Former illicit Highland whisky makers and Appalachian bootleggers notwithstanding, distillation is a refined art form. This holiday season, master distillers have raised their age-old craft to new heights of perfection with spirits that are a joy to give and to receive. Following are our selections of the most refined and refreshing pours for the connoisseurs […]
Among the lighter, crisper beers unveiled this season, the Duvel Tripel Hop is truly a cause for celebration. Now an annual release from the 141-year-old Duvel Moortgat Brewery, this Belgian strong ale is 9.5 percent alcohol by volume and features a different aromatic dry hop each year—Citra for 2012—in addition to the Saaz and Styrian […]
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This year, for only the second time in the history of the United Kingdom, a ruling monarch is celebrating a Diamond Jubilee, marking six decades on the throne. This milestone first occurred during the tenure of Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 until 1901 and thus attained her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Now, her great-great-granddaughter […]
“We are born at a given moment, in a given place,” reflected the eminent psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, “and, like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born.” The similarities between people and fine wines are many. Like a full-bodied California Cabernet, […]
H. Keith Melton is privy to secrets of the world’s most clandestine government agencies—including the CIA, MI6, and the KGB—but the intelligence historian and authority on spy technology vows never to divulge classified information. He has, however, shared much of his knowledge and experience in more than 40 documentaries and in the dozens of books […]
In the lore of famous jewels, these objects of great price are invariably plucked by bandits from the eyes of idols. Such is the case with the 195-carat Black Orlov diamond, which reputedly served as ocular ornamentation for a likeness of the god Brahma. Yet a handful of history’s most alluring gems gained their notoriety […]
It is axiomatic among some habitués of Chinese restaurants that the more cliché the ambience—the statuette of a pudgy Buddha, the bottles of plum wine on a shelf, the tattered New Year’s dragon hanging in the window—the more authentic the cuisine. Why this is, nobody really knows. Perhaps the seemingly haphazard decor is intended, like joss […]
In the 1960s and ’70s, Mustique Island, a three-and-a-half-mile-long expanse of powdery beaches and cedar forests in the heart of the Grenadines archipelago, was a hotbed of scandal. British royalty and their friends flocked to the Caribbean island to swill Champagne and frolic nude on the beach during the day and party in palatial villas […]
THE HOUSE THAT REZA BUILT Four years ago, Olivier Reza left his career in finance at Lazard Ltd. to resurrect the storied jewelry salon that his father, Alexandre Reza, had established on the Place Vendôme in Paris. Alexandre is an industry legend known for his keen eye for rare gems; he bestowed upon his son […]
The Turkish shipyard Vicem Yachts is one of the few major builders that still produce boats with hulls made entirely from mahogany. The cold-molding construction method required for such hulls is a labor-intensive process that involves coating layers of mahogany strips with epoxy laminate and bending them around a frame, thus creating a naturally insulated […]
Enjoyable as the 2013 Lexus LS 600h L is to drive, the flagship sedan might be better suited to limousine service, especially when this hybrid, long-wheelbase version of the LS sedan (Lexus offers five other LS models) is equipped with the Executive package. The package includes a 19-speaker Blu-ray DVD entertainment system by Mark Levinson, […]
In Beijing, the signs of a booming art scene are everywhere. In the 798 District, the erstwhile Soviet factory zone, a storefront gallery displays Sui Jianguo’s toy-like fiberglass dinosaurs and sells them for $6,360 each. Street artist Zhang Dali has tagged construction sites all over the city with the likeness of his own bald head […]
While hunting for antiques, Sylva Yepremian, the jewelry designer behind Sylva & Cie, stumbled on a cache of 19th-century bronze Russian icons. The small treasures, each of which depicts a finely sculpted biblical scene intended to serve as a protective talisman for travelers, captivated her. Yepremian bought the roughly 20 pieces, framed them with tiny […]
Maxi Scooters may be ubiquitous in Paris, Barcelona, and other European metropolises, where gasoline prices are at least twice as high as they are in U.S. cities, but Americans have only recently warmed to these big, step-through rides. BMW Motorrad, the company’s motorcycle division, intends to exploit the scooters’ growing popularity and promises to reinvent […]
The cavernous reception space at the Monastero Santa Rosa’s spa is perfumed with the signature potpourri of Santa Maria Novella. The Florentine apothecary, officially known as Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, was founded in 1612 by Dominican friars who made healing tinctures and potions from the plants and flowers grown in their monastery’s gardens […]
Colin Field, the man widely known as the best bartender in the world, is mixing a drink. It is called La Tomate, and he begins by barely crushing ruby chunks of tomato in a rocks glass—just bruising them, really—then adding equal measures of soju and junmai sake, and jagged blocks of clear ice imported from […]
My hands are slick with wet clay as I squeeze, mold, and shape balls of sticky matter into a monster with flaring nostrils and wild tufts of hair. I am nearing the end of an hour-long pottery class at Hoshinoya Okinawa, a traditional Japanese resort that opened in June on the diminutive coral island of […]
Throughout his 45-year reign as the arbiter of classic American style, Ralph Lauren has amassed one of the world’s finest collections of automobiles, including prize-winning Ferraris, pristine Bugattis, and three enviable McLarens. But for the designer, who has shown the collection only twice—in 2005 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and last year […]
Romeo Sozzi, the patriarch of the family-owned furniture and cabinetry company Promemoria, sees a duality in his designs. “My furniture is masculine in form,” says the 64-year-old Sozzi, who serves as the firm’s lead designer, “but feminine in touch.” That feminine touch is evident in Angelina, a new division of bespoke kitchens that debuted at […]
Audio enthusiasts in search of a single repository for their digital music collections encounter countless choices—and myriad headaches. Most of the available media servers lack audiophile-grade output capabilities, and they struggle to synchronize seamlessly with high-fidelity playback systems. Many are also impractical, if not illogical, in their functionality and ease of use. This summer, however, […]
The 2013 Audi RS 5 is a meaner-looking relative of the elegant A5 sport coupe. Its sills are wider, ride height lower, rear diffuser larger, and exhaust tips bigger, and the RS 5 has a rear spoiler that pops up automatically when the car reaches 75 mph. These alterations convey a sense of serious purpose and […]
The extravagance of the Jazz Age is reinterpreted for a new millennium. Photo 1: William Goldberg Ashoka-cut diamond hoop earrings set in palladium, $130,000 (212.980.4343, http://www.williamgoldberg.com); Leviev necklace with more than 125 carats of stones including two trillion-cut, D-color, internally flawless diamonds weighing 3.27 carats and 1.59 carats, a 1.02-carat vivid yellow diamond, and emerald […]
Following the Jaguar E-Type’s debut, at the 1961 Geneva International Motor Show, Road & Track’s Henry N. Manney III, the most entertaining automotive journalist of the 1960s, astutely characterized the car as “the greatest crumpet-catcher known to man.” For 14 years the bullet-shaped sports car worked its seduction, serving as an automotive foil to a […]
After three weeks of heavy snow in January, the clouds parted over the Austrian village of St. Anton am Arlberg to reveal a bluebird sky and perfect ski conditions. As I stepped off the Valluga tram, my guide, Ali Penz, smiled and said, “This is the best skiing here in 20 years.” The timing was […]
This is my Lamborghini,” says William Ballentine Jr. Such pronouncements are not entirely unheard of among vineyard owners in Napa Valley. Yet in this case, the vehicle in question is a mud-caked tractor perilously parked on a steep hillside. Like Ballentine, Ferruccio Lamborghini was the son of vintners; but unlike Ballentine, the founder of the […]
Some of the leading names in men’s fashion are hitting the slopes this winter with fantastic skiwear that is built for both performance and glamour. With a fluid mix of materials—from waterproof cashmere to rich fur and high-tech fabrics—this season’s pieces are equally suited to black-diamond boarding, après-ski lounging, or simply cutting a sporty figure […]
“If you erase the logo, every Swiss dress watch is the same,” complains Fabrizio Stigliani, who heads the watch-design department at Bulgari. “They are all round, with the same lugs and hands. I want to reinterpret the dress watch in a Bulgari way.” Stigliani’s sentiment, embodied in the striking Bulgari Octo, is shared by many […]
Dick Claus says he has “no idea” why his fellow collectors of antique toy boats are so captivated by turn-of-the- 20th-century paddle wheelers, but he expects them to bid ferociously for Chicago, a 31-inch, clockwork-driven paddle wheeler that will be one of the top lots at the November 10 sale of his collection. Bertoia Auctions […]
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