In today's enlightened cocktailian age, it's weird to think that Frank Sinatra's favorite drink was Jack Daniel's on the rocks with water. I mean, the guy had been around the world a few times, both literally and figuratively. He must have had the opportunity to try anything and everything. The...

I just can't seem to get myself in sync for the big spirits-specific days this year. When St. Patrick's Day rolled around and everyone was quaffing Irish whiskey, all I could think about was Scotch. And now that Cinco de Mayo is almost upon us, I'm thrilling to...

I mostly write about booze, and what's wrong with that? I like to drink and I like to write about the stuff I drink. But drinking isn't the only thing I do, oh no. For instance, I also like to eat. In fact, eating is an essential part of drinking....

The 2013 New York Yankees: Injuries on top of injuries. Newly penurious owners. A lineup of assorted castoffs and veterans past their prime. Not a pretty picture -- in fact, it looks to be the weakest team the franchise has put on the field in at least two decades.

This...

It was a Wednesday afternoon. I was taking care of my two-year-old daughter when the phone rang. It was my friend, publicist James Monahan. "How are you, my friend?

"Cut to the chase, pal," I said tersely. "The kid doesn't like it when Daddy talks on the phone."

Do you love Irish whiskey but you don't want to be a sheep and drink it for St. Patrick's Day? And would you rather eat moldy shamrocks than drink those horrid green cocktails that every bar whips up around this time of year? Believe me, I know the feeling. Not...

Ah, the Sequester. A catchy name for one of the lamest and most depressing of the many, many budget battles that Obama and the "Rethuglicans," as HuffPo readers like to call them, have engaged in over the last four years. If the debt ceiling crisis was like trying to avoid...

Unless you're actually a professional bartender, you probably haven't given much thought to how a given bottle of spirits will affect your job. I certainly never thought about it until I was chatting with a friend behind the stick about Plymouth Gin's gorgeous new bottle not too long...

I have a secret to share, one which until now only a few close friends have known, and which even my wife did not find out until recently:

I love the Monkees.

I don't mean it like, when I hear "Last Train To Clarksville" or "Daydream Believer" on the radio,...

'Twas the night before Scotchmas and all through the house
Not a bottle was open -- not even the Famous Grouse.
I wished I was nestled all snug in my bed
While visions of single malts danced through my head
But instead I was on line...

It seems to me like just about everyone could use a drink a little more than usual in recent weeks. Hurricane Sandy, a bruising presidential election, the looming fiscal cliff, Donald Trump calling for revolution, you name it -- it all cries out for a bottle and a glass. Thankfully,...

At age 97, more than eight decades into his remarkable career, Irving Fields is the last of the original generation of cocktail pianists who tickled the ivories in Manhattan's swankiest nightspots in the 1930s and '40s. He's also a songwriter whose tunes have been performed and recorded by the likes...

The calendar may read October, but if you love whiskey, it's like Christmas is already here. As the weather gets colder, distilleries unlock their vaults and empty their casks to release special limited edition bottlings aimed at collectors and connoisseurs. Of all the limited editions out there, few have a...

Apart from the odd glass of Jameson's at corner Irish bars which don't look like they could make a passable cocktail, I've managed to ignore Irish whiskey pretty successfully for most of my drinking life. And really, it wasn't the whiskey, it was me. "It's kind of like Scotch whisky,...

The first couple of weeks after Labor Day are a doozy. It still looks like summer. It still feels like summer. But all of a sudden the rules change. The douchebags who so graciously departed for the Hamptons in June have returned en masse. Kids are back in school. People...

Did you know that in Rio I'm known as the guy who made Christina Hendricks laugh? Well, I am. Sort of. OK, so I'm stretching it a little, but it's close enough to factual that I can get away with saying it. More or less.

I mean, it's not like...

I've seen a lot of obituaries for Tony Martin, and they all hit the obvious marks -- dozens of hit singles from the '30s into the rock n' roll era; actor in countless classic musical films; married for 60 years to the legendary Cyd Charisse; and of course the amazing...

Depending on who you ask, I traveled to Rio de Janeiro a couple of weeks ago to witness what was either the biggest and best bartending competition on the planet, or an elaborate PR gambit by a very large multinational company. And based on what I experienced, both sides would...

I was ten years old, during the height of the disco era, when my father first took me to the nondescript two-story building on 55th and 3rd for burgers and beverages -- beer for him, Coke for me. I didn't know anything about P.J. Clarke's, apart from what Dad had...

When I was a kid, I always wondered why the traditional, clichéd Father's Day gifts -- things like ties or cologne -- were so popular. "Why would Dad want this?" I'd ask myself as I'd hand over another uninspired gift that my mother had helped me pick out (they were...