- The 5 Most Popular Cocktails of April
Here are the drinks that you couldn’t get enough of this month.
- This Restaurant Says Screw the Wine List
The mandatory pairing at Michelin-starred Gaggan is not for everybody—in fact, it’s brought at least one guest to tears—but this sommelier says there’s no turning back.
- The Italian Buck Goes Spicy
Meet the bold and bittersweet N/A cocktail of my dreams.
- Anatomy of a Modern “It” Bar
What do today’s hottest bars have in common? One of these five things, most likely.
- A Martini for Every Mood
Our favorite takes on the timeless template—classic, dirty, modern and beyond.
- How to Stretch a Lime - My Story in the SF Chronicle
I wrote about oleo citrate and super juice for the San Francisco Chronicle. These are techniques for increasing the yield from citrus fruits by eight times or so, using a touch of citric and malic acid powder in a specific way to bump up the flavor and texture of citrus...
- San Francisco Then And Now
I am reading The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld by Herbert Asbury for the first time as I research San Francisco cocktail history. (You can buy it on [amazon] [bookshop] to support this blog.) My impression of this book is that the “informal” part of...
- Don’t Drink and Send Telegrams - and Other Advice from 100 Years of Cocktail Etiquette Books
My first story for Food & Wine just went live. I took advice from 95 years of cocktail etiquette books, beginning in 1930 and ending with the publication of How to Be a Better Drinker last week [amazon] [bookshop]. I had fun going through my cocktail book collection to find...
- April through May 2025 Drink Book Releases
I am keeping all the year’s new drink books on this post: New Drink Book Releases in 2025 But I wanted to make sure that you saw just the new updates so I’ll repeat then here. April through May 2025 Drink Book Releases The Official Barbie Cocktail Book: 50 Dreamy...
- Alcoholism, Absinthism, and Prescription Absinthe in Algeria
I just finished reading The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France's Most Notorious Drink [amazon] [bookshop] by Nina Studer. The book is an academic look at parts of absinthe’s history. (I wrote another blog post about one aspect of it - that wine was considered a better base...
