From the Bar

Editor's Note: Please welcome Kevin Liu of Science Fare to SE: Drinks. We're pumped to have him here to share a bit of cocktail science. [Photographs: Kevin Liu] The difference between a perfectly balanced cocktail and a so-so one often...

 

 

Several years into a New York cocktail revival, a host of skilled bartenders have garnered fervent admiration from the general public, the press, and perhaps most importantly, the accountants, who...

 

What should a bar be? What should a bartender be? How long should it take to make a drink? What makes a good drink, anyway? Where is the men's room? A few answers, guidelines, and pronouncements.

 

 

Top 10 Bucket List Bars

 

Lebanese meze make wonderful Middle Eastern appetizers. Descriptions and recipes.

 

A show this week to honor the pasta maker Pietro Barilla, who would have turned 100 on Tuesday, was a feel-good moment for a country whose businesses are feeling bad.

 

I was unaware of the negroni's intoxicating grasp until a trip to Asti in northern Italy last year. On arriving in the town I was whisked to the nearest bar by my travel companion, where he ordered negronis.

 

 

Pisco, a grape-based spirit native to Chile and Peru, also has a legacy in California, and is a versatile base for cocktails such as the classic Pisco Sour.

 

 

. The Bloody Mary has seen a real renaissance in the past few years. A staple of the classic brunch, the Bloody Mary gained popularity as more and mo...

 

Move over champagne, there's a new bubbly in town. Italian sparkling wine exports to France doubled in 2012 and are increasing worldwide

 

When it comes to crafting cocktails, navy-strength gins are clear winners.

 

 

"Fire is cool," quoth Beavis, and yea verily, Butthead did agree. And, honestly, so do we. There's a little bit of a pyro in most of us, and a flaming drink is certainly a spectacle.

Michael Veach is Louisville's unofficial bourbon ambassador. We asked him to give us some history as well as some suggestions on what to drink

 

Endangered ingredients and edible metals make for a round of drinks that could send your kids to college

 

 

Okanagan Valley wines are showing their ability to perform well amid top international wines, thanks to the results of a California competition.

 

If you've been doing tequila shots and waking up with a hangover, you've been doing it wrong.

 

 

The limitless utility of those fancy-looking bottles

 

Here are some of our favorite hotel bars that have the cozy thing — from leather couches to dim lighting, dark liquors to rich fabrics — down pat.

 

 

The limitless utility of those fancy-looking bottles

 

 

If you're making tropically influenced rum drinks (giant Zombies in a coconut shell, anyone?

 

Cocoa farmers in remote rural Ghana have joined together to share in the worldwide success of the Divine chocolate company that they partly own.

 

I remember my first encounter with amaro , the Italian bitter liqueur. It was the first time I went to Italy and had overindulged the night before. "Drink it.

 

 

The village of Riquewihr in Alsace Racing my bicycle down a steep vineyard hillside in northern France, I am struggling to keep up with the fifty-something Etienne Hugel, general director for Hugel wines which has been producing wine since the 12th...