Homemade Amaretto from scratch without nuts

This Yuzushu is made from fresh yuzu, rock sugar and sochu. So easy to make and such a great way to add delicoius yuzu flavor to cocktails.

It wasn’t until I was developing the watermelon feta milk punch recipe, that it dawned on me to fat wash the spirit! Fat washing is a technique that used to extract ethanol and water-soluble flavor compounds from fat and infuses them into a spirit. The most common way to fat wash is to add liquified fat to a spirit, freeze the mixture, and extract the spirit from the fat.

I absolutely love coconut everything- but even better than plain old coconut, is toasted coconut! Toasted coconut just tastes everything taste more special and refined. It adds more complexity to cocktails and mocktails alike. It’s perfect in Piña Coladas and Blue Hawaiians.

Making shrubs, or drinking vinegars is my all-time favorite way to upcycle the bits of fruit that usually go unused. This recipe is a DIY zero waste method to make a mango shrub to use in cocktails, or mocktails.

Campari is the most iconic Italian aperitif. It’s bright red color is unmistakable and its bracing bitterness offers the perfect complexity to cocktails when used right.

Brandied cherries are a home bar essential. Manhattans are just incomplete without a brandied cherry, and nothing beats the taste of homemade.

There are times when I just want a margarita but without the alcohol ...or even the feelings from the alcohol as, let’s face it, seem to intensify as we get older. Something that would be great for a weeknight, during the day on the weekend in between errands, or just to simply enjoy for the taste because Margaritas are just freaking delicious!

If you guys have been following me on YouTube or Instagram, you know that I am obsessed with butterfly pea flowers. When I first got them, my very first idea was to try and make an all-natural Blue Curaçao. I don’t like using food coloring in my baking or liqueur making because honestly, it feels like cheating! There is also lots of very unnatural things in food coloring too that I would rather steer clear from.

Gin: It is a staple spirit in any bar. It’s in dozens of classic cocktails. The standards: Gin and Tonics, Corpse Revivers, Negronis, Martinis- shaken and stirred - though, never shake your martini - it waters down the drink! All gins have a botanical build for their flavor, which is infused into a neutral grain spirit, then distilled. But what if I told you, you could easily make your own, and to your own specifications, likes and needs for whichever cocktail it is you want to make.

This cardamom and rose scented pistachio orgeat is just heavenly. Its creamy texture will have you adding it to more than just cocktails. It’s really delicious in coffee or added to cakes as a glaze.

Falernum is a must have ingredient for any tiki enthusiast. It hails from Barbados and has been used in cocktails since at least the 1800s. Just by using a tiny bit, Falernum offers depth and just an almost imperceptible spice that really balances out the sometimes cloyingly sweet and overly boozy tiki cocktails. There is no real definitive recipe for Falernum, but each recipe I’ve seen calls for over proof rum, sugar, lime, almond and clove.

Spring is here, and all the wonderful things that come with it - Picnics in the park, warmer weather, pretty flowers, but there is one thing about spring that is not so wonderful - at least not for me, and that’s pollen. For all you seasonal allergy friends, this infused honey will have you back outdoors in no time!

When tomatoes are out of season, I like to use cape gooseberries in my caprese salad. Cape gooseberries or golden berries as they’re also known, are a relative of the tomato, but are more closely related to a tomatillo. They have an amazing sweet and tart flavor that is a mix between sweet and savory. They kind of taste like a cherry tomato mixed with mango. They were the main inspiration to my caprese-ish cocktail that combines gooseberry shrub, basil, gin and burrata to make a mighty fine cocktail.

I am always looking for ways to produce less waste when cooking or crafting drinks. An ongoing goal of mine is to become more sustainable and find ways to waste less. Since I only ever use fresh juice when making cocktails, I almost always have leftover rinds and juice that I can’t always find a purpose for. One of my favorite ways to utilize old fruit and juice is to make either a shrub or a cordial.

This might be a polarizing opinion, but I just love floral flavors. I don’t get the soapy vibe that a lot of people often associate with rose water and other floral flavors. I mean have you ever tried candied violets?! They’re incredible! I came up with this recipe for lavender liqueur when developing my Rusty Nail riff - The Manicured Nail. The floral notes blended beautifully with the Drambuie and really highlighted the floral notes of the scotch itself.

Orgeat is an almond syrup typically used in tiki style drinks, most notably in the Mai tai. You can buy this in the store, but it’s never as good as homemade, and the ones that are are quite expensive. It’s really simple to make and you only need 2 ingredients aside from water. There are several ways to go about making orgeat, but this is by far the easiest and least time-consuming way. I only use almonds, sugar and water to make my orgeat, you can add orange blossom water or rose water, as well as almond extract, but those ingredients are optional.

I know its officially summer when I start to see fresh picked berries at the farmers market. The star of the season for me are these beautiful, tiny Tristar Strawberries. For their size, they pack the most intense strawberry flavor. I always want to bottle up that bright, sweet flavor so I can enjoy a bit of summer anytime of the year.