Professor of Cocktail Studies

This cocktail is called the Blood and Sand, after the 1922 film of that name starring Rudolph Valentino. He portrays an impoverished lad who becomes one of the greatest matadors in Spain. (The ceramic bull and matador in the pic, by the way, were a gift from my paternal grandmother, who made and sold ceramics for a living.) The Blood and Sand is a somewhat bewildering cocktail that involves 3/4 oz. Scotch whisky, 3/4 oz. cherry liqueur (preferably Heering), 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth, and 3/4 oz. orange juice. It’s tasty but has a “just miss” character because three of its four ingredients are sweet. Lemon or lime juice would offset the sweetness but neither really works in the cocktail, so you either have to live with it or—and this is ingenious—add citric acid so that the orange juice retains its flavor but becomes more tart. Yet another example of better living through chemistry. To make a Blood and Sand (sans citric acid), pour the four ingredients into a mixing tin filled with ic...

Among the most famous cocktails in literary history is the Vesper, a Martini variant created on the spot by James Bond at the bar of the Casino Royale (which in the novel is set near Dieppe on the English Channel, not Montenegro as in the excellent 2006 film with Daniel Craig). Bond names it for his ravishingly beautiful partner, Vesper Lynd. It’s a good cocktail—Robert Simonson, for many years the bar and cocktail critic for the New York Times—pronounced it “a damn fine drink.” But as a Martini it’s kind of strange. Bond initially orders a “dry martini. One. In a deep champagne goblet.” “Oui, monsieur,” replies the barman. “Just a moment,” Bond says. “Three measures of Gordon’s [dry gin], one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it is ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?” “Certainly, Monsieur.” Notes the narrator, Ian Fleming: “The barman seemed pleased with the idea.” Personally, I would have thought the barman would be pu...

Early in Ian Fleming’s “Casino Royale,” the novel that introduced the world to James Bond, Agent 007, Bond walks into the sumptuous Hermitage Bar near the casino, takes a table by one of its broad windows, and orders a cocktail. It is not, as one might expect, a Martini, but rather an Americano…. As always, his taste was impeccable. It was a warm afternoon, too early for a Martini but precisely the time for something crisp and refreshing, and the Americano was nothing if not crisp and refreshing. An Americano, Bond knew perfectly well, consisted of 1.5 oz. Campari and 1.5 oz. sweet vermouth, poured over ice into a Highball glass and then filled the rest of the way with seltzer water, stirred lightly—if the barman knew his business—just enough to make sure the ingredients were mixed but not enough to affect the carbonation. And garnished with a lemon or orange wheel. Bond did not specify which to the waiter but made a bet with himself that it would be orange, and it was—a good omen ...

Up your game with that midnight New Years toast. Instead of (yawn) champagne, go with Kir Royale. It’s classier and almost as easy to make. Into a champagne flute, pour: 1/2 oz Crème de Cassis Top with champagne (or sparkling wine) Garnish with a lemon twist. (One caveat: Cassis doesn’t have a high enough ABV to be shelf stable, so refrigerate after opening.)

  No joke. For a brief, shining moment in 2021, the Miller High Life online shop actually sold a gingerbread dive bar kit . Sadly, that is no longer the case. Gingerbread Dive Bar, we hardly knew ye.

  As I’ve said before, Cocktail Codex , written by the key players at the famous Manhattan bar Death & Co., maintains that there are only six cocktails: the Old-Fashioned, the Martini, the Daiquiri, the Whisky Highball, the Sidecar, and the Flip. All others are simply variants on these “root recipes.” If you’ve never heard of the Flip—I certainly had not—its name derives from an obscure colonial practice I don’t feel the need to describe. It can be made in different ways, provided each way involves a whole egg. Egg whites are used in a number of cocktails, mainly for the sake of creating an appealing frothiness, but as far as I know, only the Flip mandates using the yolk as well. Here’s the Cocktail Codex recipe: 2 oz oloroso sherry 1/2 oz Demerara gum syrup 1 whole egg “Dry shake” these ingredients in a tin shaker (that is, without ice) to integrate the egg whites and yolk, then add ice and shake again to chill. Double strain into a small wine glass. Garnish with grated n...

Today is the Army-Navy Game, which matters mainly to alumni of the US Military Academy (West Point) and the US Naval Academy (Annapolis) and which the rest of us are supposed to care about but mainly don’t. Not even officers who got their commissions via ROTC or NROTC. Nevertheless, in honor of that, we have… The Army & Navy Cocktail Its origins are vaguely related to the Army and Navy Club in Washington, DC (which allegedly popularized the Daiquiri). The Army & Navy Cocktail consists of the following: 2 oz dry gin 1 oz lemon juice 3/4 oz orgeat 1 dash Angostino bitters Add ingredients to a Boston shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously. Double strain (Hawthorne strainer and fine mesh strainer) into a coupe glass—or Army- or Navy-related wine glass. If you really care, which frankly I didn’t, garnish with a grapefruit peel.