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  • Causing A Stir With Agave: Six Spirit-Forward Tequila and Mezcal Cocktails
    July 10, 2018 Patrick Smith

    Causing A Stir With Agave: Six Spirit-Forward Tequila and Mezcal Cocktails

    Agave spirits, much like Mexico itself, have a complicated relationship with American drinkers. Our common association with Agave spirits is that of parties, fruity drinks, and bad decisions. Margaritas are the first, and often only drink that comes to mind when folks are confronted with the question of Agave cocktails, maybe a Paloma if they are especially well traveled and sensitive to local proclivities. But again, like Mexico, Agave is so much more than this.
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  • Keeping It Couth With Vermouth
    June 27, 2018 Patrick Smith

    Keeping It Couth With Vermouth

    Poor vermouth. It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of many a home bar: everyone has some, but dammit, it gets no respect. It’s the key ingredient in your beloved Manhattan, Martini, or Negroni, but at shopping time it rarely receives the same attention that your Whiskey or Gin selection does. Generally, this isn’t out of a true disdain for the stuff, but rather habit and lack of awareness of what it really is. 
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  • A Very Sherry Situation
    June 20, 2018 Patrick Smith

    A Very Sherry Situation

    My first association with sherry was as a boy reading the Harry Potter books, in which the crazed, clairvoyant, and apparently alcoholic teacher, Professor Trelawney, is constantly described as smelling strongly of cooking sherry. Although I had no clue what sherry was, this association with the “crazy, spinster aunt” type stuck. I proceeded to live my life quite happily for some years before being untimely sucked into the world of cocktails, where I found myself avoiding recipes that called for all varieties of this mysterious sherry, never quite being sure of what it was or where I would start with it, not to mention the probably deep seated fear that I may eventually become a spinster myself if I tried it. 
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  • Spritzes & Fizzes & Highballs, Oh, My!
    June 13, 2018 Patrick Smith

    Spritzes & Fizzes & Highballs, Oh, My!

    While a stiff drink never goes out of style, in the summer heat it’s hard to beat something refreshing, something bubbly enough to tickle your tongue as well as it tickles your fancy. Enter our three summertime players: the Spritz, the Fizz, and the Highball. 
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  • A Gin Cocktail Odyssey, Act II: You Only Live Twice
    May 23, 2018 Patrick Smith

    A Gin Cocktail Odyssey, Act II: You Only Live Twice

    Cocktails that have been consistently ordered at cocktail joints in some form since they were first served long ago. That’s a classic. But what about all those old cocktails that seemingly went the way of the Dodo? What are those? Well, we’re simply calling them Vintage cocktails, and luckily tons of them have been rediscovered by curious bartenders, thirsty historians, and scholarly cocktail drinkers of all stripes.
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