Liquor and Spirits

3 Great Bars For Celebrating World Whisky Day

It's World Whisky Day on Saturday, May 18, declared last year by a Scottish college student named Blair Bowman who saw the need to hold an annual celebration of the spirit. He figured it was only fair to designate one for his country's drink of choice, seeing as how there were world days set for bee ... More >>

Casamigos: George Clooney's New Tequila (Yes, The Bottle Is Hot) His Su Casa Cocktail Recipe

Always wanted to have a cocktail with George Clooney? Grab a bottle of Casamigos, Clooney and longtime friend Rande Gerber's new tequila label, and pull up Argo or Ocean's Eleven, or hell, even ER works. It doesn't matter. By morning, you'll be able to tell your friends all about that incredible nig ... More >>

Serious Drinking: A Boozy Gift Guide

Ah, Christmas. It comes but once a year, but the drinking it inspires is, well, inspiring. So too the spending on said drink, on bottles that otherwise might not justify such expenditure. But why not? There's hardly a better occasion than the holidays to drink something good or give something good t ... More >>

5 Scary Halloween Cocktail Recipes: Candy Corn Vodka! Gummy Eyeball Martinis!

Halloween is the holiday where we can be as creepy, gory and gross as we want -- and that applies to cocktails as well. When else would you even consider drinking a cockail made with Midori AND grenadine AND chocolate syrup (assuming you are no longer a college freshman)? Or infusing perfectly good ... More >>

Eau De Vie: Not Your High School Schnapps

Hans Reisetbauer is a burly Austrian distiller in the town of Axberg, where he lives surrounded by plum, cherry, pear and apple orchards. He's a good farmer, but this particular fruit is not destined for the market. He grows it to make eau de vie ("water of life"), the unoaked, fruit-derived brandie ... More >>

Punch Drunk: On Jerry Thomas' Bar-Tender's Guide

I was looking for a punch. I'm not sure why. I wasn't planning a party, but having just watched the first debate, keeping a recipe on hand that would obliterate all memory of politics and the election seemed like a very good thing. A friend suggested that I consult Jerry Thomas' Bar-Tenders Guide. ... More >>

Celebrate F. Scott Fitzgerald's Birthday With The Fitzgerald Cocktail

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on Sept. 24, 1896. There are plenty of ways you could celebrate this, like reading for instance. But we think an appropriate homage could also come in liquid form, preferably gin-flavored liquid. This drink comes to us from Dale DeGroff, otherwise known as King Cocktail ... More >>

10 Best Liquor Stores in Los Angeles

The cocktail revolution is well documented. In bars and restaurants across the country, the American cocktail has returned. But the serious booze professionals I know argue that if the cocktail is truly to take root again as part of our national identity, it must make the leap from the barstool to t ... More >>

5 Summer Gin Cocktail Recipes: Using Jams Vinegars in Cocktails

So many artisan ingredients, so little time. And only so many slices of toast slathered with even the best jam one can eat. But there's always cocktail hour. Cocktails are also an affordable way to extend the serving life of pricier small batch ingredients, as you're only using a teaspoon of that ... More >>

A $100 Cocktail: The Beverly Hills Hotel Turns 100 Years Old

One of L.A.'s most recognizable grand dames turns 100 on Saturday May 12 and marks the occasion with a $100 commemorative cocktail and movie star themed cocktail list. 10 special "These Walls are Talking" cocktails, available at the hotel's off-lobby Bar Nineteen12 and the Polo Lounge, salute the Be ... More >>

The Botanist: A New Oscar-Worthy Gin

The Botanist has all the buzzwords of box office gin success. In addition to the typical gin aromatics (juniper berries, cassia bark, orange peel and such), it is distilled with "22 wild native Islay botanicals" (white clover, bog myrtle leaves, creeping thistle). They've been hand-picked by an "exp ... More >>

The Orange Blossom: A Cocktail From the More Civilized LA A Recipe

There is another LA, one where the restaurant food is phenomenal. The flavors are exquisite, the portions proper (neither "bite-sized" nor spilling over the edges of the plate), the prices reasonable and the settings glorious. Further, it is a place where you may get a gourmet meal accompanied by a ... More >>

Top 5 Spirits for Beer Geeks: Belgian-Style Rum, Hoparitas and Moonshine IPA

The relationship between beer and spirits is closer than you think -- and not just for the growing beer cocktail trend or the "pint and a shot" special at your local dive. Mainly, the two crafts thrive on the same fermentation science with spirits beginning life as a fermented-sugar liquid similar ... More >>

Barrel Aged Cocktails: What They Are 3 Places to Drink Them

Despite the Angeleno phobia of anything showing signs of age, some things do, in fact, improve over time. Cocktails can be one of those instances, given the proper circumstances. It's said that Tony Conigliaro of London's 69 Colebrook Row was the first to age cocktails, though he did his in glass ... More >>

5 Best Margaritas In L.A.

Ten years ago -- maybe even five years in Happy Hour time -- compiling the 5 Best Margaritas in L.A. would have been a syrupy lime mix task. Now we're awash in so many small batch tequilas and fresh-squeezed lime promises on cocktail menus that the idea of a $100 margarita is somehow (?) not terrib ... More >>

Bob Marley's Birthday: Celebrate at Cana

In honor of what would have been the 67th birthday of reggae musician Robert Nesta Marley -- you may know him as Bob -- Cana Rum Bar is hosting a shindig tonight featuring music, good vibes and Jamaican rums. Sting Wrays, a combo of Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum, grapefruit soda and fresh citrus, wil ... More >>

Red O's $100 Margarita is Cheap: If You Do the Math

Michael Clifford PhotographyRed O's $100 margarita​That $100 margarita they've come up with at Red O is a bargain -- really. Order a shot of just one of its components, Gran Patrón Burdeos añejo tequila, and you'll pay $75. Toss in another $25, and you'll get a whopping 16-ounce glass rim ... More >>

Q&A With Eva's Gabriella Mlynarczyk, Part 2: Her Tea Liqueur 2 Bicoastal Cocktail Recipes

flickr user vintage roadtripWelcome To California​When we interviewed Gabriella Mlynarczyk at Eva, she was sharing her first impressions on the L.A. mixology scene after nearly 15 years in New York. ("But remember I haven't been here long," she reminds us, laughing). One of the differences is ... More >>

Q A With Eva's Gabriella Mlynarczyk: On Leaving NYC Cocktail Life For L.A. The Coastal Mixology Differences

GMlynarczykGabriella Flaming An Orange Peel​What does a former New York City mixologist think of life on the L.A. cocktail circuit? Gabriella Mlynarczyk, now at Eva after nearly 15 years on the New York scene (most recently, she was behind the now-closed Manhattan speakeasy Woodson and Ford), ... More >>

What To Drink While Watching A PBS Doc About Prohibition: The Scofflaw

In our recent conversation with Ken Burns, the award-winning filmmaker with the distinctive bowl-shaped haircut admitted that many who've watched his and Lynn Novick's 5 ½ hour documentary Prohibition end up with cocktail-cravings. Which got us thinking: What if we were to ask Eric Alperin, co-owne ... More >>

Rum Cannonball: The Life Aquatic's Mythical Drink on Bill Murray's Birthday

Bill Murray as explorer Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic​1 hour and 26 minutes into Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, as he's about to lead a daring raid on the decrepit Hotel Citroën, Bill Murray pauses and tosses off the line (one of many throwaway lines in the film): "They ... More >>

Best Local Limoncello: Ventura Limoncello

JGarbeeRosanna Zaretti​It's not difficult to make your own limoncello, as Ventura Limoncello owners James Carling and his Rome-born wife Manuela Zaretti-Carling are quick to point out. But if you proclaim yours the best in SoCal (and please not Danny DeVito's namesake version), we will declar ... More >>

Ten Pound Opens at The Montage

Saunter into The Montage Beverly Hills past Scarpetta and head up the curved stairway to the second story, where Los Angeles' most recondite shoebox bar (and probably its most affluent) hides behind a carapace of dark wood and buttery leather. With only nine tables, Ten Pound (or £10, if you p ... More >>

New Local Liqueur: Ventura Limoncello's Blood Orange Launches Today

JgarbeeBlood Oranges Actually Look A Lot Like Lemons In Pith-Only Form​ Limoncello. It's easy to make, right? Not if you are pith perfectionists, as James Carling and Manuela Zaretti-Carling, the husband-wife duo behind Ventura Limoncello happen to be. Add mother-in-law (mom to Rossana, photo ... More >>

Drink This Now: Cat Juggler at Caña The Recipe

The last time we got around to reviewing Caña's seasonal cocktail menu, it was about two weeks before the season ended. You can no longer order the Misti Dawn Swizzle, our favorite temporal libation unless, just maybe, you ask oh-so-sweetly or you happen to be porn star Misti Dawn. Since no one wil ... More >>

8 Places To Get a Beer Cocktail in L.A.

Caroline on CrackSteingarten LA's Bavarian Marian beer cocktail.​ Beer cocktails are a growing trend in the Los Angeles cocktail scene, with Library Bar bartender Matthew Biancaniello's Hopping in the Rye being one of the first to start things off. Now you can take your pick of either traditio ... More >>

Lina In L.A.

It's easy to be green on the club dance floor

LinA in LA: This Week's Dance Club Picks

Attention clubbers and nightlife revelers: Here, we present our brand new club-centric column for LA Weekly's print edition, a platter of party picks to mark your calendar by every week. If it's popping in LA (get it... L "in" A?), and DJs or dancing are involved, we'll have it for you right here.. ... More >>

Someone Stole Paris Hilton's Birthday Cake

Paz's Facebook pageParis Hilton's birthday cake​ You may not have noticed it after all the drinks you downed from any and all of the six open bars at Paris Hilton's 30th birthday party (our invite must have gotten lost in the mail), but that cake you saw? Yeah, you didn't get a piece. In fact ... More >>

Bar Toscana to Open in Brentwood

Offering modern spins on classic Italian cocktails, Bar Toscana, the brainchild of Italians William Perbellini and Francesco Lafranconi, is set to open in Brentwood on December 10th. In contrast to the dark, shoebox-sized, wood-paneled speakeasy vibe that's been the rage these last couple years, ... More >>

Hennessy or Cristal?: Top Ten Booze-Pimping Rap Lyrics

Jay-Z gazes upon the glory of BevMo!​It's a top ten of the hip-hop verses we all know and love, that promote the liquor we've all loved but can't remember (because of how much we loved it). 10. In a very special Snoop Dogg track called "Stoplight," Snoop educates the layman on the proper way ... More >>

New Distilling Courses On The Cheap: And Yes, Home Distilling Is Still Illegal Stateside

If you want to learn how to distill, but you don't exactly have $3,500 to spare for the American Distilling Institute's upcoming course (and don't particularly care to play the old Federal crime game), you're in luck. The Chicago office of The Siebel Institute of Technology, Germany's leading brew ... More >>

Watching Ice Melt: Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic Whiskey Crate Opened

Emily Stone/GlobalPostShackleton's Antarctic whiskey ​ Polar explorer Ernest Shackleton loved his whiskey, not a bad thing to pack on long, potentially doomed trips across hundreds of miles of Antarctic ice, and thus for a 1907 expedition to the South Pole, he brought along 25 crates of Scotch ... More >>

ADI: Bill Owens' Distilling Tips, The Next Hot Spirits Category Integrity Spirits For Sale

Tossing around hopes and dreams of opening a distillery, but no clue where to start? The Hayward-based American Distilling Institute (ADI) is the go-to trade organization for information on everything from copper stills to dealing with the industry's infamous red tape. The ADI online chat room is al ... More >>

Cookbook Review: The Boozy Baker And Her Sweet, Sweet Cocktails

​Wouldn't it be glorious if the parentheses of dinner -- cocktails and dessert -- collided to form one sweet, liqueur-infused moment? In the just-released The Boozy Baker cookbook, that's almost what happens. Author Lucy Baker (yes, her real name) delivers 75 recipes for spirits-infused cake ... More >>

Tales of the Cocktail 2010: Your Los Angeles Mixologist Contingent

If you're typically on the receiving end of the Saturday night cocktail shaker, you may not have heard of Tales of the Cocktail, the see-and-be-seen event for cocktail and spirits professionals in New Orleans every July. If you're a mixologist, you likely at one point considered giving a seminar on ... More >>

New Mr. Boston Summer Cocktails Book A Honey Cachaça Punch Recipe

​The summer solstice may officially mark the first day of summer, but Squid Ink prefers to go by the Memorial Day mantra. Translation: it is now unofficially time to pull out the recently released Mr. Boston Summer Cocktails book. Just what we need, one more strawberry daiquiri cocktail book ... More >>

More Tax Day Relief Drink Deals and Food Specials

Takami/Elevate LoungeFree Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice at Takami/Elevate Lounge.​ The day you've dreaded is now upon us: April 15th. Tax Day. The last thing you probably want to do is lighten your wallet even more. Fortunately, as mentioned in the previous Tax Day Relief post, a lot of L.A. bars ... More >>

"Japanese Cocktails" Book Review Begets A Publishing Industry Soliloquy An Aloe Margarita Recipe

​Japanese Cocktails by Kuri Kato is a curious new cocktail book that we sort of love, and like many "sponsored" books, sort of tire of quickly. There are certainly some intriguing recipes like the Aloe Margarita (recipe after the jump) that we can't wait to shake up on one of Santa Monica's dr ... More >>

Las Perlas, Cedd Moses' Mezcal & Tequila Bar Opens in Downtown L.A.

For every bar there's a liquor and for every liquor there's a bar. Nightlife impresario Cedd Moses' latest venture, Las Perlas, soft-opened last night, aiming to become to mezcal and tequila what Seven Grand is to whiskey and La Descarga is to rum. The result is somewhere between an upscale cantina ... More >>

Q&A With Joseph Brooke, the New Director of Spirits at the Edison Cocktail Recipes

Joseph Brooke was just recently named as the new director of spirits at the Edison. A post he takes over from Aidan Demarest who is now doing cocktail consultation with mixologist Marcos Tello at the not-yet-opened First & Hope Supper Club. We spoke to America's Top Bartender about his plans and coc ... More >>

Happy National Margarita Day Two Border Grill Margarita Recipes

Border GrillBorder Grill Añejo Margarita​Today is National Margarita Day. Of course it's a ridiculous and completely fabricated holiday, probably invented by the makers of some brand of tequila or powdered margarita mix. But if you like margaritas, you should ignore that crass reality and jus ... More >>

A Few Recipes From the Chef: Pastry Chef Jan Purdy's Holiday Cookies

When we stopped by to visit Butter Tart bakery--which is set to reopen next month--the other day, pastry chef Jan Purdy was in the kitchen, baking holiday cookies. Purdy has been working with Butter Tart chef-owner Andre Guerrero since their days together at Linq (which is now the home of Christophe ... More >>

The Hungry Cat's New Cocktail List: Nightly And Weekly Specials And The Introduction Of The Hard Stuff

The Hungry Cat is L.A.'s accidental meeting place. Every time you step foot inside you'll find friends, family, people you've passed in the night and hoped to see again... I can't put my finger on how or why it happens, suffice to say, it's a bright and shining spot in a decidedly weird mall-like ar ... More >>

Tequila Ambassador (Yes, That's Really a Job Title) Eddie Perales Spreads the Gospel at the W Hotel Cocktail Recipes

If a wine connoisseur is really just a socially-accepted drinker, then Eddie Perales, tequila ambassador for Tres Generaciones, is a nationally-recognized enabler. He began as a bartender, working nights while attending nursing school, before his work behind the bar became the larger priority. But u ... More >>

Human Beings Will Distill Anything: Celebrate National Tequila Day A Cocktail Recipe from José Andrés

Photo credit: Darko ZagarJosé Andrés's salt air margarita.Cheers to whomever thought to take the unlikely blue agave plant and distill it. More cheers to those who named a day after the cactus-based liquor--National Tequila Day--which is today. Good thing it's Friday. At the tequila Mecca Malo in ... More >>

Swine Flu Cocktail or Swill?

Joseph Mailander raises toasts and eyebrows at Street Hassle with a recipe for a Swine Flu Cocktail. After acknowledging its topical inevitability, Mailander provides both the recipe and a link to its key ingredient -- bacon-infused bourbon. (Maybe this latter component would best be suited for a Lo ... More >>

In-Flight Husband

Marriage takes off on a plane — then crash-lands

Melancholy Baby

The Black Dahlia as cocktail

Continuing Education