Author: Bob Westal

If you’re looking for something festive yet a bit off-the-beaten-track to sip on New Year’s Eve or to illustrate the dangers of Brexit in a single glass, then a combination of English stout and European sparkling white wine might be a good way to welcome 2020. If you’ve been looking for the real champagne of beers, this might be your drink. Black Velvet 4 ounces champagne or similar sparkling white wine 2 ounces stout (Guinness is traditional) These quantities/proportions can be adjusted both to taste and the size of the glass you’re using. Pour well-chilled stout and sparkling wine into…

If you’ve been pouting and crying — and who can blame you these days — be aware that Santa and maybe your least favorite family members are coming to town this Tuesday and Wednesday. Even if you like all of the relatives you’ll be seeing, no disappointments of any sort are an issue, and nothing really freaky happens in the news, here’s a drink that’s still likely to lift your mood while delighting your tongue. It should also work well as well with your proverbial Aunt Minnie as it does with your neakbearded nephew or cousin, but don’t make it…

If you’re half the political junkie I am, you noted this mild quip from expert witness Pamela Karlan at the last week’s impeachment hearings. “I’ll just give you one example that shows you the difference between [Trump] and a king, which is the Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron.” This non-attack on a school-age boy set off a firestorm of outrage because someone who is not a Republican said it. Yes, there is the very reasonable unwritten rule that the children of politicians…

Cocktailians these days generally prefer beverages that are garnished with stories that go back to the boozy golden age that was pre-prohibition America. Today, however, we’re discussing a drink that touches on some real more recent, but no less important, cocktail history. We’re going back to the first dawning of cocktail revivalism — the magical era we call the 1990s! Now an architect, in his not-so-misspent youth Paul Harrington was one of the original cocktail revivalists and, I gather, played a particularly important role in the Berkeley-adjacent town of Emeryville, California, best known as the home of Pixar. Indeed, just…

It’s not surprising that there’s more than one mixed drink called the Angel’s Share. The phrase refers to the small amount of liquor lost to evaporation during the aging process of spirits.  Cocktails aside, it’s the name of a very good premium bourbon which the PR gods sent me and I  wrote about years ago — that post seems to be lost to time and Google. It’s also the title of a pretty good comedy-drama quasi caper film about the Scotch business from 2013 by Ken Loach. In any case, I think today’s easy to make concoction, with the inclusion of the…

Thanksgiving is coming and what could be better at the end of a feast than a really good after-dinner coffee drink? If you’re like me and prone to gluttony, you’ve probably experienced the feeling that, after all that turkey and mashed potatoes, what you’d really like is a little more turkey and mashed potatoes. At that point, a little hot coffee is just the thing to remind your body that, at last, dinner is finally over — at least once you’ve had some pie. Moreover, a little alcohol is the best antidote to any post-prandial anhedonia you may be feeling after…

People who know my political predilections won’t be surprised that an item from last week’s news made me feel more warmly towards the State of Kentucky. Sure, it’s reputation is such that people put “tucky” as the second syllable of any place they consider backward, such as renaming the San Bernardino County exurb Fontana as “Fontucky” or describing the non-urban portions of Pennsylvania as “Pensyltucky.” But, hey, I love “Justified” and often secretly crave the Colonel’s original recipe with its 11 herbs and spices. Naturally, I couldn’t be a self-respecting cocktail blogger and not love Kentucky bourbon and it really does look like a…

Way, way back in 2012, I covered what I thought was a variation on the classic Brooklyn Cocktail promulgated by Canadian Club to promote a new expression. Turns out, however, that the recipe was actually closer to the very first version of this drink than today’s better-known recipe. Trust cocktail superman-savant David Wondrich to let us know that the original cocktail was featured in a 1908 book by New Jersey bartender Jack Grohusko using a brand of sweet vermouth and in proportions similar to that 2012 drink. It seems that somewhere on the way to 1930 and The Savoy Cocktail Book, where most…

Over the last month or so, there’s been news for those of us interested in the television adaptation of “Snowpiercer.” The show, based on the 2014 Bong Joon Ho sci-fi film of the same name, will now be airing on TNT instead of TBS. However, considering that almost every cable/satellite package on the planet offers both channels, I’m not sure what the significance is. The show was also teased with some new details at New York Comic-Con a few weeks back, following its first official panel at San Diego Comic-Con this past summer. Ultimately, we’ll just have to see how it turns out,…

There are films I’ve seen three, four, maybe five times I can barelly remember. There are also ones, I’ve seen once, was moved by, and never dared watch again. I meant to rewatch George Franju’s deeply emotional masterpiece of horror, “Eyes Without a Face” for this drink and blog-post. Really. Yet, when I was unable to find the Criterion blu-ray I swear I bought a few years back, I was relieved. And suddenly it was too late in the week to watch it via Amazon. Oh, well, I guess I’ll have to talk about it from memory. Happy Halloween. It’s…