Paleo Retiree writes:

I asked the bartender at a steakhouse where we ate recently what made this such a good Manhattan. “A few drops of Grenadine swirled in the shaker and then poured off,” she said.

“Is that really all?” I persisted.

“Well, what really makes it good is that it’s nearly all whiskey,” she said.

I asked the bartender at another steakhouse we ate at recently what made the above Old Fashioned so good, as well as so strong. (I snapped the photo at the moment when I was starting to feel tipsy — just a few sips in.)

“What you’re probably picking up is that our basic Old Fashioned is a double,” she said.

The wisdom of the bartender.

• My favorite cocktail blogger is film-noir and crime-fiction buff Vince Keenan.
• Novelist and filmmaker Lloyd Fonveille enjoys sharing retro pleasures too.