gin


August 17, 2015

Happy Hour: Don’t Call This a Saketini

by Kayoko Akabori

I deplore the word “Saketini.” The whole idea that you can name a cocktail by adding “tini” to the end of it is just plain juvenile and not creative at all. Which is not fair because I’ve been drinking a hell out of these Martinis, subbing sake for vermouth, and the name Saketini is not so far off. […]

August 30, 2013

Happy Hour: The Saigon Correspondent

by Fredo Ceraso

Fact: A gin and tonic is the quintessential summer cocktail. My grandmother Margaret knew this and would serve the iconic drink from a gallon handle of Gordon’s gin topping it off with a lime and Schweppes tonic water. She made the switch over from Rye Manhattans after Memorial Day and it was gin and tonics […]

June 14, 2013

Kayo’s Kitchen @Hopkins Buffet: Ume Gin Cocktail

by Kayoko Akabori

Welcome to a special edition of Kayo’s Kitchen: Live from Hopkins Buffet! For those who follow our Instagram, you may have asked yourselves, “Where is the Hopkins Buffet?” Well, it’s Yoko’s house of course! God forbid she should name her place something bore-a-thon like Yoko’s Kitchen! I tested out a new cocktail creation recently in […]

February 8, 2013

Happy Hour: Fraise Sauvage for Valentine’s Day

by Fredo Ceraso

“Champagne for our real friends and real pains for our sham friends.” – A toast from Harry’s Bar in Paris circa 1920 This Valentine’s Day, make sure your pre or post-romantic dinner drink is the classic champagne cocktail. The French 75 is the grand dame of champagne cocktails and has been the basis for dozens […]

November 30, 2012

The PDT Project: Blackbeard

by Payman Bahmani

The Blackbeard debuted on the PDT cocktail menu in the Summer of 2008. It’s another creation by former PDT bartender Daniel Eun, who now attends law school full time but occasionally manages to squeeze a few shifts every now and then at The Varnish in LA. Apparently the drink’s name came about when he ended […]

November 9, 2012

The PDT Project: Bijou

by Payman Bahmani

There was a bit of bad weather last week that stole my focus away from the PDT Project, but now that Sandy’s been replaced by something more manageable for New Yorkers (a blizzard), I can refocus my attention and trudge on to the next recipe in the PDT Cocktail Book, the Bijou. Bijou is French […]

October 12, 2012

The PDT Project: Berlioni

by Payman Bahmani

When creating cocktails, bartenders draw inspiration from a wide array of sources. The most common of those sources are other bartenders and other classic cocktails of the past. Today’s cocktail, the Berlioni, draws inspiration from both another bartender and a classic cocktail. Berlin-based bartender Gonçalo de Sousa created the Berlioni as a twist on the […]

September 21, 2012

The PDT Project: Bee’s Knees

by Payman Bahmani

About a century ago, to call something “the bee’s knees” meant you considered it to be of top notch quality. It’s an apt name for this week’s cocktail, a simple combination of gin, honey, and lemon juice that proves sophistication doesn’t demand complexity. The historic origins of the Bee’s Knees are murky, although the consensus […]

August 24, 2012

The PDT Project: Aviation

by Payman Bahmani

The Aviation is one of the last great cocktails created before Prohibition, having been invented just a few years before the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. It made its first appearance in print in 1916 in Recipes for Mixed Drinks by Hugo Ensslin, who bartended at the Hotel Wallick gin Times Square near 43rd and […]

August 17, 2012

The PDT Project: Astoria Bianco

by Payman Bahmani

Before Jim Meehan opened PDT, he honed his craft behind the bar at a few different bars and restaurants in New York City. One of those places was Gramercy Tavern, and the Astoria Bianco was among the notable cocktails he created while tending bar there. It is a variation of an old classic called the […]