The act of serving alcoholic beverages has changed little throughout history. A person bellies up, places one of their elbows on the bar top, and either knows exactly what they want or must be convinced in some way by the bartender to try something new in order to remedy their indecision. There’s many methods but…

Now that it’s in season, I’ve been mulling over quince quite a bit. The days when we’d just make a syrup and plug it into a drink are over. I don’t know, it seems boring to me but there are days when I’d rather just do this. Ever since we had to raise prices at…

in·spi·ra·tion /ˌinspəˈrāSH(ə)n/ 1. the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. The quality of being inspired, especially when evident in something. A person or thing that inspires. A sudden brilliant, creative, or timely idea. The divine influence believed to have led to the writing of the Bible. 2. the…

An update on the Cheap Date cocktail post from yesterday…I made one during service last night for the gang (Denise, Angel) to try and it tasted pretty flat. Then Angel made a cocktail he’s been working on and it was so much better. Well ok, then. That’s the way it goes. He’s got a cool…

A couple of regulars, G&M, came in the other night and told me I should go on vacation with people and make cocktails for them. “We’ll all go to Hawaii and you can make us all mai tais.” Sounds sort of fun depending on how high maintenance the people are…Now that I think about it,…

“They” say it takes about six months to fully acclimate to a move. I never really got the gist of that one until now. It’s been almost two months in now and I’m still trying to grasp it all but I’ve moved a lot since I came to LA. Silver Lake – Marina del Rey…

Before I started at Rustic my foray into the annals of cocktaildom was confined to a few good classics like the Salty Dog (gin), a dry gin martini, a Tom Collins, and every so often, a really shitty Cosmopolitan. Forget even something as simple and delicious as an old fashioned. The places I worked still…

I ask the real questions here: Would ranch work as a cocktail? Let’s talk. We know the main ingredients are buttermilk, sour cream, and mayo, then garlic, dill, parsley, and some salt and pepper. Hmm. You could first analyze it into all its ingredients. There are some dill cocktails out there. There is dill in…

On my way to work and on the return home I drive by good old Liquor Town on La Brea. It’s a stretch just off the 10 freeway along an odd, tangled and interesting thoroughfare sprinkled with other places such as Teddy’s, Garu’s, Century Liquor, Sunshine Liquor, and my personal favorite, Grand Prize. For whatever…

The Seasonal Bar and the bartender behind it has suffered a bit of a blow to its ego this morning in the form of a rejection letter from a perspective publisher. The second this year but one that I thought was so very close. The company, Chelsea Green, is based out of both England and…

If you’re old enough, the common conversation opener during today is “What were you doing the day it happened?” On 9/11 I was out with my buddy, Zipper, mowing the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) out on Prim Road in Colchester, VT. Just now I looked back at the location on Google maps to sort of…

This one’s a little piece of drinking history for you young kids out there. Back in the day (early 2000s) there was a little tv show called Insomniac. It ran four seasons. The premise? Comedian Dave Attell would travel from city to city for his comedy shows, perform, and then go enjoy the night life…