Man Made DIY

I know, I know...It's June 1st, and Cocktail Party Month has just finished up, but this round up of great, inexpensive liquors and spirits is too great not to share. Master food blog Chow has created a great list of tasty and quality liquors that are great for mixing drinks or for entertaining. They'll beat the pants off of the diluted, toxic junk they sell in the grocery store, and are great options for those spirits that you don't generally prefer, but want to keep in your home bar for guests, cooking, etc. A couple bourbons, a few ryes, two tequilas, a rum, and gin, all clocking in under $20.

Limoncello is a sweet, lemon-flavored liqueur that originates from the southern regions of Italy. It's usually served chilled and straight up, as a lovely after dinner digestif. It has a strong lemon flavor, but contains none of the sourness associated with lemons, since its made by infusing the peel of the lemon, rather than the juice.

And SiNCE its merely lemon peel infused into high proof alcohol, it means you can make it at home! In bulk! It only takes three ingredients - lemon peels, sugar, and grain alcohol, and about… read more

The Manhattan is the cocktail that can best show what rye whiskey can do. It was invented in honor of the election of New York Governor Samuel Tilden in 1874.

The classic recipe features a 2:1 ratio of rye to vermouth, stirred in a mixing glass, then strained into an iced martini glass. Variations include a perfect Manhattan, made with equal parts dry and sweet vermouth, and a Rob Roy, which is made with scotch, recipe below.

Manhattan

• 2 oz rye whiskey
• 1 oz sweet vermouth (or 1/2 oz each dry and sweet for a perfect Manhattan)
• 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
• Maraschino or Bourbon cherry, for garnish

… read more

Whether you're stuck without the appropriate tools, or just want an opportunity to show off some cool parlor tricks, there are plenty of ways to open a beer or other capped bottle without an manufactured bottle opener. Since we got such a great response for our Five Ways to Open a Wine Bottle Without a Corkscrew, we thought we'd assemble five of these beer bottle tricks.

Oh, and yes, it is possible to do this with your teeth, but please, please don't. It's not worth it, and people aren't really laughing with you...

1. With a lighter. Check out this classic simple machine principle at work from the Wired wiki.… read more

There's a really weird origin story that surrounds the Collins. And by really weird, I mean some sort of hoax that I'm not quite sure I get. The Wikipedia article leaves me quite confused, but this post at Mental Floss explains a bit better:

"The Great Tom Collins Hoax of 1874...begat The King of Cooling Drinks, the Tom Collins. The hoax kicked off with a prankster telling a group that they were being talked about by the loose lipped Tom Collins, and then sending them on an angry goose chase to find him. 
In 1874, the Steubenville Daily Herald reported that the hoax “belong[ed] to New York, where it was played… read more