Mary Anne Porto

1 week ago | punchdrink.com | Mary Anne Porto

Tres Monos has been lauded as one of Buenos Aires’—not to mention the world’s—best places to grab a cocktail. The bar, co-owner Charly Aguinsky tells me, is not just a bar: It’s a three-part system involving, yes, a cocktail bar, but also a hospitality school and a consultancy group for coffee shops, restaurants and more. It’s a lot of spinning plates, but Tres Monos isn’t one to back away from a challenge. The team’s latest challenge?

4 weeks ago | punchdrink.com | Mary Anne Porto

Those who are not men in need of “fashion” “essentials” or “luxury” advice would typically have missed a video from a “tips for men” account on X. For the users still haunting the purgatory that is that website, the clip, which follows a man in an exceedingly gray apartment going through his morning routine, doesn’t, on first glance, ring alarm bells. X is a minefield of weird content these days, and this would ordinarily be yet another post to scroll past.

1 month ago | punchdrink.com | Mary Anne Porto

“Pineapple amaro” sounds engineered in a lab to get tiki nerds and aperitivo devotees—plus anyone who enjoys a shortcut—to gather around its golden bottle. It sounds, perhaps, too good to be true. But I’m happy to report that Heirloom’s Pineapple Amaro is actually as good as it sounds. Flavored spirits have gotten a bad rap. Some are cloying or gimmicky, others delicious but not versatile enough to justify the shelf space.

Dec 17, 2024 | punchdrink.com | Mary Anne Porto

Looking back at the year in DrinkTok, compared to last, you might find that the minds behind Big Trending Drink are losing a little steam. Last year’s viral cocktails seemed to spring up out of thin air (like the Parm Espresso Martini, though we cracked that case). But now that the platform is weathered, social-strategized and subject to the same marketing budgets as the rest of the world, it’s found itself caught in some of the same inescapable monoculture taking place off the app.

Jul 30, 2024 | punchdrink.com | Mary Anne Porto

In Korea, “there’s this concept of rounds of drinking,” says Irene Yoo, soju expert and co-founder of Brooklyn’s newly opened Orion Bar, which pays homage to Korean drinking traditions. “First round, maybe you’ll start with Korean barbecue and get food and drinks there, then maybe you’ll go to more of a pojangmacha—a Korean pub-style place—and do more food and drinks there, so on and so forth...