to see brilliant blue skies and sun streaming in, only to find 30 minutes later when I’m out without appropriate winter weather gear, the grey has taken over again. I don’t really mind. It’s just little tastes of things to come… not quite winter and […]