PDT Cocktails App Drink Recipes

PDT (Please Don't Tell) was one of the first modern speakeasies to shine a spotlight on meticulously crafted cocktails in New York City. TT's own Drinks Editor, Jim Meehan, opened the spot (accessible through a phone booth in an East Village hot dog stand) in 2007, and since then, its focus on classic, as well as newfangled, drinks has won awards and accolades galore.

And now Meehan, along with cocktail historian and app aficionado Martin Doudoroff, have launched a user-friendly app for cocktail enthusiasts ($10 in the Apple Store). Even if you're not a professional bartender, the app can guide you to imbibing bliss with more than 400 recipes, searchable by base spirit, type (cobblers, punches, sours) and "characteristic" (stirred, shaken, muddled).

"As a bartender, your mind works sort of like a DJ's: You know all the records you have in your crate, and you have to pick the right record at the right time," Meehan says. "The app is an amazing database that allows me full access to our library and all of the data we've amassed."

What I like: Each and every drink recipe has a photo, which means you'll be able to see what it should look like. Meehan's a stickler for the details, so keep an eye out for beautiful touches like vintage tiki mugs, Japanese glassware and hand-cut ice.

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As a total amateur, I also appreciate that you can select the ingredients that are already stocked in your home bar, and the app will tell you what cocktails you can make immediately, or with one or two ingredients more. Ingredient photos make shopping a snap, too.

Meehan says, "You may not know what a bottle of Cynar looks like. With the app, you can go to a liquor store and point to the photo and ask if they have it." It's a handy little tool wherever you go.