Hive to Honey

Even inside the cocktail-conscious Edison in Los Angeles, some customers arrive a bit shy when it comes to esoteric products like absinthe. The bar stocks multiple brands, but to really educate and help guests get over their hesitation regarding the green spirit, management created a character who could bring the liquid to the masses.
Each evening, [...]

If you haven’t heard of agave nectar or stevia, chances are you will before the year is over. The two sweeteners are showing up in cocktails, bottled drinks and a host of other products. The market for both is exploding.
According to a report by the market research firm Mintel, sales of stevia were close [...]

While eateries such as T.G.I. Friday’s have long offered Happy Hour-type deals, some of the category’s upper echelon — including The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s and Ruby Tuesday— have recently latched onto Happy Hours as a way to court new business from a recession-weary public that’s eating out less.
“It’s all about butts in seats,” says [...]

No doubt, with upcoming events like the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, more and more people will become aware of Brazilian culture. That’s a trend that hasn’t been lost on the makers of cachaça (pronounced “ka-SHA-sa,”), the key ingredient in Brazil’s classic cocktail, the caipirinha (pronounced “kai-pur-EEN-ya”).
Several cachaça brands have [...]

A quick trigger finger on the soda gun and a bottle of commercial sour mix might have seen a bartender through in the old days. But today’s cutting-edge cocktail jockey is apt to wash bourbon with bacon fat, shake trendy raw-egg libations and prep a veritable garden of fresh produce.
The explosion of fresh, perishable ingredients [...]

During America’s Golden Age of Cocktails in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was common and even expected for bartenders to use different gins in different cocktails to assure synergy of flavors.
Though both Prohibition and the growth of the vodka industry after World War II squashed gin’s popularity, the resurgence of classic [...]

SideDish Magazine has some great cocktail recipes for your Superbowl entertainment, like this:
Sazerac
What has been referred to as “the first cocktail” from this city of great cocktails.
½ Teaspoon Herbsaint or Pernod
3 oz Bourbon
Dash Peychaud’s bitters
1 Teaspoon simple syrup
Swirl 1/2 teaspoon Herbsaint or Pernod in a Martini glass to coat inside.
Fill cocktail shaker with ice; add [...]

Raw eggs are among the ingredients most fervently embraced by cocktail revivalists who have sought out new techniques and circled back to classic recipes. And the MarTEAni is a signature drink at a bar that is seen as a paragon of the new cocktailians.
Venturesome barkeeps are finding themselves at the intersection of public health [...]

NEW YORK — An industry report (PDF) shows Americans’ love affair with top-shelf booze cooled last year as the recession took a toll on high-priced tipples.
The report by an industry group shows people drank more but turned to cheaper brands. They also drank more at home and less in pricier bars and restaurants.
Industry growth [...]

Mr. Achatz, the mastermind behind the award-winning restaurant Alinea, has been taking his molecular gastronomy skills from the kitchen to the bar—and he’s not alone. A growing number of chefs—including Restaurant Eve’s Cathal Armstrong, WD50’s Wylie Dufresne and Jean George’s Johnny Iuzzini—are embracing the cocktail as the latest frontier to flex their culinary creativity. Mr. [...]