A good floral dry vermouth will show up with just a rinse and it will slightly alter the texture of the drink. That splash of vermouth makes the drink surprisingly more palatable. Also, martini glasses are perfect for drinking gin out of because gin is remarkably aromatic. Most of the flavor of your gin is going to be…

The best thing about making drinks and playing with recipes and learning bartending techniques is that once you feel a little bit comfortable, you can begin experimenting. There are recipes and there are ratios, and learning why they are they way they are and how they can be different is not something learned through…

This is a great question, but perhaps not for me because I typically function under a scenario of relatively unlimited resources rather than limited resources. It really depends on your crowd and preference... yes a lot of people like bourbon and rye, and a lot of people like gin, and a lot of people only like vodka,…

Here is a list of affordable base spirits that I recommend. There are way more than this but this a good place to start. I don’t know what is available where but all of these are available in New York and New Jersey...

You can prebatch anything under the sun that doesn’t contain fresh ingredients, but the problem with most cocktails that don’t include fresh ingredients is that they can be too bitter or boozy for some. Most people who have never been to a cocktail bar or have experienced cocktail culture have hankerings for negroni’s…

My motto as it comes to restaurants and life in general is that we are all in this together, and we need to help each other as much as we can. If the circumstance proves beneficial for you and the bartender to do some gentle educating, then go right ahead. If you can feel good about sharing knowledge and someone can…

You can make a negroni variation with just about any spirit under the sun, but I wouldn’t recommend islay scotch, just because the bitterness of the campari will probably swallow most of the dynamism from the islay scotch and leave you with just smoke.

What do you mean by better? Are your old fashioneds out of balance? Are they too sweet? Too spicy? Over diluted? Too warm at first?

Egg whites are probably the most accessible form of emulsification around, so don’t be scared. Egg whites add texture and create balance across flavors by creating this unifying texture. Also, you can add small amounts of powdered spices or typically non water soluble spices to a cocktail with egg white because they…

I don’t think I can settle any debate, but a very dry martini by my experience would have a dry vermouth rinse. I go by these measurements typically.

I really like scotch and pineapple, and I like exploring scotch with other tropical and tiki inspired flavors. I also like adding small amounts of peated scotch to unpeated recipes to highlight both sides of barley.

Some people like ice chips in their drinks, others don’t. From a pure classics perspective and my personal perspective, shaken drinks should be double strained.

Andy, are you looking for any specific recommendations?

The other thing about spirits that is exciting is that there isn’t anything like a linear relationship between price and quality.

Hey Andy, that’s a great question. Staples by name should be something that works really well in a lot of different applications- cocktails, neat, on the rocks, punches, etc... and most spirits that are particularly flexible like that are not terribly expensive. I wouldn’t buy anything that is labeled or identifies as…

Hey, I’m here, what’s next?