The Gourmez

Lemontini The Oxford (My Review) Downtown Raleigh $9 The lemontini at the Oxford is made with Absolut citron, limoncello, champagne, and ­sour mix. It wants to be a sophisticated take on the lemon drop, but I must give the lemon drop the edge because this lemontini does not have enough sour citrus to give it [...]

The Boy’s Club The Borough Downtown Raleigh $7.50 This cocktail is a Kahlua, Bailey’s Irish cream, and Frangelico trio shaken up with chocolate and iced Counter Culture coffee. If you’re thinking dessert, you’re thinking correctly, as most coffee cocktails fall under that category. The drink is indisputably gorgeous with that chocolate pattern laced into the [...]

Caipirinha Calavera (my restaurant review) Downtown Raleigh $8 First things first: the rum-soaked sugar cane. It is both visually pleasing and an essential garnish for this cocktail. Caipirinhas are a favorite in my cocktail repertoire, so I am always happy to try a new one, and having one from Calavera’s impressive bar just made sense [...]

Welcome to the second half of our Charlottesville weekend trip! My local friend had recommended a slew of restaurants for a nice dinner out in Charlottesville, but Ben rejected them all, settling instead on L’Étoile (817 West Main Street). Because it had been his birthday a few days earlier, he got to choose, and I [...]

North Carolina Sour Foundation (Past Reviews) Downtown Raleigh $10 What a lovely drink to look at! The picture doesn’t do the contrasting colors justice. The North Carolina Sour is a pretty one with its bottom half orange from the combination of Carriage House apple brandy and lemon and the top half full of McRitchie Ring [...]

The Republic 353 W. Main Street Five Points, Durham Website   The Republic is a bar and lounge that always intrigued me when I walked by, but for some reason, I never stepped inside until recently. I think it might be because the space looks really, really dark from the outside, which doesn’t come across [...]