San Francisco Chronicle:
A Facebook friend and the Claridge Cocktail
Last time I checked I had 1,278 friends, though I haven't actually met most of them. Luckily, though, the good folk who run Facebook keep track of them for me, and from time to time I get messages from bartenders in India, Slovakia - the birthplace, I kid you not, of more than a few world-class mixologists - or, as happened this month, Minneapolis. (more...)

Wall Street Journal:
Restaurants dangle cheaper drinks but risk watering down their profits
Restaurant chains, hit hard by the economic downturn, are walking a tight-rope, dangling cheap alcoholic drinks to attract customers at the risk of diluting some of their most profitable sales. (more...)

New York Times Blog:
All-Stars behind the bar
If you’re wondering where your favorite bartender has disappeared to this weekend, check the Astor Center in the East Village. (more...)

New York Times:
A liquid keepsake
The signature cocktail at wedding receptions — a novelty 10 years ago, when brides besotted with “Sex and the City” began calling for Cosmopolitans all around — has gone, in the last few years, from optional to almost obligatory. (more...)

Washingtonian.com:
Manhattans and more: Great fall cocktails
Fall fruit, a touch of spice, and some excellent booze are the perfect way to ring in cool weather. Toast the season with a few of these autumn-inspired sensations. (more...)

phillyBurbs.com:
Halloween party ideas: Glasses and stemware as mindblowing as the cocktails
You are hosting a Halloween party this year. You're getting beer, wine, adult beverages and might even mix a homemade witches brew (i.e.-alcohol and a shot of punch). What are you going to serve them in? (more...)

Seattle Times:
Happy Hour | Oliver's Twist will make you want another
Outside of Ballard, the best bar to grab a cocktail up north is Oliver's Twist in Phinney Ridge. I heard cocktail geeks make that pronouncement three years ago, and I'm convinced it still rings true now. It's still consistent, and it still concocts stuff like rhubarb tarragon syrup. (more...)

Kansas City Star:
Technology is in the mix for cocktail aficionados
Technology doesn’t come easy to me. I prefer trolling stores for hard-to-find bottles and old cocktail books to browsing the Internet. I like talking to bartenders and soaking up bar lore by sitting at the bar. But technology makes it increasingly easy to figure out what to drink and how to drink it, and that’s a good thing. (more...)

San Francisco Chronicle:
One bourbon cocktail for the Rhodie
I've had serial relationships with specific spirits since I graduated from college. At that time I was a Scotch guy, liking my cocktail served with a splash of water and twist of lemon. Then in the 1990s, I switched to vodka... (more...)

Daily Press:
Cocktails to nibble, drink
There's always a reason to throw a party. But now the best reason of all is to show off edible cocktails -- gorgeous jiggly cubes or slices or pyramids that you serve like hors d'oeuvres. They're making a splash at bars and restaurants and on the party circuit. (more...)

The Moment from NY Times :
Inside out: Here’s to cocktail trays
A drinks tray breathes life into a room. It is so easy to put together, and it immediately gives a living room the sense that living indeed goes on there. Much like bookcases, a drinks tray adds depth, is welcoming to the visitor and gives a few clues to the tastes of the inhabitants. (more...)

Washington Post:
A Peruvian cocktail
Never refuse a free drink. A sound policy, but my commitment is wavering as a Peruvian Woody Allen look-alike (same physique, head shape and beady, bemused gaze) leads me around an oddly appointed brandy cellar, doling out shots of liquor from centuries-old clay casks. (more...)

Indystar.com:
A vodka made in our state from corn? Dah!
Local food fans certainly appreciate the late-summer bounty of the Hoosier state. They wax poetic about heirloom tomatoes, they shop farmers markets for Indiana fruits and vegetables, they search out locally raised meats. They've even created a weeklong acknowledgment of what Indiana food producers have to offer. (more...)

Huffington Post:
For the perfect End-Of-Summer Cocktail, keep it simple: In praise of the gin & tonic
Given the tendency of many mixologists -- or "craft bartenders" as I've heard they now like to be called -- to include complicated and hard-to-find ingredients in their cocktail creations, I was intrigued when an invitation came down the pike to attend a talk/demo about the humble gin & tonic, sponsored by Tanqueray and featuring globe-trotting brand ambassador Angus Winchester. I mean, how much can you say about a drink with two ingredients? (more...)