Our era will be be remembered for human tragedy and bacon fudge, but should also be known as the Cocktail Apotheosis -- in which cocktails are extremely complicated culinary works of art.

I've had three of the most remarkable meals of my eating life within the last year, and I've had them all while sitting on a barstool.

When the conversation turns to cocktails, as it often does at Food & Wine, there's one person we listen to loud and clear: Jim Meehan. We asked Meehan to pick his 10 favorite new spots in the country. He obliged.

I have teamed up with the awesome BarChick ladies to bring you a definitive A-Z guide of eating and drinking in London -- Mighty Spice vs. BarChick. I do the food, and they do the booze.

Spending even just a couple of minutes watching the bartending wizards behind today's best cocktail dens is enough to make any aspiring home bartender feel a little inadequate.