For those who absolutely cannot wait til Christmas — eff Thanksgiving, you say — Melrose Umbrella Co. is already all decked out for the holidays. And I mean, ALL. DECKED. OUT. The Miracle on Melrose Avenue bar is only one of about 100 of the Miracle Pop-Up Bars around the world: 94 in the U.S….
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I refuse to put up Christmas decorations when Thanksgiving hasn’t even come and gone yet. But one thing I will allow in anticipation of the holidays are the cocktails. Beautiful, rich, cozy, festive-inspired holiday cocktails. And Big Bar in Los Feliz just kicked off their new holiday menu, which includes three hot cocktails and a…
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Quick, what’s your favorite L.A. movie and which cocktail would you pair with it? If it’s Amy Heckerling’s Clueless then you’re in luck! On August 19, as part of its summer pop-up series, ArcLight Hollywood is hosting swank West Hollywood cocktail bar, Bibo Ergo Sum, in its Balcony Bar. And the talented bar crew crafted…
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Nowadays, a cocktail bar has to do more than simply follow a classic cocktail template to turn heads. Housemade ingredients and a strong garnish game aren’t going to cut it anymore. Besides, there are so many great bars with new ones practically opening every day, not to mention the breadth of talented bartenders in L.A….
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Looking for something fun and different — with a touch of nerdiness — to serve at your holiday party? Lucky for you barman Christopher Day (Bar Tribute, Redbird) created this recipe for a boozy butterbeer. Your Harry Potter-loving guests will squeal. It’s no coincidence that this recipe uses a butter-washed Black Cow Vodka as Chris…
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In my recent Los Angeles Magazine Digest blog post on the new Hollywood Walgreens I couldn’t help but gush about the Walgreens liquor section. Walgreens! I mean, it’s a drugstore which means you can pick up some toilet paper, toothpaste but also Cristal, cigars and Basil Hayden’s bourbon! Oh, and craft beer! But the one…
OK, I was gonna do a roundup of New Year’s Eve parties and dinners in LA but, damn, there are already a lot of them out there. So here’s a roundup of NYE roundups, ha! Plus, cuz I care, some extra stuff like a roundup of hangover brunches stumbling distance from you. By the way,…
I am now the owner of a brand-new $100 bar tab at Spare Room with an hour of bowling and a round of drinks at the Magic Castle with bartender Joshua Lucas! I scored the winning bid in a hard fought bidding war against Hemingway’s big guy Alex Straus. He don’t scare me! Oh yes,…
Looking for a way to get your New Year’s Eve party guests to ooh and aah? Luckily some of LA’s top punch makers — Naomi Schimek of Spare Room, Allan Katz of Cana Rum Bar and Vincenzo Marianella of Copa d’Oro — were kind enough to share their champagne punch recipes with me for Los…
I was gonna do a weekend roundup but since it’s supposed to be the end of the world tomorrow (again) according to the media (for the Mayans, it’s just the end of a key phase on the Mayan calendar), why bother? So here’s a bunch of doomsday parties to get your freak on. One. Last. Time….
In my years of CoCing, I’ve been on many a bar hop but I have to say that the Macallan-sponsored one last week that took a bunch of bloggers on a tour of three bars in L.A. and plied them with Macallan scotch had to be the fanciest. Oh hullo, here’s me sipping on a…
Day drinking takes restraint, especially when the rest of your day involves doing something other than taking naps. But for someone like me who loves full-bodied cocktails that are stirred, it’s difficult to find satisfaction in most daytime cocktails. Meh-mosas. Fortunately when someone like bartender Dave Kupchinsky of Eveleigh is making the cocktails, there’s a…
This week’s cocktail adventures had me drinking in near proximity to celebrity types as well as presenting an award about booze. Yes, pretty fancy times which were further enhanced by enjoying rare gems like $3,000 vodka and 22-year-old scotch. Monday For the inaugural Carpano Antica Formula Video awards, I had to present one of the…
How much do you love punch? Enough to indulge in a different one every day for 12 days? Well you’re in luck because Seven Grand is celebrating the countdown to Christmas with a different punch daily til the holiday, starting tonight. Yup, instead of singing that tiring “12 Days of Christmas” song, why not drink…
The inaugural Carpano Antica Formula Video Awards, an award show featuring Fernet Branca and Carpano Antica-highlighted videos by bartenders, were last night. With six categories and 37 videos to cover in two hours, the show was a bit of a booze-infused but PG-13 whirlwind in spite of emcee Dan “The Imbiber” Dunn manning the helm….
