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Table of Contents - What Is a Whiskey Sour? - Where the Whiskey Sour Comes From - The Classic Recipe and How to Build It - Whiskey Sour Variations Worth Knowing - Building a Group Tasting Around the Whiskey Sour - Common Questions - Bringing a Whiskey Sour Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I've watched more bartenders butcher a whiskey sour than almost any other classic cocktail, and the frustrating part is that it's not actually a hard drink to make. Somewhere along the way it picked up a reputation as a sweet-and-sour-mix afterthought, the kind of thing you order when you don't want to think too hard about the menu. That reputation is almost entirely undeserved. A properly built whiskey sour — real whiskey, fresh lemon, simple syrup, and if you're doing it right, an egg white — is one of the most technically satisfying cocktails behind the bar, and it deserves a lot more respect than it usually gets. This guide covers where the whiskey sour actually comes from, t...
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Table of Contents - What Is Petit Manseng? - Where Petit Manseng Comes From - Petit Manseng vs. Sauternes vs. Riesling - Food Pairings - Building a Group Tasting Around Petit Manseng - What to Look For When Buying Petit Manseng - Common Questions - Bringing a Petit Manseng Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I didn't taste a proper Petit Manseng until years into pouring wine professionally, and it genuinely reset what I thought a "sweet wine" could be. Most dessert wines lean soft and heavy — Petit Manseng comes at you with tropical fruit, honey, and apricot, and then a jolt of acidity that keeps the whole thing from ever feeling cloying. It's one of the more technically fascinating grapes in France, and almost nobody outside the wine trade has ever heard of it. This guide covers what Petit Manseng actually is, the strange viticultural trick that makes its late-harvest wines possible, how it compares to more familiar dessert wines like Sauternes, what to eat with i...
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Table of Contents - What Is Petit Manseng? - Where Petit Manseng Comes From - Petit Manseng vs. Sauternes vs. Riesling - Food Pairings - Building a Group Tasting Around Petit Manseng - What to Look For When Buying Petit Manseng - Common Questions - Bringing a Petit Manseng Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I didn't taste a proper Petit Manseng until years into pouring wine professionally, and it genuinely reset what I thought a "sweet wine" could be. Most dessert wines lean soft and heavy — Petit Manseng comes at you with tropical fruit, honey, and apricot, and then a jolt of acidity that keeps the whole thing from ever feeling cloying. It's one of the more technically fascinating grapes in France, and almost nobody outside the wine trade has ever heard of it. This guide covers what Petit Manseng actually is, the strange viticultural trick that makes its late-harvest wines possible, how it compares to more familiar dessert wines like Sauternes, what to eat with i...
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Table of Contents - What Is a Cosmopolitan? - Where the Cosmopolitan Comes From - Cosmopolitan vs. Martini vs. Margarita - How to Make a Proper Cosmopolitan - Building a Group Cocktail Tasting Around the Cosmopolitan - Common Questions - Bringing a Cocktail Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I've noticed something strange going through our full cocktail lineup: we've written about the Negroni, the Martini, the Manhattan, the Old Fashioned, the Paloma, the Mojito — and somehow never the one cocktail that's probably been ordered more times on more first dates than any drink on this list. The Cosmopolitan is everywhere, it has real technique behind it, and it's also one of the most misunderstood cocktails in America, mostly thanks to a decade of bars pouring bright pink sugar water and calling it the same thing. This guide covers what a properly made Cosmopolitan actually is, where it really came from, how it compares to the drinks it gets lumped in with, and how to bu...
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Table of Contents - What Is a Cosmopolitan? - Where the Cosmopolitan Comes From - Cosmopolitan vs. Martini vs. Margarita - How to Make a Proper Cosmopolitan - Building a Group Cocktail Tasting Around the Cosmopolitan - Common Questions - Bringing a Cocktail Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I've noticed something strange going through our full cocktail lineup: we've written about the Negroni, the Martini, the Manhattan, the Old Fashioned, the Paloma, the Mojito — and somehow never the one cocktail that's probably been ordered more times on more first dates than any drink on this list. The Cosmopolitan is everywhere, it has real technique behind it, and it's also one of the most misunderstood cocktails in America, mostly thanks to a decade of bars pouring bright pink sugar water and calling it the same thing. This guide covers what a properly made Cosmopolitan actually is, where it really came from, how it compares to the drinks it gets lumped in with, and how to bu...
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Table of Contents - What Is Refosco? - Where Refosco Comes From - Refosco vs. Sangiovese vs. Lagrein - Food Pairings - Building a Group Tasting Around Refosco - What to Look For When Buying Refosco - Common Questions - Bringing a Refosco Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I keep a mental list of grapes that show up constantly in my research but never seem to get their own moment, and Refosco has been sitting on that list longer than almost anything else. It's one of the oldest documented grapes in Italy, it makes a genuinely distinctive wine, and yet most people who can name Sangiovese, Barbera, and Nebbiolo have never heard of it. That gap is exactly what this guide is for. Refosco is a dark, high-acid red from Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy's far northeast, and once you understand what makes it tick, it's an easy grape to fall for — especially if you're the kind of drinker who finds a lot of modern reds a little too polished. What Is Refosco? Refosco (technically ...
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Table of Contents - What Is Refosco? - Where Refosco Comes From - Refosco vs. Sangiovese vs. Lagrein - Food Pairings - Building a Group Tasting Around Refosco - What to Look For When Buying Refosco - Common Questions - Bringing a Refosco Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I keep a mental list of grapes that show up constantly in my research but never seem to get their own moment, and Refosco has been sitting on that list longer than almost anything else. It's one of the oldest documented grapes in Italy, it makes a genuinely distinctive wine, and yet most people who can name Sangiovese, Barbera, and Nebbiolo have never heard of it. That gap is exactly what this guide is for. Refosco is a dark, high-acid red from Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy's far northeast, and once you understand what makes it tick, it's an easy grape to fall for — especially if you're the kind of drinker who finds a lot of modern reds a little too polished. What Is Refosco? Refosco (technically ...
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