Anyone who has spent time behind the stick is familiar with the pitfalls of bartending. From annoyances like customers complaining about prices to stiffed tips, it can be a difficult profession, especially when dealing with unruly guests. But there’s one type of guest bartenders typically enjoy serving: fellow hospitality workers. But how do they know they’re serving another industry pro? That exact question was recently posed on popular subreddit r/bartenders, and bartenders happily shared the first signs that let them know they’re tending to another service worker. The original poster, user ..read more

Forget the orange slices — wine influencer Tom Gilbey instead opted to blind taste 25 wines while running the London Marathon on Sunday. Over the 26.2 miles, Gilbey managed to guess seven wines entirely correctly — including their grape variety, region, and vintage — 14 wines mostly correctly, and only four wines incorrectly. This boozy run has since gone viral with over 2 million views on TikTok and 6.6 million views and counting on X. A guy did the London Marathon and had a different wine at each mile! That’s something I can get onboard with pic.twitter.com/ml4dsEPY5W — James Briggs (@jame ..read more

I spend far too much of my time trying to figure out how to “go viral,” yet some Carthusian monks — who have taken a vow of silence! — had no problem doing it twice last year. In the spring, rumors began circulating that Chartreuse, the much-ballyhooed French herbal liqueur, had suddenly become hard to find. Countless fans took to social media to decry the shortage, question if others had any leads on bottles, posit conspiracies, or flex when they actually found a bottle. By April, even the The New York Times had covered the story, reporting that the monks had simply declined to increase prod ..read more

Bourbon is among the most popular spirits in the United States, and as its popularity has risen, the options have become increasingly vast. It can be hard to distinguish true quality among the trends in the market. Which bottles are truly delicious? Which ones just offer hype? It’s tough to keep up with the constant evolution of whiskey, especially if you don’t have an unlimited budget. That’s where the whiskey world’s most underrated bottles come in. To cut through the noise, we turned to bartenders across the country to highlight bottles they think are underrated, whether that means a forgo ..read more

Despite its origins being firmly rooted in 18th-century Holland, gin’s influence has been felt all over the world. It’s inextricably linked to the United Kingdom, which has a long history with the stuff. At one point, the liquor’s reputation in London was so contentious that it became known as “mother’s ruin,” due to the reckless abandon with which it was consumed by women at the time. But the juniper-infused spirit’s reputation has improved since then, helped in large part by the highly quaffable Gin & Tonic, which was invented by Royal Navy sailors at the height of the British Empire. B ..read more

Many would argue that once tequila blanco rises above the $50 mark, mezcal offers much more bang-for-your-buck as an unaged, agave-based spirit. After all, for most, blanco is simply a mixing tequila, and who wants to put all that money into a cocktail? Even in light of the many high-priced, premium blancos hitting the market recently, we’re hard-pressed to believe that bar programs will start incorporating these bottles into their Palomas and Margs. If everyone’s just trying to jump on the 1942 train — and there are no story or artisanal methods to stand behind — can fancy packaging be enoug ..read more

When asked to think about the world’s most popular spirit, American minds will likely drift to liquors like vodka or whiskey, maybe even rum if they’re being ambitious. So most would likely be shocked to learn that the spirit claiming the No. 1 spot is baijiu, a sorghum-based Chinese spirit dating all the way back to the Yuan Dynasty that lives in relative obscurity outside the country’s borders. But change may be on the horizon. In recent years, a slew of Asian-owned restaurants and cocktail bars have opened in New York City, the Bay Area, and beyond, and have rapidly cemented themselves as ..read more

When faced with a giant wall of wine at your local shop or an inch-thick wine list at a restaurant, selecting just one bottle can be overwhelming. But learning about just a few of the most popular varieties can prove massively helpful when it comes to wading through the wide world of red wine. Though many red wines are made as blends, there are a lot of wines that present a singular expression of a grape. Each variety has its own intrinsic characteristics, and getting a feel for each grape’s personality can help you figure out which you gravitate towards the most. This list is by no means exh ..read more

No one really knows where the Martini came from. Some say it was invented by vermouth brand Martini & Rossi, and others claim it was an early 20th century riff on Jerry Thomas’s Martinez. Regardless of origin, if there were an official cocktail hall of fame, there would be an entire wing dedicated to the Martini. Its old-school build of gin, dry vermouth, some bitters, and simple garnish has stood the test of time as a monument in itself, but it’s also spawned an entire category of avant-garde riffs that couldn’t be further from the original — think the Espresso, Pornstar, and Breakfast v ..read more

One marriage no one can object to is that of wine and cheese. The pairing is timeless for a few reasons: the two are made in tandem all over the globe, make for gorgeous presentations at a party, and offer near-endless combinations for both novices and pros alike to explore. Be it tannic, light, sweet, or dry, you can bet there’s a wine out there for every cheese. But which of them pair best? In general, cheeses that have high fat content and more mild, nutty flavors will typically pair best with tannic wines, while stinkier cheeses beg for a sweeter wine to counterbalance the pungent aromas ..read more