Tony Sachs
@retromannyc.bsky.social
Drinks writer for Forbes and Alcohol Professor, among others. Wild about dumplings and burgers. 20th century music enthusiast. Unapologetic Yankees fan. Proud Democrat. Husband, dad, New Yorker.
The calls to abolish ICE aren't the same as calling for unprotected borders. They're for abolishing the lawless paramilitary organization that serves at the pleasure of Trump & Stephen Miller. Something that's actually required to obey the Constitution, the law & due process can & should be created.
January 27, 2026 at 2:54 AM
The calls to abolish ICE aren't the same as calling for unprotected borders. They're for abolishing the lawless paramilitary organization that serves at the pleasure of Trump & Stephen Miller. Something that's actually required to obey the Constitution, the law & due process can & should be created.
Taking a minute off from obsessing about Minnesota to posit that it wasn't the "jumping the shark" episode that signaled the decline of Happy Days, it was when the characters lost the period-appropriate hair and started wearing disco 'dos. The series endured for years, but it was never the same.
January 27, 2026 at 2:47 AM
Taking a minute off from obsessing about Minnesota to posit that it wasn't the "jumping the shark" episode that signaled the decline of Happy Days, it was when the characters lost the period-appropriate hair and started wearing disco 'dos. The series endured for years, but it was never the same.
All it took to get Republicans to come out for gun control was for one liberal to open-carry. The problem is the gun control they envision applies only to liberals in blue states.
January 26, 2026 at 3:07 AM
All it took to get Republicans to come out for gun control was for one liberal to open-carry. The problem is the gun control they envision applies only to liberals in blue states.
Essential reading. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Field Notes for Cracking An Empire
How to stay alive when the fight arrives at your door.
substack.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:39 AM
Essential reading. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Where's the best place to donate to help the resistance in Minnesota? @atrupar.com, any suggestions?
January 24, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Where's the best place to donate to help the resistance in Minnesota? @atrupar.com, any suggestions?
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen.
Morphine
Buddy Greco
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
The Replacements
Dave Brubeck
Morphine
Buddy Greco
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
The Replacements
Dave Brubeck
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen.
Television
Big Youth
Fela Kuti
Ornette Coleman
Afrika Bambaataa & Souksonic Force
Television
Big Youth
Fela Kuti
Ornette Coleman
Afrika Bambaataa & Souksonic Force
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen
Ted Leo/Rx
Armand Hammer
Blind Boys Of Alabama & Garth Hudson
Leonard Cohen
Dax Riggs
Ted Leo/Rx
Armand Hammer
Blind Boys Of Alabama & Garth Hudson
Leonard Cohen
Dax Riggs
January 23, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen.
Morphine
Buddy Greco
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
The Replacements
Dave Brubeck
Morphine
Buddy Greco
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
The Replacements
Dave Brubeck
MAGA politicians will never abandon Trump. For some of them, it's fear and cowardice. For others, opportunism. But it's the true believers that scare me.
January 20, 2026 at 10:36 PM
MAGA politicians will never abandon Trump. For some of them, it's fear and cowardice. For others, opportunism. But it's the true believers that scare me.
I have thought about this every time he mentions other countries sending people from their asylums to the US.
Kinda funny that Trump thinks "asylum" means other countries send people from insane asylums, and a) this is real life, not a ham-handed Idiocracy-type satire, b) he has surely been corrected several times but is incapable of updating his priors, & c) most media politely agree not to mention it.
January 20, 2026 at 5:28 PM
I have thought about this every time he mentions other countries sending people from their asylums to the US.
If Trump is chomping at the bit to start Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo, can you even imagine what’s in the Epstein files?
January 18, 2026 at 7:52 PM
If Trump is chomping at the bit to start Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo, can you even imagine what’s in the Epstein files?
Honestly, if I had to choose between the dishwasher at my local Mexican restaurant who may not be here legally and a bunch of masked thugs with automatic weapons and a thirst for liberal blood... I'd let the dishwasher stay here.
January 16, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Honestly, if I had to choose between the dishwasher at my local Mexican restaurant who may not be here legally and a bunch of masked thugs with automatic weapons and a thirst for liberal blood... I'd let the dishwasher stay here.
I feel very strongly that I won Minnesota the last three presidential elections. And it's really incredible, you know, because I'm a drinks writer from New York and I wasn't on the ballot. I won it all three times in my opinion. I did so well in that state. The people were crying every time after.
January 14, 2026 at 12:22 PM
I feel very strongly that I won Minnesota the last three presidential elections. And it's really incredible, you know, because I'm a drinks writer from New York and I wasn't on the ballot. I won it all three times in my opinion. I did so well in that state. The people were crying every time after.
Could blue states form escrow accounts and people/employers send federal tax payments to the escrow accounts instead of the IRS? Just thinking out loud here.
Trump: "Starting February 1, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities"
January 14, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Could blue states form escrow accounts and people/employers send federal tax payments to the escrow accounts instead of the IRS? Just thinking out loud here.
Turns out Republicans didn't want smaller government after all. They just wanted fewer IRS agents catching tax cheats and more masked thugs shooting women in the face.
January 13, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Turns out Republicans didn't want smaller government after all. They just wanted fewer IRS agents catching tax cheats and more masked thugs shooting women in the face.
Like many a jazz fan, I’ve looked down my nose a bit at Glenn Miller’s music. But these two 2 CD sets of previously unreleased radio broadcasts, recorded 1940-42, have converted me. My gosh, this stuff swings, and the sound is phenomenal. Only available from www.glennmiller.org!
January 5, 2026 at 11:23 AM
Like many a jazz fan, I’ve looked down my nose a bit at Glenn Miller’s music. But these two 2 CD sets of previously unreleased radio broadcasts, recorded 1940-42, have converted me. My gosh, this stuff swings, and the sound is phenomenal. Only available from www.glennmiller.org!
An homage to New Year's Eve, traditions, and Chinese food — my latest for @forbes.com (via my website). Have a read while getting ready to give 2025 the boot!
34 (Or 35) New Year's Eve Dinners And Counting At The Same Chinese Restaurant — Tony Sachs Drinks
I was shuffling around my apartment the other day, still recovering from a brief but nasty bout of the flu, I made the mistake of saying to my wife, “I should probably work on something.” I was referr...
www.tonysachsdrinks.com
December 31, 2025 at 7:12 PM
An homage to New Year's Eve, traditions, and Chinese food — my latest for @forbes.com (via my website). Have a read while getting ready to give 2025 the boot!
As Trump proved on Christmas — and every time a normal person is supposed to behave with grace & dignity — he’s the most miserable, angry, aggrieved SOB on the planet. And he’s earned every shred of his misery. May he never know a minute of happiness or peace in this life or the next.
December 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
As Trump proved on Christmas — and every time a normal person is supposed to behave with grace & dignity — he’s the most miserable, angry, aggrieved SOB on the planet. And he’s earned every shred of his misery. May he never know a minute of happiness or peace in this life or the next.
In 1993 I opened a record store — a CD store really. It was the '90s, you know. 20 years ago tonight we closed up for good. And I'll tell you, you couldn't pay me enough to do it again... although if I'd gotten paid in the first place, I might look back on the experience a little more fondly.
December 24, 2025 at 11:27 PM
In 1993 I opened a record store — a CD store really. It was the '90s, you know. 20 years ago tonight we closed up for good. And I'll tell you, you couldn't pay me enough to do it again... although if I'd gotten paid in the first place, I might look back on the experience a little more fondly.
MTV could air music videos again. Or it could lean into its original GenX demographic and become an '80s nostalgia channel. Instead, every time I've turned it on for the last 5 years, it's been airing a show called Ridiculousness, featuring a woman named Chanel West Coast cackling at home videos.
December 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
MTV could air music videos again. Or it could lean into its original GenX demographic and become an '80s nostalgia channel. Instead, every time I've turned it on for the last 5 years, it's been airing a show called Ridiculousness, featuring a woman named Chanel West Coast cackling at home videos.
There were a lot of great whiskeys released this year, and I neglected to write about many of them — probably because I was too busy, um, "researching" them. So here's my mad year-end scramble to mention as many as possible! Only at @forbes.com (via my website)!
Writing About Whiskey. Lots And Lots Of Whiskey. (And A Whisky, Too!) — Tony Sachs Drinks
When the whiskeys pile up faster than I can write about them, there’s only one thing to do — write a round-up and cram ten (or twelve, depending on how you look at it) into a single article. I ha...
www.tonysachsdrinks.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:44 PM
There were a lot of great whiskeys released this year, and I neglected to write about many of them — probably because I was too busy, um, "researching" them. So here's my mad year-end scramble to mention as many as possible! Only at @forbes.com (via my website)!
A year that’s been so awful in so many ways delivers what I hope is the coup de grâce and not the precursor to even more awfulness. RIP Rob Reiner.
December 15, 2025 at 12:36 PM
A year that’s been so awful in so many ways delivers what I hope is the coup de grâce and not the precursor to even more awfulness. RIP Rob Reiner.
Putting “THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES” in quotation marks is something I actually agree with in this statement.
Trump: “I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean “THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.” They are true Enemies of the People, and we should do something about it."
December 11, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Putting “THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES” in quotation marks is something I actually agree with in this statement.
Looks like Trump is going to have to make room on his mantle (and around his neck) for the first annual Netflix Peace Prize and the first annual 60 Minutes Peace Prize.
December 10, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Looks like Trump is going to have to make room on his mantle (and around his neck) for the first annual Netflix Peace Prize and the first annual 60 Minutes Peace Prize.
One of these days I'll get caught up with posting links to my writing on my website. Until then... here are two relatively recent Whiskeys Of The Week I wrote up for @forbes.com. Check 'em out, why don'tcha! It IS Repeal Day, after all.
A Wheat Whiskey That Comes In Its Own Silo! And A Bourbon That Took Three Master Distillers To Make! — Tony Sachs Drinks
I don’t write up a Whisk(e)y Of The Week for Forbes every week — though heaven knows that’s the intention — but when I do, I come up with some choice bottles. Such as these two recent fa...
www.tonysachsdrinks.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:43 PM
One of these days I'll get caught up with posting links to my writing on my website. Until then... here are two relatively recent Whiskeys Of The Week I wrote up for @forbes.com. Check 'em out, why don'tcha! It IS Repeal Day, after all.
Biden/Harris failed in part because they tried to trumpet positive data about the economy & inflation without addressing people’s apprehension & fears. R’s are doing the same thing now — minus the data.
FOX: Year to date job cuts are up 54%. That seems like a troubling number. What's your take?
HASSETT: The flow of jobs in & out is a little higher, there's a little more turnover. A lot of times that can happen because people feel like they're actually able to get another job if they leave this one
HASSETT: The flow of jobs in & out is a little higher, there's a little more turnover. A lot of times that can happen because people feel like they're actually able to get another job if they leave this one
December 4, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Biden/Harris failed in part because they tried to trumpet positive data about the economy & inflation without addressing people’s apprehension & fears. R’s are doing the same thing now — minus the data.
My daughter went to school today wearing a Members Only jacket & my Jesus & Mary Chain "Psychocandy" shirt from my high school days. I told her nobody who wore a Jesus & Mary Chain shirt in the '80s would have been caught dead wearing Members Only, but I suppose the distinction no longer matters.
November 26, 2025 at 9:14 PM
My daughter went to school today wearing a Members Only jacket & my Jesus & Mary Chain "Psychocandy" shirt from my high school days. I told her nobody who wore a Jesus & Mary Chain shirt in the '80s would have been caught dead wearing Members Only, but I suppose the distinction no longer matters.