Ben Paris

The word is out!  I have moved to Seattle to open a new project with The State Hotel.  Watch this sweet little space explode with new cocktails!  I have a lot of practice to do and have already started a weekly happy hour in the office.

Not a bad way to transition into 9-5 life.  Cue Dolly!

When I write about Manhattans...

I write like
Raymond Chandler

I Write Like. Analyze your writing!

So I wrote a short piece about the importance of the Manhattan to me and my own family history and then had it analyzed here.  Raymond Chandler, eh?  Yet when I am writing about Baseball I write like Cory Doctorow.  Curiouser and curiouser.  

I have recently been bombarded with lazy, uneducated, uncaring and unfortunate people.  I just have been watching too much TV.  I think its time to get back to reading and writing.  My brain is so much happier when it is active and engaged with progressive thoughtful pursuits.  

So back to reading and writing about Cocktails and Baseball.

Why I am single I will never know.

Ch ch ch ch Cherry Bomb!

Beautiful Cherries came in to my bodega today. They are in season somewhere! I love the variety of fresh fruit and veg we get here in NYC. I feel I may have become spoiled.

This drink is a light aperitif drink for this sunny winter's day. I wanted to play more with a sweeter Bianco vermouth, a hard to find but worthwhile ingredient. Its used with great success in a few drinks at The Beagle.

Cherry Bomb
1/2 Maraschino liqueur
3/4 Lemon juice
3/4 Cizano Bianco
1 1/2 Bitter Truth Sloeberry Bluegin
Dash Bitter Truth Lemon bitters
Fresh Cherries

Muddle fresh pitted cherries (2-3) with bitters and maraschino.  Add rest of ingredients and ice. Shake and pour entire contents in old fashioned glass. Top with fresh cherry.

Fall Cocktails

A chill has fallen over New York City and I am looking for ways to warm up my insides.  Good thing I love good booze.


With Oktoberfest right around he corner, I am enjoying more beer cocktails.  My colleague at The Beagle, Tom, has created a refreshing cocktail called the Hop Over.  Its a refreshing mix of IPA, lemon, Genever and Velvet Falernum, or rather Velour Falernum since Dan has begun making his own.Falernum is a spiced liqueur from the cariibean flavers with clove and lime zest.


On the seasonal front, its apple time here in New York State and I made my own appletini with the last of the fresh raspberries, apple brandy, lemon, honey and ginger. Grate cinnamon over a red apple slice fan and you have a real fall beauty.


Apple Brandy is a wonderful introduction to Fall cocktails.  At Fort Defiance we have the Marconi Wireless, a Manhattan variation with Lairds mixed with two kinds of sweet vermouth.  How can you go wrong with a Manhattan variation?


And this is my favorite time of year here in NYC.  The weather is spectacular so why not celebrate the change of seasons with my favorite drink, a Manhattan?  As long as your vermouth is fresh and your cherries aren't radioactive, a well made Manhattan should be easy.  Try cutting the vermouth with a rich amaro like Averna or a bitter one like Campari for a different twist on a Manhattan.  Or how about half bourbon half rye?  Its is Bourbon Heritage Month after all...


Indian Summer
2 oz Apple Brandy
1/2 oz honey syrup
1/2 oz ginger syrup
3/4 oz lemon juice
Fresh raspberries


Muddle raspberries with ginger and honey syrup. Shake with brandy and lemon juice and strain over fresh ice into an old fashioned glass.  Garnish with a fan of sliced apple and fresh grated cinnamon.