Zarzamora is what they call the blackberry in Argentina. That’s significant for a couple of reasons. First, this drink has blackberries, but more importantly, it contains Fernet Branca. If you recall, Fernet is a bitter Italian Amaro, and it’s one of the strongest in terms of bitter herbal complexity. So, what does that have to do with Argentina?

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What really drew me in was the fact that there is no base spirit—at least not in the traditional sense. There’s no gin, vodka, whiskey—just the amaro kept company by some liqueur. A seductive and complex category of spirits dominated by dark and brooding herbal characteristics, an amaro is normally used to augment the flavor other ingredients in a recipe. But this drink dives right in with

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There’s more than one recipe for the Mojito. I even posted a different one a while back to accompany a fine article I wrote about simple syrup. It’s a refreshing summer drink and a great way to hide some rum inside a few mint leaves, lime and sugar. So, I figured it was about time I featured it as the Drink of the Week.

It’s not my favorite cocktail, but a lot of people love it, and why wouldn’t they? Rum, sugar, lime, mint—what’s not to love? I suppose you could consider the Mojito a cross between a Julep and a Daiquiri, but by that logic, every cocktail is just a combination of something else. I was going to get into some of the historic details about this Cuban classic, but I decided plenty has been written about that elsewhere. So, I thought I’d focus on the drink’s

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The idea behind this is simple: you swap out the sweetener in a cocktail (in this case, we replace simple syrup in a Collins)

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The Daisy is a class of drinks that goes all the way back to the days of Jerry Thomas. Technically speaking, a Daisy is a fizz—or rather, a soda-topped sour—that is sweetened with a bit of orange liqueur or grenadine and often garnished with fruit. This combination

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The first change results in a stronger boost of orange flavor. The basis for this updated comes from Jeff Hollinger of the Absinthe Brasserie in San Francisco. While Craddock’s book calls for just an orange peel, Hollinger keeps the garnish but takes the flavor a step further by adding muddled orange slices. I am a big fan of that idea because you also get more of

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It’s supposed to start as gin, but during an infusion of sloe berries (from the blackthorn bush, related to the plum), sugar is added and it slowly transforms into a liqueur. That seems straightforward enough. The problem is that American manufacturers have cheapened the process over the years to the point that most of what you find on shelves today isn’t even made with gin. Untold artificial flavors and too

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What I will tell you is that it’s a tequila cocktail that is surprisingly refreshing for its name, and although most recipes call for it to be made with ginger beer (and there’s no reason you can’t still use it), my recipe is going to make use of ginger syrup which I find far more versatile. You want the ginger to stand out, so quality is key here. Lucifer forbid, please don’t use a run-of-the-mill ginger ale in your Diablo!

Diablo 2 oz silver tequila .75 oz lemon juice .75 oz ginger syrup soda water to top 1 barspoon crème de cassis

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I love the name of this drink partly because it’s actually a nickname. Most cocktail gurus agree that this drink was once referred to as “My Suffering Bar Steward” which seems to recall a time before ice machines and soda dispensers. Imagine a poor, suffering assistant scurrying to and fro to keep the ice bin full and to retrieve ingredients for the barman. Plenty of drinks are named for the men behind the stick, but it’s not unreasonable to believe that in a loud, crowded bar, someone might fancy a misheard

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It’s certainly not a complicated drink by any stretch. The official version requires that you add 1.5 ounces of Gosling’s Black Seal rum to a tall glass of ice and top with their brand of ginger beer. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with doing that. Nothing wrong at all. In fact, this official recipe is both simple and delicious. Even if you can’t get your hands on Gosling’s brand of ginger beer, Reed’s is always available at Trader Joe’s, and I expect others would

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It can be a delicious cocktail, depending on the recipe you use. That said, it’s just as easy to make one taste awful. Part of the problem is that like a lot of cocktails, the original recipe was lost and this has caused

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That’s the real benefit having your own siphon in the refrigerator.

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The history of this cocktail provides a two-for-one opportunity since one cannot describe the Negroni without first referencing the Americano, and to describe the Americano requires mentioning the essential ingredient, Campari. So, this brings us to late nineteenth century Italy where production of a unique apéritif and digestif was just getting started. Campari is basically an alcoholic infusion of fruit, bitter herbs and aromatic plants. The exact formula remains a secret. By the early 1900s, Italians were enjoying Campari with soda water, and it is this simple combination that inspired a drink that became quite popular.

Americano 1 ounce Campari 1 ounce sweet vermouth

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I considered trying to find something organic, green or nature-focused given that it’s earth day, but I thought I would do my part to help recycle and revive this honorable classic, even if that meant challenging a few of you to give this cocktail a fresh try. That’s what it’s all about, after all—fresh ingredients. In this case, it’s the lemon juice. During the 60s and 70s we experienced

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When deciding the Drink Of The Week this week I knew it had to be something historically significant from New Orleans. My first inclination was to feature the Sazerac—often cited as one of the first cocktails ever created, if not the original cocktail. The history is debatable even though it was made the official drink of New Orleans. Important as it is, I am going to leave the Sazerac for another time and instead focus on the equally famous “morning after” remedy—the Ramos Gin Fizz.

As

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Put yourself in the designated driver’s seat for a moment and consider how

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Why make something that already exists? When I first saw the Imbibe article, I was asking myself all sorts of questions. Can’t you simply buy tonic water at the store? It’s cheap enough, it’s crystal clear, and it’s essentially

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It’s Sugar, of course! It really is that simple. The most basic recipe for simple syrup is to measure one part sugar and one part water and combine them. When the sugar dissolves

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