Finally made one of my favorite Filipino street foods! Banana-cue! 🍌

Growing up, I remember paying 20 PHP (about $0.30 now) for a stick of banana-cue and was always in heaven. Banana-cue is made with saba bananas which is actually more of a tiny plantain than a banana. If you’ve never had it before, it’s essentially a deep fried plantain (similar to maduros) but coated with caramelized dark brown sugar and then skewered with bamboo sticks and served to-go. Think bananas foster but with a brown sugar candy coating. These are so ridiculously delicious and crispy and might be coming to a cocktail near you ;)

Also, can we just acknowledge the fact that I just made a cooking video??? Should I make more? If so, what do you want to see?

Graceful, minimalist, and endlessly refreshing, the Japanese Highball showcases the beauty of simplicity. This classic two-ingredient cocktail highlights the delicate balance between whisky and soda water—crisp, effervescent, and perfectly chilled. It's a masterclass in restraint: light yet flavorful, elegant yet effortless. The secret lies in precision and temperature, making it an ideal drink for warm weather or slow, contemplative evenings.

What if we made this iconic Filipino street food into a cocktail?

Together with my friends at @tanduayrum, I’ve taken one of my favorite Filipino street foods and found a way to make it into a cocktail. Banana-cue is an iconic Filipino dish made with Saba bananas, that are fried with dark brown sugar to form a crispy, caramel coating. The piping hot caramelized bananas are then skewered with bamboo and eaten to-go. It’s a sweet, savory snack that I figured would be fitting with Tanduay Gold Rum - an iconic Filipino rum thats been around so long that my dad used to drink it back in the Philippines when he was my age :D

This is one of the best cocktails I’ve made this year, and the secret (besides the rum) is the Saba banana oleo saccharum, if you want the recipe sent to your inbox, comment ‘OLEO’ and I’ll send it over in the form of a recipe card so you can save it to your camera roll.

Cheers y’all!

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Next up for Negroni Week 2025, Ryan Wise channels the Count himself with a refined yet punchy tribute. Homage to the Count balances navy strength gin’s spice with Campari’s bitterness, rounded by Madeira’s caramel tones and a whisper of house-made allspice dram. It’s layered, aromatic, and deeply respectful of Negroni’s roots.

“Personally I love a Negroni, but I prefer mine a little punchier in the Gin department. So this Negroni variation starts with the Gin, we use a high ABV navy strength Gin, this offers balance between the smooth bitterness of Campari and the subtle sweet caramel and spice notes from the Madeira without losing the Gin. The Gin also has a nice background spice profile, like cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, ginger and of course juniper, so we leaned into that with just a touch our house made allspice dram that we make with a locally distilled rum, cinnamon, toasted cardamom and of course allspice berries. A couple drops of 20% saline solution to enhance flavor and add complexity and Voila - “HOMAGE TO THE COUNT”. The name of our cocktail is a nod to Count Camillo Negroni for whom the original Negroni was named after.”

Cheers, y’all!

Ok hear me out… Pineapple upside-down cake… but a cocktail 🤯

In honor of #NationalVodkaDay, I’ve teamed up with my friends at weberranchvodka to make a cocktail that I swear tastes almost exactly like a caramel-y pineapple upside-down cake. The secret is all in this “Upside Down” juice which was inspired by this respetoagave syrup that was recently shared with me. Respeto is made from mature agaves that are slow cooked in hornos (ovens) then crushed using a tahona, bringing out that deep/rich caramel notes that you’d only find at a hacienda in Mexico. When mixed with spices, pineapple and smoked sea salt, you have something thats sweet, fruity, savory and surprisingly balanced.

Comment “JUICE” and I’ll send you the exact recipe I used here.

This mix is then simply shaken with one of my favorite vodkas recently in Weber Ranch (also made from 100% agave) which produces a delicious, rich cocktail with a natural foam from the agave and pineapple. Give this one a shot, you’ll love it.

Cheers and happy national vodka day, y’all!