2021 Cocktails
2021 Cocktail Tutorial Coming Soon!
Cocktail Artist in (your) Residence
A toast to DKAF legend, cocktail connoisseur,
Robert Simonson
While he’s usually the cocktail artist in residence at our DKAF events, this year mixologist Robert Simonson takes to the screen, and into your kitchen! In this filmed tutorial, Simonson will teach you how to make your new favorite drink, share pro tips in the field, and toast to a summer of cocktails ahead!
Tune-In to Our Interview with Festival Legend and Cocktail King, Robert Simonson
Simonson brought his artisanal cocktail expertise to DKAF back in 2017. Curating a drink list that paired well with stage readings and short films, he added a buzz that has since become a festival staple. Over the years, Simonson has shared his liquor-sipped, limelight with interns, guest mixologists, and even his own son, while creating memorable concoctions for the evening’s events.
Both a craftsman in mixology, and an artist of the written word, Simonson has married his two passions into a successful career as a writer. His subject matter: cocktails, of course. Over the pandemic, Simonson wrote and published his newest book, Mezcal and Tequila. Cheers!
ROBERT SIMONSON writes about cocktails, spirits, bars, and bartenders for the New York Times. He is also contributing editor and columnist at PUNCH. His books include The Old-Fashioned (2014), A Proper Drink (2016) and 3-Ingredient Cocktails (2017), which was nominated for a 2018 James Beard Award, and The Martini Cocktail (2019), which was nominated for an IACP Award. He was also a primary contributor to The Essential New York Times Book of Cocktails (2015). Simonson won the 2019 Spirited Award for Best Cocktail and Spirits Writer, and his work, which has also appeared in Saveur, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, New York magazine, and Lucky Peach, has been nominated for a total of eleven Spirited Awards and three IACP Awards. A native of Wisconsin, he lives in Brooklyn. Visit his website https://www.robertsimonson.net/
Thirsty for more concoctions?
You can purchase one (or all!) of Robert Simonson’s books on cocktails. His library of libation literature will have you toasting to the classics well made. Simonson provides history and context behind the drinks you know and love to drink. His writing is engaging, approachable, and easy to swallow, much like his recipes. Simonson believes in a drink’s simplicity, an honest approach to a time-honored classic.
“Three—it’s a magic number. (…) The triangle is the most stable of shapes, so it comes as no surprise, then, that the three-ingredient cocktail is the most sturdy and lasting of cocktail constructions. One ingredient, you’ve got a nice dram. Two, you’ve got a highball. Get three things to marry together, you’ve likely got a cocktail on your hands. More than three and you’ve got a more complicated cocktail, not necessarily a better one.” -3-Ingredient Cocktails
“[The Martini Cocktail] delves into the drink’s fascinating history and faux histories, its spinoffs, the evolution of preferences around gin vs. vodka.”—The Washington Post
"The volume features no fewer than 61 drinks — classic formulas and new creations from working bartenders — each as accessible yet sublime as the last, testament to the unbounded potential of simplicity.”
—Boston Globe on
Three Ingredient Cocktails
"Simonson takes us on a witty and engaging tour through the drink’s long history and ends with recipes for traditional mixes and experimental twists. Like a good old-fashioned, his writing is dry but sweet; it’s got a kick, but is also low-key and best savored slowly."
—David Cote, Time Out New York on
The Old Fashioned