WASSAP SUMMER. (Or, “Amer, Americano”?) May 18, 2012

~ thinking to myself, “it’s a beautiful friday afternoon, i got shit to do, might as well have me up a vermouth cassis,” i absent-mindedly set to making what turned out to not be a vermouth cassis at all, but rather a campari-based legitimate contender for Casual Drink of the Goddamn Summer: 1oz campari + [...]

Embittered I: Fernet vs. Fernet. Or, Branca Vs. the Czech Pretender. April 20, 2012

~ while i’ve been on Euro-Tour one of my Big Goals has been to drink as many different kinds of weird European bitters as possible, which has proven to be no small feat since many countries (such as Germany) have a wealth of such drinks, although outside of Italy they tend more toward the sweet [...]

Take That, Instincts. February 4, 2012

~ miracles of civilization, is what i calls ‘em. the first time i tasted a really dry sherry, i had accidentally invited a couple of folks who i barely knew to a wine bar in the East Village – i had no idea; i knew the place had a good wine list, but i was [...]

I Wanna Make Love to this Club. January 24, 2012

~ however much i may pride myself on the total lack of practical information presented on this blog, the wild successes of our Scotch Club beg to be shared with the wider public. so, while i don’t presume that you all are incapable of coming up with a similar or likely superior system on your [...]

From the Cauldron of the Speckled Seas. January 21, 2012

~ sorting through some old notes, i ran across the following, headed “Recent Developments”: i have now buttered something that is already in my mouth. as in, stopped chewing, took a knife, and spread butter on the mass that was currently in my open mouth, and continued chewing.i also undertook to call several SAQs to [...]

Fière de ses Racines. January 5, 2012

~ on the topic of “food and the imaginary,” i recently picked up a bottle of Salers Gentiane. knowing nothing about it, but always eager to support the SAQ’s (minimal, but improving) efforts to bring weird bitters and apératifs into Québec, i did now allow myself to be put off by the startling all-purpose-cleaner-yellow colour of the [...]

In Anticipation of a Hell of a Snake Oil… November 19, 2011

~ listening to Dark Castle’s Surrender To All Life Beyond Form, on this day perched so precariously on the boundary between an unseasonably persistent fall and a reticent, unpredictable winter, what better time to talk about the bitters i’m intending to make? rather, that i am in the process of making. well, that are in [...]

Questing the Ununhexium of Beers. November 14, 2011

(image forthcoming, i promise) ~ for those of you who are interested in stout, i suggest (should you be in montréal) you amble your way down to Cheval Blanc and try their INDIA NOIR HARVEST while it lasts. the name is a little unwieldy, but only just so much that it makes me quite seriously [...]

Evening Comes Too Early For A Stroll. July 26, 2011

  i’ve been too long away, sorry for the lapse. i have a bevy of reasons that i shan’t bore you with (although there is a tantalizing, even maddening, mystery involved), but suffice to say The Book is coming along, i and my new roommate did some pretty blasphemous-looking things to some quails, and summer [...]

The Practical Machinery of Excess, Or, Dovetailing Cocktails. May 25, 2011

~ pictured here: scrambled eggs + duck sausage, lettuce + radicchio + onion shoots + lamb-fat sautéed walnuts, as-yet-unnamed breakfast cocktail (fernet branca + orange juice + twist of lemon) ‘mokay, this was undeniably a delicious 2pm breakfast (school’s out, y’all), but i need to offer an explanation by way of defense re: the walnuts [...]