It’s the cantaloupe life raft garnish for me….
Up next on Charleston’s tour of #NegroniWeek with @campari_southcarolina is my buddy Megan Deschaine (@meganmakesdrinks) at @eatbarcopa with her take on a classic.
“A bright, tropical inspired Negroni featuring a briny, sea breeze like Martinique Agricole, playing with the bitter Campari and lightly sweet herbal notes of the infused vermouth. Best enjoyed with sunshine and friends”
Just a reminder that this week, I’ll be featuring five of Charleston’s finest bartenders to show us their take on a Negroni. The cool part about this if you’re local, they’ll actually be serving these up at their respective bars THIS WEEK ONLY, so make sure to go to @eatbarcopa to give this one a try and support the cause!
Brb… gotta clean some peppercorn off my lens…
Up next on Charleston's tour of #NegroniWeek with @campari_southcarolina is Fabiana Pinillos (@fabiliciousssss) over at Dalila's (@dalilas_on_spring)
"Dalila's would not be the bar it is without the Negroni - it is one of the first cocktails we think about and play off of when designing menu changes. This takes all those traditional components that we love and amplifies them in a floral, but non-pastiche way, toasting the pink peppercorn to bring out some richness and citrus notes, matching that with Italicus, a rose and bergamot liqueur that's light on its feet, and putting an underrated classic gin like Gordon's at the helm to steer the beverage in the right direction. A bit of seasoning ties it up all nicely - a pinch salt, an expression of lime oil, and just a dash of a rich simple syrup add body to make this Negroni delicious."
Just a reminder that this week, I'll be featuring five of Charleston's finest bartenders to show us their take on a Negroni. The cool part about this if you're local, they'll actually be serving these up at their respective bars THIS WEEK ONLY, so make sure to go to @dalilasonspring to give this one a try and support the cause!
Read MoreEXTREMELY 👏🏽 FLAVORFUL 👏🏽
Up next on Charleston’s tour of #NegroniWeek with @campari_southcarolina is Stephen Blackmon (@stephenblackmon) over at Doar Bros. (@doarbros) - make sure to stop by and give this one a try in person!
“I was inspired by one of my favorite Indian restaurants, Chai Pani in Asheville, NC owned by Chef Meherwan Irani. The backstory of his great grandfather running one of the only Irani Cafes in his hometown along with what it must have been like hanging out there on a regular basis painted a vivid picture for what I wanted to share with others. The combination of culturally driven flavors and lively but chill vibes are what incited me to produce this very special cocktail riff.
I knew I wanted to have three things come out of this cocktail’s production: tea, spices, and savoriness in homage to Meherwan and his family’s heritage. By using the specific barrel-aged gin with big notes of Indian spices, infused for further complexity with malty Assam Tea along with traditional Masala Chai, I was able to ground the base idea around those bold flavors. I then chose to infuse a commonly found Italian aperitif white wine with spiced orange tea to play off both the infused gin and also tie it to both the Campari and Grand Mariner rather than use the typical sweet vermouth. I chose to do a “fat washing” process using traditional brown ghee along with coconut oil to round out the entire cocktail with a lingering silky and savory finish.”
Up next on Charleston's tour of #NegroniWeek with @campari_southcarolina is my buddy Jimmy Chmielewski (@jimmy_withthe_goodhair) at @thearcher with his take on a recipe thats a Negroni that drinks like a spritz, check it out below. "We really wanted to showcase some of the less conventional ingredients or techniques that we're utilizing at The Archer. The coconut and milk oolong tea really give the Campari a sort of bitter fruit loop flavor and a much more velvety mouthful. We also stand by the belief that most things are better carbonated and a negroni is no different. The force carbonation makes a boozy sipper feel like a light and fizzy Spritz. In terms of the thought process of the ingredients, toasted coconut screams tiki, so we really wanted to lean into that flavor profile (hence, banana and rum) without getting too far away from what a negroni truly tastes "
Read MoreGive me a Negroni by candle light all dayyyy 🕯️🥃
It’s here! @negroniweek is starts tomorrow (9/16-9/22) and I’ve got something special planned for the week here in Charleston with some talented friends of mine and @campari_southcarolina. If you havent already, make sure to register at negroniweek.com and stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks!
A light take on the classic for #NegroniWeek 🥃
“A lighter rendition of the classic, the Alive and Well is more of an “orange” Negroni. aromatic, floral, herbaceous, and slightly fruity backed with Campari’s signature bitterness; it’s a fun, late-summer sipper.”
Cheers y’all!
“A lighter rendition of the classic, the Alive and Well is more of an “orange” Negroni. aromatic, floral, herbaceous, and slightly fruity backed with Campari’s signature bitterness; it’s a fun, late-summer sipper.”
Don’t forget you can grab this cocktail at @beautiful_south__ this week! Cheers y’all!
Have you ever wondered how to barrel age a cocktail at home? I’m excited to once again #partner up with Cooperscraft to show y’all how to do so! The barrel aging technique is not only a tried and true way to batch a cocktail, it’s also a great way to add a subtle toasty flavor while mellowing a cocktail to create a perfect balance of flavors. The instructions are simple and the hardest part will be waiting for the cocktail to age without wanting to have more than one sample. .
Note that not all barrels are created equal, so the recipe is split into equal parts instead of exact measurements. Make sure to read the barrel preparations from your manufacturer before the barrel aging process as those instructions can vary per manufacturer as well. Enjoy!
A summer Negroni? This is the Enzoni 🍇
This cocktail was created in the early 2000s and way ahead of its time. Back in those days I was crushing Keystone Lights and Kentucky Gentleman + Diet Cokes… because college. This cocktail is so far removed from that, I think it would be like if a Negroni was a summer drink, this would be the recipe. Make sure to give this one a try, it’s fruity, sweet, bitter and sour. So, so good.
Cheers y’all.
What do you know about Grappa?
I’ll be honest, up until a few days ago, I didn’t know much about either, but luckily, together with my friends at hellograppa, we’re here to get to know the spirit a bit better. We’ll be talking about how to taste it neat, but also provide you with an easy you can make it with using Italian ingredients.
So what is Grappa? The Short answer is: A spirit distilled from grape marcs grown exclusively in Italy (Reg. (EU) 787/2019). In fact, Grappa is not distilled from grapes, but from Marcs. There’s so much more to it though. Grappa can be flavored/aromatic and aged/unaged. The aged variety can be aged anywhere from 12 months to 18+ months in oak barrels imparting flavors of vanilla and fruit, while also mellowing the unaged spirit.
TIKI-inspired Boulevardier? Yep.
Together with coopercraft, my good buddy Jordan aka @highproofpreacher and myself have teamed up to create two takes on a Boulevardier. Both recipes will be using similar ingredients in pineapple and sherry but they will be vastly different in flavor and texture but very similar in that they’re both absolutely delicious.
This is my take on a tiki-inspired cross between a Boulevardier and a Jungle Bird. This recipe is both SHAKEN and STIRRED. The initial base is a Boulevardier-riff that combines Oloroso sherry and the 100-proof coopercraft Barrel Reserve to provide something familiar but not overly sweet to compliment the topping (think Garibaldi). This orgeat, salted-pineapple foam is literally the icing on the cake. This topping is shaken to showcase the pineapple’s natural ability to foam when aerated (shaken) providing for light and fluffy top and a strong, complementary base to match. You NEED to make this recipe this week and make sure to head on over to @highproofpreacher to check out his coffee/pineapple riff!
Ever been on Cloud 9? If not, this will take you there. This recipe was created by my talented friend Darren Fallon, based in Asheville, NC.
Read MoreA two ingredient cocktail?? Yep, it’s possible AND it’s delicious. This is a Dante’s (NY) original, a modern classic - it certainly deserves ALL the hype.
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