Liquor and Spirits

$750 Scotch: Glenlivet’s 1969 Limited Edition Cellar Collection

$750 Scotch: Glenlivet’s 1969 Limited Edition Cellar Collection

Bushmills 1608 for St. Paddy’s Day

Mixing Up a Hurricane, or How to Best While Away the Hours While the Winds Blow

ANVIL BAR & REFUGE'S THE LAST WORD

COMMUNITY BAR'S F.M.B.

THE HARP'S LIQUID COCAINE

Yaga's

Goombay Smash

KAY'S LOUNGE

Three Wise Men

Cavatore Italian Restaurant's

Cavatore's Coffee

¡Viva la Margarita!

The drink that changed the way we eat

SHAY MCELROY'S

OATMEAL COOKIE

Mixing It Up

The world's best chefs have turned their attention to cocktails, with surprising results

Best Mint Julep

The world's best chefs have turned their attention to cocktails, with surprising results

Breakfast With a Bourbon Expert

Chris Morris is sipping coffee at the bar. It's dark and sleepy at 9:30 am inside the Downing Street Pub, a cigar-and-mustache type of place where an imposing rack of whiskey takes up most of the back wall.Morris jumps behind the bar like he owns it and grabs three bottles of bourbon, which he made ... More >>

Bacon Bourbon: The Next Big Thing?

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttThe winning cocktail​​If the results of Monday night's Manhattan Experience contest are anything to go by, the answer is yes. It appears -- for now, at least -- that bacon hasn't entirely jumped the shark. The winning entry in the Woodford Reserve Manhattan ... More >>

Upcoming Events

© David Nathan-Maister and Oxygenee Ltd.​Although it's taking place next month, spots will fill up quickly for Absinthe: Revealed, so we're doing you a favor by telling you about it now. On December 5 at 7:30 p.m., Avant Garden will be hosting a "celebration of tastings and truths" about o ... More >>

Duck Fat: the New Butter

Is the theme of the awesome Branch Water Tavern "fatty foods for lean times"?

The New American Whiskeys

​Branch Water Tavern, the subject of this week's Café review, has a collection of rare American whiskeys behind the bar that really widened my horizons. St. George single-malt tastes like it was made in Scotland. It starts out as dark-brown ale and is distilled in a tiny copper pot still. It' ... More >>

The Moonshine's A Harsh Mistress, East Texas (Of Course) Man Learns

Uncle Slaton's got his Texan prideBack in the thickets with his Asian brideHe's got an Airstream trailer and a Holstein cowStill makes whiskey 'cause he still knows how -- James McMurtry, "Chocktaw Bingo" Thanks to an informant's tip, a real-life Uncle Slaton was busted earlier this month in Smith C ... More >>

Whiskey Class with Ryan Rouse

​In college we knew this guy who was always trying and failing to organize a fundraiser around drinking. He clearly never talked to Cathy Clark, who runs Live It Big, a charity dedicated to helping small nonprofits get off the ground. Many of Clark's "camps" educate attendees about spirits o ... More >>

Bobby Heugel's Weekly Cocktail: Mint Julep, Part 1 - Bourbon

​The Kentucky Derby is right around the corner, which means that outside of Christmas, more bourbon will be sold over the next two weeks for various Derby celebrations than during any other time period. If you're one of these thousands of people buying bourbon, there are a few simple rules you ... More >>

Bobby Heugel's Weekly Cocktail: Mint Julep, Part 2 - The Julep

​It's almost Derby time, and the anticipation is building. Celebrating the winning horse crossing the finish line, holding a mint julep, and laughing at all the poor suckers who will have to pay up on their harmless $5 bets is among the best feelings one can have as summer slowly creeps toward ... More >>

Recipe: Sidecar for the 21st Century

​Yesterday was "Lemonade Stand Day" in the City of Houston. And lemonade happens to be the perfect ingredient for our favorite cocktail. Try our recipe, and you'll likely lobby for Lemonade Day every day. The sidecar is a delectable cocktail said to have originated in the early 20th century. ... More >>

Bobby Heugel's Weekly Cocktail: The Margarita

​Nobody wants to talk about margaritas on May 6, the day after Cinco de Mayo. However, rather than avoiding discussing the source of the dreaded May 6 hangover, we thought we'd confront the Tex-Mex monster head-on. You can almost smell the lingering stench of artificial margarita mixes and poo ... More >>

Beaver's Bloody Mary

​I've been hearing how amazing the Bloody Mary at Beaver's (2310 Decatur St.) is ever since running into Chef Jonathan Jones one night a few months back at Anvil. He raved about his bacon-infused vodka, which seemed interesting, but not particularly alluring to me. Nevertheless, I was curious ... More >>

Stirred and Shaken: Sugarcane's Scarlet Letter

Photo by Troy Fields​I took my friend Lee for a cocktail at Sugarcane (1919 Washington Avenue, 713-864-9463) to treat him special in honor of his imminent departure for a summer in Mexico. Normally that situation would call for a well drink and a "see you in September." But he's going to Monte ... More >>

Game Time: Tennessee Whiskey -- Jack Daniel vs Willie Wonka

caption goes here​Having just returned from vacation literally about eight minutes ago, today's pearls of wisdom will not be sports-related (sports resumes in this space tomorrow). In my best efforts to derive some sort of synergy out of the 18-hour odyssey I just endured (Elkhart, IN to Houst ... More >>

Bobby Heugel's Weekly Cocktail: The Maple Leaf

​Why write about a drink whose names suggest such a pro-Canadian agenda in, of all states, Texas? Because right about now, we are probably all wishing we were in Canada. The upcoming weekend in Montreal sounds nice - high of 77 and low of 56. Hell, sitting through a Celine Dion concert, dealin ... More >>

FEAST'S CAMPARI AND SODA

​Why write about a drink whose names suggest such a pro-Canadian agenda in, of all states, Texas? Because right about now, we are probably all wishing we were in Canada. The upcoming weekend in Montreal sounds nice - high of 77 and low of 56. Hell, sitting through a Celine Dion concert, dealin ... More >>

Jackson's Watering Hole's Sazerac

​Why write about a drink whose names suggest such a pro-Canadian agenda in, of all states, Texas? Because right about now, we are probably all wishing we were in Canada. The upcoming weekend in Montreal sounds nice - high of 77 and low of 56. Hell, sitting through a Celine Dion concert, dealin ... More >>

Stirred & Shaken: Jackson's Watering Hole's Sazerac

Troy Fields​Heading into New Orleans on I-55, just before you cross the fourth-longest bridge in the world (and the second-longest in south Louisiana), you'll pass a couple remote restaurants/bars that for reasons I can't explain fit perfectly in the alluvial landscape. The exterior of NOLA-th ... More >>

More Than Margaritas at TQLA

No, not champagne flutes, tequila tasting glasses at TQLA. ​As the name would suggest, TQLA is serious about, well, tequila. Bottles of every shape and size glow seductively along red backlit shelving covering much of the rear wall. One-hundred-and-sixty-seven varieties, to be exact, with eigh ... More >>

Bartender Chat: Ashelee Wells of III Forks

​When I first visited III Forks to interview chef/ owner Ozzie Rogers, I couldn't help but notice how invitingly elegant the bar area was; bright and modern, yet simultaneously classic and timeless. So recently, after a long day at the office, I headed back to check it out properly. I found ... More >>

Made in Texas

Think all bourbon comes from Kentucky? Think again.

Irish Whiskey: Keep It Simple for St. Pat's

Turner recommends Jameson Gold, if you can afford a glass.​Don't gild the lily tonight when you're celebrating St. Patrick's Day. That's the advice of whiskey connoisseur and former front-of-house man for Branch Water Tavern, the effusive Evan Turner. "Keep it simple. Drink it neat. Those pro ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Italian winemaker Ezio Trinchero​Starting this Saturday, there are plenty of inexpensive ways to get your gourmet on in Houston this week, and it all kicks off at Block 7 Wine Company. Fresh off last night's wine dinner featuring acclaimed Italian winemaker Ezio Trinchero, Block 7 Wine Compan ... More >>

Build-A-Bar: Crème de Violete

Mmmmm. . .violets.​Hopefully you've all gone out and gathered the requisite supplies, so we can get down to the real business at hand -- booze, and how to use it. Sure, you could just drink it neat. In fact, that's the first thing I do whenever I'm trying out a new spirit or liqueur. It's the ... More >>

Ransom Old Tom Gin: Not Your Mother's Gin

​A friend and I had just settled in to the bar at Simone on Sunset, a new wine and cocktail bar in Rice Village, when she commenced her preaching on the subject of gin. "I consider myself a gin missionary," she said. "A ginvangelist?" I punned back. "Yes," she declared. "A ginvangelist!" Sh ... More >>

Top 5 Simple Foods to Pair with Scotch and Whiskey

smiling_da_vinci​ I recently started drinking whiskey for the same reason most other people do -- because someone they knew was drinking whiskey. For the past decade, I'd stayed away from the brown stuff, because all the Crown shots from college had left a mental (not to mention liver) scar. ... More >>

Top Five: Liqueurs on Blue Bell Vanilla

Choices...choices...​Since I'm not a Texas native, I don't get Lone-Starry-eyed at the mere mention of Blue Bell ice cream, but I defer to its greatness. Blue Bell is not simply a taste of quirky provincial pride -- like Cincinnati chili -- but a champion amongst half-gallons, and a contender ... More >>

Build-A-Bar: Pimm's No. 1

Pimm's and John Donne: Very, very British.​Pimm's is another spirit in the grand tradition of booze as medicine. Its creator, James Pimm, developed the liqueur as a digestive aid for the patrons of his London oyster bar. The flavor caught the fancy of the British people. Say Pimm's out loud. I ... More >>

Pink Gin: Nobody Talks Bad about Plymouth

​In Belize, my friend Kiv taunted an Englishman for sipping a pink cocktail, in a waterside tavern. After some words ending with the trite "You and what army?" the man and his buddies - British SAS commandos on leave from jungle training -- promptly heaved Kiv over a railing, into the cholera ... More >>

Liquor Treat: Using Leftover Halloween Sweets for Six Candy Cocktails

Photo by terren in VirginiaCandy overload. Must. Make. Cocktails.​Once Halloween has come and gone, I'm always left with a giant pile of Halloween candy. I have eaten it, tortured people by bringing it in to work, and baked it into all kinds of cakes and desserts. But this year, I plan on tryi ... More >>

A Chat with Tequila Master Francisco Alcaraz

Photo courtesy Patrón Spirits.Patrón master distiller Francisco Alcaraz has been working with tequila since 1968. He distilled his first tequila for the U.S.-based label Patrón in 1989.​By the time the Eagles released "Tequila Sunrise," the first single from their second album Desperado in ... More >>

On the Rocks: Cocktails Named After Musicians for New Year's Eve

Have a G.G. Allin and bring in the New Year indecently!​Everything is more exciting, sometimes even redeeming, when it has a cool name: Sexual acts, alcoholic beverages, movies, albums, etc. OK, maybe just sexual acts and drinks. Since there are thousands of sites that have the former covere ... More >>

Your Guide to Gothic Drinking

Silar​As Houston Press's resident goth, back-cracker, and hydroponist, we remain the expert on all things dark and spooky. Also, as a writer we can assure you that we know a thing or three about drinking. They say that the answer isn't in the bottom of a bottle, but we have a sneaking suspicio ... More >>

Heavy Fuel: How to Drink Like a Rock Star

Kinda like this but not at all.​If you want to be a real rock star, you can go ahead and forget about those Red Bull and vodkas you're so fond of. Legit rockers are fueled by bigger, harder and flat-out weirder doses of alcohol than the mere mortals hitting on the bartender at your local wate ... More >>

How To: Drink Like a Rock Star

Kinda like this but not at all.​Sure, most rock stars are probably happy with any bottle that happens to be within reach. Some rock stars, however, prefer to refine and perfect their booze intake, settling on a signature cocktail that suits their outsized personalities and consequence-free li ... More >>