—Christian

With less than a year before the next presidential election, a political organization from down in Atlanta has a revolutionary idea for how to fix our country. Self-described as an “anti-movement,” this group of artists/poets/philosophers/etc. dubs themselves “The Cocktail Party” (cheers!). At their core, the group believes true political discourse has fallen by the wayside with our country suffering as a result. The solution? Cocktails, of course. And they provide some sound reasoning for this recommendation.
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—Tessa

It wasn’t my intention to begin my column about drinking in Antarctica while sitting at the bar at 8am on a Tuesday, but now that it’s happened, it seems like a very fitting start to these cold- and bourbon-fueled insights into alcohol enthusiasm at the end of the world. My name is Tessa and I’m a vagabond artist and voluntary canary down the coal mine currently working as a cook down at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. For the next fourish months, I’ll be working and drinking from my little home on the Ross Island Ice Shelf, and will be regaling you with tales of inebriation from the very, very deep South.
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—Christian

Last week we talked about the bar itself. In Part Two of the home bar series we look at the various tools of the trade. While you can definitely get by with a basic shaker, strainer and bar spoon, there are few more fun toys that will make your life easier and increase your potential repertoire. Take a look and outfit the bar to fit your needs.

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Jiggers

Jigger

Slanted jigger

While I’ve seen people rant on blogs and message boards about how it’s a sign of weakness to see a bartender use a jigger, the flat truth is that when making a cocktail more complex than gin and tonic (do those mix?), you want to be pretty accurate with your measurements or else you’re going to end up with an imbalanced drink. Having nothing to do with Jay Z, the classic jigger is metal with a cup on either side (they come in various combinations of volume ranging from .5oz to 2oz). You can also get the slanted jigger with volume lines which is a little more versatile. (And just to note, a standard shot glass is just over 1.5oz when topped off.) Read more »