The Journal
Step behind the bar.
Technique, seasonal drinking, and what our bartenders are pouring right now.
Blood Orange Mimosa: A Colorful and Zesty Brunch Upgrade
The mimosa has been a brunch staple since 1925, when bartender Frank Meier first served the champagne-and-orange combination at the Ritz Hotel...
· 9 min read
Pineapple Rum Cocktail: Minimalist Ingredients, Maximalist Flavor
The best version of a pineapple rum cocktail uses three ingredients. Rum, pineapple, lime—and the tension between them is what makes the...
· 8 min read
Dark and Stormy Drink: The Moody, Ginger-Heavy Bermuda Icon
Two ingredients, one of the most recognizable cocktails in the world, and the only drink in history to have been successfully defended...
· 8 min read
Coconut Mojito Recipe: A Velvet Twist on a Highball Classic
The mojito is one of the most structurally disciplined cocktails in existence—five ingredients calibrated around the tension between rum’s weight, lime’s sharpness,...
· 9 min read
Spicy Pineapple Margarita: Where Heat Meets Tropical Chill
A classic margarita is a three-element system: spirit, acid, sweet. Add pineapple and chili and you haven’t just added ingredients—you’ve added a...
· 8 min read
Rum Runner Recipe: The Florida Keys' Favorite Liquid Getaway
Rum Runner Recipe: The Florida Keys’ Favorite Liquid Getaway The Rum Runner wasn’t designed. It was improvised—built from a storeroom full of...
· 9 min read
Three Dots and a Dash Cocktail: History & Recipe of Tiki's Secret Code
Three Dots and a Dash Cocktail: History & Recipe of Tiki’s Secret Code Most cocktail names are arbitrary. Three Dots and a...
· 9 min read
Planter's Punch Cocktail: Recipe & History of a Rum Legend
Planter’s Punch Cocktail: Recipe & History of a Rum Legend Most cocktails have a fixed recipe. Planter’s Punch has a formula—and that...
· 9 min read
Suffering Bastard Cocktail: A Gin-Spiked Classic for the Morning After
There are very few cocktails with a documented origin story this specific: a WWII bartender, Allied troops suffering from bad wartime liquor,...
· 9 min read
Virgin Mai Tai Recipe: All the Spirit, None of the Proof
Most virgin Mai Tais taste like tropical juice with a garnish. They’re sweet, flat, and missing everything that made the original drink...
· 9 min read
Jungle Bird Cocktail: Campari-Fueled Tiki Cocktail
Tiki cocktails are supposed to be sweet, tropical, and uncomplicated. The Jungle Bird breaks every one of those conventions. Built around Campari—a...
· 9 min read
Original 1944 Trader Vic's Mai Tai Recipe
Original 1944 Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Recipe The Mai Tai is one of the most ordered cocktails in the world—and one of...
· 9 min read
