Fantastical fables and other bits of cock-and-bull chronicling: the historical records of spirits and of cocktails are littered with them! Too often the big innovations from behind the bar that dot the timeline can all claim multiple creators, sometimes even thousands of miles or decades apart. But you can keep your grains of salt reserved…
Tag: old fashioned
Totally Tequila!
There’s nothing niche about tequila today. Whatever confounding reputations that’ve marked the spirit throughout the low-variety early days of its international debut have been well surpassed for the bright lights of the top shelf. So what to do with our bottles of clear and pristine blanco next month? Why, walk away from the winter hunker…
BRRR-bon
In a fantastical feat of reverse thawing, the autumn influencer has officially awoken. We’ve all seen them dotted across our feeds like leaves along the ground. Flanked by foliage, fully flannelled, and sipping on something steamy, they’re absolutely primed to serve all things ultra-seasonal until the first flakes flutter. And is any fall-weather kit complete…
Mezcalloween III: A Shocker in Oaxaca
It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE!! It was a recent dark and stormy night when the beakers bubbled over and the comically oversized switch was flipped, shooting sparks everywhere and slowly reanimating the most magical and monstrous occasion of all: Mezcalloween. So far we’ve somehow survived two eerie installments, but we offer no guarantees when three more…
Ryes and Fall
Lovers of our last rye box might’ve picked up a tidbit or two about the spirit’s mid-Atlantic Appalachian origins in states like Pennsylvania and Maryland. Inch up a little farther on the map into Canada, though, and you’ll land in a place where rye whisky is just as cherished and rich in tradition. Canada arrived…
Begin Again
Once upon a time, there was a spirit so popular that it captured the city of London in a craze. Flash forward to the Prohibition-era US, nearly two centuries later, and a decade’s worth of bathtubs were overflowing with the stuff to satiate revelers roaring for a sip. A pair of big moments in history…
Sun’s Out, Rums Out
Many a conversation has kicked off with this clichéd but effective icebreaker: What would you bring with you to a deserted island? A hammock, boogie board, or good book would certainly fit the bill—but if the category is island drinks, then there’s a slam-dunk case to be made for perhaps the truest spirit of the…
Bring on the Bourbon
Our bridge to summer (aka the month of May) is within sight, and the time has finally come to throw open the windows, shout “Bring it on!” into the temperate wind, and allow a legendary spirit to shine. As veteran Shaker & Spoon sleuths out there may already know, previous bourbon boxes have produced some…
Añejo, Let’s Go!
We heart tequila! And did you know that this agave spirit from the great land of Mexico gets bolder than blanco and even richer than reposado? Añejo is the name and “gracing cocktails that are friendly to all seasons with an amber look and a more robust take on the tequila taste” is its game….
Fruits of Fall
When it came time for America to stake a claim on a spirit of its own—coincidentally during the decades surrounding its own founding—Northeastern pioneers and even presidents needed only to look up at the trees. An abundance of apples combined with a revolutionary thirst led to the first applejack, named for its process of “jacking,”…
Summer Scotch 2
When it comes to norms in the barroom, we like the one who sat like a sardonic sphinx over his beer with the gang on Cheers. What’s less amusing, though, are those passed-down, informal ones that dictate who should drink what, where, and when. Want to watch a snowstorm with a tiny-umbrellaed tropical drink? Go…
Out to Tennessee
With Beale Street, Music City, and the Great Smoky Mountains on our minds this June, we’re waltzing into summer with a storied spirit, the humble beginnings of which went on to take the world by storm. And we promise, wherever the season finds you, with Tennessee whiskey in your glass, you’ll be feelin’ finer than…
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