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Capture the sweetness of red-all-the-way-through berries by making a quick simple syrup, perfect for pouring on pancakes or yogurt, or incorporating into this refreshing sparkling sangria. More

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Amaro is yet another item from behind the bar that started out as a way to cure what ailed us—it was once a treatment for everything from an upset stomach or colicky baby to cholera. Really, "amaro" (or amari, in the plural) is just a general name for a bitter, herbal liqueur. More

Bottom Shelf research director Emily and I are getting married on October 13. I expect all of you to be there except for whichever one of you is covering my shift that night. More

Planning a Memorial Day barbecue or picnic? Don't forget the beverages! If the weather's kind, you'll want to stock up on beer and stir up some punch or sangria to offer your thirsty guests (or your hosts). And don't forget the non-alcoholic options. More

I've seen beer cans and pop cans abandoned at parties because people set them down while mingling, and when they come back there are three identical cans and no one has any clue which is theirs. So they go find a fresh beverage and at the end of the night the hosts are picking up half-full cans of beer and pop that were abandoned during the night. That's one problem that can be solved by the Beverage Barricade from Mom Invented (6/$2), a little plastic gizmo that fits on the pull tab on beer or pop cans. More

In today's edition of our brewer interview series, we're chatting with Clay Robinson, one of the brewers and co-owners at Indianapolis' Sun King Brewing Co. Clay and brewer/owner Dave Colt opened Sun King in downtown Indy in July 2009. Last year Sun King made serious waves at GABF when they walked away with eight medals, four of which were gold. More

Vodka. Associated with Appletinis and overly sweet versions of the Cosmo, vodka has a bad rep with booze snobs like me. "It has no flavor," we say. "It has no character," we say. All that may arguably be true, but it overlooks the sales behemoth that vodka has become. More

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This pitcher drink is tart and cooling, with bright, fresh mint and only the slightest whisper of rum. It's a sweaty-day punch based on tart, fragrant hibiscus tea—think of it as a hibiscus lemonade for grownups. More

Bartenders throw things in the air. We flip bottles. We run around behind the bar like madmen, pulling pints, shaking cocktails, dodging co-workers. When a bartender is working in a busy bar, speed is the entire point. It is both the show and the execution of the show. More

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To get a sense of each step of the production process, we whacked down some sugarcanes ourselves, visited the distillery in Santo Domingo where the air was heavy with molasses, and moseyed our way up to the aging facilities in Puerto Plata, where the air was heavy with alcohol. Want to see how rum is made? Come right this way... More

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When your job is serving people alcohol, some of your patrons will, well, have too much alcohol. And sometimes those people have to go. We asked nine bartenders about a time they've kicked someone out of their bar. Stories of the NYPD, rowdy Red Sox fans, and conspiracies lie herein! More

My friends Tim and Katey got engaged last week and hey, good for them. I spent several seconds being legitimately and selflessly pleased for them, but when I finally got around to making the whole thing about me, I got pissed all over again at some of the reactions to my own recent engagement to Bottom Shelf research director Emily. Why do so many engagement well-wishers feel compelled to takes sides regarding who got lucky? More

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The restaurant team collaborated to create their nameless cocktail menu, which simply lists the drinks as The Whiskey, The Scotch, The Gin, etc. Brainstorming sessions to create cocktail names for a regularly rotating menu were just too time consuming. "I could call my salad The Peashoot in the Forest," said Ware, "But at the end of the night, all that really matters is whether it tastes good." More

My mom came into town this weekend. And she came to our Serious Eats wine tasting. I figured a lineup of Barefoot whites would actually be very appropriate for my mom, as most of what I've heard is that they tend to be light, fruity, and sweet (and inexpensive, at about $7 a bottle). Most of them fit the bill, but a couple stood out as much more palatable compared to the rest of the lot. More

Wheat beers tend to be a love-'em-or-leave-'em proposition. People either like them or they don't. For some it's the sharp taste of the wheat that turns them either on or off. For others it's the banana and clove flavors of the yeast used in German varieties. But it's these very peculiar properties of wheat beers that make them fantastically food friendly and perfect for lighter summer fare. More

Homebrew recipe writers often take the experience level of their readers for granted. They usually assume that every reader knows the process, acronyms, and abbreviations that they use. Most of the written shortcuts that homebrew recipe writers use are pretty simple to understand, so there's no need to let recipe conventions get in the way of learning how to brew. Today I'll share the basics of how to read any standard homebrewing recipe. More