Al Culliton

Al Culliton writes about cocktails as a living part of food and culture, tracing how obscure and historic recipes move from dusty bar manuals back onto modern menus. Their work centers on the American cocktail and its global cousins, using one drink at a time to show how bars, spirits and cities change. They combine research-driven history with present-day reporting from working bars, focusing on how revival recipes are actually made and served now.

Historic cocktails, revived and reworked

Culliton’s core subject is forgotten or overlooked cocktails brought back into circulation at contemporary bars. They profile drinks like the Algonquin, a rye, vermouth and pineapple cocktail associated with the hotel of the same name, following its return to the menu at Atoma in Seattle and explaining how the modern build differs from the older formula.[5] They cover the Roffignac, a New Orleans highball of whiskey and red syrup, arguing for its return while unpacking how different sweeteners and added acidity change its balance in the glass.[7] Across pieces on the Army & Navy gin sour, the Dunhill gin and sherry cocktail, the Puritan Chartreuse martini and the Adonis sherry aperitif, they walk through original ratios, subsequent variations and contemporary interpretations, with enough technical detail that a reader can understand why one spec reads drier, richer or more aromatic than another.[10][19][17][25]

These stories routinely show Culliton reading primary sources and old bar guides, then stress-testing those recipes against modern palates and service. In work on the Army & Navy, they start from the first complete published formula and contrast it with today’s stiffer versions that introduce bitters and adjust the gin-to-lemon-to-orgeat ratio.[10] Coverage of the Tunnel, a French take on the Negroni, and the Spanish Monk, a gin and Chartreuse drink, similarly blends historical context with commentary on why current bartenders are drawn to these spirits-forward, classically structured cocktails.[16][27] The through-line is careful reconstruction of how these drinks tasted originally, followed by clear description of how new builds reshape them.

Drinks culture, place and identity

Culliton writes about cocktails as cultural artifacts tied to specific communities and geographies. They treat Picon Punch not just as a recipe but as a Basque American aperitif rooted in the American West, connecting its late-19th-century origins to its modern comeback at a Seattle bar and explaining how ingredient substitutions maintain its identity as Amer-based, grenadine-sweetened, soda-topped drink with a brandy accent.[2] In the Ward Eight story, they revisit a canonical Boston whiskey cocktail and show how turning it on its head speaks to a broader willingness in today’s bars to rethink local standards while keeping their historical names and scaffolding.[14]

Across these pieces, bar rooms and cities are described with the same care as glassware and garnish. The Picon Punch and Algonquin features situate drinks within specific venues, tracing how those spaces market, present and tweak the revived cocktails.[2][5] Their focus on the intersection of American cocktails, food and culture is explicit, and the reporting often uses one drink to talk about regional traditions, diaspora histories or the way a bar’s concept shapes its menu.[13] This gives their coverage a sense of place that goes beyond a generic recipe column.

Technique, specs and collaborative recipe development

Culliton pays close attention to how drinks are built, not just how they are storied. In multiple features they break down exact ratios, base spirits, modifiers and garnishes, noting how small changes in sweetness, acidity or aromatics shift the final profile.[7][10][19] When they cover the New English Negroni, they describe a brandy-based variation developed in collaboration with a working bartender, showing how a writer and bar professional iterate together to refine a spec for service.[8] Pieces on the Adonis and other low-proof cocktails emphasize restraint, explaining why keeping the recipe simple preserves the drink’s original character.[25]

Outside the masthead, Culliton contributes cocktail recipes and commentary for a spirits-focused outlet, sharing at-home builds that specify particular rums, whiskies and syrups along with practical mixing guidance.[1] Those recipes mirror their reported work: clear ingredient lists, step-by-step technique, and options for improvisation when a reader’s home bar lacks a niche product. Across formats, they write in precise, accessible prose that treats measurements, shaking or stirring methods and glassware choice as integral parts of the story.

Research-led writing on the American cocktail

Culliton is identified as a writer and historian whose work focuses on the intersection of the American cocktail, food and culture, and that description matches the reporting on the masthead.[13] Their pieces consistently use historical documents, early recipes and bar lore as a foundation, then connect that research to contemporary bartenders, drinkers and venues. Whether the subject is a Chartreuse martini, a Basque American punch, a gin sour adapted in a hotel bar or a sleeper-hit gin and Chartreuse build, they treat each cocktail as a way into larger questions about how people drink and why certain flavors and formats endure.[2][5][16][27]

The result is coverage that stands apart from generic drinks writing by combining archival curiosity, cultural framing and detailed specs. Culliton’s beat is cocktails, but the lens is broader: how revived classics, regional specialties and low-proof aperitifs move through time, and how today’s bars interpret that heritage on the menu and in the glass.[7][10][14][25]