No. 122 July/August 2026

Personal taste is a tricky thing. Go out for dinner with friends and attempt to order appetizers for the table, and the exercise can become a complicated negotiation between the anchovy lovers and those who abhor them, or the eggplant enthusiasts versus friends doing their best not to gag at the thought of the vegetable’s texture.

But is there any cocktail drinker who doesn’t love a good Margarita? Especially when you stretch the definition slightly to include many of the extended agave-and-lime kin now populating bar menus worldwide? As summer sets in for real and the backyard or the deck is increasingly populated by guests, having a little Margarita magic up your sleeve can be just the ticket for turning out rounds of the cocktail that has countless friends. We’ve got a few fresh approaches to the familiar classic in our annual summer drinks feature.

Also on the greatest hits list for entertaining friends (or for dining out, or spending a quiet evening in)? Pizza—especially when accompanied by a bottle of wine that best underscores the pie’s timeless appeal. Restaurants across the country are turning out great pizzas with impressively blistered crusts and toppings that cross the culinary spectrum, best enjoyed in the company of a delicious but not-too-fussy bottle from a talented winemaker. Sarah Karnasiewicz took on the tough job of exploring the world of pizza wines.

Does any beer-drinker’s heart not flutter happily at the thought of cracking open a cool, crisp lager on a hot summer day? Josh Bernstein takes us into the refreshing arena of rice lagers for this issue, from familiar Japanese brands to versions from American brewers working with this classic style.

And do your thoughts turn to the crowd-pleasing possibilities of tropical drinks when the summer season sets in? Wayne Curtis looks at the modern history of the tiki bar as it rose from tacky obscurity and became a contemporary cocktail force in its own right. We’ve also got cocktail recipes that tap the summery flavor of limoncello, Miranda Rake’s reporting on the evolution of coffee’s Third Wave and what comes next, a look inside the world of New York City bartender Ignacio “Nacho” Jimenez, and the perspective of New Orleans bartender Giovanni Miano on what it means when your bar’s regulars are hospitality workers themselves.

Happy summer,