"drinks" news and stories

Be honest: How long has that bottle of vermouth been in your cupboard? If it's more than 30 days, that's a big bartending fail. And -- surprise -- so is keeping limes in the fridge. What else are you doing wrong when you're making cocktails at home? YumSugar's Susannah Chen asked legendary bartender Tony Abou-Ganim for the 10 most common at-home bartending mistakes. How many are you guilty of?

Get the whole list at YumSugar.com

R&B singer Ginuwine has more than his new song in mind when he thinks "Drink of Choice." He's got the ad campaign for a chocolate milk that's 40 proof. Adult Chocolate Milk, reports our sister site Luxist, has got Ginuwine donning a milkman's uniform to the tune of the slogan "Re-Taste Your Youth at 40 Proof." Move over Four Loko -- there's a new player in town, and it ain't Nestle Quik.

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.

Peach brandy may not seem like the most masculine of spirits, but it was one of George Washington's favorite cocktails. And who's going to argue with the Father of Our Country?

Not the five American distillers who met in Mount Vernon last week to brew a batch of this original American dram. Standing around buckets of bubbling peach juice, they occasionally stoked fires warming the high-proof liquid, much like George Washington's distiller may have done more than two centuries ago.This particular batch of peach brandy will be aged, bottled and sold similarly to the limited-edition rye whiskey that disappeared in a quick three-hour public sale this summer.

Lance Winters of St. George Spirits, in California, cut peach slices while David Pickerell of Whistlepig Rye dipped his fingers into a stream of brandy trickling into a wooden bucket. "We started with about 300 gallons of peach juice and will end up with about a fifth of that in brandy once it's ready for barreling," said Pickerell. This is almost the exact amount of peach brandy recorded in the Mount Vernon distillery's production ledger in 1799.

All the research Demian and I have poured into libation love here at Casa Cóctel has led to the launch of our own Casa blog, as well as two monthly newsletters -- one devoted to cocktails and one to whiskey. Follow our boozy blatherings by joining the email list on our website.

Yet as one thing begins, another comes to a close.This is my last post for the LeNell It All column. I've had a blast writing for Slashfood for the past year, and I'll still post news from the cocktail world front from time to time. For now, though, in the belief that there's truly a drink for every occasion, I leave you with some fun farewell cocktails.