Let’s see if we can make a Margarita from the garden 🍅🍃

Y’all know how much I love trying to incorporate fresh and savory ingredients into a cocktail. Together with my friends at @lalospirits, I was able to make make a margarita using some fresh ingredients from the garden. This recipe is perfect with LALO Tequila Blanco because it highlights its bright/vegetal notes and gets some savory/sweet/sour umami notes from the tomato. This is further enhanced by the vegetal notes from the basil and chile liqueur and a little kick from fresh cracked black pepper. This is the perfect margarita for the Spring/Summer and you need to try it out.

Cheers y’all.

Elevate your at-home martini game 🍸

A martini service is my favorite way to serve up a martini for 2. It lets everyone pick and choose their own variation and everyone leaves happy. Feel free to scale this recipe into a bigger batch since this would be great as a freezer door martini as well.

Cheers y’all

It worked on an Espresso Martini right?

I typically put a dash of saline in my Negronis or even some olive brine (for a Venetian Negroni) but adding that Parmesan infusion to the vermouth provides a savory, cheesy, funky salinity you can only get from parmesan and it worked perfectly in this cocktail.

#AprilFools obviously 😉

BUT there are way better ways to do this and the good news is, my pal, Kaitlyn (@likeablecocktails) already did the hard work for us and made this incredible recipe so that all the flavors and textures work. I gotta say, this was delicious. It still gets that parmesan funk in the Negroni without overpowering it.

Sorry in advance to those Italians offended by this monstrosity.
—
PARMESAN NEGRONI
via @likeablecocktails

🎅🏻🎄 MERRY CHRISTMAS! I’ve been wanting to smoke a Holiday themed cocktail for a while now and I think I found the perfect vessel for it. I saw this at @target and immediately thought it was for smoking my cocktails… is that weird? Anyone know what this is really for? …either way it doesn’t matter because this drink ended up being delicious.

Hosting a dinner party soon? I got you covered…

Together with my friends at @milagrotequila, I’m excited to share the newest bottle in their lineup that’s perfect for such an occasion; Milagro’s new #CristalinoAñejo. This tequila made with 100% blue agave that’s been aged up to 24 months in French and American oak and filtered to have a nice blend of caramel and vanilla sweetness from the barrel with an extra smooth finish from the filtering process. Today I’m going to show you TWO easy ways I’d serve it to my friends for our upcoming dinner party that we’re hosting.

Let’s start off with a cocktail shall we? I love the idea of making a spirit-forward classic like a martini to showcase the nuances of flavors in this Cristalino. The second serve is more for those tequila-purists that want to taste ever single aspect of the liquid, this signature serve is highlighted by a grapefruit twist to complement the citrus notes in this tequila.

Not your Ordinary Negroni… or is it?

Last but certainly not least, I’m excited to introduce you to my talented friend Christian Favier (@christianjfavier) of The Ordinary (@eattheordinary) for #NegroniWeek with @campari_southcarolina.

“We love a Negroni at The Ordinary. We didn’t want to just do a variation on something we already find nearly perfect, so we chose to flip the formula altogether. Playing on the parallel bittersweet taste of both Campari and Passionfruit, with the big bold flavor of Wray and Nephew, we did the whole thing frozen to keep it frosty cold and dangerously crushable all the way through.”

Don’t forget you can grab this cocktail at @eattheordinary this week!
This also wraps up my Negroni Week series with my talented friends here in Charleston! It’s been a blast to be able to film something/someone other than myself for a change.

Thank you to all those who have supported and if you like this series and want to see more like it, let me know below what else you’d want to see in the future.

Cheers y’all!

Up next on Charleston's tour of #NegroniWeek with @campari_southcarolina is my buddy Jimmy Chmielewski (@jimmy_withthe_goodhair) at @thearcher with his take on a recipe thats a Negroni that drinks like a spritz, check it out below. "We really wanted to showcase some of the less conventional ingredients or techniques that we're utilizing at The Archer. The coconut and milk oolong tea really give the Campari a sort of bitter fruit loop flavor and a much more velvety mouthful. We also stand by the belief that most things are better carbonated and a negroni is no different. The force carbonation makes a boozy sipper feel like a light and fizzy Spritz. In terms of the thought process of the ingredients, toasted coconut screams tiki, so we really wanted to lean into that flavor profile (hence, banana and rum) without getting too far away from what a negroni truly tastes "

My apologies to the entire country of Italy 🙈

I’m convinced this is the martini of the summer 🍅🍸

This is long overdue, but I finally had to try the Tomato Martini (aka Tomato-Tini aka Tomato-tini) created by my friend @drinksbyevie. If you’re a fan of dirty (read: filthy) savory martinis then this one is for you. I added just a slight kiss of MSG to this one just to highlight a bit of the natural MSG in tomatoes and I thought it worked out beautifully.

Have you made this recipe yet?

Meet the Vieux Carré’s American Cousin, La Lousiane.

Here’s another stirred cocktail with roots in Louisiana. This recipe first appeared in 1937 and was the house cocktail at the historic New Orleans restaurant of the same name. It’s a rye-forward cousin to the Vieux Carré and still maintains the delicate balance despite the addition of rye and absinthe.

This is one you’ve got to try, cheers y’all.

You’ve heard the term teeny tiny, but have you heard the term… 🍸🤏🏾

…and a partridge in a pear tree.

Happy holiday season y’all. Together with my friends at bruichladdich I’ve created a take on the classic Rob Roy. This takes The Classic Laddie, an unpeated scotch whisky, and combines it with the flavors of spiced pear and walnut to create a cocktail that is easy, delicious, and beautiful. Anyone can make this recipe, so make sure to give the gift of The Classic Laddie this holiday season by heading to the link in my bio!

Mare-ly Perfect Ride by Caroline Woodruff
This idea comes from a Paddock, which is an area for horses to graze in after a big day.  I wanted to really show off saddled leather and grassy notes from a split of dry vermouth for my take on a Boulevardier.  It’s easily one of my favorite cocktails to have many adaptations of, this one is a bit lighter, while the bitters let it run in a different strong direction.  

This might be the most meta thing I’ve ever done…

🥥 Remember when we aged that rum Negroni in a coconut? Well, I hope y’all didn’t throw away that coconut meat soaked with the Negroni because it’s packed with flavor. So now that we’ve aged a Negroni in that coconut, we’re going to age the coconut in a Bianco Negroni - stay tuned for part 2!

Its like a highball…but a martini. Listen, I’m a big martini fan - but they are hardly sessionable. This recipe is a bit lighter but well balanced. Give it a try.

Cheers y’all.

Alright you heard the man.

If you’re not familiar, the Rosita is a Gaz modern classic in the same family as the Negroni. It’s lighter and more delicate, using tequila as the base spirit. If you’re a fan of Negronis or the bitter sweet flavor profile, you’re going to love this one.

Cheers y’all.

Did you miss the @holycityhandcraft pop-up over at @spectatorhotel a few weeks ago where me and @lancasterchucktown collaborated on THREE craft cocktails? If so, we got you fam... the cocktails are STAYING ON THE MENU at The Spectator Hotel's bar through the Spring. Make sure to stop by and check it out. Also, over the next few weeks I'll also be sharing our recipes for each cocktail!

Well’p, if y’all have been following along, you know that two of my favorite things are a stiff Boulevardier and coming up with twists on a classic. This one is no different, the herbal notes of Chartreuse with the addition of grapefruit bitters takes the place of Campari in a funky yet delicious variation. Give it a shot.

Happy Birthday America! 🇺🇸Debuted in 1924, the Scofflaw Cocktail was named after the individuals who clandestinely sipped spirits during Prohibition.

Here’s another twist on an Amaro cocktail from btparsons book, “Amaro” named the ‘Toronto’ — I’ll admit I’m not the most avid fan of Canadian whiskies, but you’ll be surprised what a touch of black walnut bitters, Fernet and demerara will do a cocktail.