"Our study confirmed that in an environment of loud noise, our sense of taste is compromised. Interestingly, this was specific to sweet and umami tastes, with sweet taste inhibited and umami taste significantly enhanced," Robin Dando, one of the study's authors, told the Cornell Chronicle after the study came out.
"Mortlach 15 Year Old is a combination of first-fill and refill Sherry casks and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail as a testament to the long standing and unique relationship with Scotland Distillery owners, built up over generations."
The U.S. spirits landscape has evolved far beyond the recognition of simply being the birthplace of bourbon. In recent years, we've seen a transformation in both the quality and individuality that the country's craft distilleries have been able to produce. While previous decades were dominated by the big-name distilleries, far more awards are going to craft distillers who have mastered the art of producing high-quality whiskeys, rums, gins, and more.
For the past few years, we've been rounding up the best new restaurants in New York City as they open, with the sentiment being that anyone visiting the Big Apple can get a glimpse of our vast and diverse culinary scene by dining at a younger spot or two alongside the old-school institutions.
But then the playoffs arrive, and you and I are reminded of what makes twilight football-outdoors and on grass-special. You start off in broad daylight as both teams fuck around for a quarter or two. Then the sun slowly begins to bleed away, taking all distractions along with it as it sinks below the horizon. Now we're in primetime, when everyone is watching. Now every player on the field is in the spotlight, and you, the viewer at home, are dialed in.
Sorel Liqueur was born long before it reached store shelves, was carried across the Atlantic by enslaved Africans, preserved in Caribbean kitchens, and passed down through generations that refused to forget who they were. Today, that history lives inside a bottle created by Jackie Summers, founder of Jack from Brooklyn and the first black person to be granted a license to make liquor post-prohibition in U.S history. With Sorel Liqueur, Summers did more than launch a spirits brand. He reclaimed a cultural legacy.
The project comes from a deep bench of hospitality heavyweights: Jimmy Rizvi, the restaurateur behind Bungalow, and Kanvar Singh, of Midtown's ever-popular Elsie Rooftop, lead the partnership along with beverage director Hirotomo Akutsu, formerly of Tokyo's Bar Trench (ranked 94th on the World's 50 Best Bars 2025) and creative director Rio Azmee of Shinka Ramen. Every detail, from the way a cocktail is built to the way the room feels, is deliberate.
The latest crop of bars are doing all of the above and then some, putting an emphasis on zero waste, housemade distillates, off beat wines, and immersive vibes. What's also clear is the geography of drinking culture: its clear epicenter is Lower Manhattan, with a few exciting entries in Brooklyn and one in Long Island City, Queens.
In Regarding Cocktails, Sasha Petraske's posthumous 2016 book, written by Georgette Moger-Petraske, Solomon shares the drink's origins. "I was inspired to create the Bensonhurst as an alternative to the Brooklyn cocktail, partly because of the lack of original-formula Amer Picon," he says in the book. "Vincenzo Errico had already created the Red Hook at Milk & Honey in 2004 as the first of the Brooklyn variations, which set the precedent of choosing other Brooklyn neighborhoods to name the variations it spawned."
If it's been a while, head over to your local bar. Tell the bartender you don't need to see their list of $36 artisanal craft cocktails, thank you. You don't want their watered-down fruit juice in a tiny glass, and if there's a teaspoon of tequila in there, you count yourself lucky. What you want is a Long Island Iced Tea. It's the strong magic potion you're looking for, and here at Esquire, we fully endorse it.
