It connects to the collective cultural consciousness: the myths of tax rebels sticking it to Alexander Hamilton or outlaws at their stills, deep in the hollers of Kentucky or Junior Johnson outrunning the law on the back roads of North Carolina, packing illegal hooch in the trunk. Walker Percy wrote that “bourbon does for me what the piece of cake did for Proust.” Distillers have been appealing to this feeling-something visceral and personal that transcends price points or mash bills-for years.

*Advanced technique: Get two bar sets of differing size and use the two metal shaker halves (one large, one medium) to shake drinks, rather than a glass. Does anyone have a mixing glass from before the 80s? Does it have another recipe, or is the type larger? Is this like the recipe books I’ve found from the 70s that have really gross-sounding instructions for making seafood gelatin, and I just shouldn’t bother? I imagine the Cosmopolitan is a fairly recent addition. So here’s the challenge: Are there any bar sets that go beyond the… It’s also a good guide to a few classic drinks (and a few not-so-classic). It’s a welcome to a new stage of your life. The gifted bar set is a right of passage. There are two in the Toothpick Swords household.* You’ve seen these, they come in bar sets, the kind given for wedding, 21st birthday and housewarming gifts. They may be printed on the hundreds of thousands of mixing glasses.

The most popular cocktail recipes may not be in books. Sure, the situation for a vodka soda may not come often, but it’s a drink that shouldn’t be written off as something for those lacking imagination.

The criticism of the drink’s biggest fans shouldn’t be that they lack taste, but that they seek to make all situations the same kind of situations, but that’s a criticism that can be levied at the consummate neat whiskey drinker or the APA aficionado. It’s not something I’ll be making a home. I’m not turning to the vodka soda as a preference. The flavor of the vodka came through the soda clearly. I tend to drink a lot of seltzer, and the waitstaff at this place could be very attentive, leading to constant refills and frequent trips to the men’s room.īut I had compromised nothing. And even though it’s above freezing, there’s too much snow on the ground for a gin and tonic to make sense.Ī club soda didn’t feel right. We’ll be here for a bit, so I need something tall. It feels unsavory to have a whiskey at two in the afternoon. A bar after brunch is the only place we can talk. The cafes are packed with undergrads on laptops. A friend asks if I want to meet quickly to catch up on a few things.

It’s afternoon on the first tolerable Saturday of a harsh winter. It’s the drink for when you want a drink, but you don’t want to drink. Its gossamer qualities make it easy to forget a bit later. The vodka soda is mildly-flavored, easy to make and refreshing. It’s a cocktail designed for refreshment and sold to people who won’t compromise by just not having a drink in the first place.īut the things that make the vodka soda so milquetoast are also what make it worth drinking from time to time. It was a Bland Alcohol Delivery System for drinkers who wanted a buzz but lacked patience and taste. It’s for anyone who fears flavor, eschews adventure and would rather not learn to like the bitter bite of even the weakest mass-market tonic. The vodka soda is for those noncommittal to taste. Two, clear neutral liquids mixed together with a small bit of lime thrown in for what seemed like strictly cosmetic purposes. I didn’t know it was a thing anyone regularly ordered until the people I drank around (or who drank around me) and I became calorie conscious.

Martini toothpicks