One of my favorite sessions last year at Tales of the Cocktail was Tiki Drinks from A to Zombie. And to everyone’s great shock, I’m sure, I have plans to attend Potions of the Caribbean, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s upcoming panel featuring some notable guests: Wayne Curtis, Martin Cate, Stephen Remsberg, and Brother Cleve. In addition, […]

Friday was a momentous day in the Bay Area — venerable spirits provider John Walker & Co. received their long-heralded shipment of Plymouth Sloe Gin. As many of you are no doubt aware, there has been a cruel lack of the spirit in the States. And yes, I am aware that Hiram Walker et al. […]

I want to be a hearty, bearded sailor who’s charge is managing the money and doling out rum and grub. Luckily, my dreams are not too far off, as these were common duties of the ship’s purser. And though this sounds glamorous, the purser often had a bad lot, rarely ending up wealthy and always […]

I recently returned from a tour of the Hawaiian islands as part of my responsibilities as KaiserPenguin’s West Coast Correspondent. Among the most intriguing cocktails I encountered in my travels was this gem, known as King’s Mighty Punch, at Hilo’s Cafe Pesto on the big island. When I requested the recipe, the bartender supplied it […]

Adam, Kaiser Penguin’s Forbidden Island correspondent, reports in on Dark ‘n Stormy Night. (I want to be Kaiser Penguin’s FI correspondent! — Rick) Tiki-mecca Forbidden Island recently hosted this event as part of their glee-inducing, month-long RUMFEST event. It was hosted by Gosling’s, and in addition to the evening’s namesake (their signature drink), Gosling’s Old […]

I was nearly 100% sure I would find this cocktail foul and evil. I’ve never eaten an apple with licorice before. But I imagine if I smashed the two together in my hand, this is what it would smell like. I took a quick photo-snap of what happened to be on my table at the […]

Little gives me more pleasure than extracting dusty, unappreciated bottles from my liquor cabinet and putting them through the gauntlet. I’d bet many of you have a mostly-filled bottle of Lillet Blanc hibernating amongst more frequented spirits. It comes out a few times a year, brings smiles to onlookers, and then resumes napping, awaiting a […]

Marleigh, from over at SLOSHED! is hosting this fine edition of Mixology Monday. After trying a plethora of brandy cocktails and whipping up a couple of new tiki recipes, I decided to fall back on an old favorite. Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Dr. Cocktail was one of the first cocktail books that found […]

I never gave the Old Waldorf-Astoria more than a glance after it came with a shipment of other cocktail and cook books nearly a year ago. Boy what a mistake that was. I dug it out the other day, remembering it included more than a handful of gin-laden cocktails. To my surprise, every drink I’ve […]

I wanted to find a cocktail guide that was published as close to Repeal Day (Wikipedia) as possible. My stash from Powell’s in Portland was nearly untouched, so I looked there. After digging through a dust-filled box, I found a wood and leather-bound cocktail guide from 1941 called Here’s How. It somehow remained in pristine […]