OK, I know I haven’t been the best blogger lately (sue me, things have been crazy around here), but I couldn’t pass this up.  We all know Paul Clarke and his Cocktail Chronicles, but his most recent article from the NYT’s Pour is too important to miss…

even if it was printed almost a month ago…

Anyway, here we go:

I drink because I like it, and for reasons that usually place “effect” a step or three down the list. I love the spicy sweetness of whiskey and I’m a total sucker for the herbal ballet of a good vermouth; when tasting well-made spirits and cocktails composed from them, I can admire the skill of a talented distiller, along with that of a bartender who understands what they have. While plenty of spirits and cocktails are so artlessly made as to make me consider early retirement, there are great new things being done by bartenders and distillers, making this an exciting time to be a drinker.

Drinking also satiates my historical and culinary curiosity: as a fan of obscure and sometimes obsolete spirits and cocktail ingredients, I’ve spent inordinate amounts of time searching for liqueurs, bitters and other products that appeared in bar manuals from the 1860s through the 1950s, but which disappeared from bars decades ago. Recreating these drinks and having the chance to taste them gives me a richer perspective of other eras and places, an experience I usually find far more satisfying than the simple buzz I could get from something as pedestrian as a vodka and tonic.

This is the responsible angle drinkers should take, not the extremes of either abstinence or debauchery.  I think most of us want to drink like this, but now Mr. Clarke has helped us say why.