Liquor and Spirits

Salute American Vodka "Battle of the Bartenders" Finals Tonight at Three Sixty

In April Gut Check talked to Emily Gifford, representative for Salute American Vodka's parent company, Better Brands BevCo., about the company's first big contest in St. Louis. Dubbed "Battle of the Bartenders," the competition kicked off its first round on Monday, April 22. Tonight the competition ... More >>

Salt's Tim Rabior: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks Into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week, Kaitlin Steinberg profiles Tim Rabior of Salt. Below is a Q&A with Rabior, followed by the recipe for a "Green Goddess." Tim Rabior has blond highlights and sunglasses that never lea ... More >>

Blood & Sand's "No Rain": Gut Check's Hump-Day Cocktail Suggestion

Wednesday. Hump Day. Congrats, you've made it halfway through the work week! Unfortunately, you still have two days to go. Dunno about you, but in order to survive the midweek blues, we're going to need a drink. Which brings us to our Wednesday Gut Check feature: "Gut Check's Hump-Day Cocktail Sug ... More >>

Randall's to Hold Irish Whiskey Tasting

Do you need a reminder? You do not need a reminder. Gut Check, however, needs a lede. So: St. Patrick's Day is Sunday. To get you in the mood, Randall's Wines and Spirits (14201 Manchester Road, Ballwin; 636-527-1002) is holding a "meeting" of its Whisk(e)y Club on this evening at 7 p.m. This month ... More >>

Mad Buffalo Distillery Makes Moonshine Eco-Friendly

"Sustainable" and "moonshine" aren't often heard in the same sentence, but Mad Buffalo Brewing Company is hoping to make its sustainably produced Thunderbeast Storm Moonshine a household name. Chris Burnette and his family founded Mad Buffalo in November 2011 on ShawneeBend Farm in Union, Missouri ... More >>

Taste Hosts Visiting Mixologists for Impromptu Thursday Happy Hour

Into Gut Check's e-mailbox popped an announcement from Taste (4584 Laclede Avenue; 314-361-1200), inviting us to a spur-of-the-moment happy hour guest-bartended by visiting mixologists Phoebe Esmon and Christian R. Gaal. Truth be told, it doesn't take a carpetbagging cocktail shaker to lure Gut Che ... More >>

Plush's Lucas Prize Mixes Gut Check A "The Locust" Cocktail

Lucas Prize is an uber-conscientious individual. While waiting to interview the bartender of Plush (3224 Locust Street; 314-535-2048) we watched as Prize filled drink orders for his servers during dinner service, doing little things like using a cocktail napkin to pick up straws for iced coffees and ... More >>

Culinary Historian Elizabeth Pearce Shares the History of the Sazerac Tonight at Sanctuaria

Tonight, New Orleans-based culinary historian Elizabeth Pearce will present "History in a Glass: The Story of New Orleans through the Sazerac," a complimentary seminar about the culture that created and reflected the Sazerac cocktail at 7 p.m. at Sanctuaria (4198 Manchester Avenue; 314-535-9700). Wh ... More >>

Cleveland-Heath's Elijah Barnes: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks Into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week, Stacy Anderson profiles Cleveland-Heath's Elijah Barnes. Below is a Q&A with Barnes, followed by his recipe for the Sazerac Cocktail. Cleveland-Heath (106 North Main Street, Edwardsvil ... More >>

Blinded by Delight: Crown Valley Brewery Releases Moonshine

HazardKentucky.comMoonshine is making a comeback.​This Saturday, December 10, Crown Valley Brewery (13326 State Route F, Sainte Genevieve; 573-756-9463) is taking things ol' school by releasing its first moonshine. The Missouri Moonshine is a rye moonshine with unaged whiskey. "We wanted ... More >>

Swedish Fish Vodka, Farmhaus

Alicia Lohmar​First, a quick retraction. We wrote in this very column, just a little over a year ago, "...don't sully the time-honored occupation of respectable drinking by concocting all sorts of foolishness that ends in '-tini' and isn't 'gin martini' or that contains the words 'nipple' or 'bomb ... More >>

Vodka: Mixologists Just Say Nyet

Whip cream vodka? No thanks, says Taste's Ted Kilgore.​There's a war going on among modern mixologists -- a war over a spirit. Vodka has recently been outed as the unwanted stepson in many restaurants and bars that specialize in house and hand-crafted cocktails. After all, even the priciest vo ... More >>

Eight Awful Uses for Terrible Flavored Vodkas

Hey vodka makers? You're out of control. It was cute and interesting many, many years ago when the likes of Absolut, Stoli, and Smirnoff got the bright idea to make flavored vodkas. Vodka with pepper flavor for bloody Marys? Great! Citrusy vodkas with tonic? Perfection. But come on. With the annou ... More >>

Vom Fass Samples Absinthe as Part of Let Them Eat Art

Deborah HylandVom Fass' absinthe​Long before Willard Scott was terrifying small children as the first Ronald McDonald or Tony the Tiger and Spuds MacKenzie, the Green Fairy was luring consumers to indulge in her wares: absinthe. And just like with Happy Meals and Joe Camel, the fuddy duddies f ... More >>

Hurricane Recipes? Try a Gulf Spill! Top 10 Natural Disaster Cocktails

Given that Saturday's Mardi Gras celebration is the proverbial bad-taste storm before the calm, it's only fitting that the big party's signature drink is sweet, lethal and named after an actual storm. That's right: the Hurricane. If you're in the mood for something different this weekend, Gut Check ... More >>

Ten Drinks to Help You Forget 2010

Image via​While many people are making resolutions and thinking about how to improve their lives (or simply have more fun), there are those among us who would simply like to forget the whole damn year. Maybe you lost your job. Maybe your relationship ended. Maybe you're still trying to figure ... More >>

Death's Door White Whiskey, the Wine Merchant

image via​What do you think it's like to stand at death's door? This is how we picture it: Drink of the Week is a frail old lady with crepe-y skin and wispy white hair, lying in a hospital bed at the ripe old age of 112. With our last raggedy breath, we see once more the people who loved us be ... More >>

Iced Tea with Limoncello, Stellina Pasta Café

Our water glass is perspiring so furiously, it's making a puddle on the bar. Diners are fanning themselves with menus. We are waiting for a table at the newly renovated Stellina Pasta Café. It's Friday night, the place is packed and the a/c is on the fritz. An employee opens a few windows, and the ... More >>

Friday Night Flights: The Scottish Arms

For your drinking pleasure this week, we lift up two whisky flights from the Scottish Arms (8 South Sarah Street; 314-535-0551), which took "Best Whiskey Selection in a Restaurant" honors in last year's RFT's "Best of St. Louis" edition. From that comprehensive list, general manager Michael Cline cr ... More >>

The Beertender: A Wee Bit of Praise for Scotch Ale

I love this time of year. Time to put another holiday season back in the box and toss it in the basement. Time to start talking about spring training. Time for beers that taste better when there's a wind chill. Beers like malty, peaty, boozy Scotch ale.Christian Bickel, Wikimedia CommonsEdinburgh C ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Edradour 10-Year-Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskey, Pi (Central West End)

The bartender at the new Central West End Pi looks like a cross between Matthew McConaughey and a young Paul Newman. He is smiling at us. We are having trouble remembering why we are standing there. Oh, yes, whiskey. Pi's whiskey selection is not only broad; it is also given a place of prominence. ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Old Overholt Manhattan on the Rocks, Off Broadway

Hayford Peirce, Wikimedia Commons​Let's get this out of the way right off the bat: The Manhattan is a Classic Cocktail. If you are a lady wearing a stole and delicate little gloves or a gentleman in a skinny tie and a fedora, fine, but this homage is not for you. It's for my grandpa -- and probab ... More >>

Review Preview: Coco Louco Brasil

This week I visit Côco Louco Brasil, the new Brazilian restaurant in the Central West End. If you dine at Côco Louco Brasil, beware the teapot. Your server may bring this to your table at the end of your meal, along with dainty white demitasses and a knowing smirk.The arrangement looks exactly lik ... More >>

Drink of the Week: A Toast to People of the Year

Square One Brewery to Add Distillery

Lafayette Square microbrewery Square One Brewery is adding a distillery. Look for micro-distilled spirits to arrive early next year.

Dr. Dre to Release...Sparkling Vodka?

Toulouse-Lautrec

Hammerstone's
2028 South 9th Street
314-773-5565

Wild Turkey Bourbon Tasting and Dinner

Framboise Manhattan

Franco, 1535 South Eighth Street, 314-436-2500.

The Doherty

Maryland House at Brennan's, 4659-A Maryland Avenue, 314-361-9444.

Café DiSaronno

Brio Tuscan Grille, 1601 South Lindbergh Boulevard, Frontenac; 314-432-4410.

Millionaire's Coffee

Cyrano's, 603 East Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves; 314-963-3232.

Monarch Martini

Monarch, 7401 Manchester Road, Maplewood; 314-644-7175.

Sortilège

Terrene, 34 North Sarah Street, 314-535-5100.

Drinks of the Year

The best libations of 2005

A pint of Bass, an Irish coffee, a pint of water and another shot of whiskey

Riley's Pub, 3458 Arsenal Street, 314-664-7474.

Pumpkin Brandy Alexander

Iron Barley, 5510 Virginia Avenue, 314-351-4500

A Dream to Dine For

Xanadu goes to great lengths to fulfill fantasies -- but foodies might not be thrilled

Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Booze

Chill out at these St. Louis watering holes

The Sazerac

Erato, 3117 South Grand Boulevard, 314-664-6400

E&J VSOP Brandy

Luciano's Trattoria, 172 Carondolet Plaza, Clayton, 314-863-9969

Blind Drunk

Can David Sherman's knockoffs match the originals? We're ready to find out!

Proof It!

A local bottler supplies the free booze, we supply the lushes -- er, tasting panel

Best Margarita

Pueblo Solis

Charbay Blood Orange Vodka

Sub Zero Vodka Bar, 308 N. Euclid Avenue, 314-367-1200

Auchentoshan Three-Wood Single-Malt Scotch

Eleven Eleven Mississippi, 1111 Mississippi Avenue, 314-241-9999

Best Liquor Store

Brown Derby Wine Cellar

Pop's Special

Pop's Blue Moon, 5249 Pattison Avenue, 314-776-4200

The Macallan Twelve-Year-Old Scotch Whisky

Remy's Kitchen & Wine Bar, 222 S. Bemiston, 314-726-5757

Golden Margarita

Maya Café, 2726 Sutton Avenue, 314-781-4774