5-frozen-cocktails-you-need-to-make-this-summer

Not all great bourbon comes from Kentucky, and this Old Fashioned proves it. I reach for an Old Fashioned whenever I want to know what a whiskey is really made of. Three ingredients, nothing to hide behind, so whatever is in the bottle comes through clean. First up is TINCUP 10 Year, made in Colorado on Rocky Mountain water. What sets it apart is the blend. There is Stranahan's single malt whiskey in there alongside the bourbon, so it drinks grain-forward and light at 84 proof, with cherry, pastry dough, and sweet fruit syrup carrying right through the sugar and bitters. Want a higher proof pour? Reach for Pendleton 1910 out of Hood River, Oregon at 90 proof. It brings more maple, clove, rye, and warm baking spice, with a longer oak finish on the back end. Same recipe, two very different drinks, and not a Kentucky zip code between them.

Hot honey and peaches are a match made in heaven 🍑🍯

Today with my friends at @MijentaTequila, we're making a maybe the ultimate end-of-summer drink. Peaches are at their peak here in SC and today we're going to make good use out of them using hot-honey to make a frozen peach margarita with hot honey and sea salt. If that doesn't sound good to you then I don't know what does. Fun fact: Did you know South Carolina produces more peaches than Georgia? #themoreyouknow 🌈🌟

The Puttanesca happened on a whim one night with no measurements, no plan, and definitely no name. I knew it was good, so I R&D'd it into something repeatable. The recipe reads like if the bartender was Italian but also just happened to be your Nonna. Tomato vermouth and anchovy vermouth (via Veso) form the base. Oloroso sherry adds depth and nuttiness. Dry gin brings structure. Queen olives and an orange slice finish it. When I asked for name suggestions, the internet delivered instantly. Puttanesca was the winner because it's exactly what this drink is: a savory, briny, umami-forward cocktail that tastes like someone's grandmother figured out how to pour Italian flavors into a glass.

Cheers, y'all!

WEEKLY COCKTAIL ROUNDUP: RUM Cocktail Recipes! 🥃

It’s Memorial Day Weekend and rum is on the menu.

What do you want to see on the next roundup of recipes? 😬 just drop a suggestion below and I’ll make it happen.

Catch you on next week’s cocktail round-up.

Cheers y’all.

WEEKLY COCKTAIL ROUNDUP: End of Summer Recipes

It ain’t over yet, keep sipping on those crushable, ice cold drinks to cool yourself off during this heat wave (especially here in Charleston). Here are 8 recipes to keep you cool until PSL season when the big hats, flannel and boots start making their appearance.

What do you want to see on the next roundup of recipes? 😬 just drop a suggestion below and I’ll make it happen.

Catch you on next week’s cocktail round-up.

Cheers y’all.

WEEKLY COCKTAIL ROUNDUP: CHARTREUSE Recipes!

The shortage is over, use that bottle! 💚

This collection includes the Cabana Swizzle, Chartreuse Daiquiri, Chartreuse Julep, Chartreuse Ti’ Punch, Piña Verde, and Tiki Old Fashioned Vol. 2. From bright tropical cocktails to bold spirit-forward classics, these recipes highlight the herbal complexity and versatility that make Chartreuse one of the most unique ingredients behind the bar.

Cheers, y’all!

For those of you that like your partners like you like your 🍸

This is a simple take on a filthy martini. Can’t go wrong with pepper brine in a martini but this olive infused spirit from @empiricalspirits is a game changer. It’s literally olives in liquid form and it’s best used as a split base with your favorite gin. Recipe below.

Cheers, y’all!

WEEKLY COCKTAIL ROUNDUP: BANANA Recipes! 🍌

That way you can save all 7 to your camera roll for future reference.

What do you want to see on the next roundup of recipes?? 😬 just drop a suggestion below and I’ll make it happen.

Cheers y’all! Catch you on next week’s round up.

WEEKLY COCKTAIL ROUND-UP | FILIPINO COCKTAILS! 🇵🇭

These are some of my favorite recipes that I’ve made over the last few years. I love them because they’re almost all mostly based on Filipino desserts that loved as a kid. Obviously there’s a lot of nostalgia in these recipes but also a lot of my Lola’s (grandmother) inspiration for the flavors going on here. I honestly can’t pick a favorite out of the bunch so y’all will just have to try them out for yourselves and let me know.

Drop a line below and tell me what you want to see in the next round up, cheers y’all.

Style is personal. So why should your cocktail try to copy somebody else’s?

I teamed up with my friends at Ralph Lauren Fragrances to build a cocktail around their Ralph’s Club New York Parfum, and the fragrance did most of the talking. Black currant, cognac, oud wood. That’s basically a drink order.

So we built a Manhattan style sipper with cognac as the base, swapped the sweet vermouth for creme de cassis and a touch of dry vermouth, added a barspoon of absinthe and a few dashes of bitters, then finished it with an expressed lemon twist for brightness. Given the NY roots on this bottle, I’m calling it The State of Mind.

Cheers, y’all!

The P*rnstar Martini is a modern classic—fruity, approachable, and built on a formula that works. But here’s the thing: formulas can be reworked if you respect what makes them work in the first place.

This Mexican version starts with Mijenta Reposado, which brings oak and vanilla complexity that rum or vodka can’t match. Passionfruit syrup keeps that fruity brightness the original is known for. But here’s where it gets interesting: Nixta. It’s a corn-forward Mexican spirit that adds something earthy and unexpected—it’s not trying to hide, it’s showing up as itself. Vanilla agave syrup bridges the gap between the tequila’s spice and the passionfruit’s sweetness. Fresh lime brings the tart snap.

The egg white is optional, but if you use it, shake hard for a silky texture that transforms the whole experience. The tepache sidecar is the final touch—it’s fermented, slightly funky, and it makes sense alongside this drink in a way champagne never could in a margarita moment.

This is a martini built on Mexican spirits that deserve more attention. Sophisticated, fruity, and genuinely different.

Cheers, y’all!

Why does bourbon get a reputation as a cold weather drink??

Together with my friends at @fourrosesbourbon,

we’re going to prove that theory wrong, and honestly, it wasn’t hard.

Four Roses Small Batch brings a soft, fruity character with layers of spice that hold up beautifully against tropical flavors, which makes it a surprisingly natural fit for a frozen drink. So instead of reaching for rum, I built this Pina Colada around bourbon instead. Coconut cream and pineapple juice bring that classic tiki sweetness, a splash of lime juice adds acidity to balance it out, and blending it all with ice gives you that thick, frosty texture that disappears fast on a hot day.

What’s your go to bourbon cocktail for summer? Drop it below, I might build it next.

Cheers, y’all!

National Tequila Day deserves a riff that actually hits.

Loca Loka Blanco brings clean, fruity Highland agave character to fresh watermelon, bright basil, and a salted rim. We're freezing it smooth with Aperol and agave syrup, then garnishing with a watermelon slice and basil leaf. This is the margarita your summer's been waiting for.

Cheers, y'all!

The Corpse Reviver No. 2 belongs to a family of cocktails that date back to the late 1800s. These drinks were supposedly designed to do exactly what the name suggests: revive the drinker from the dead after a long night.

Many versions of the Corpse Reviver existed in the late 19th century, though most were lost to time. The best-known recipe today is the Corpse Reviver No. 2, which was preserved in Harry Craddock's 1930 book The Savoy Cocktail Book.

Like many cocktails from that era, it faded from popularity during the mid-20th century before being revived during the craft cocktail renaissance of the early 2000s.

The drink works because it follows the classic sour template: a base spirit balanced with citrus and sweetness. In this case, gin provides structure, orange liqueur and lemon bring brightness, and Lillet Blanc acts as the aromatic wine component that ties everything together.

The final touch is an absinthe rinse, which lightly coats the glass and adds a subtle herbal aroma without overwhelming the drink.

Refreshing, tart, and deceptively strong, it's easy to see why Harry Craddock included a warning alongside the recipe:

"Four of these taken in swift succession will un-revive the corpse again."

Cheers, y'all!

Ernest Hemingway was a madman for this.

The original Death in the Afternoon from Hemingway's original recipe called for 1½ oz of Absinthe and 4 oz of Champagne into an unchilled glass, UNDILUTED. Drinking 3-5 of these in succession would be 💀. As someone pointed out in the comments, the original quote was actually to 'drink 3-5 of these SLOWLY' - which makes way more sense (I think).

Big props to @anderserickson who found a way to make it a more balanced and palatable recipe.

Cheers y'all.

I blame the internet for this one…

Diet Coke has always been the caffeine rush, but throw a shot of espresso in there and you’ve got something that hits different. The vanilla sea salt foam is what pushes it over the edge. Sweet, salty, creamy, cold, and caffeinated all at once. This is what viral drinks are supposed to taste like.

Big thanks to @skymckee and @join_jules for the inspo!

Cheers, y’all.

I dare you to make a better Daiquiri this summer #ad

Together with my friends at @luxardousa, we’re going to make a rendition of the classic Hemingway Daiquiri called the Papa Doble Crush, based on a a variant called the Papa Doble - also invented in Havana! It’s the stronger (double) version of the classic Hemingway Daiquiri but blended instead of shaken. While the daiquiri is known for the rum, I feel like the Hemingway has always used Luxarado Maraschino Liqueur as the backbone, and this recipe doubles that too while keeping it balanced.

The legend goes, that Hemingway tried the bar’s standard frozen daiquiri and said, “That's good but I prefer it without sugar and with double rum”

We're crushing ice pretty fine on this one to keep it icy cold and give it that slush texture that makes you understand frozen daiquiris should be the official cocktail of the summer.

Cheers, y'all!

Fun fact: did you know it’s not just cherries that go into maraschino liqueur? They also include the leaves, branches, pits, stems and every part of the Marasca cherry tree to create the iconic liqueur used in this cocktail

What would you make behind this bar?

Together with my friends at @whistlepigwhiskey, I want to share a recipe that I created during a recent stay at the #WhistlePig farm in Vermont.

One of the most incredible parts of the trip for me was the fact that we had free rein in front AND behind the bar while we were there. This meant access to all the tools, mixers, liqueurs and more importantly, every single variety of liquid that WhistlePig has ever bottled. Yes, this includes the various maple syrups from our mutual friends at @runamokmaple.

This recipe came about during our first night at the farm. As we were crushing the fresh oysters and charcuterie after a long travel day, I figured I’d make something to pep everyone up and this was the result. WhistlePig Old World Rye, Aged 12 Years has long been a favorite of mine so that’s where I started as a base. The Sauternes, Port and Madeira finish added some of those fruity notes to the coffee profile. Add some smoked maple, a pinch of sea salt and a flamed orange twist and you’ve got yourself an instant classic.

Next time you’re thinking of an espresso martini, make this instead.

Cheers y’all!