A Martini, A Playlist, and a Few Good Gifts

Make this, then press play.

Dec 15, 2025

Ideas are common. Finished things are not. Being able to tell the difference is a form of literacy; it shows up at the exact moment something either sails or flails. Today’s send is sponsored by Adobe, my favorite tool in creative fluency for over 15 years, with smart PDF tools and collaborative PDF Spaces that make creating, editing, and sharing polished work effortless. Because good design is where credibility locks in.

Hi there, I just wanted to say thank you for being here this year. 2025 was intense, but we came through. I’m signing off for the rest of the year (we have one more send scheduled the week of Christmas). I hope we helped you find something to wrap up for a loved one, made you feel a little hotter, or helped you out with that party outfit.

If you’ve been here awhile, you know it’s our tradition to send out a cocktail and a playlist before the break.

Our holiday playlist, A Love List Christmas, was started in 2012 (!) and has been tweaked and refined every year since. It’s got a great mix of classics, indie, blues, and warm, wintery tunes, from Joni Mitchell and Frank Sinatra to Gary Clark Jr. and Sia. If you shuffle it, you’ll have over 11 hours of uninterrupted music without a repeat.

Stream "A Love List Christmas"

I’ll leave you with a cocktail, another Love List tradition. This was passed along to me in 2020 by my friend Miles Macquarrie, a best-in-class bartender and co-owner at Atlanta’s James Beard Award-winning Kimball House restaurant. (The restaurant where I met my fiancé!)

His perfectly-balanced drinks are known for their painstaking attention to detail. In his house martini, special attention is paid to prep — the trick is getting it bracingly cold.

He’s adapted his recipe for the home bartender below. Because whether you’re feeling festive or being forced into family fun, for me, knowing how to shake up a good martini is an essential skill. Make it, then press play.

“Sometimes, a classic is all you need,” Miles says. “For a dry martini, I typically like mine in a 3:1 ratio.”

You’ll need:

Mixing glass or cocktail shaker with the top removed — either will work, as long as they have a strainer.
Martini glass (or whatever you have on-hand, just make sure it’s glass.)
Bar spoon if you have one, regular spoon if you don’t.
Ice
London Dry gin
Dry vermouth

Step 1. Put your mixing glass (or shaker!) and martini glass in the freezer for at least one hour. “This step is not optional,” Miles warns. “A bracingly cold martini is a beautiful thing. A warm martini is gross. Temperature is key.”

Step 2. Add .75 oz dry vermouth (Miles prefers Dolin, from France) and two dashes of orange bitters to your cold mixing glass.

Step 3. Crack four cubes of ice straight from your freezer (you can use a spoon to break the cubes) into your glass. Then, add whole cubes on top of those.

Step 4. Add 2.25 oz London Dry gin to your mixing glass, and stir for a full minute. “The cubes are coming straight from the freezer, so it will take a little longer to get the water diluted and your drink properly chilled.”

Step 5. Strain the cocktail into your cold martini glass. Miles suggests you garnish with a lemon twist and an olive. “Why choose one or the other when you can have both?”