ROBERT SIMONSON, journalist and author, is one of the leading authorities on spirits and cocktail culture in the United States. Called "our man in the liquor-soaked trenches" by the New York Times, he has written extensively about cocktails, spirits, bars, and bartenders for the Times, as well as GQ, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Advocate, Imbibe, Edible Manhattan and Edible Brooklyn, and Time Out New York. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.