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Introduced to the world in 1953 in Casino Royale—the first book in what became Ian Fleming's sprawling James Bond franchise—the Vesper has had more popularity in print and in film than it's ever had inside a glass. Which is too bad, actually, considering it's actually a pretty decent drink. More

Lately infusing my own spirits has become something of an obsession, and I have a big enough collection of bottles filled with fruits, herbs, and spices sitting under my sink to prove it. So when I came across this somewhat strange recipe for Milk Liqueur from the Azores in David Leite's The New Portuguese Table there was no way that I wasn't going to try it. More

One of the most influential drinks of the past century, the Kangaroo is likely unknown (by that name, at least) to most contemporary drinkers. Originating around 1950, when vodka was a relative novelty, the Kangaroo debuted when an unknown bartender simply swapped vodka for gin in one of the era's most popular cocktails; within a few years, the vodka version not only surpassed the original in popularity, but it appropriated that gin drink's name. More

Unlike many vodka-based drinks that simply use the spirit to lend alcoholic oomph to a mixture of soda and fruit juice, the Gypsy uses vodka's neutral character to soften the powerful flavor of the drink's other main ingredient, the French herbal liqueur Benedictine. More

The Bloody Mary is, of course, a staple of the American brunch and a universal hangover cure. The drink's origins are oft-rumored and still open to the kind of disputed bickering that is absolutely painful on a weekend morning, so it's best to move onto the heart of the matter: what's essential in your Bloody Mary? More

[Flickr: svanes] After a beautifully written introduction by Ruth Reichl, Gourmet Today starts out, as most good things do, with cocktails. Cocktails are a great way to start a meal and as it turns out, to start a book too.... More

The Drink Without a Name uses vodka's neutral character to soften the blow of its two other vibrantly flavored ingredients: the dry, orange-flavored Cointreau and the bombastic, herbaceously complex green Chartreuse. More