Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you. Or, if podcasts are more your speed on Sundays, we’ve got that too.
Cocktail Recipe: Yuzu Martini
From Nankai Shochu
In an attempt to get out one more time before avoiding SXSW-riddled Austin for the next two weeks, I stopped by Otoko’s Watertrade bar for some small bites and a cocktail. What I soon found was that you simply can’t have just one cocktail there as the spirits list is too robust to ignore.
“What do you normally drink?” the bartender, Tacy, asked me.
“Ummmm,” I hesitated in fear of judgment, “Martinis… bourbon or scotch… and red wine.”
Well, she settled on making me a martini unlike anything I had ever tasted before. After educating me on shochu while simultaneously running around the bar snagging ingredients, she presented a cocktail I won’t soon forget.
I know, I know, the edge of the cocktail is blurred due to Portrait Mode — but it’s still a statement cocktail nonetheless. The cut crystal portion of the glass actually lifted directly out of the pewter base. It took me one near-spill before I realized that this was the case, at which point I pivoted to just picking up the entire thing rather than separating the parts.
While she made cocktails based on your personal taste, I thought I’d bring the shochu-driven martini to the forefront on this week’s edition of the digest, via Nankai Shochu.
Yuzu Martini
Ingredients
2.25 oz Nankai Shochu
0.75 oz Dry Vermouth
2-5 dashes Yuzu Juice
1 dash Orange Bitters
1 Lemon Peel
Instructions
Combine Nankai Shochu, dry vermouth, yuzu, and orange bitters in a mixing glass.
Add ice and stir until chilled well.
Strain and pour into coupe/martini glass.
Express oil from the peel, garnish and serve.
The Sunday Haiku
Why why why why why
No no no no no no no
Way too much red wine.
Things I Saved This Week
From "Visions of a nomad" by Wilfred Thesiger, 1987
Hotel Eden in Rome
Creative Gardens, 1986
Relaxing Watch: Inside a Magazine Editor's New York Apartment
The biggest ruse going these days is publications like Vogue and Architectural Digest doing New York City apartment tours and pretending they didn’t just reinvent MTV Cribs. That being said, I’m an absolute sucker for them when I’m scrolling YouTube on our Apple TV every Sunday night before bed.
Jealousy? Inspiration? Something so slow that I’m likely to fall asleep to it? Whatever it is, I enjoy it. Hope you do too.
Watch on YouTube.
New Episode: Spring Scented Candles, The Early Flight, and The 'What To Watch' Meditation
This week’s episode of The Sunday Scaries Podcast features three high-end scented candle recommendations for spring, the reasons you need to consider the early flight home on Sunday, and a meditation to help you find something to watch on television tonight.
To shop this episode’s scented candles, look no further.
Park Life by Boy Smells x GANNI — Shop
No. 51 Secret Garden by Aerangis — Shop
Georgica by Nette — Shop
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else podcasts are found.
See you next week.
— Will