Some events current, some less so. Mr. Eric Felten of the Wall Street Journal commemorates the “delightfully vulgar Blagojevich affair” with the cocktails du jour–and of yesteryear. His recipe for Cohasset Punch, itself an ingredient in Saul Bellow’s Dangling Man: 1½ oz dark rum 1 oz sweet vermouth juice of ½ lemon ½ oz syrup [...]

Eric Felten has finally–or once again, I can’t say–gotten ’round to the Manhattan (“Democracy in a Glass,” The Wall Street Journal). As usual, he is quite informative and generally correct in his opinions. But while he does well to call for a better class of fruit (a Luxardo marasca cherry), I’ve never regretted the day [...]

Had a perfectly horrible Sidecar on Saturday evening at a local called Fat Cat and was forced to drink beer for the remainder of the evening. At least they had the Belgians. Is a Sidecar–1/4 lemon, 1/2 oz. Triple Sec, 1 oz. brandy–really so difficult? My Montana correspondent has forwarded some “Internet humour” making the [...]

Is it a cocktail, this feeling of joy? — Cole Porter, “At Long Last Love” Cocktail Nation is dead. Take Mel Tormé — please — off the hi-fi. Unplug the lava lamp and closet your monogrammed bowling shirts. The ersatz hepcats have fallen on their own swizzle sticks and bleed blue curaçao from their wounds. [...]