Chloe Frechette

New York, United States

Executive Editor at PUNCH

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Articles

The Neighborhood Bar Is Exactly Where I Want to Be

1 week ago | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

For much of the past two decades, the term “neighborhood bar” was thrown around like a pejorative. It signaled a step down in quality from your local cocktail bar.
The Best Last Word Cocktail Recipe, According to Experts

3 weeks ago | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

To conduct a Last Word tasting in 2025 might seem a bit... random. Once a popular bartender’s handshake during the early years of the cocktail revival, the drink’s best years seem to be behind it, at least in certain cocktail circles. “A Last Word was the first drink I made for myself as a bartender,” says Shannan Lynch of New York’s Bar Kabawa, “but I don’t really drink them anymore.” Chloe Frechette is the executive editor of Punch.
Tropical Martinis Are Trending. Here’s How to Make One at Home.

1 month ago | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

The Martini is not a warm-weather cocktail. Famously, it demands subzero temperatures and fast consumption, lest it turn into a puddle of warm gin. It is not built for alfresco drinking. But throw a little tropical fruit in the mix and suddenly it’s not beholden to the same laws. The drink becomes less austere, but no less intriguing.
Watch Out for These Cocktail Bar Red Flags

1 month ago | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

What’s your cocktail bar red flag? We posed this question on Threads recently, and the answers quickly poured in. “When they clutch their jiggers with a death grip,” wrote one of our followers. “Unrefrigerated vermouth,” said another. Also commonly cited: building Old-Fashioneds in a mixing glass (as opposed to directly in the glass), store-bought syrups and pour spouts on the backbar.
How to Save a Dive Bar and Not Ruin It, According to a Bartender

2 months ago | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

Close Thank you for subscribing! Email When the owner of Catbirds, a fixture of Houston’s Montrose neighborhood since 1995, decided to stop running the bar, Bobby Heugel and his business partner Peter Jahnke stepped in. Heugel, who owns and operates several of Houston’s pioneering cocktail bars, had been a frequent guest at Catbirds, and didn't want to see it go. “It was a bar that we would all go to when we got off work after making fancy cocktails,” he says. Heugel runs Anvil, Refuge and...
The Best Espresso Martini Cocktail Recipe, According to Experts

2 months ago | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

When we first went in search of the ultimate Espresso Martini back in 2019, the drink was still ascendant. It had not yet become the caffeinated juggernaut that it was in 2021, a drink as ubiquitous as it was reviled, nor had it had become the monster it was in 2023, inexplicably topped with Parmesan cheese. Today, the drink has settled into a less unhinged stasis, becoming a fixture of every cocktail bar, whether it’s on the menu or not.
This Bitter, Low-Proof Manhattan With Cynar Is My Nightly Ritual

Mar 7, 2025 | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

If we’re to believe the origin story of the Negroni Sbagliato, we know that sometimes the best recipes are born from mistakes. Such is the case with Kirk Estopinal’s Search for Delicious, a drink that might never have come into existence if it weren’t for human error. The story goes that Estopinal, the current co-owner of Cure and Cane & Table in New Orleans, was working with Stephen Cole at the Violet Hour in Chicago circa 2007.
The Search for Delicious Is Like a Better, Bitter Manhattan

Mar 7, 2025 | flipboard.com | Chloe Frechette

There are lots of wonderful pink recipes to choose from if you want to rustle up some pretty pink dishes! Whether you are considering Valentine’s Day …
Have We Found the Best Way to Serve a Martini?

Feb 17, 2025 | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

For as long as the Martini has existed, so have efforts to make—and keep—the drink as cold as possible. These efforts have included everything from ultrasonic technology to “Supercooling Magic.” But even if we managed to crack the code on delivering a drink at precisely –12 degrees Celsius, there was still the problem of ensuring it stayed that way once it entered the glass.
The Japanese Cocktail Is Worth Breaking Out the Shaker For

Feb 6, 2025 | punchdrink.com | Chloe Frechette

I’m not embarrassed to admit that I’m a lazy home bartender. I stick to three ingredients or fewer, ideally something stirred, or better yet, built directly in the glass from which I’ll be drinking. Breaking out the shaker is a rare occurrence for me. But every so often, a drink enters my orbit that makes the requisite rigorous upper body workout that comes with the territory seem worthwhile. Bar Agricole’s Japanese Cocktail is one of those drinks.