Will’s Favorites

I ran across the Mexican Firing Squad while perusing a few cocktail blogs and was surprised I hadn't heard of it earlier. Apparently, it's a classic, having appeared in Charles H. Baker Jr's Gentleman's Companion, Volume II first printed in 1946. He discovered the drink at the La Cucaracha Bar in Mexico City in 1937. I don't ...

This cocktail recipe allows you to mix and match a large variety of liqueurs and juices to make many different drinks all using the same recipe and base spirit. Frequently, I have guests or family members who like juicy drinks. Those that aren't dominated by the taste of any particular spirit and taste more like the mixer ...

Our most popular post since we started the Consumatorium is our recipe for making Pineapple and Vanilla Infused Tequila. Now that summer is here, it's getting viewed by loads of happy home bartenders and drinkers daily. In the post, we describe how to infuse the tequila, but we really don't say much about using it in cocktails. We ...

If you’re like me, Mai Tais are a treat enjoyed only when dining at a Polynesian or Chinese restaurant. Those Mai Tais, as you would expect from the establishment where they are made, are generally laced with overpowering Mai Tai or sweet and sour mix. Great Mai Tais need no such help to make them ...

The American Trilogy is decidedly not a classic cocktail. Created in 2007 at New York's Little Branch bar, it's a relatively new drink with a name that is a bit of a conundrum. While it's primary ingredients, Rye and Laird's Apple Brandy are truly all-'merican, the only other ingredients are orange bitters and sugar. If you choose ...

This drink is more commonly known as the a la Louisiane or just la Louisiane these days. That is, of course, if you can find a bartender who has even heard of it. When a friend recently took me to Tavern Road, the terrific craft bar in Boston, the bartender suggested I try this based ...

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while might recall the amaro comparo we did a while back, Amari Throwdown. In it I stated that Fernet-Branca was, "awful . . . just awful." So you might be surprised that I'm posting about a drink that uses it. As it turns out, ...

Caramba! This is a good one. It is adapted from the recipe booklet that comes with the Domaine de Canton, and if you like a marg you will enjoy this cocktail. At first sniff and sip, I thought it might be another "too much Mezcal" drink, but no. And now I'm wishing I had made ...

I was recently told that we've been posting too many gin recipes. Fair enough: summer is over and it's time for something more hearty. And what could say autumn better than...Apple brandy!The Jack Rose is a classic from the 1920s and 30s. Laird's Applejack, the primary ingredient, has been made in America since colonial times ...

I invented this drink a couple of months ago, when I was experimenting again with Perfect Martini variations (see En Banc for another). I was trying to come up with something that those who disdain vermouth could enjoy, but without the sweetness of the En Banc. This cocktail was the result. At first I was ...

You know how it is when you walk into a run-of-the-mill bar and ask for a margarita on the rocks? Odds are you'll get some sickly sweet drink that'll knock your head back and will taste more synthetic than anything else. That's because the primary ingredient used by bartenders in such drinks is sweet and sour mix ...

Well, I've been refining this drink over the last few days and it's eerily similar to the En Banc that Dave has been working on. In my creation, I use Regan's Orange Bitters while Dave uses Amaro. Dave came at his drink while thinking about refining a perfect martini and I came to mine while ...

[Note: this is an update from the original post to cover both Rye and Cognac versions of the drink] Most claim that this is the oldest American cocktail, having been first created by Peychaud of bitters fame in the 1830s. It got its name in the 1850s when it was served at the Sazerac coffee ...

In the early 19th century, cocktails were a mixture of a liquor, bitters, sugar and water. Later, mixers like Triple Sec and Absinthe became more widely available and were commonly used in cocktails. After bars started stocking these newfangled additives, when someone wanted an old-style drink, they simply asked for an "Old Fashioned."  The Old-Fashioned ...

I tried the Vieux Carre cocktail at Boulder's Brasserie 1010, thinking it was a house invention, and only later learning that it is a classic cocktail invented in New Orleans in the early 20th century. I was also pleased to find that it uses mostly common ingredients - everything is in our standard bar except ...

This one is my invention and I'm damn proud of it. First, the name: I was calling it "Crazy Monk" due to the tequila / Benedictine combo. Then my friend Mauricio pointed out that there is a sort of cartoon character in Mexico named "El Monje Loco", which is as close to a precise translation ...

The Fort Point is the house drink at the bar Drink (yes, that's the name of the bar) in Boston. Since I went to a cocktail class with the bartenders from Drink and learned how to make it, it's been my absolute favorite and my go-to cocktail.2 ounces Rye (I used Bulleit Rye, one of ...

In the original Maximilian Affair, the French intervened in Mexican affairs in the mid-19th century. If Napoleon had the drink Maximilian Affair available to him at the time, he would have been decidedly more chill about beating the crap out of the Mexicans. Like the French intervention of that time, St. Germain, a French elderflower ...

A few weeks back, I was perusing cocktail blogs looking for an interesting drink to try and I stumbled across the Paper Plane Cocktail on the Treats + Eats Blog (thanks, Maya!). The drink, apparently, comes from the Little Branch Bar in the West Village of NYC. When I first looked at the recipe, which includes Amaro, ...