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Drink Your Words

The Mixologist Has Nine Lives

At once modern and antiquated, humorous and self-serious, the term’s contradictions form the very DNA of bartending.

  • story: Danny Chau
  • illustration: Mallory Heyer
Crunchy Wine
Drink Your Words

Can a Wine Actually Be “Crunchy”?

A staple of the modern sommelier lexicon, the term captures the difficulty of articulating the convergence of taste and texture.

  • story: Danny Chau
  • photo: Mallory Heyer
Unicorn Wine
Drink Your Words

To Catch a “Unicorn” Wine

The term emerged in the mid-2010s as sommelier shorthand for a faddish rarity. Is it a dying breed?

  • story: Danny Chau
  • illustration: Mallory Heyer
Wine Word Rustic
Drink Your Words

Is It Time to Retire “Rustic”?

Equal parts virtuous compliment and backhanded dig, the ambiguous wine term may have to die for its true tenets to survive.

  • story: Danny Chau
  • photo: Mallory Heyer
Drink Your Words

So Everything Is “Crushable” Now?

How a vaguely violent word co-opted from bro culture became a catchall for carefree drinking.

  • story: Danny Chau
  • illustration: Mallory Heyer
Drink Your Words

Your Finest “Funky” Wine, Please

How do we navigate the line between love and revulsion in natural wine?

  • story: Danny Chau
  • photo: Mallory Heyer
smooth spirits
Drink Your Words

Let’s Talk About “Smooth”

It may be the most ubiquitous descriptor in drinks. Is it also the most reviled?

  • story: Danny Chau
  • photo: Mallory Heyer
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