In our May/June 2024 issue, we spotlight shochu, from how it’s made to how to best drink it. And Editor in Chief Paul Clarke shared an extensive list of favorite bottles. But for those who want to take their learnings a step further and use Japan’s signature spirit in a cocktail, here are a few of our favorite shochu cocktails. Autumn’s Jacket The warm earthy qualities of barley shochu bring depth to a big bouquet of spice in this cocktail by Chicago bar owner Julia Momosé. Chawari Toddy A warming combo that’s a favorite in Japan. Coffee Chuhi Barley shochu’s toasty, nutty notes complement cof ..read more

Few elements can so drastically alter a drink like carbonation—or lack thereof. In our May/June 2024 issue, Kate Bernot explores the levels of dedication (even obsession) that bars are devoting to create the perfect, bubbly highball. As Bernot writes, “When a cocktail includes only two components (plus ice, of course), the specifics of each must be dialed in with laser precision.” In pursuit of this precision, bars have built their own Rube Goldberg–like carbonation systems, or taken to importing water with specific mineral content. But for those of us just looking for better bubbles at home ..read more

At what point does a pastime become a profession? Around 15 years ago, Kayoko Akabori and Yoko Kumano were both working office jobs (Akabori in New York City, Kumano in Tokyo) and focusing their free-time energies at building a community food blog dubbed Umami Mart.  Step by step over the years, what started as a food blogging hobby evolved into an online shop selling Japanese barware, then a brick and mortar location. Today, Umami Mart’s store and bar in Oakland, California, is the foremost destination for curious drinkers seeking to learn more about (and taste and celebrate) Japanese be ..read more

It’s strange to position the fourth-largest city in America as an underdog. And yet I find that Houston’s extraordinary, kaleidoscopic culinary scene is often overlooked by those beyond its borders. Truthfully, it’s their loss. The bayou, Beltway, and serpentine freeways of this sprawling city traverse cutting-edge cocktail bars, lively patios, stalwart ice houses, generations-old family restaurants, tiny kitchens serving genre-defying multicultural cuisines, and so much more. No matter where you go, you’re rarely far from a frozen Margarita.  “We love our Tex-Mex, it’s so important ..read more

Following regional competitions around the world, ITALICUS Rosolio di Bergamotto has named Esmerelda Castrogivanni of Sips Drinkery in Barcelona, Spain, the global winner of the 2024 Art of ITALICUS Aperitivo Challenge. The competition, now in its sixth edition, took place on May 12 at The Court in Rome, and challenged bartenders from across the globe to craft an original and unique aperitivo-style cocktail, inspired by any art form and using ITALICUS Rosolio di Bergamotto. Castrogivanni’s winning cocktail, Alloway, inspired by the English pop art pioneer, Lawrence Reginald Alloway, captivated ..read more

In 2014, when Aubrey Bailey left her job at the world-famous French Laundry restaurant to open a bar in downtown Napa, expectations were low. “Everyone told me, ‘You’ll be back in six months,’” she says, laughing. Instead, Bailey’s Cadet Wine + Beer Bar played a major role in revitalizing Napa’s formerly sleepy downtown. Over the last decade, more than 60 shops and 70 new bars, restaurants, tasting rooms, and breweries have opened in an area once dismissed as a stopover en route to the region’s storied vineyards. “It’s amazing to see the amount of growth downtown,” says Cadet co-owner Taylor K ..read more

It took me a minute to comfortably talk about terroir without feeling like a parody of myself or drinks writers everywhere. But it’s a really useful way to analyze what you taste. The beverage business is rife with convoluted corporate ownership structures, so determining whether what’s in my glass reflects the land, people, and culture that it came from helps me cut through the noise. When I try a new gin, I find myself wondering what sorts of botanicals and ingredients are in the bottle—and why. Do they connect me to the place where it was distilled? Are there historical and cultural ties? O ..read more

It’s hard to remember what the drinks world was like before Speed Rack co-founders Ivy Mix and Lynnette Marrero. The cocktail luminaries have had their hands in nearly all facets of the movement to improve the drinks industry. In addition to creating Speed Rack, they’ve built award-winning bars and cocktail programs, mentored countless bartenders, worked as brand ambassadors, and co-authored, with Megan Krigbaum, A Quick Drink: Winning Cocktails for Every Mood. According to Marrero, the new book, which is inspired by years of Speed Rack competitions, is “the largest collection of cocktails by ..read more

On the northernmost end of Brooklyn, history and modernity collide in the Greenpoint neighborhood. Polish restaurants and bakeries speak to the area’s immigrant roots, while a seemingly endless string of new bars and restaurants have made Greenpoint one of the buzziest neighborhoods of the moment. I am, of course, biased, calling the neighborhood home myself. But even before relocating here, I was a regular visitor. So if you’re wondering where to drink in Greenpoint, I offer my personal list of favorites—some new, some (very) old, all delicious. Achilles Heel Before the Greenpoint riverfront ..read more

In 2017, Steven Liles—a career bartender then working at Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco—was named Bartender of the Year as part of that year’s Imbibe 75. Liles, who passed away this week after a brief and sudden illness, was a bartender’s bartender. Behind the bar, he demonstrated the kind of chatty effortlessness mixed with technical proficiency that can only be developed over years of dedicated practice, and through a true love of the profession. And even though he helmed one of the world’s foremost tropical bars for more than a decade, his own tastes, and his character, invariably led him ..read more