I’ve considered aging cocktails before, but am now wondering if I could put oak chips in a jar with the alcohol to offset needing 6 bottles of bourbon to fill a barrel?

Video reference for why you should stir your manhattans.

to hell with martini glasses and Bourbon, a real Manhattan is made with rye and lives on the rocks in a tumbler.

Real talk.

For those who need to know how to make my old fashioned.

You see, what I do, what I’ve always done, is set a sugar cube in a glass and then introduce bitters. Set the thin orange slices in like this. Yes,you see, and the cherry, a maraschino, at its middle and wait until the sugar takes on this burnt brown stain. Then water it and muddle it until you’ve got this mixture you see and then well, yes, so ever slowly dribble whiskey down the glass. Then stir and stir and stir.

File this under “something I will be doing”: aging cocktails. Jeffrey Morgenthaler has a great website full of recipes and tips for cocktails. I’ll be researching this further, but a barrel is ~$75 and I believe I’ve found a solid Manhattan recipe.

Worth noting (and I’ll soon try): there is no shaking or stirring necessary to a martini should your glass and gin be stored in a freezer.

couple eggnogs on the fly

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 a half cup of 1/2 and 1/2

two yolks

two tablespoons sugar thoroughly mixed

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Whip the reserved whites till frothy and throw some sugar in there as well. Two or three ounces of Maker’s Mark over ice in each tumbler, divide the yolk mixture between the two, finish with some egg white and fresh nutmeg. 

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Source: Michael Ruhlman

An Old Fashioned compared to a steak.

A well-made Old Fashioned is, as I’ve heard the Brooklyn bartender and writer St. John Frizzell say, the drink equivalent of taking a nice cut of steak and seasoning it with a bit of salt and pepper.  It keeps the spirit front and center, but makes it more palatable by simultaneously toning it down and enlivening it.

Here we have what is possibly the world’s most perfect martini. I’ve copied the recipe below, but I encourage you to read the whole post. I’ve called this a “blue eyes martini” and quite like the name.

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A pair (2) of large, crystal martini glasses with a capacity of at least 7 ounce each. Only the classic sillhouette will do. No swirly or rose-colored stems or any other ornamentation is acceptable.

A sturdy, stainless-steel Martini shaker of the familiar shape and a generous size.

Four (4) large fresh Cerignola, California or other brine-cured green olives.

A small piece of aged Danish Blue Cheese of the dry, crumbly variety.

A large quantity of clear, hard ice, frozen from distilled water.

A hammer.

A kitchen knife.

A small spoon.

Two (2) extra-long toothpicks or simple swizzle sticks.

Schweppes Club Soda.

Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth.

Belvedere Vodka, from Poland, stored in freezer overnight.

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1. Wrap some ice cubes in your towel and bash them with your hammer until they’re all cracked into thirds or quarters.
2. Fill each glass to the rim with the cracked ice.
3. Pour the Club Soda over the cracked ice, filling the glasses. Set aside.
4. Pour a couple ounces of Dry Vermouth into the shaker. Cover and swirl it around a bit. Pour out the Vermouth leaving a coating around the inside of the shaker.
5. Hammer some more cubes lightly. Just a few whacks ought to do it this time.
6. Fill the shaker with the ice, about 3/4 of the way.
7. Pour in the ice-cold Belvedere Vodka, covering the ice. Cap the shaker. Set aside. Other vodkas may be better for other things, but not for this.
8. Take the flat of a kitchen knife and press down on an olive until you feel the pit. Carefully squeeze one end of the olive with your fingers. The pit should pop out. Using a small spoon, fill the cavity with Blue Cheese. Put two olives each on a swizzle stick. Set aside.
9. Vigorously shake the shaker in a violent up and down motion. When you feel you’ve done it enough, do it some more. It’s important that the shaking sliver the ice. In classic Gin Martini preparation it is frequently said that a violent shaking will “bruise” the Gin. That may well be, but Vodka is a hearty liquid that blooms in its return to the near-frozen state from whence it came.
10. Pour the ice and Club Soda out of the glasses. The Soda enables the trace amount of Vermouth in the drink to cling to the side of the glass surounding the pure slurry of Vodka and imparting a hint of taste with each sip. Trust me.
11. Uncap the shaker and pour the drinks. An occasional back and forth rotation of the shaker will facilitate the process. The final product will be thickish, with a slightly slushy quality.
12. Drop in the olives.
13. Enjoy slowly. Chat about the issues of the day. Smoke.
14. Repeat as necessary.

Great advice for stocking your home bar can be found in the Case for Cocktails.

Start with the ingredients for your three favorite cocktails and build from there.