Quality chocolate delivers better flavor, texture, and overall experience. Higher-quality cacao has more complexity, with notes that can be fruity, nutty, floral, or earthy instead of simply sweet or bitter. It also melts more cleanly because it relies on cocoa butter rather than cheaper fats.
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.
Stroll into nearly any Italian restaurant in the country and you'll likely get a glimpse at a row of oddly shaped bottles sitting in the oft-forgotten back bar. Those bottles contain grappa, a spirited sip most often enjoyed after a lengthy dinner when belts start feeling tight, when diners recline in their seats taking lazy last bites of half-eaten desserts.
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.
just before we collectively stumbled into this shitty timeline marred by "fake news" and idiot fascism, a journalist did that thing that journalism used to do: hold power to account. In this case, the power was Big Bay Leaf, and the reporter was Kelly Conaboy, writing for the Awl on a "vast bay leaf conspiracy" that-then as now-cons well-meaning home cooks into buying weird leaves that taste and smell like "nothing."
Triple Sec is the name for a category of dry orange liqueurs: it translates to "triple dry" in French. The other major family of orange liqueurs is Curaçao, which are sweeter (and sometimes blue, like in these Blue Curacao cocktails!). Within the Triple Sec category, you'll find a wide range of quality and price: check out my guide to Cointreau vs Triple Sec.