Ryan Whitaker

I’ve spent the last three months testing hedge trimmers in my own yard, and boxwood shaping has a way of exposing every flaw in a tool. A cheap trimmer chews the leaves instead of slicing them, leaving brown edges that show for weeks. After testing more than 25 hours of trimming across formal hedges, globes, … Read more

Some dads grill, some dads mix drinks, and the smartest ones do both. But if your dad falls into the whiskey-and-an-Old-Fashioned camp, the best cocktail smoker kits for Father’s Day gifts will earn you more points than another tie or gift card ever could. I have watched a grown man grin like a kid the … Read more

Walking into a friend’s new home with the same bottle of Merlot everyone else brought gets old fast. After watching three of my closest friends move into new houses over the past year, I learned that the gifts people remember most are the ones they actually use. A wine opener gift set for housewarmings hits … Read more

Last summer I hosted a backyard tasting where a smoked Old Fashioned upstaged every cocktail on the table. Then a friend dropped a slab of applewood-smoked cheddar on a charcuterie board, and the conversation changed from “what’s in this drink” to “how do I do this at home.” That’s the moment a cocktail smoker kit … Read more

When I worked as a sommelier at a 90-seat bistro, we lost roughly $400 a week to spoiled wine. Half-open bottles sat on the line, oxidized by lunch service, and nobody wanted to pour them at dinner. That was the week we started taking wine preserver systems seriously. The best wine preserver systems for restaurants … Read more

Last month I hosted a 12-person Cabernet tasting and pulled an $18 bottle that tasted flat, harsh, and unremarkable. I grabbed a wine aerator set, poured the same bottle through it, and the room went quiet. The fruit jumped forward, the tannins softened, and three guests asked which vineyard produced a wine that good. Wine … Read more

I have been smoking cocktails at home for the last three years. What started as a single Old Fashioned experiment at a friend’s birthday party turned into a full-blown hobby. I now own six different kits, have tried nearly every wood chip flavor on the market, and have made smoked Manhattans, mezcal sours, and bourbon … Read more

My nephew spent two summers begging me to drive him to the skatepark before I finally caved and bought a backyard halfpipe. That single purchase changed everything. He could practice after dinner without begging for rides, work on tricks without an audience, and progress faster than he ever did at the local park. I spent … Read more

Last summer I finally got serious about my outdoor kitchen. After three rained-out cookouts and a grill cover that disintegrated by August, I knew I needed a real shelter, not a tarp. That search led me deep into the world of hardtop pavilions for outdoor kitchen coverage, and after testing 8 models over four months, … Read more

Digging holes for planting used to mean hours of backbreaking labor with a shovel or manual post hole digger. I remember spending an entire weekend just to plant a row of shrubs, leaving my shoulders aching for days. That changed when I discovered cordless earth augers for garden planting. These battery-powered tools have transformed how … Read more