Results tagged “vermouth”

Via Art of Drink we discovered Beverages De Luxe, a wonderful bar book dating from 1914. Digitized from a copy in the collection of the Library of Congress, it's an utterly fascinating glimpse into the world of alcohol just before Prohibition. It features a number of pieces written by various distillers and brewers, including chapters entitled "New England Rum" and "Making 'Hand-made' Sour Mash." The entire second half of the book is made up of cocktail recipes from clubs and hotels across the country, and that's where we found the Auditorium Cocktail.

We recently received a sample of Mount Gay Extra Old, a fine aged rum from Barbados we'd never tried. On the rocks it's superb: a true sipping rum with hints of burnt sugar and spice, and a subtle floral scent. Actually it reminded us a lot of bourbon. That started us thinking ...

Now that the weather has turned cold, it's the ideal time for whiskey. And alongside the Old Fashioned, there's no better whiskey cocktail than the Manhattan. Like most classic drinks, it's surprisingly easy to make ... but seemingly even easier to screw up. We still haven't quite gotten over the time we ordered a Manhattan at Hydrate, only to be served a vile concoction of Southern Comfort and amaretto. The less said about that the better.