Improved Gin Cocktail

Genever and Cointreau: odd, but oh-so-compelling.

Atty Cocktail

A good gin contains floral elements in its mix of botanical flavors, and the creme de violette nicely calls the floral notes to the fore.

Vermouth Cocktail

The Vermouth Cocktail illustrates the flavorful beauty of good vermouth, with just a little adornment. If you're prone to dismiss this drink out of hand because it's based on vermouth, then you're denying yourself the opportunity to see what the original fuss from the nineteenth century was all about.

The Jasmine

Don't let the color fool you. With its gentle pink hue, the Jasmine may look as prissy and cute as a Hello Kitty armband, and its unassuming appearance and sprightly color has no doubt appealed to many drinkers of the once-ubiquitous Cosmo. But unlike that candy-colored alcopop, the Jasmine is all business, its alluring tint supplied not by the Cosmopolitan's innocuous red cranberry juice but by the intensely garnet Campari, an Italian aperitif famous for its powerful bitter flavor.

Japanese Cocktail

The Japanese Cocktail, curiously made with mostly French ingredients, is like an Old Fashioned with a rich and nutty twist. This classic cocktail included in Jerry Thomas' Bar-Tender's Guide in 1862.

Lucien Gaudin

Introducing the Lucien Gaudin. Named for an early 20th century French Olympic fencer, the Lucien Gaudin starts off in the manner of a Negroni by combining gin with Campari. With the addition of Cointreau and dry vermouth the result is a pleasantly bitter drink that is simultaneously rich and dry--a challenging flavor to create which is all the more enjoyable because of its rarity.

The Bombay Cocktail

Here's a brandy-based classic that dates to at least 1930: the Bombay Cocktail. I first tasted this drink several months ago at Bar Agricole in San Francisco. Medium-bodied and full of flavor without coming on too aggressive, the Bombay Cocktail offers a glimpse at another time, when brandy was one of the regents of the cocktail kingdom.

Drinking in Season: Lillet Rouge and Cherry Cocktail

Cherries are in full force at the market; the only hard part is choosing between deep burgundy Bing cherries and the lightly blushed Royal Anns. To get in the summer spirit, I've been making a sangria-like mixture of the aperitif Lillet Rouge with gin and cherries.

Brown Gin

This recipe adds a hefty dose of bitters to London dry gin, making for richer, spicier take on the classic Pink Gin.

Journalist Cocktail

The Journalist Cocktail goes back to at least 1930, when it appeared in the Savoy Cocktail Book. Essentially a perfect martini—"perfect" in the cocktail sense meaning it's made with equal parts dry and sweet vermouth—with a dash of this and that for flavorful accents, the Journalist is dry and crisp, yet has a complexity and hint of richness that make it especially endearing.