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!

#ad21+ #TanduayPartner

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!

Warm, spiced, and spirit-forward — the Mulled Cider Rum Fashioned brings cozy holiday vibes to a timeless classic. Aged rum and pimento dram provide depth and warmth, while the spiced cider syrup and orange bitters tie it together with a fragrant seasonal twist. Cheers, y'all!

"I'm just having one drink tonight."

Today we're learning how to make soup with olive croutons aka a big 'ole batch of dirty martini. So grab your largest coupe and let's do this 🍸

Who says this ingredient doesn’t belong in cocktails? 🤔

Together with my friends at cambromfg, I’m going to show you how to make an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version of the same cocktail using a strawberry peppercorn shrub made with… yep, vinegar.

Whether you know it or not, you have eaten or drank something at a restaurant that was made or stored in a Cambro. This brand is ubiquitous within the F&B community and highly regarded as a staple in any kitchen. Enter: CamRounds, the next product in the Cambro home storage lineup.

As you can see from the video - this shows the versatility of the CamRound as I make my Shrub. I love that uses the same lid as my CamSquares and I can easily stack them in the fridge. Not to mention, the ability to use the corners as a ‘spout’ to easily pour from the corners, despite the round base. This is especially helpful when dealing with liquids… like cocktails :P

Cheers y’all!
—

Hey babe, wake up… its Negroni Week…

Together with my friends at @campari_southcarolina, we’re kicking off this week with arguably one of the best Negroni recipes I’ve ever made… and you can thank my wife for it. Negronis are all about balance, but sometimes balance means dessert in a glass because my wife’s banana bread is the inspo for this recipe. The Banana Nut Negroni takes the bitter-sweet classic and layers on notes of banana, oloroso sherry for toasty backbone, and hazelnut + black walnut bitters to tie it all together.

Seriously considering batching this one for the freezer this week.

Cheers, y’all!

For Negroni Week 2025, Charleston’s own Kris Wheeler delivers a bold and bartender-insider riff. The Shift Drink Negroni leans boozy and bitter, with navy strength gin, funky Jamaican rum, fat-washed Campari, and a dual hit of vermouth. It’s layered, rich, and full of industry in-jokes — a true “bartender’s Negroni.”

“This is my bartender centric version of a Negroni. This one comes from straight behind the bar,

Cheers, y’all!

Who says this ingredient doesn’t belong in cocktails? 🤔

Together with my friends at cambromfg, I’m going to show you how to make an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version of the same cocktail using a strawberry peppercorn shrub made with… yep, vinegar.

Comment ’SHRUB’ below if you want me to send you the exact specs for the strawberry peppercorn shrub I used here.

Whether you know it or not, you have eaten or drank something at a restaurant that was made or stored in a Cambro. This brand is ubiquitous within the F&B community and highly regarded as a staple in any kitchen. Enter: CamRounds, the next product in the Cambro home storage lineup.

As you can see from the video - this shows the versatility of the CamRound as I make my Shrub. I love that uses the same lid as my CamSquares and I can easily stack them in the fridge. Not to mention, the ability to use the corners as a ‘spout’ to easily pour from the corners, despite the round base. This is especially helpful when dealing with liquids… like cocktails :P

Cheers y’all!

Who says this ingredient doesn’t belong in cocktails? 🤔

Together with my friends at cambromfg, I’m going to show you how to make an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version of the same cocktail using a strawberry peppercorn shrub made with… yep, vinegar.

Comment ’SHRUB’ below if you want me to send you the exact specs for the strawberry peppercorn shrub I used here.

Whether you know it or not, you have eaten or drank something at a restaurant that was made or stored in a Cambro. This brand is ubiquitous within the F&B community and highly regarded as a staple in any kitchen. Enter: CamRounds, the next product in the Cambro home storage lineup.

As you can see from the video - this shows the versatility of the CamRound as I make my Shrub. I love that uses the same lid as my CamSquares and I can easily stack them in the fridge. Not to mention, the ability to use the corners as a ‘spout’ to easily pour from the corners, despite the round base. This is especially helpful when dealing with liquids… like cocktails :P

Cheers y’all!

THIS IS A TINY COCKTAIL 🍸🤏🏾

Called The Anomaly and it’s damn good.

It’s from the book Tiny cocktails by my buddy Tyler (bon_vivantito). - it’s called an anomaly because it doesn’t follow the typical format for a classic cocktail structure. It’s part martini and part sour, but also stirred? The result is a balanced drink that has the makings of a light, but boozy martini with the bright freshness of a sour.

Author’s Note: “The Anomaly, as the name hints at, is one of those cocktails that deviates from classic cocktail structure. It has traces of both the martini and the sour in its balance of ingredients. Like the martini, it’s unmistakably boozy and light, but it has the freshness and balanced sweetness of a succulent sour. Anomaly matches neither template identically though. Instead, this sophisticated drink strikes a harmonious balance of fortifying spirit with sugar and acid, allowing the seamless pairing of smoky mezcal and tropical banana to take center stage. In a way, it’s a gateway cocktail to more spirituous cocktails. It’s easy to throw back, but do tread lightly: A few of these tiny yet bold libations and your legs might just turn into noodles.”

Cheers, y’all!

From the creator of the Paper Plane comes…

You may know samueljoelross as the founder the the modern classic, Paper Plane (equal parts: rye, lemon, nonino, and aperol). But if you dont live in NY, you probably haven’t tried his other cocktails, specifically this one. The Cobble Hill is a lighter, more refreshing Manhattan that may be your new pre-dinner cocktail.

I think we finally did it.. a non-alcoholic STIRRED cocktail that actually tastes good.

I’ve been on a quest to find a spirit that plays well in a stirred cocktail. Unfortunately, it’s been difficult to replicate the texture and mouthfeel of an alcoholic spirit BUTTT I recently found some spirits that come very close.

I was introduced to Cut Above during Tales of the Cocktail one year. Yes, it’s got agave notes, but it’s also got the spice and slight bitterness that alcohol tends to have that lends itself to mimic that texture/mouthfeel.

Combined with Almave’s new Humo, a mezcal alternative, made with espadin agave (also non-alcoholic) - this recipe drank almost like the real thing.

Y’all need to give this a try, cheers.

What would happen if the Sazerac and Rob Roy had a love child? This.

We could all use more sherry cocktails in the world after all. This one uses the rich raisin notes in PX sherry to round out the flavors from the single malt scotch. If you know me, you know I love flaming my absinthe to give it a bit more toasted sugar/caramel flavor, this is optional.. If you’re a fan of Manhattans, you’re going to love this cocktail.

Cheers y’all.

Today we’re going to answer the age old question: WILL IT WISCONSIN??

On this week’s episode, we’re going to try to ‘Wisconsin’ the iconic MARGARITA. What does it mean to Wisconsin something? It means adding fruit, some sort of soda and muddling the hell out of it to make a cocktail with some sort of base spirit.

The good news is, it works. I figured it would since this is pretty much how you make a caipirinha with cachaca. Yes I know this is pretty much a ‘smash’ type cocktail, but isn’t that what a Wisconsin Old Fashioned is anyway? ;)

Cheers y’all!

Ok, apparently I’ve been making this the wrong way? 😒

Wisconsin Old Fashioned… I don’t think I know of any other classic cocktail thats so heavily disputed by an entire region. I’ve been drinking old fashioned’s for a while now and always have preferred them… the old fashioned way (ps. This is how the drink got its name - spirit, bitters, sugar + water). But the last time I made the Wisconsin OF, Wisconsinites slid into the comments section asking telling me I still did it wrong. In their defense, apparently it’s made with brandy and not bourbon (which was apparently the case for the OG old fashioned).

So lets do this the right way, feel free to throw the hate down below, I’m bracing for impact :)

Cheers y’all.

“As soon as the holiday theme was mentioned, I knew I had to make an old fashioned riff of my favorite holiday side, sweet potato casserole. I chose Old Forester 1910 because the heavy char on the cask used for secondary aging imparts the perfect flavor profile for this riff: sweet caramel and toffee notes, smokey vanilla that’s reminiscent of toasted marshmallow, and well integrated baking spices.”

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

Let’s put that strawberry syrup to good use! 🍓

Amaro and strawberries are a flavor combo you need to try. The balance of sweet, bitter and fruity is always incredible. I used Cardamaro for this recipe but feel free to use an Amari of your choice. You can’t go wrong.

Cheers y’all.

If you add olive brine, does it automatically make it dirty? 🫒

For #WorldPalomaDay, we’re doing exactly that and it’s absolutely wonderful.

Check out the recipe below, cheers y’all.