You’ll be hard-pressed to find sotol, the Chihuahuan spirit, in your local cocktail bar. But it’s worth seeking out a bottle of Casa Lotos Blanco. Distilled from the head of the dasylirion plant, the liquor has seen a spike in popularity in recent years, and for good reason. It packs more flavor than your average tequila and is less smoky than a typical mezcal. Clean, crisp, and earthy without being bland, this sotol has been in the hands of the Ruelas family for generations. The wealth of their experience comes through with every sip. We recommend enjoying it with a splash of Topo Chico, a squeeze of lemon juice, or, if you have the taste for it, straight up. ($49.95, casalotos.com) —Jack Sullivan

You didn’t have to love surfing to love The Endless Summer, and you don’t have to love it to love this book, either. Edited by Claudia Lebenthal, ​Surfer Stories compiles essays on ​many of the ​sport’s greats​:​ Garrett McNamara​, the world-record holder for the largest wave ever surfed; Gerry Lopez, who also wrote the McNamara chapter; Kelly Slater, the 11-time World Surf League champion; and the Hamiltons (Laird, the big-wave surfer, and Bethany, who lost an arm to a shark attack in 2003). ​The result is a very human history of a sport born of the simple pleasure of being out in the water. And the cover—​featuring 1977 world champion Shaun Tomson, aged 14 at the time, ​with a board shaped by Australia’s Midget Farrelly—​is a conversation piece in itself. ($40, simonandschuster.com) —Julia Vitale

La DoubleJ designer J. J. Martin is no stranger to collaborations—her swimwear brand, Orlebar Brown, is still the rage all over Europe. Now La DoubleJ has teamed up with Mother Denim, the Los Angeles–based line, on a 30-piece capsule collection called Ciao Mamma! Martin, a California native who has spent the past few decades living in Milan, has mined her archive to create these spirited dresses, skirts, jackets, and shorts. We’re especially keen on the vintage-inspired patchwork pieces. A rebellious attitude feels particularly right these days, no? (from $97.82, ladoublej.com) —Ashley Baker

Colleen Allen is one of the most discussed designers out of New York, and after going gaga for her fall ’25 collection, which she unveiled to much fanfare last month, we’re having trouble waiting to add one of her dresses to the old wardrobe. On that note, her spring pieces have just arrived in stores, and the long-sleeved Twist dress, in a delightfully Orange Julius–y shade called Flaming June, is coming straight home. The cheeky color belies the dramatic silhouette, which is extra-elongated in all the right places (sleeves, hemline). Just imagine how simple it would be to pack—and how easily it lends itself to layering in these shoulder seasons. Best of all, Allen is not yet a household name, and isn’t it always so satisfying to be among the first to start collecting a designer? ($1,475; colleenallen.com) —Ashley Baker

Walk into a large bookstore and you’ll find dozens of books on how to be creative or how to start a business. Skip them all and grab The Creative Entrepreneur, a compendium of advice from 10 industry titans whose insights will inform, amuse, and inspire you. Author Carolyn Dailey, known for her work as one of Time Warner’s top executives in Europe, has brought together the voices of music producer Nile Rodgers, who reflects on how his company survived the “Disco sucks” movement of 1979; Ruthie Rogers, who explains how her famed River Cafe in London survived the pandemic; and designer Thomas Heatherwick, who talks about how he transformed a crumbling pier on the Hudson River into Little Island, a haven of undulating trails and gardens supported by 132 tulip-shaped concrete pylons. The book itself is a design marvel—featuring a visual buffet complemented by well-organized text in the signature style of its publisher, DK—and underscores how Dailey herself lives up to the book’s title. ($21.99, amazon.com) —Jim Kelly

Victor and Zoey have been best friends since they met in college. But a decade later, as both work in New York—Victor at a respected magazine, Zoey at a fashion start-up—their relationship is tested by the cold realities of adulthood. Intertwined with Victor and Zoey’s stories are those of fellow players on the city’s media scene, including a publicist for a vapid pop star, a nepo-baby podcaster, and a downtown influencer-novelist. Following the characters from dinners at the Odeon to P.R. events at the Standard, former Vanity Fair senior writer Josh Duboff’s debut novel, Early Thirties, encapsulates the challenges of a long friendship with humor and poignancy, and reveals what it takes to grow together—or apart. ($28.99, simonandschuster.com) —Paulina Prosnitz