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JUMP TO RECIPE The history of the Zombie cocktail is a story of recipe archeology unrivaled not only in the Tiki space, but likely within the entire study of cocktails and their history. A Donn Beach original, the Zombie recipe was shrouded in deliberate secrecy since its inception, largely...

JUMP TO RECIPE As we approach Valentine’s Day, there’s one food and flavor on everyone’s mind - chocolate. Ideas of chocolate cocktails evoke decadent, dessert mixes like the Chocolate Martinis. The beauty of the category is that it is populated by drinks like this, but also many more. Chocol...

Wine is old. You know this. But did you know it’s this old? Like, older-than-the-concept-of-money old. Older-than-the-written-word old. In Georgia (the country, not the place where Waffle House reigns supreme), people have been making wine in giant buried clay pots called kvevri for about 8,...

JUMP TO RECIPE For the past few weeks of cocktail features, our mixing has been largely thematically focused. We’ve gone through the progression of winter cocktails by mood, the full range of escapism, bargaining, and acceptance, and we’ve had a lot of mixological fun doing it. This week, we’...

By now, many people are familiar with the background of Uncle Nearest and the connection to Jack Daniel. Public awareness first came about with a 2016 New York Times article that publicized the then little known fact that Jack Daniel learned how to make whiskey from an enslaved man of color....

JUMP TO RECIPE I always feel there’s different stages to winter cocktails. There’s denial, wherein escapist fantasies of tropical beaches step in to keep out freezing realities, and Grenada’s Calabash cocktail was our feature on that front. Then there’s bargaining, when you figure if it’s goi...

JUMP TO RECIPE The Wine This isn’t just a wine you drink—it’s a wine you want to drink. The 2023 Clos Fornelli La Robe d’Ange Rouge is the kind of bottle that makes you rethink what everyday reds should taste like. Made from Corsica’s Sciaccarellu grape, it strikes that perfect balance bet...

Corsica is the kind of place that feels like it exists in a glitch. You know it’s there, but you’ve never really thought about it. Technically, it’s part of France, but only in the way that a kid with a fake ID is technically 21. Corsica doesn’t care about your idea of “French sophistication”...

JUMP TO RECIPE This week’s cocktail feature changes the approach for winter drinks. While last week’s was meant to serve as an escape, a vacation in a glass, this week’s is one to hunker down with. A full bodied bourbon old-fashioned riff to keep warm on a frigid night. This also follows suit...

JUMP TO RECIPE In late 2024, BayTowne Wine & Spirits launched a collaborative series with top industry friends. We’re teaming up with bar staff from our favorite local spots to feature exclusive cocktails created by their skilled mixologists. Rochester is lucky to have such a high level of ta...

JUMP TO RECIPE This week, in the wake of snow storms and rapidly dropping temperatures, we decided to focus on a Caribbean concoction. Tropical rum drinks are always some of our favorites here at BayTowne Wine & Spirits, but their escapist potential is uniquely valuable during the Rochester g...

JUMP TO RECIPE Here’s the thing about wine pairings: most of them are just made up. Sure, there are “rules” (red with meat, white with fish, blah blah), but those rules are about as reliable as your favorite band’s second album. Enter the 2023 Comando G Rozas - a Garnacha that doesn’t follow...

JUMP TO RECIPE Last week, we featured one of my favorite modern classic cocktails, the Black Manhattan. In that feature, we included a Demerara rum-based riff I worked on last year, but in further evidence of the quality of Black Manhattan format, I actually returned to it for this week’s fea...

JUMP TO RECIPE For this week, I wanted to feature one of my favorite Modern Classic cocktails, one that I’ve found to be very well received anytime I bring it out for a class or event. The Black Manhattan was created in 2005 by Todd Smith, then of San Francisco bar Cortez. Cocktail author Rob...

JUMP TO RECIPE The Wine Buelan ‘Nevado’ Solera Palido – Andalusia, Spain My grandmother was a proper lady of Cambridge – intelligent, well-read…a draconian adherence to etiquette and grammar. She also claimed to be a resolute teetotaler – an assertion which became quite contentious when...

JUMP TO RECIPE I’ve been working on a series of cocktails inspired by the animated miniseries Over the Garden Wall for several years now, and I always get more focused on it for Fall. The plot focuses on two brothers wandering through dark woods called “The Unknown” and the folkloric characte...

JUMP TO RECIPE The key to a successful dinner party is to have a great host. You’ll want to find someone who provides a balanced diet – fruits, veggies, lean meats, etc. The right amount of alcohol is key as well – too much as it gets messy, not enough and the evening will lack flavor. (Censu...

JUMP TO RECIPE Fall – the days are still too warm for a heavy red wine; the nights too chilly for a crisp white. So let’s go back to 19th Century Puglia and breakout some old school Primitivo. The 2022 Fatalone ‘Teres’ was intended to phase-out rose but ended up in a category of its own. Made...

JUMP TO RECIPE We here at BayTowne began a program last year of partnering with some of the bar professionals we’re very lucky to call friends to create original cocktails as seasonal features for the store. That program has grown and expanded to such an extent that, under the direction of ou...

This September is the 20th anniversary of California Wine Month. More than 80% of all U.S. wines are produced in California, but just how did California become so dominant in the wine industry? We thought the best way to commemorate this year’s milestone was by exploring the heritage and uni...

Bourbon and whiskey are not exactly the same. While all bourbons are whiskey, not all whiskeys are bourbon. For National Bourbon Heritage Month, we wanted to answer some of your questions on bourbon, like its origin, how it’s made, and which bourbon is the best. What Makes A Whiskey Bou...

JUMP TO RECIPE When it comes to classic cocktails, it's tough to beat a whiskey sour. The drink is well over 150 years old, and its origins date back even further, with some inspiration taken from the 17th century sailors’ drink, punch. There were initially many variations with rum, gin...

    Check out this fun twist on a classic cocktail: the Oaxaca Old Fashioned! The Oaxaca Old Fashioned is a modern classic recipe from Phil Ward of Death & Company. It represents the first steps of the mezcal obsession that began in the late aughts and owes much of its instigation to Ron C...

We are uniquely lucky in this city to have some outstanding bar talent and some of the most supportive and invested spirits and cocktail fans around. June marks a special time in the Rochester area, as it includes a festival that’s been a staple for over ten years. The Rochester Cocktail Rev...

Lucas developed this riff on a classic Navy Grog build to showcase the interplay of three distinct high proof rums. Following the lead of Donn Beach in layering different varieties of rum to create a delicious sum, he used 151 Demerara rum for heft and its bass notes of dark spice and earthi...

Andy riffed off of the classic aged rum cocktail “100 Year Old Cigar” for this nuanced original. The interplay of various bold modifiers act as a perfect complement to the rich, mature flavor of our single cask of full-bodied Belizean Holmes Cay. Andy’s work here has built it into an ideal aft...

Brandon chose to focus on a truly unique spirit, with very few parallels within the market. A distillate of fresh sorghum juice and syrup, there is little else like it and it offers a profile all its own. Brandon emphasized the savory side of it with this minimalist build, allowing the choic...

Kyle made use of our exclusive batch of Cinco Sentidos agave distillate for this inspired cocktail. We had the rare opportunity to get a full batch from Cinco Sentidos, and when we sampled this Tobasiche-Mexicano blend, we knew it had to be ours. Kyle played off of the unique balance of shar...

Bet on our latest signature cocktail, Bottle of Smoke. This is the second of two whiskey drinks we're sharing today - for those that couldn't get enough this past St. Patrick's Day. This drink is a little on the sweeter side, with blueberry jam coloring the flavor, as well as a rich, smokey...

Raise a parting glass with this signature drink from our staff. The Parting Glass is a twist on the Old Pal, which itself is a variation of the classic Negroni. The bitters and vermouth add the rye spice to the drink without overpowering the smooth Irish whiskey flavor. While St. Patrick's D...