My Blue Hawaiian is made from 100% all-natural ingredients without any food dyes, so you can enjoy a sip of summer (almost) guilt free! This recipe uses my all natural Blue Curaçao, homemade toasted cream of coconut, pineapple juice, and rum. I’ve even used natural food dye to replace those fake maraschino cherries with a deliciously tart sour cherry.

This alcohol-free tiki inspired cocktail features tropical ingredients like hibiscus flowers and toasted coconut milk, mixed with winter ingredients like bitter citrus to create an interesting and delicious blend of flavors. Some other supporting ingredients are rose water, saline and mint.

Is it just me, or do all banana flavored things taste like chemicals and not at all like bananas? This Banana infused scotch uses real bananas to give this Banoffee Cobbler a slightly smoky, banana kick.

While I can’t just hop on a plane anytime soon, I can recreate that feeling at home with this cocktail that I’m calling Breakfast in Paris. It is a Kir riff that is reminiscent of a French baguette smothered with butter and jam- a classic Parisian breakfast that I enjoy frequently when I am in France. The fat washing of the cognac takes this simple Kir to the next level.

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.

I always get my best cocktail ideas when I’m eating. I love a good caprese salad. Oddly enough, it has all the components of what I look for in a cocktail- great acidity, herbal notes, a creamy texture and just a touch of salinity. Instead of simply infusing the ingredients into a spirit or making a syrup, I thought it would be more fun to create a more abstract vision for this drink.

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!

I always want to take healthy ingredients and use them in my cocktails. Allergy season especially has me thinking of this. Once I learned that using local honey helps with seasonal allergies, because it has trace amounts of the pollen in your surroundings, I started incorporating it more into my food and beverages. It definitely helps that it tastes delicious.

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.

Boozy, smoky and floral? Delicate florals are not typically commingled with boozy stirred cocktails, but the lavender in this cocktail really breathes new life into the Rusty Nail. The subtle smoke from the earl grey tea add an air of sophistication and the grapefruit oil gives just a hint of bitterness and accentuates the floral character of the Drambuie and lavender liqueur. It makes a wonderfully elegant night cap. One of my favorite scotch cocktails has to be a rusty nail - which has sadly fallen out of fashion.

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.

There once was a girl who fell madly in love with a Persian prince - so she baked him a cake filled with love magic to make him fall in love with her. The verdict is out on whether it worked or not, but one thing is for sure - this cake is magical. Made of almond flour and lemon. Scented with rose and cardamom and topped with pistachio, I knew this cake would make an excellent cocktail.