LIFESTYLE
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Timeless Taste
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Hollywood writer-director Paul Feig celebrates cocktail culture and his own curated gin.
STORY BY LISA CAVANAUGH
STORY BY LISA CAVANAUGH
You may know him as the director of hit movies such as Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, A Simple Favor, and the recent blockbuster The Housemaid, but if you are lucky enough to find yourself next to a bar tended by Paul Feig, you are in for a different kind of treat.
“I like to say I make good movies, but I make great martinis,” says Feig, who got his start in television, notably creating the comedy series Freaks and Geeks. “I've always been a martini fanatic,” he explains. “Even as a kid, watching Bewitched on TV, and seeing Darren Stevens coming home, and Samantha would hand him a martini, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s what being an adult looks like!’”
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PHOTOS BY LAUREN VOLO
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However, his first tastes of gin were uninspired, to say the least. “To me, it tasted like pine cleanser.” As he got older, Feig enjoyed vodka martinis but had the nagging sense that he wasn’t doing it quite right. “I was in London and read a classic cocktail book that said a real martini is always made with gin.” He went to The Savoy Hotel and ordered one at the iconic American Bar.
“It was frozen cold in this kind of thistle glass—not a martini glass—and it was so good,” says Feig. “I was like, ‘Wow, I get it now.’” He loved the vibe, but not yet the gin itself.
So, he went on a self-described 20-year odyssey to discover the perfect gin. During his travels with his wife, Laurie, he says he “tried every gin I could, trying to figure out what I liked, but I never found anything quite right.” Eventually, he realized he could make his own and did: Artingstall’s Brilliant London Dry Gin, created in collaboration with Canada-based Minhas Micro Distillery.
“It’s now my favorite gin because it tastes exactly like I always wanted, made from my own recipe, plus I got to design the bottle,” says Feig. Artingstall is his mother’s maiden name, another personal touch. “I wanted it to look and sound like something that had been around for 150 years.”
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PHOTOS BY LAUREN VOLO
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Feig himself has a similar classic quality. His bespoke suits—which he wears everywhere, including on set—are legendary: impeccably tailored, three-piece and double-breasted, accompanied by colorful pocket squares and other vibrant accessories.
He believes this kind of sartorial elegance can lend itself to a stylish cocktail party. “Honestly, if not a smoking jacket, I think a suit and tie is the ideal outfit for drinking a martini,” says Feig. “And women have such freedom with cocktail attire. Dressing for cocktail parties should be fun.”
“To me, the cocktail lifestyle means adults getting together, talking, having a good time,” he adds. “This could be as simple as relaxing at the end of the day or stepping it up and hosting a classy event.” He encourages people to put on their best outfits, bring out the nice glasses (and all martini glasses should be kept in the freezer, he notes, mentioning that he and his wife keep theirs in their Sub-Zero Designer Freezer Drawers), and provide delicious nibbles. “The number one rule of a cocktail party is to make sure you’ve got something for people to eat,” he advises.
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PHOTOS BY LAUREN VOLO
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PHOTOS BY LAUREN VOLO
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He also says it’s fun to pick a theme for your gathering. “You could feature Negronis and serve Italian food,” he suggests as an example. Overall, he feels you just have to let people know what to expect, and they will bring their own flair to the party.
Several years ago, as COVID-19 kept people at home, Feig began experimenting beyond martinis. “I wanted to help out, but there’s nothing I could do medically, so I thought I would try to entertain people.” So, every day at 5 p.m. on Instagram Live, he hosted a 20-minute show where he taught viewers how to make a new cocktail. “I did 100 shows in a row, without taking a day off, and that seemed to get us through that scariest part at the beginning of the pandemic.”
Once he had perfected all the recipes, he turned them into his own book: Cocktail Time! “I expanded into advice on how to throw a cocktail party, how to stock your bar, recipes from film industry friends, and weird, funny stories from my life associated with each drink. I’m really, really proud of how it turned out.”
It has been a long journey from his first sip of gin to serving his own brand at elegant parties, but Feig remains a traditionalist when it comes to cocktail culture. “I love the aesthetics around a classy cocktail party,” he says, “I think it is wonderful to dress up and invite people over to mingle. The cocktails are just a way for everybody to get to know each other.”
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The Feigtini
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A delicious orange-infused Paul Feig original.
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PUBLISHED JULY 2026
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