William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

In 2004, William L. Hamilton waxed poetic about the Dark and Stormy, describing it both as “a drink traditionally associated with sailing and the manly habit of appearing to keep one's balance while determinedly losing it” and as “a spicy and spritzed two-legged, walk-the-decks kind of drink with a lime wedge perched at the top like a pirate's parrot.” This version, adapted from Red Sky, a restaurant on Mount Desert Island in Maine, uses a combination of Gosling’s Black Seal rum and AJ Stephans ginger beer. Simple to prepare — no shaking or stirring involved — mix one up and enjoy it on a sweltering summer night. And don't forget the lime wedge. William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

This recipe for the classic bourbon (sometimes brandy) and ginger ale highball came to us from the Campbell Apartment, a cocktail lounge in Grand Central Station. William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

With the social season and the holidays headed into high gear, there are likely to be nights when you'll want a cocktail at the end of the evening as much as at the beginning. My suggestion is a stinger, a Prohibition-era cocktail as classic as the Chrysler Building. Most agree it is one of the few cocktails that will also qualify as an after-dinner drink, though it's no Kahlúa on ice cream, either. William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

New York is a dirty town. And not much is dirtier, or more New York, than the house drink at Jane, a restaurant in the West Village -- the Dirty Jane. It's a pickled martini. Any questions? The Dirty Jane is a gimmick, and it is also a great cocktail. Part martini, part deli sandwich, it is a vodka martini, no vermouth, with a wedge of pickled green tomato instead of an olive. A splash of the pickle brine makes it ''dirty,'' as a splash of olive brine would make it a straight ''dirty martini.'' The drink itself is a clear liquid. William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

Julie Reiner, an owner of Flatiron Lounge, invented this Scotch cocktail at the behest of a liquor brand that was trying to encourage more women to drink the spirit in the early Aughts. Ms. Reiner said that the politics of cocktails and “how women don’t really drink Scotch” annoyed her. “It’s not that women don’t drink Scotch,” she explained. “Women come in and order a Macallan ‘12’ neat, single malt, all the time. It’s just that more men drink Scotch. ... Do you know how many men walk up to my bar and order a cosmopolitan?” The Vamp is Scotch and fresh orange juice, smoky but citrusy too, like having a cigarette with breakfast. William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton

William L. Hamilton · NYT Cooking

William L. Hamilton