In the pantheon of winter drinks, hot buttered rum is among the most satisfying and misunderstood. The cocktail recipe dates to colonial New England, when historians say the rum and butter mixture was used as a medicinal tonic for sore throats. It remained popular—albeit less frequently prescribed by doctors—until a 20th-century hater emerged. In his … Read more
Originally known as a Whiskey Cocktail, the old-fashioned is a timeless drink with a rich history. In fact, it’s one of the oldest tipples around. In the drink’s early days, an old-fashioned could be made with brandy, gin, or practically any liquor, but it’s evolved to mean a whiskey-forward drink made with sugar and bitters, Angostura being … Read more
The colder it gets, the more my attention drifts toward hot beverages: not a want but a need for my icy-cold fingers. Bring on the morning cuppa, the afternoon tea, the nighttime kafi luz. I’m a sucker for anything seasonal, so I’m saying yes to the endless hot cocoa and hot chocolate pop-ups lining the … Read more
Enriched with actual melted chocolate, homemade hot chocolate is worlds away from saccharine store-bought mixes. (For those keeping track at home, the base ingredient is also what differentiates hot chocolate from homemade hot cocoa recipes.) Drinking chocolate is a millennia-old tradition created by the Olmec, who cultivated cacao in what’s now Mexico and Central America. … Read more
There’s something to be said for store-bought hot cocoa mix. It’s fast. It’s convenient. But when you have a reliable homemade hot cocoa recipe you can customize to your tastes, there’s almost no going back. Hot cocoa (not to be confused with hot chocolate) gets its rich chocolate flavor from unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or … Read more
Wassail means different things to centuries of people. Used as a noun and verb, the word derives from waes hael, a 5th-century English toast meaning “good health,” or something apple farmers recited to encourage a bountiful spring harvest, depending on which historical account you believe. The term also pops up in Beowulf—and later in song … Read more
A classic mule (a.k.a. a buck) is made with ginger beer, lime juice, and whatever spirit your heart desires—most commonly vodka. This big-batch, low-alcohol version borrows the same winning combination of flavors but swaps out the booze for a sweet and spicy caramelized maple syrup with plenty of tart cranberry juice. The duo tints the … Read more
A classic Manhattan cocktail recipe doesn’t have much to it—and it shouldn’t. It’s a straightforward, no-nonsense, old-school drink that’s two parts whiskey, one part vermouth, and a few dashes of aromatic bitters. But that wasn’t always the case. “The first recipes, which appeared in books in 1884, called for equal parts whiskey and vermouth. Some … Read more
The Rusty Nail has nearly a century of history under its belt; and yet in recent years it’s been overshadowed by resurgent classic cocktails like the Manhattan, Sazerac, and old-fashioned. Thankfully, there’s room for all at the whiskey bar. The origin of the Rusty Nail is hazy, but some believe it was invented in the … Read more
Thank you, thank you for giving the classic dry gin martini its proper elevated place. I consider every exotic variant – chocolate martini?? aberrant and unworthy of the name. It’s said that Churchill’s favored mix began with icy cold gin, followed by a glance across the room at a bottle of vermouth. Very dry!! My … Read more