Umami Mart

  Aisha Sharpe and Willy Shine, the founders of Contemporary Cocktails, created this refreshing springtime drink. The name is both a reference to the classic Manhattan area code as well as a clever play on proportions. 212 2 oz Partida Reposado Tequila 1 oz Aperol 2 oz Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice Tools: shaker, strainer Glassware: […]

Admittedly, I’ve always had a much easier time coming up with cocktails than coming up with names for cocktails. But every now and then, after concocting something I consider worthy of sharing with you all (you should see the pile of cocktail recipes that didn’t make the cut), a fitting name reveals itself without too […]

  This past Sunday I had rare the opportunity–via my cocktail consulting and event company, Life’s a Cocktail–to use the power of mixology to help the forces of good, serving up cocktails in the name of marriage equality as a vendor in the first ever Illegal Wedding Fair.  The event was held in an amazing West Village townhouse called […]

New York has always been a great city, but this week its greatness gets bumped up a notch, as the first annual Manhattan Cocktail Classic rolls into town, along with some of the country’s best and brightest mixological minds.  Accurately described as “part fête, part conference, part cocktail party,” it will be a balls-to-the-wall 5-day orgy […]

  It’s that time of year again folks! That’s right, it’s Cinco de Mayo, or as some call it, “Cinco de Drinko,” which is Americans’ favorite Mexican holiday that most Mexicans don’t celebrate. Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not the day of Mexican independence.  That would be September 16.  Rather, Cinco de […]

I recently had a conversation with a friend in which said friend mentioned to me that he’s not a big fan of “fancy cocktails,” but instead preferred the simplicity of two ingredient drinks, with his go-to choice being the grapefruit and vodka tag-team known as the Greyhound. Implicit in his tone was the notion that […]