I’ve got a new liquor article out on Primer. This one’s all about gin, and covers sixteen different entries into that vast category. I go through each and give notes on the nose and taste, as well as running them through a “Martini Test” to see how they play with vermouth and orange bitters. Here’s a quote:

The first time I ever tasted gin, to the best of my knowledge, was a sip of a Sapphire and Tonic my good friend Nora was drinking. I took my sip and tilted my head, considering, and then I told her: “this tastes like cologne.”

My opinion’s changed a bit in the years since. Gin – spicy, juniper-y, citrus-y gin – is delicious, and if you don’t think so, then I submit you simply haven’t found the right gin yet. You need to find your gateway into that world, and from there your tastes will expand until, like me, you one day find yourself sitting in front of sixteen bottles of the stuff and thinking each of these is completely different.

Already a fan of gin and looking to branch out? Not currently a fan and curious if there’s anything you might like? Just want to read about booze? Well, this article’s got you covered. Go check it out!

I’ve written up another article for Primer Magazine, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Learn how to craft six delicious champagne cocktails, some old classics, some newly created by yours truly. Here’s a quote:

Take it from a guy who married a French girl: Champagne is the way to a woman’s heart. There’s just something about sparkling wine that’s inherently romantic. Maybe it’s the special glasses. Maybe it’s the tickle of the bubbles. Maybe it’s the way that it turns any occasion into something of a celebration. Whatever the reason, it’s hard to go wrong with a cocktail that features a healthy dose of bubbly.

Sparkling wine, particularly drier varieties, will mix with just about any liquor under the sun … or stars, if you want to stick with the romantic theme. France’s classic Kir Royale, perhaps the most famous Champagne cocktail, is nothing more than an ounce or so of crème de cassis(black currant liqueur) added to the glass before the wine is poured. You can do this same thing with a wide variety of liqueurs, and most will produce something nice, albeit a little one-dimensional. We like extra dimensions here at Primer, so we’re featuring recipes that are a little more complex, subtle, and nuanced.

You can check out the full article over at Primer!

Primer Magazine has posted my latest article. This one took a while to put together, as I had to hunt down and research a variety of entry-level Irish Whiskies (and a few at higher price points). Then I had to perform the arduous task of tasting all of the whiskies while taking notes, which I did multiple times for each brand. Arduous, I tell you!

But thanks to my tremendous sacrifices, a pretty good article was born. I can’t claim that I made it to ever possible Irish whiskey in the $20 range, but I did cover six good ones. Here’s a peek:

There was a time not all that long ago when Irish whiskey was the most popular liquor in the world. Sadly, a number of factors – including two World Wars, the Irish War of Independence, Prohibition in the United States, and Irish distilleries’ refusal to accept the speedier production capabilities of the Coffey still – led to its downfall. Today, only three distilleries remain in Ireland, responsible for all of the Irish whiskey featured in this article, and all that can be found on liquor store shelves across the world.

But after decades of struggle, Irish whiskey is making a comeback in the United States and abroad. The number of brands is growing and stores are stocking more and more varieties. Best of all, Irish whiskey is still inexpensive compared to scotch or even most bourbon of similar quality. Basic, blended whiskies from Ireland are perfectly drinkable, even neat, and can be had for eighteen to twenty-five bucks a bottle.

You can read the whole thing over at Primer!

They’re celebrating James Bond’s fiftieth anniversary over at Primer this month, and I couldn’t resist contributing a cocktail article about arguably the most famous drink recipe known to man. “Vodka martini, shaken, not stirred” has been quoted countless times in the last five decades. But is the drink itself any good? And what about Bond’s original drink of choice, the Vesper?

Here’s a quote:

Bond’s go-to drink might be the most famous cocktail recipe on earth – or at least the most-quoted – but it’s probably not the best. Bond liked his martinis dry, which meant little or no French vermouth, and the switch from gin to vodka removed a whole host of botanicals from the equation. The shaken-not-stirred part? That won’t “bruise” the alcohol (which is nonsense), but what it will do is both dilute and aerate the drink substantially more than stirring. The funny thing is: this has a much more profound impact on a gin martini, where the aeration changes the aromatic notes, and the dilution has a noticeable impact on flavor. Vodka is made to be flavorless, for all intents and purposes; all you’re doing by shaking instead of stirring is reducing the alcohol burn.

You can read the whole article over at Primer!

I was lucky enough to receive a sample of The Dalmor 12 Year scotch from their distributor, and I’ve written up my thoughts on it for Primer Magazine. While bourbon remains my true whiskey love, I’ve been known to dally with scotch on occasion (not to mention rye, Irish whiskey, and Canadian whiskey … I’m a bit of a strumpet, I guess). I’ve educated my palate enough to be able to enjoy both smooth scotches and some of the smokier offerings, and I was happy to have the chance to check out a product I hadn’t tried before.

Here’s a clip:

Bourbon and rye have made some tremendous leaps in reputation in the last ten years or so, and while there are many who will always hold the whiskies of Ireland closest to their heart (perhaps in a flask), it would be difficult to argue that there is a more highly-regarded form of whisky out there than Scotland’s most famous liquor.

You could spend a lifetime developing your appreciation and knowledge for Scotch. Many have. But to do that you need to get started, and there’s the kicker – Scotch is such high-variance liquor that it can be frightening, baffling, and intimidating to newcomers. Grab the wrong bottle, for example, and your first sip is going to wallop you with smoky peat flavors for which most people require time and effort to develop a taste. This effect has scared off more than one neophyte.

You can read the whole thing over at Primer Magazine.

Ah, summer … the time of the year when you want to sip on refreshing cocktails that feature lots of fruit juices. The rum drinks of the Caribbean are a great start, but consider also the often-maligned category of “Tiki Drinks,” recipes that were inspired by, if not exactly invented in, the South Pacific.

That’s exactly what I do in my latest article for Primer Magazine, where I bring you some history, some suggestions, and seven delicious recipes for Tiki drinks. No sour mixes or over-sweetened nonsense here; all of these drinks use fresh fruit juices and delicious liquors in perfect combination. Check out the article and learn more about this overlooked category of cocktails!

Here’s an excerpt:

When I think of Tiki drinks, an image immediately forms in my mind: I see a gigantic banyan tree, its limbs stretched out in every direction, and around its trunk a dwelling built of massive, dark, wooden beams, with a thatched roof and little lamps hanging in its windows. Expatriates from many countries gather there, wearing suits of white linen and flower-print gowns, to sip exotic concoctions while staring out through the mosquito netting at the setting sun as it sinks into the crashing ocean. In the distance, drums pound out a powerful rhythm.

You can read the full article over at Primer.

Another of my cocktail articles has gone up over on Primer Magazine. I’m really happy with this one: it focuses on a single drink, the Daiquiri, and delves into the history and evolution of the cocktail. This was a really fun article to research and write. I’m not just a fan of making and drinking cocktails, I’m also fascinated by their history. In addition to half a dozen well-regarded tomes of recipes, I own a few out-of-print books on the subject that I’ve found at local used bookstores (one of them, the fantastic Straight Up or On the Rocks by William Grimes, is back in print in paperback), and I’ve read through each of them cover to cover.

Alcohol has been a huge part of mankind’s history, and just the last 150 years alone are fascinating. I’m going to be doing a history article on the Margarita next, and am hoping to continue on with them in the future. Hopefully, the readers over at Primer will find them as interesting to read as I do to write.

Here’s an excerpt!

A real Daiquiri consists of white rum, lime juice, and simple syrup, shaken and strained into a chilled cocktail glass and garnished with a lime wedge. The resulting fizzy, foamy, off-white concoction is named for the town in which it was invented, and that invention happened by happy accident in 1896. The drink was created by Jennings Cox, an American engineer who managed the Cuban properties for two American companies (credit as co-creator is also often given to a Cuban engineer named Pagliuchi). With important guests on the way, and finding himself without a source of gin – the genteel spirit at the time – Cox worried that they would not find the local tipple palatable if served neat. He added lime juice and sugar to the island’s pure cane rum, and a classic was born.

It’s a fun, interesting read about a very tasty drink. Why not stop by and check it out?

Making good cocktails is, like pretty much anything else, mostly a matter of practice. The problem of course is that even cheap liquor adds up after a while, and it can get frustrating to keep wasting it on stuff that’s undrinkable. Trust me, I know: I’ve been into mixology and cocktail crafting for several years now, and I still sometimes come up with something that’s just straight-up gross!

On that note, my latest article is up over on Primer Magazine — I talk about improvising cocktails and things you can keep in mind to help make sure you don’t end up crafting drinks that would be better off poured down the drain.

Here’s a clip:

As you begin building a bar and exploring the world of cocktails, at some point you will find yourself in one of two situations. Either you will be filled with the desire to create beverages of your own, or you’ll end up wanting to make a drink but not having any recipes handy. In both cases, you’re going to have to improvise, and there are a few simple practices you can follow that will help ensure that what ends up in your glass wouldn’t be better-off poured down the sink.

Here are five tips that will help you craft cocktails that amuse and delight, even if you don’t have any books on hand.

You can read the entire thing over at Primer!

My latest article has gone up over at Primer Magazine. It’s an extensive look at how to put together a really great home bar on a pretty limited budget. There are some awesome liquors out there at very reasonable prices, and I’ve done the (enjoyable) research necessary to provide recommendations on many of them. If you like making cocktails or just want to learn a bit more about liquor in general, it’s a pretty good place to start. Check it out!

I spent this past weekend working on The Blood That Bonds, a book that I swore to God, Vishnu, and Ray Kurzweil that I was done with more than a year ago. Such is life when you’re prepping for print.

Incorporating another person’s edits into your work can be a surprisingly slow and difficult process. On the surface, it seems simple enough — correcting a typo here, fixing an improper piece of punctuation there — and as long as you stick to basic copy-editing, it is indeed no big deal. What’s more difficult, though,  is dealing with edits that include changes, suggestions, and questions about the story itself. Take for example, this excerpt from the first chapter of The Blood That Bonds:

Not twenty yards away was a piece of art in chrome and fiberglass, black like his clothes, black like hers. A sports car unlike any she was familiar with. Certainly not the loud, rowdy, American Dodge Viper, nor any of the trim, mechanical Japanese imports. The lines of the car were — must have been — Italian. Two’s father was an auto mechanic, but this was a vehicle beyond anything she’d ever seen.

This is what it looked like when it came back from my editor:

And this is the final revision:

Not twenty yards away was a piece of art in chrome and fiberglass, black like his clothes, black like hers. Two’s father was an auto mechanic, and she knew her cars, but this was not a vehicle with which she was familiar. The lines of the car seemed Italian.

Them’s some good edits! The revised paragraph is not only smoother and easier for the reader to process, but we also cut out a lot of extraneous words and pare it down to just what really needs to be said. This leaves us with with more words available to spend on the important things, like characterization, “showing instead of telling,” and dialog. All good things, but it should also be noted that amidst all of these substantial changes to the wording lies the potential for the introduction of new typos, misspellings, omissions, and other errors. I hate errors!

This is my editor, Elise. Hi, Elise!

Obviously, no book is perfect. You can probably pull any given book at your local bookstore off the shelf and find at least one typo somewhere in its text, especially if it’s a first printing. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to eliminate them, and this is why any time I’m working on edits to a manuscript, I live in mortal terror of introducing new problems while trying to fix old ones!

There’s no real solution to this other than taking your time and editing with care, which is why this stage in a book’s life can be pretty drawn out. You’ll need to check and re-check, type carefully, and probably avoid doing your editing at 3 AM after a night spent slamming down daiquiries (we can’t all be Hemingway). You want to be awake, alert, and aware, and you’ll want to go slowly. It’s all part of the process, and it’s why people who write for a living laugh when others suggest that their job is easy.

The fear of introducing new errors into your work while incorporating edits is both tangible and legitimate. Fortunately, the benefits that those edits provide make it worth the time and patience required to make sure they’re properly integrated.