Saving the world one drink at a time
This smokey mezcal drink is lightened up with a half ounce of lemon juice, and spiced up with some of Hella’s smoked chili bitters. Perfect for coming out of the gloom of winter, I recommend using an aged Mezcal for full flavor. Cynar has a lot of vegetal qualities that pair perfectly with darker, smokey…
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that everyone has had a Rum and Coke. Sure, it’s not my go-to drink, but it is for thousands of people. I wanted to make a cocktail that was accessible in taste and didn’t require a secret language to order. Since “gimmearumancoke” just rolls off the tongue,…
This cocktail didn’t start seriously. My friends and I were at the great restaurant Wolcott’s and a few people decided to try one of their drinks that was similar to a Dirty Blonde. Of course, I had to take a sip and thought it was passable, but it inspired me to take the idea back…
I have to give a shout out to the Hella Company for making some great bitters and syrups. Most importantly, their products have found their way to large Harris-Teeter chains here in North Carolina, which is awesome. Amateurs with an eye for bitters can find their products right there next to major chain mixers. I’m…
This drink is smokey, smokey, smokey! For Christmas I got some Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind smoked maple syrup and immediately had to put it to good use. As soon as I opened the bottle the entire room was filled with campfire-smoke smells. Tasting it was like drinking thick, delicious maple syrup from a burning log. I…
So I recently posted about Fernet Branca, and how it can be overwhelming in some drinks. This one mixes up perfectly with a bunch of other great flavors to make something all-new. Instead of overwhelming with menthol taste, the Fernet takes a back seat to the other strong flavors and becomes a single delicious unified…
Recently my eyes were opened to new liqueurs, amari, and a whole host of other delicious ingredients that can be used to round out the flavors of some awesome cocktails. Fernet Branca is just one of these, but it is definitely one of the more distinct flavors – combining amaro with menthol that can come…
There are a few classic euro-cocktails out there that everyone needs to try, and the Aperol Spritz is one of them. I put a little more orange into the flavor, but not so much that it becomes sweet and heavy – it stays light and refreshing. If you find yourself with a leftover bottle of…
The last course of my cocktail party this week was the Mochatini. The last few chocolate and coffee flavored drinks that I did were a big success, so I continued on with this great recipe using a lot of local North Carolina products. This doesn’t come off overly-chocolate, and it definitely tastes more like a…
For Thanksgiving, I prepped my making a Cranberry mixer that had all of my favorite flavors in it. I canned these in mason jars for use in all my upcoming Thanksgiving week cocktails, and it worked out perfectly. To start I took 64 oz of Cranberry cocktail juice and set it on the stove to…