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.

Have you ever had a Jaffa Cake?

It’s no secret that orange and chocolate go really well together so when I saw this recipe in nicholas.hamilton’s newly released book, “Sipsy Doozy.” I knew I had to try it. Just happened to be great timing with it being #WorldCocktailDay and all. I’m happy to report that it’s as delicious as it sounds. Huge congrats to Nick for his new book, you can grab it over on his page/bio!

Cheers y’all.

Excerpt from the book and origin story of the cocktail:
“This spicy chocolate orange in liquid form tickles the throat as it soothes the tongue with cocoa-coated citrus. This concoction was invented by my followers and me on a TikTok livestream, a result of brainstorming drink ideas with the viewers in the comments. Once the drink was made, a clever commenter said it must taste like a Jaffa Cake, a popular orange-chocolate biscuit (cookie) from England.

Deciding that that name didnt fully encapsulate the spiciness and savoriness of the cocktail, it was renamed the Jaffa Kick.”

Ok, but seriously, fill up those atomizers…

It’s time to use that mint simple syrup from yesterday, today we’re making an OG mint julep the right way. I’ve heard tell of folks in KY putting some funky Jamaican rum on top o their juleps before. If you know me, you know how much I love funky rum (funky in a ripe banana way, not in a 70’s jazz way - actually maybe both?).

Anyways, it adds a level of complexity, fruitiness and sweetness to an already delicious drink. Try it out this weekend and let me know below how you’re celebrating the @kentuckyderby!

The easiest summer cocktail you can make…

I know the Spaghett has been around for a while but it really is such a great spring/summer cocktail. The best part is it’s only 3 ingredients and it’s absolutely crushable.

Cheers y’all

Throwing it back to this zesty shot with my friends at hennessy.

If you haven’t already - make sure to check out my IG stories and get a sneak peek at this year’s limited edition bottle of VSOP in collaboration with refikanadol - there’s a couple goodies in there that I’m excited to play around with! Let me know what y’all think.

Looking for another smokey cocktail? Traditionally made with Scotch, this one uses corsairdistilleryTriple Smoke Whiskey, cocktailcrateGingerBee and Meyer lemons.

Another labor of love 🌽🇵🇭

You know what they say about corn… it has the juice. This is an homage to one of my favorite Filipino street desserts, maís con yelo. I developed this recipe for a Kamayan dinner with my friends at kulturacharleston, kaya.orlando and naks.nyc for chswineandfood this year. It turned out to be one of my favorite cocktails I’ve ever made just because it brought me back to my childhood in the Philippines.

Hope y’all enjoy this as much as I did making it.

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