About the Blogger, Marty Nott

I’m a retired communications exec who’s loved cocktails and wine for most of my life. The adult portion of my life, that is. I’ve been a member of the Society of Wine Educators since 2018, achieved the SWE’s “Certified Specialist of Spirits” certificate in January 2020, and I completed the Wine Scholars Guild Certified Sherry Wine Specialist exam in May 2023. In May 2024 I passed the Saké Educational Council’s Certified Saké Professional exam.

I also enjoy my role as a consumer educator for the Hart Agency of New York, pouring tastings at locations around the Rochester area, and I’m a brand ambassador for Finger Lakes Distilling, a producer of award-winning whiskeys, vodka, gin, brandies, and liqueurs. You’ll also find me working part-time at Pinnacle Wine & Liquor in Rochester, NY, most often on mid-week afternoons.

Why am I blogging?

I’m passionate about understanding spirits – where they’re from, how they’re made, their history and culture, and (especially) how to use them best. I love to share my enthusiasm, knowledge, and experiences with other consumers.

I’ve posted frequently on social media about these topics for years, and after I began writing shelf-talkers and email copy for Pinnacle Wine & Liquor, my colleagues there encouraged me to start a blog.

If you’re a cocktail and wine enthusiast, interested in expanding your horizons in home mixology (and occasionally wine), this blog is for you.

Disclaimers

Of note, I’m neither a bartender nor a sommelier, nor do I plan to become either. I’m just an experienced and curious consumer, somewhat educated in spirits and wine, and I’m orienting this blog to fellow consumers – friends helping friends, if you will – and I hope you’ll help with your questions, knowledge, experiences, and views.

I shall from time-to-time express opinions on various brands, establishments, books, experiences or whatever. The opinions I express will be strictly my own and should not be considered the opinions of the ownership and management at Pinnacle Wine & Liquor, the Hart Agency of New York, Finger Lakes Distilling, or any other business that employs me. They, on the other hand, can trust me not to stick sharp pencils in their eyes with what I post.

A word about alcohol and health

America is focused in more than a couple of ways on healthier living, and that includes what we drink as well as what we eat and all other aspects of our lifestyles. My own mantra has become, “Drink less to be healthier, but drink better to enjoy it more.” 

As we are advancing in age, some of my friends have reduced their consumption of alcoholic beverages for health reasons, and—truth told—so have I. That’s only partly due to the health guidelines; it has a lot to do with how overindulging, even occasionally, makes us feel. Other friends, some much younger than I, have decided for various reasons to stop drinking entirely. Still others never drank at all, and some are recovering alcoholics; I stand with those dear people and admire that, despite their personal battles, they remain friendly and tolerant of my fascination with “adult beverages.” Thank you to those exceptional friends—you know who you are.  

Frankly, the very notion of an alcoholic cocktail is “diluted alcohol.” Throughout cocktail history (most notably, Prohibition), dilution of hard liquor with wines, juices, syrups, bitters, and tinctures served to make the booze itself more palatable. That was an ironic turnabout, because distilled alcohol was itself—hundreds and thousands of years ago—a vehicle to make various herbal medicines more palatable, or at least to reward compliance with a buzz. But current health guidelines say that the human liver has limited capacity to metabolize alcohol, so why not stretch your daily allocation by having it in a cocktail instead of pounding it straight or on the rocks?

I hope to include content about low- and no-alcohol cocktails as well. There is no reason in the world that “I don’t drink” or “I’m cutting back” should consign a person to drinking boring things while friends enjoy tasty, beautiful, but boozy cocktails. The core concept of a cocktail is “delicious and beautiful,” and in the words of Derek Brown (author of the excellent book Mindful Mixology), “Cocktails are cocktails. Some just don’t have alcohol.”