cocktail

Symington shows how port can relax

The fourth generation of the Symington clan that came to Portugal in 1882, Dominic Symington is one of a passel of cousins who run the wide-ranging port empire that includes Cockburn's, Warre's, Dow's, and Graham's, along with Quinto do Vesúvio and Altano table wines. When a group of us touring wine estates in the Douro Valley stopped in Pinhao to see the amazing tile murals at the train station (like the one above), Symington offered to pick us up for lunch – by boat. We met him at the town dock, where one of his daughters and a friend were helping him dock his small speedboat. “It's much faster than driving on the road,” he shrugged, as we sped a half hour upriver to the...Read More
Sipping a Seelbach Cocktail on Urban Bourbon Trail

Sipping a Seelbach Cocktail on Urban Bourbon Trail

I always think of the mint julep as the classic Kentucky drink, but there's more than one way to imbibe the Bluegrass State's signature spirit, Kentucky Bourbon. As I reported in the January 12 issue of the Boston Globe Travel section, I'm only two drinks away from claiming an Urban Bourbon Trail T-shirt. It's offered to anyone who visits six of the 20 participating bourbon bars and restaurants in Louisville. (Click here to see the Globe story.) The Seelbach Cocktail, named for the classic hotel where it was invented in 1917, is one of those great accidents that seem to happen at bars as the night wears on. The drink originated when champagne overflowed into a Manhattan, beverage supervisor Michael Anderson (above) told me. “It's...Read More