Before there was Coca-Cola, there were shrubs. Not the kind that grow in your garden, but a sweet-and-sour drinking vinegar that’s irresistible, especially in hot weather. Infused with fruit, herbs, and spices, shrubs not only slake your thirst but also provide an inventive way to preserve seasonal bounty. And just like baking sourdough and fermenting…
Pucker Up, Bottoms Up: How to Turn Any Fruit Into a Shrub for the Most Refreshing DIY Drinks
Strawberry Wine
Sweet and berry-forward, this easy strawberry wine recipe tastes delicate and bright. You’ll love its vivid red color and delicate sweetness. It’s lovely served as a dessert wine on a summer evening. Most modern recipes call for mashing the berries and fermenting the mash with yeast, as you might do to make wine, but older…
Anatomy of a Classic Cocktail: The Mint Julep
The Kentucky Derby is almost upon us—the first Saturday of May—and that means mint julep season is on. While the julep has been the race’s official drink since 1938, the first race was run in 1875, and the drink’s association with it began sometime soon after. And the drink itself goes back centuries earlier. As…
Move Over, Kombucha—Kvass Is Here
Beloved by health-conscious hipsters and yoga moms, kombucha skyrocketed from relative obscurity to a health food staple in the early 2000s. Now, in 2022, it’s become so popular that you can buy it by the case at Costco, and you might even be able to find it at your local gas station. If you’re unfamiliar,…
Anatomy of a Classic Cocktail: The Sazerac
The history of this signature cocktail of New Orleans is a bit like building a drink: Bits were added until it arrived at the final recipe. When you’re mixing one, you realize that at its heart, it’s an old fashioned—whiskey, sugar, bitters. But the devil’s in the details, and the details make the Sazerac 100…
How American Creativity is Driving the Non-Alcoholic Drinks Trend
When Tolu Obikunle was an intern on Wall Street, she was frequently invited to go out for drinks after work. But filling up with spirits was actually something that brought Obikunle’s spirits down. “I found myself pretending to drink just to fit in with my colleagues,” said Obikunle. “I loved being out and socializing, but…
Lovely Leaves: The World’s Most Exotic Teas
In the many years since tea leaves fell into Chinese Emperor Shennong’s cup of hot water in 2727 BC, this beverage has become second only to water in worldwide consumption. Though tea was once used as currency, we prefer to drink it. Thank You, Cicadas Tea Source Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea, Taiwan $12.99 for 4 ounces…
What’s in a Name? When It Comes to Wine, a Lot
When you buy a French Chablis, it will be made only from Chardonnay grapes grown in a small district in France, because that’s required under French law. Likewise, when you buy a Sancerre, it can only be a sauvignon blanc from the eastern Loire Valley. A Beaujolais can only be made from the Gamay Noir à…
California Merlot: Past, Present, and Future?
Living in the heart of Sonoma County wine country gives me direct access to winemakers, occasionally in grocery stores or parking lots. Two weeks ago, I bumped into a friend, a winemaker for a small winery who bemoaned that prices for merlot grapes were rising a lot higher than he had anticipated, which made his…
Anatomy of a Classic Cocktail: The Whiskey Sour
The addition of citrus juice to booze was such an obvious combination that it’s impossible to pin down its true point of origin. Sailors of yore learned to combat scurvy with citrus fruits that offer vitamin C. Lime juice mixed with Caribbean rum kept the British sailors healthy, if not tipsy, and spawned the nickname…
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