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Bottoms Up at Parasol Down
When a bar's parent company earns $3 billion a year, mixologists might conclude that their cocktails are off the corporate radar. But that's not the case for
Patricia Richards, the creative force behind the cocktails at Parasol Down, the eye-catching bar inside the luxurious Wynn Las Vegas.
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Summer Cocktails: Bartenders Push Beyond the Standards
That hot buttered rum that you were serving up only a few months ago would look completely out of place on your new summer drinks menu, right? Especially when it's competing with the likes of a refreshing, well-made, citrus-spiked mojito or caipirinha. Millions of glasses of these two super-star drinks will be mixed and muddled during the hot season, but it's time to start thinking outside the box with your summer cocktails this year.
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Economy Plummets, Happy Hours Skyrocket
"Happy" hour may be a cruel irony for those who have lost their jobs. But for others with steady and disposable income, the early evening hours when their favorite establishments roll back prices on beverages and fare have never been more upbeat. Their loose change goes much farther as operators attempt to keep the revenue stream flowing through discount offerings. Here are a few deals, among many others, that are drawing crowds:$5 Sidecar, $5 Ginger-Fried Squid, Mango Slaw, Wasabi Drizzle Ten dollars can buy happiness every weekday at Alison Two in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. The sleek venue halves its prices on selected cocktails ($5 each), bottled beers ($2.50), wine by the glass ($6, 5-ounce pour), and the entire bar menu. PDF version >>
The New Mixology: Foam Follows Function
At a handful of restaurant bars around the country, you're likely to find
the bartender in the kitchen--well before prime bar time--using a Vita-Prep or a Cryovac. He or she may be taring a laboratory scale to weigh out precise amounts of gelatin or xanthan. Or maybe the bartender is rolling out a liquid-nitrogen tank to perform a spherification or clarification technique for a component of a libation in progress. What's going on here?
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Russian Diamond
Russian Diamond Premium and Russian Diamond - Diamond Filter are two premium vodkas that have in recent years broken out of Russia and onto the International stage. Introduced in Russia in 2004 they rapidly developed a following and have been the official supplier to the Moscow Kremlin since 2006. Its distinctive bottle was designed by Claessens International, a design oriented marketing agency established in the UK over 25 years ago, and specialists in new product development and branding. The bottle is produced exclusively for Russian Diamond by Saverglass, the leading manufacturer of glassware in the World. Official site >>> PDF >>>
Tossed, Not Stirred
www.contracostatimes.com
 When shopping the local farmers market, most people aren't perusing the stalls or picking through the stone fruit with cocktails in mind. Well, maybe some people are, but my point is that when it comes to mixing a drink, local farms usually don't play into the equation. Happily, the revival of the classic cocktail and the increasing number of drinking establishments devoted to the genuine art of mixology are changing that. Seasonal cocktails menus are on the rise, and in a city so passionate about its food sourcing, that means a growing number of cocktails based around herbs, florals and fruit grown on nearby family farms.
Cherries Have Bounce
www.wsj.com
 It was this month, in 1832, that the men of Capt. John Ross's Arctic expedition found themselves sledging across an icy moonscape in a desperate month-long effort at survival. Ross and his men would have gratefully welcomed some of the sort of sea-ice shrinkage that so alarms the highly alarmable climatologists these days. Instead, they had been forced to abandon their ice-bound ship, the Victory, and were trudging hundreds of miles to Fury Beach, where there were stores of food and other supplies. Making the frozen trek, there was hardly anything to eat, and nothing to drink but the water that could be melted with what little fuel they had left. Oh yes, and some Cherry Bounce.
Old School Swizzle
www.nytimes.com
 When Katie Stipe, a bartender at the Clover Club in Boerum Hill, gets an order for a mojito, she recommends that the customer try a Queens Park Swizzle instead. "We steer them to it as a far superior version of the same sort of drink," she said. Indeed, the cocktails share many ingredients: rum, citrus, sugar, mint. So why bother converting a customer? What makes one different from the other? Well, the swizzling, of course. These drinks are not shaken or stirred, but rather swizzled with a genuine swizzle stick. Now, if you're picturing one of those colorful plastic doohickeys that bars and resorts stick into their drinks as a combination advertisement and souvenir, stop right there.
Loving the Cup
www.nytimes.com
 "Let?s do a Pimm's Cup," I told the bartender. Fizzy, refreshing, a drink that thrives in sunshine: the perfect antidote. He grinned. "A very underappreciated drink," he said, still smiling, as he fished a bottle of Pimm's No. 1 from the rear row of bottles, like a cook thrilled to have found a use for the cardamom lurking way back in the spice cabinet. After pouring the tea-colored liquid over ice, he fetched a small bottle of ginger ale, then paused. "I presume you want it with ginger ale?" he asked. Well, sure. Ginger ale, as opposed to 7-Up, or lemonade, or club soda. I dig the extra prickle. But this pause made me think. The age-old formula is one part Pimm's - a mild (and, yes, underappreciated hereabouts) gin-based digestif that's been slaking British thirst since the mid-19th century - to roughly three parts fizz, dolled up with cucumbers, mint and strawberries. But what else could you add? Anything and everything, as it turns out.
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