For $5 a bottle, you're not going to find a better wine made with organic grapes than Sterling Vineyard's Cabernet Sauvignon. And this is no Two Buck Chuck of organic wine: it's genuinely delicious. They could get away with charging more, so stockpile it before they figure that out.

The recall of half a billion eggs for possible salmonella infection has a lot of us understandably whipped up with worry.

Cocktail geeks are fearful, too, that bartenders will start cracking down (okay, even I’m cringing at these puns) on the use of eggs in drinks.

Charlie Barra is the 83-year-old proprietor of Barra of Mendocino, a winery producing organic grapes in Northern California's Redwood Valley. He purchased the land in 1954, and planted new vines the next year. As a California winemaker for over 60 years, he'd be a legend just for longevity if nothing else. But Barra has also taught other winemakers, people who went on to found classic wineries of their own. And, he grows his grapes organically.

Being a geek about anything means you get The Question.

“What’s your favorite (music, manga, fill in your particular passion here)?”

As a guy who writes about all sorts of drink recipes, I hate to admit bibulous bias. “Depends,” I’ll lie, followed by some qualifying crap about the season, the occasion, the company I’m with.

But the answer I’m always thinking is this: Daiquiri.

For most of us, memories (albeit hazy ones) of Margaritas tend toward blender-built confections more akin to alcoholic Slurpees than grown-up cocktails. Something was clearly lost in translation because, when mixed correctly, these cocktails are among the tastiest tipples of all time. 

Few Latin libations are as mangled as the Margarita. The first corrective step to take in fashioning a fine Margarita is to take your blender… and put it back in the cupboard. 

No true Margarita was ever produced this way (not that I don’t love a blender drink). 

To mark National Tequila Day this Saturday, July 24th (hey, it’s as good as excuse as any for a party, I say), why not shake up this organic take on the Margarita, which relies on agave nectar – derived from the same plant used to make tequila – instead of orange liqueurs like Cointreau or Triple Sec, to make a drink of intensely bright flavors. 

Once in a while a success story pops up that reads more like a fairy tale. Particularly when the story unfolds in a environmentally responsible way as is the case with Modmix organic cocktails. Gretchen Nix, the creator of Modmix sees the evolution of her idea as a natural progression of events. “The martini craze was happening around me and many of my health-oriented, athletic friends were drinking cocktails. I noticed that most cocktails were made using high fructose, corn syrup mixers or artificially flavored liqueurs. I also saw people order expensive vodkas and tequilas served with low-quality mixers. It just didn't make sense to me. If you're going to spend the money on an exquisitely made spirit, shouldn't it be paired with an equally high quality mixer?” Nix said.  “I knew there had to be a healthier way to make cocktails. After all, the best cocktails are made with fresh fruit juice not a chemically flavored knock-off. Organic ingredients offered the highest quality while providing an environmentally responsible choice. From these observations, I decided to take classic cocktails recipes and give them a modern makeover. Simple, pure and organic. That’s how I came up with the idea for Modmix.”