With Derby Day just around the corner, Beverage Director Amanda Reed has been busy replacing cold-weather cocktails with spring libations. New additions include, Aubry Robinson’s Gold Soundz, which includes, White Port, Lemongrass infused Oleo-Saccharum, Black Pepper, Lemon and Fig Bitters, as well as Courtney Randell’s Le Rêve, a spring inspired martini play with Hayman’s Old…

It has been said that Winston Churchill didn’t want vermouth added to his martini, just present in the same room. It seems vermouth has been very misunderstood. Vermouth, the French pronunciation of the German word wermut (wormwood) at it’s core, is an aromatized wine (infused with botanical) that is then fortified by adding a neutral…

It’s four in the afternoon, the sun is dusty hot in the sky overhead, and we’re drinking sherry. No, we’re not on the porch and in our cream-sherry-cups with grandma . The idea that sherry is sticky, sweet, and outdated is like saying beer is for beards. No, this sherry is pale, and dry. It…

Morels. To find, cook and eat this morsel will change your life forever. Morel mushrooms are so delicious and prized that rumor has it some especially prolific spots have been handed down in wills. Hunting morels (it’s actually foraging, but these mushrooms can be so elusive that it’s regularly called hunting) can be intoxicating. Never mind the…

Spring is here, and with it comes a cornucopia of wild edibles. One of the first to arrive is the oval-faced Miner’s lettuce. With its broad leaf nodding at the end of a slender stem, the native plant loves just barely wet landscapes. In Washington it can be found growing in sandy soil, forests, thickets,…

Whether it’s American (bourbon), Scottish (Scotch), or made in a pot still and aged at least three years in wood (Irish whiskey) it is beloved the world over. With St. Patrick’s day on the horizon it’s a good excuse to get to know Ireland’s national spirit: whiskey. Perhaps the first thing to know is that…