Four top drinks:
1. Macallan 12. The late Christopher Hitchens was right: a taste for single malt scotch is dangerous because it spoils you for anything else.
2. Hendrick’s martini with a twist. Suitable only before dinner or a nightcap. The lemon cuts into the barest hint of sweet in my favorite gin. For a different experience, substitute one part of vermouth for the St. Germain and two drops of lemon for the twist. The best combination of sweet and tart since Dolly Parton.
3. Old-Fashioned. An aperitif on which you certainly don’t want to get hammered. The ideal chilling-with-friends-on-the-back-porch cocktail.
4. Ketel One on the rocks. Senescence has made metabolizing a Bombay Sapphire and tonic hard. Don’t blame the gin: it’s the sugar in the tonic water (hello, high fructose corn syrup!). Thus, I’ve developed a taste for chilled vodka.
