Cocktail creations by Umami Mart: shaken, stirred, and remixed.
Happy Hour
January 11, 2013
Happy Hour: The Midnight Stinger
Minty, refreshing, and undeniably potent, the Stinger cocktail is part reviver, part ultimate nightcap. The cocktail originates around the fin de siecle, but was not memorialized until Tom Bullock’s Ideal Bartender (1917). The Stinger was a favorite of the high society set who regularly had a brandy digestif after supper. The classic recipe is one […]
September 18, 2012
Happy Hour: Pig + Punch Gets Its Due
This past July, the culinary and spirits festival Tales of the Cocktail (a.k.a. Tales) celebrated its 10th Anniversary. The world’s best craft bartenders, taste makers, brand ambassadors, cocktail bloggers, liquor sponsors, and cocktail aficionados plus a legion of media and public relations people descended on the Crescent City for a week of booze filled seminars, […]
June 6, 2012
Happy Hour: Manhattan Cocktail Classic 2012 Recap
“Now, alcohol makes a big man small and can lead to life of crime. Drinking rum makes you skin-and-bone, and you cash in before your time. Bootleg gin for your Mickey Finn till you don’t even know your name. You’re a basket case right on your face, there’s only one guy to blame. Oh Mister […]
May 2, 2012
Happy Hour: The Expatriate
The Kentucky Derby unites classic fashion style, 19th century cocktails, gambling, and an age-old sport of kings in a quintessentially American event. The fellows suited up in seersucker, ladies in elegant straw hats, red and white colors abound, as do bourbon mint juleps in icy beaded silver tins. Crowds lining the ground and grandstand making 20:1 […]
April 3, 2012
Happy Hour: The Westie Cocktail
“The [Westies are the] most savage organization in the long history of New York street gangs.†– Rudolph Giuliani, former Mayor of New York Hyperbole aside, The Westies were a notorious gang of mostly Irish wise guys that ran the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood on the Westside of Manhattan from the 1960s until the late 80s. […]
February 28, 2012
Happy Hour: The Boulevardier
“Made of Win†Bourbon is one of my favorite spirits to make and drink cocktails. Sadly, it is not used in many pre-Prohibition recipes due to rye whisky’s popularity during the golden age of cocktails. After Repeal, bourbon gained popularity as it became more available but was often just substituted for rye whisky in the […]
January 26, 2012
Happy Hour: The Rum Vieux Carré
Let’s face it, mid-winter is almost upon us and there is not a ground hog is sight. It is getting downright tundra cold out there and Mother Nature is sure to unleash a deep freeze. Some say one should think of a warm place like a tropical island when winter’s freeze is cutting through your […]
December 23, 2011
Happy Hour: Tom + Jerry, The Original Winter Cocktail
Winter is coming. The leaves are long gone; stark bare branches and the increasing chill in the air are all that remain of autumn. The sun’s attempts to warm its subjects get undermined by the biting wind. Perfect time to duck into your favorite watering hole and defrost with a winter libation. Keeping with my […]
October 26, 2011
Happy Hour: Autumn Cocktail: The Rusty Nail Redux
PREFACE Happy Hour: Rusty Nail (By Paystyle; February 2010) +++ Many years ago, when I embarked on a journey to learn about the Rusty Nail, I went right to a few local dive bars. I believed the hype. Naturally, a Rusty Nail could only truly be enjoyed in an establishment with peeling paint and New […]