"cocktails" news and stories

Punchbowls, popular alcoholic beverages during the 1970s, are once again popping up in bars around the country. But this time they've left behind the sherbet or ginger ale. Today's mixologists have much more to play with than they would have a few decades ago, like farm-to-table fruits and vegetables, flavored vodkas, and handcrafted syrups and spices. And you don't have to bring 10 of your friends in order to finish the punchbowl; many bars offer single-serving options.

Even the Trumps are in on it. At Rebar, which is a mezzanine-level lounge inside Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago with some of the city's best views of the Chicago River, the seasonal cocktails menu extends to punchbowls. For this winter, the bar is rolling out "Winter Magic" (heated red wine combined with cloves, oranges, cinnamon to taste and topped with cognac-marinated cherries). Order a bowl with friends ($235) or settle on a single glass ($18) or carafe ($80). Another Rebar punchbowl tied to the season is "Pump Jr." (perfect for pumpkin lovers, as it mixes Hiram Walker Pumpkin Spice liquor, vanilla vodka, Goldschlager (Swiss cinnamon schnapps) and Godiva white liqueur. It's garnished with an orange slice and mint leaves. Three other Chicago clubs ladle drinks from punchbowls -- The Drawing Room, The Violet Hour and The Southern.

What is it about cocktails and old Hollywood movies? Remember the sexy banter in Casablanca, when Bogie poignantly ponders why "of all the gin joints," Bergman had to walk into his and order a Duck Fart. Ah, the memories of those two lovebirds popping around Paris, sipping Sewer Water highballs and ordering pitchers of Monkey Glands (pictured above) before the Nazis invaded. Okay, that's gross. And so, says the Daily Meal, are the 10 cocktails that have the most disgusting names. But what's in a name? Don't knock a Windex (with blue Curaçao) until you've tried it. And if you spill it, just wipe vigorously with a paper towel to restore luster to your table.

• Hanukkah starts tonight! What's that song? "I have a little latke..."
• There's more to Hanukkah than potato pancakes. (But not much more.)
• All those trendy shaken cocktail drinks result in worn-out bartenders.
• So how about a nice port instead?
• Or try out Mark Bittman's granita -- a truly sophisticated slushie.

Brillat-Savarin recorded in his elegant and classic tome, The Physiology of Taste (1825), "I am...tempted to believe that smell and taste are in fact but a single composite sense whose laboratory is the mouth and its chimney the nose." Though lacking modern science to prove it, he couldn't deny the inherent, but elusive connection between aroma and flavor -- the subject of a weekend-long seminar at Astor Center in New York City.

"Most of what we perceive to be taste is actually smell," explained Audrey Saunders, lauded mixologist and owner of the Pegu Club (NYC). Friday evening at a panel discussing the alchemy of cocktail aromatics, Saunders revealed a few of her secrets to expressing fragrance through cocktails.

Saunders first began to experiment with aroma around the time she worked at the Carlyle Hotel while preparing for a week tending bar at the London Ritz. She wanted to create an aromatic cocktail using gin and tea -- the patron spirits of English imbibing. Her experiments faltered until she realized (with the advice of one Harold McGee) that egg white is an excellent conductor of scent and after a few iterations, created what is now a Pegu Club mainstay, the Earl Grey MarTEAni. Throughout the process she discovered a few key lessons about building fragrant cocktails that apply to any bar -- home or professional. See them after the jump.

A cheeseburger in a glass, a potent PB&J, a liquid BLT -- it's time to take the sandwich into cocktail hour. Literally.

In honor of National Sandwich Day on Nov. 3, Flor de Caña rum has teamed up with mixologists to turn sandwich classics into tasty libations.

The Sandwich Cocktail menu created by the Nicaraguan rum company features "crustless cocktails" -- the Peanut Butter & Jelly, the Cheeseburger and the BLT.