For those of you who missed yesterday’s Kansas City Star, here’s a list of some worthy cocktails and spirits reads. For those of you who did see it, read on—there are a few extra bits that didn’t make it into the printed version. The King of Vodka—Linda Himelstein recounts Pyotr Smirnov’s rise from serfdom to… Continue Reading
Cocktail book reviews are usually pretty simple. Look over the list of 15 or 20 titles published in the past year, request review copies of maybe a dozen, then quickly trim the reviewable list to half a dozen. Not this go-round. There are a lot of good writers doing good work out there, and today’s… Continue Reading
Time for the happy dance. My monthly cocktails and spirits column for the Kansas City Star is a finalist for Best Newspaper Food Column in the Association of Food Journalists annual competition. Jill Silva, the Star’s food editor, was tipped for Best Newspaper Special Food Project for her piece on food deserts, “Far Away From… Continue Reading
Back in the early 1990s, Saveur ran an article about Kansas wheat that was so compelling I tore it out and filed it away for reference. Whoever that Judith Fertig was, I thought, truly understood and loved “flyover country” and its food. When I finally met her a few years later, I realized not only… Continue Reading
Like many of you, I’ve got a few dusty bottles on my shelf. Things purchased with a certain cocktail in mind, never to be made again. Seasonal things that didn’t sound good over the winter. Or things that just got lost in the shuffle. Some—the Irish whiskies, the rhum agricole, the Colorado gin—will taste perfectly… Continue Reading