The Best Things I Drank This Year

Part II of the ACBNnual revisits a year in mixology and more

Hello, friends.

Yesterday, I kicked off The ACBNnual by reviewing the best things I ate in 2023.

Today, I want to move our journey from the kitchen to the bar (and beyond).

A running feature of my Friday newsletters for years has been a featured cocktail. I didn’t limit myself to just my own recipes on the food part of this retrospective, and I’m not just talking about my drinks today, either.

Today, I want to talk about the very best things that I drank this year.

As with yesterday, I’d then love to hear about the best things you drank this year. This newsletter only truly shines thanks to you all, and I learn a lot from your contributions.

Let’s review.

You’re a Daisy if You Do

This cocktail—first featured here back in February—was an attempt to recreate a drink I had at Louisville’s excellent New Orleans-influenced restaurant North of Bourbon. It’s a mixture of rye whiskey, pecan orgeat and raspberry syrup, and it’s an absolute delight once you get it right.

(I’m pretty sure I got it right.)

Fresh-squeezed orange juice at the gardens of Versailles

Am I total mark for an overpriced thing geared toward tourists? Yes. Yes I am.

Sometimes the situation completely overrides any concerns about things like that, though. I found that to be the case with the vendors squeezing fresh orange juice from carts in the gardens at Versailles. It was five euros for a small cup of juice and it was absolutely perfect. A top-tier juice experience.

Also, my repeated refrain walking around Versailles was “I can see why they cut their heads off once people got a look at all this.”

The Part-Time Lover

I pulled a bit of a Christopher Columbus on this drink—I was standing in front of my bar brainstorming one night, and really thought I’d hit on something when I decided to combine tequila, Aperol, St-Germain and bitters into a cocktail.

Then I googled that combination and found out it already existed.

Ah, well! Nevertheless. It was really good no matter how I came to it.

An Aperol Spritz in what qualifies as a heat wave to Europeans

I laughed when the digital signs in the train station warned of “extreme heat” on a day that was 85F and not terribly humid. That’s pleasant late-September weather in Kentucky! Then I spent all day walking around sightseeing and not a single place was air-conditioned and all the bottles of water were 0.5L and carbonated. By the time we got to dinner, I was very warm, and an Aperol Spritz full of ice hit incredibly hard.

It’s the closest thing you’ll get to Gatorade in Europe.

The Triple Crown

The first Saturday of May is a big deal here in Louisville, what with the annual running of the Kentucky Derby. This year, the Run for the Roses wasn’t the only thing going on—we had a confluence of the Derby, Cinco de Mayo and the British royal coronation all in one weekend. I dreamt up a drink that could pay tongue-in-cheek homage all three, and I called it The Triple Crown.

Despite this ridiculous contrivance, the resulting cocktail was a genuine success.

Finally getting to try a much-loved regional beer

I’m not the world’s biggest beer guy, but I always thrill in being somewhere where I have access to something I can’t get at home, whether that’s food or drink.

This fall, my day job took me to Madison, Wisconsin, which meant I finally had a chance to try New Glarus Brewing’s much-loved Spotted Cow (and bring a case of it back on the airplane with me.)

It lives up to the hype! I might just have to go back to Wisconsin to get more.

(I have to go back regardless. Y’know, day job.)

The Wake-Up Call

The espresso martini’s had a big resurgence in recent years. I might be late to that particular party, but there is something to be said for an eye-opening drink.

I made a caffeinated cocktail of my own earlier this year, and it’s more than just coffee and vodka. It’s the perfect thing for an early-morning tailgate or for staying up late on New Year’s Eve.

Forgiving tequila, two decades after college

I had a completely unfair opinion of tequila for the better part of the last two decades, a quiet resentment borne out of my own mistakes as a college freshman. It’s only been recently that I’ve rediscovered the spirit—and learned just how good it can be when you’re not drinking the cheapest stuff your friend with a fake ID could buy across the river where they didn’t check IDs as closely.

(Hypothetically.)

Big thanks to reader Aaron for hearing me effuse about my love of Arizona bar band Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers and shipping me a bottle of the band’s signature tequila, Canción, which I really enjoyed.

(Olaf had concerns.)

The Widow’s Kiss

As a household, we’re probably in the top fewpercentiles of how much Bénédictine we go through. The centuries-old French herbal liqueur isn’t a staple for most people, but it’s the backbone of a B&B—a favorite cocktail in Chez Cookbook. It also plays extremely well with the similarly-esoteric yellow Chartreuse in this vintage cocktail I picked up from a 1950s cocktail guide.

A refreshing cocktail, with or without booze

Around Memorial Day, I was planning a big batch of carne asada for a cookout, and needed something to pair with it. This watermelon-mint agua fresca was the perfect solution, as it can form the backbone of a delicious tequila cocktail but shines just as well without.

The Dapper Doofus

Soon after we got our dog Olaf, I named a cocktail in his honor—the Handsome Idiot. Well, we’ve had him for two years now, and while he’s still a big goof, he’s also mellowed and matured quite a bit in that time. As such, I felt like I needed to update his cocktail with a bit more nuance. Enter The Dapper Doofus, a delicious rye-based cocktail that shows off some of my favorite mixological moves.

Okay, that’s my list. Let’s hear yours!

Did you have a great cocktail this year, whether at a bar or at home? A beer you especially loved? A truly great cup of coffee? An especially-refreshing glass of water?

Whatever it is—I’d love to hear about.

What’s the most memorable thing you drank this year?

Tune back in tomorrow for Part III of the ACBNnual, with some of my favorite entertainment of the past year!

—Scott Hines (@actioncookbook)