From a classic Toddy Template to complex Mezcal heaters and a delightful Frangelico Cocoa, explore this collection of hot cocktails perfect for winter.

The Classic Toddy

Bookmark this template for use with any aged spirit. Though Bourbon and Scotch are the most popular, we also enjoy it with an aged Tequila.

Get the recipe for Classic Hot Toddy.

Anjou Glad I Made It?

Mezcal, Ancho Chili, and spiced pear syrup make this a unique and craveable Hot Toddy.

Get the recipe for the Anjou Glad I Made It.

Grand Toddy

Grand Marnier’s base of Cognac and bitter orange liqueur offer a refined, smooth take on the classic Toddy.

Get the recipe for the Grand Toddy.

Frangeli-Cocoa

This Hot Cocoa is chocolatey hazelnut bliss! A perfect option for a frosty winter evening.

Get the recipe for the Frangeli-Cocoa.

Jarnac Hot Toddy

An easy tea infusion compliments the delicate floral and fruit notes from Courvoisier VSOP.

Get the recipe for the Jarnac Hot Toddy.

Bush Doctor

A heater with a point of view! This cocktail pulls in big flavors from Appleton rum, Averna, and a spiced Honey syrup.

Get the recipe for the Bush Doctor.

As a garnish, the humble brandied cherry doesn’t carry much weight in our direct experience of a cocktail—it changes neither temperature nor texture—and arguably very little of its sweet viscous coating ends up in the flavors you sip. And yet it remains an icon behind the bar. Like the mint on a pillow or the bow on a gift, it’s a small gesture of hospitality, a little treat for your guests.

Plus, who doesn’t want dessert with their drink?

Why Make Your Own Cocktail Cherries?

Unfortunately, nice cocktail or brandied cherries can be quite pricey, and in some markets, challenging to source. The solution? Make your own!

We tapped David Bates, Bar Supervisor for the Wild Turkey Distillery Visitor Center in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, to share his fantastic DIY Cocktail Cherry recipe.

Not only does it produce delicious, complex cherries, but the luxurious infusion liquid can pull double duty as a house cherry liqueur replacement, or simply enjoy it poured over shaved ice. This small yet thoughtful project is an easy way to implement a cost-saving sustainability element to your bar…it also happens to taste very, very good.

Watch our easy how-to video, and read on for the recipe, plus David’s notes on ingredients and storage.

Homemade Cocktail Cherries Recipe

Yield: Roughly two 16 oz Jars of Cherries

Ingredients

• 450 g Frozen Cherries (One 16 oz bag, preferably dark cherries, if available)
• 90 ml Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon*
• 60 ml Wild Turkey 101 Rye*
• 250 ml 2:1 Simple Syrup
• 50 ml Averna**
• 3 g Citric Acid***

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients except cherries, and stir until the acid has dissolved (at this volume, using a small blender may be easier than stirring).
2. Pour the mixture over the still frozen cherries in a sealable container. 
3. Seal cherries and allow to infuse in the fridge for at least one week (David prefers at least two weeks, time permitting).
4. Store cherries refrigerated, and submerged in the infusion liquid. Depending on your freezer temp, surplus cherries can be kept in freezer for extended shelf life. More on that below.

Notes on Ingredients:

*101 Bourbon and 101 Rye: The 101 proof whiskey increase the shelf stability of the cherries and give a degree of barrel-aged flavor, making them a great addition to whiskey cocktails. The ABV of the solution after the cherries have been allowed to steep overnight will be between 23% and 28% which will inhibit things like bacterial growth and secondary fermentation.

**Averna: Adds complexity and darker notes. Raise amount to 75ml if desiring a more bitter final product.

***Citric Acid: The pH level that makes food shelf stable depends on multiple factors, but in general a pH below 4.5 prevents the growth of disease-causing organisms. The small addition of citric acid in the syrup brings the pH down to the 3.75 range and helps to enhance the brighter notes in the cherries.

Additional Flavors: This recipe can act as a template for additional spice infusion—he recommends adding whole dry spices like cardamom, cinnamon, or clove.

Notes On Storage and Usage:

Made as indicated in the recipe, the infused cherries should have a high enough proof and sugar content to not freeze in most freezers. Tested at 10F, cherries did not refreeze or crystalize.

Looking for more great Bartending How-To’s? Learn how to make Aperol Caviar, Campari Dust, and Sage Brown Butter Fast-Washed Savory Martini.

Miso has been a staple of Japanese cuisine for centuries, popular enough that the fermented paste has been produced at an industrial level for at least 500 years. It’s a kitchen staple for adding Umami to a variety of foods, and has been steadily finding its place in bar programs.

Production techniques and aging vary, resulting in a wonderfully diverse array of Miso options. Today, many grocery shelves are stocked with multiple options, but we’ll focus on White Miso Paste, a wonderful starting point and the most widely available.

Scroll on to learn how to make Miso Simple Syrup, and check out three cocktails that show its range.

How To Make Miso Syrup

Miso Syrup Ingredients:

• 2 cups Water
• 2 cups Granulated Sugar
• .5 Cup White Miso Paste

Instructions:

• Bring water to a boil, and then lower heat.
• Add sugar and whisk until combined.
• Add Miso paste and whisk until combined.
• Fine Strain into a non-reactive container and store refrigerated.

How to Use Miso Syrup in Cocktails

Miso syrup is your cheat code to easily add umami and depth to a whole range of cocktails.

A quick Google search for Miso flavor pairing affinities yields so many options it will make your head spin. From the simplest Dashi to Peanut Butter Cookies with 7,000+ reviews, and fish glazes to roasted winter root vegetables to caramel ice cream drizzles, Miso is a versatile and powerful tool to surprise and delight your guests.

As a syrup, it’s just as generous. And while we love our base recipe for White Miso Syrup, we suggest thinking of it as a template, a jumping off point for your creativity—swap out the white sugar for alternative sweeteners like Agave or Jaggery. Try an aged Miso. Make a compound syrup, make a shrub…Go wild.

Below are three recipes that show just a hint of what you can do with Miso syrup behind the bar. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Miso Old Fashioned

Peanut Butter and Miso Syrup double down on the savory and sweet combo in this Old Fashion riff. The fatwash provides a lush mouthfeel and the Umami highlights the Bourbon’s vanilla and caramel notes.

Ingredients

• 2 oz Peanut Butter fat-washed Wild Turkey 101*
• .5 oz Miso Syrup
• 2 dashes each Orange Bitters and Aromatic Bitters

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.
• Stir and strain over a large cube. Garnish with expressed lemon and orange twists.
• *Peanut Butter Wild Turkey: Spread 16 oz peanut butter across a large baking pan with a lip, creating a thin layer. Pour one 750 ml bottle of Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon on top. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and allow it to sit overnight at room temperature. The next day, strain the bourbon through a coffee filter and funnel it back into the bottle. Discard the peanut butter.

Miso Dark and Stormy

This riff replaces the layered build with a whip shake, better aerating and marrying all the components. Appleton’s apricot and molasses really sing with the umami counterpoint, and the dark rum float gets replaced with Averna, whose bitter orange and licorice add a complex undercurrent to the affair.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Appleton Estate Signature Jamaica Rum
• 1 oz Lime Juice
• .75 oz Miso Syrup
• .5 Averna
• Club Soda

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients except soda to a shaker tin with a small handful of pebble ice.
• Whip shake until ice dissolves. Add soda and quick stir to incorporate.
• Pour into a chilled highball glass full of ice. Garnish with Lime wedge.

Thai Basil Miso Margarita

Thai Basil, more opinionated and often more anise-forward than other basils, is an obvious addition to the Margarita.

This recipe is sweetened by a Miso Agave syrup, which nicely highlights the flexibility of the template. What you end up with a perfect accompaniment to quality Tequila – bright, vegetal, and complex.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Espolon Blanco Tequila
• .75 Lime juice
• .5 Miso Agave Syrup
• .25 Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
• 3 Thai Basil leafs

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and shake hard.
• Fine strain into a chilled rocks glass with ice.
• Garnish with a Thai Basil leaf and a Lime wheel.

Want more bartender how-to’s? Learn to make Aperol Caviar, ferment DIY Ginger Beer, and Create Campari Dust.

It’s the season! Whether you’re prepping for a last-minute catering gig or just got an invite to a big dinner party, the odds are good that in the near future your bartending skills will be needed for an “away game.”

We checked in with the Academy team to see what pro bartenders are bringing to the festivities. The criteria? Recipes should be crowd-pleasers and easily batchable (unless, you know, you want to spend the whole party working).

Within these parameters, the team hand-picked a creative, wide-ranging quiver of cocktail recipes: From a fool-proof blender Egg Nog to eight-ingredient Mezcal Negroni to a piping hot Tiki cocktail, there’s something on this list for everyone!

Kalimotxo – Lo Logsdon, Academy Bartender

Lo Says: “Typically seen in Spain as a split between cheap red wine and cola, a Kalimotxo can be elevated and turned into a fun and easy punch for the holidays by using a blend of Cynar and Averna.

This recipe is infinitely riffable. Very good with the addition of sweet vermouth as well! The idea here is to be able to batch your amari at home, and grab a bottle of wine and a couple cans of Coke on the way to the party.”

Kalimotxo Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1 bottle of juicy red wine, typically a Rioja
• 1-2 12 oz cans of cola, depending on your sweetness preference
• 4 parts Cynar
• 4 parts Averna

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients together in a pitcher with ice.
• Garnish with orange twists and star anise.

Hot Zombie – Jelani Johnson, Academy Head Bartender

Jelani says: “One of my all-time favorite holiday recipes is the Hot Zombie. This recipe below is adapted one Brian Miller shared with me. I’ve made it just about every year since I first got into cocktails.

The drink is complex, tropical, warming, and altogether satisfying. A batch of this can be kept in the fridge and heated anytime for a quick trip to the islands during the holiday season.”

Hot Zombie Recipe (serving size: 8 oz)
Ingredients:

• 1 bottle (750ml) Appleton Estate 8 Year Reserve
• 1.5 quarts Hot water
• 12 oz Pineapple juice
• 6 oz Passionfruit puree
• 6 oz Lime juice
• 6 oz Honey syrup (2:1)

Instructions:

• Batch & serve from a hot drink percolator, or bottle and heat in a saucepan or kettle to serve.
• Serve 8 oz in an Absinthe-rinsed coffee mug.
• Garnish with a pat of butter.

Blender Egg Nog – Jessamine McLellan, Academy Director

Jessamine says: “This is, by its very definition, easy to batch. This recipe is delicious (and much quieter) if prepped before your event. If you’re running on the fly, though, it can also be made quickly and quite easily à la minute.”

Blender Egg Nog Recipe
Ingredients:

• 3 parts Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
• 3 parts Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
• 1.5 cups Whole Milk
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 4 large eggs
• .75 cups Granulated Sugar
• .5 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
• .25 tbsp Ground Nutmeg
• .25 tbsp Ground Cloves

Instructions:

• Add eggs to a blender and blend on medium for 4 minutes to emulsify the eggs.
• With the blender running, remove the lid cap, and add sugar and blend for 30 seconds.
• Add milk, heavy cream, spices, Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon, and Grand Marnier. Blend for 30 more seconds.
• Transfer to a non-reactive container and store in the refrigerator. This recipe can be served immediately, or let it rest in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks to let the flavors combine. 
• To serve, pour over ice and garnish with freshly ground nutmeg.

Reverse-ish Manhattan – Matt Merkin, Academy Digital Manager

Matt says: “The Manhattan is a nearly perfect Winter cocktail; something to sip contemplatively in a warm, low lit bar. Not really a party vibe, right? But there’s hope…

Built off the chassis of a Reverse Manhattan, the vermouth here is split with a Black Manhattan’s Averna and brightened by Grand Marnier, guest starring from the EO spec. These bring in complexity, dark cocoa and bitter orange. The rye’s spice notes keep the whole thing upright. And the sherry? That’s in there to dry things off a bit and add a nutty counterpoint…but mainly because it’s my recipe and I want it there.

The final result is still complex and sophisticated, but lower octane for longer evenings.

Reverse-ish Manhattan Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1 part Wild Turkey 101 Rye
• 1 part Sweet Vermouth
• .5 parts Averna
• .25 parts Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
• .25 parts Amontillado sherry

Instructions:

• Full batch in an empty 750. No Dilution. Store in refrigerator.
• Serve “Midwestern style” over rocks, with a quick stir.
• Garnish with lemon twist.

Eddie’s 8 Ingredient Negroni – Eddie Hansel, Academy Operations Manager

Eddie says: “I invented this so I had something to order when I visit a friend at work and they’re on service bar, deep in the weeds.

In all seriousness, though, this drink is delicious. You can tell the average Joe “it’s a Mezcal Negroni” and they will be happy. You can tell your bartender nerd friends what’s actually in it, and they will be happy. It’s complex but balanced and approachable. Make it. Take a sip. You will be happy.”

Eddie’s 8 Ingredient Negroni Recipe
Ingredients:

• .5 parts Montelobos Tobala
• .5 parts Montelobos Pechuga
• .25 parts Mayenda Blanco
• .5 parts Cynar
• .5 parts Del Professore Vermouth Rosso Classico
• .5 parts China-China
• .5 parts Campari
• 3 dashes of Mole Bitters

Instructions:

• Full batch in an empty 750ml bottle. No Dilution. Store in Refrigerator.
• To serve, pour over ice in a rocks glass.
• Garnish with orange twist.

Rockefeller Center – Hector Sam-Roman, Academy Bartender

Hector says: “The Boulevardier’s whiskey base already makes it a great batched cocktail for holiday season parties, but the Chai and Wintry spice infusions really take it to another level. This is a great option if you want something that feels custom and special without giving a ton of prep work.”

Hector’s Rockefeller Center Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1.25 parts Wild Turkey 101 Rye
• 1 part Chai-infused Campari*
• 1 part Christmas Vermouth**
• Water (15-20% of batch volume)

Instructions:

• Measure out desired amount of first three ingredients.
• Multiply this volume by .18 (“Total # of ounces” x .18) to get the amount of water needed.
• Add water to your batch, and store in refrigerator.
• To serve, pour into a chilled Nick and Nora. Or, if possible, inside of a clear tree ornament, garnished with skewered cranberry and mint.

Sub-recipes:

• *Chai-infused Campari: Add 2 Chai tea bags to 750ml Campari. Let infuse for 8 hours.
• **Christmas Vermouth: Add 15 white peppercorns, 15 whole cloves, 15 whole green cardamom, 1 cinnamon stick and one bottle of 1757 Vermouth di Torino Rosso to a pot and turn the heat to low and stir for 5-10 mins until it starts to boil. Immediately remove from heat, strain back into bottle, and cool.

The Sangrita is one of those wonderful curiosities of bartending—often red, sometimes green, with wide-swinging regional variations and a shopping cart’s worth of possible ingredients that someone will inevitably tell you are mandatory and traditional.

Here, though, we’re sharing one of our favorite versions.

Though traditionally sipped as an accompaniment to a neat pour of Tequila, this zingy, eye-opening version is shaken directly into a Mezcal Margarita, making something even better than the sum of its parts. Here’s how to make both:

First, grab your produce, blender, and fine strainer, and get your Verdita ready.

Verdita Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 Pineapple, chopped
• 1 Cucumber, chopped
• 1 Jalapeño, chopped
• 1/2 bushel Cilantro
• 1 handful Mint
• 100ml Water

Instructions:

• Blend all ingredients and fine strain through a mesh sleeve.
• Store in a non-reactive container, and serve within 24 hours.

This Verdita is great enjoyed as a traditional side-by-side, but it really sings shaken into the Margarita. This crushable version, built around Montelobos Espadin and Grand Marnier, also happens to be an irresistible, tropical green.

Get the recipe for the Verdita Mezcalita.

Verdita Mezcalita

By Hailee Catalano (@haileecatalano)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Montelobos Espadin
• 1.5 oz Verdita
• 1 oz Lime Juice
• .5 oz Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge

Instructions:

• Combine all ingredients into a shaker tin, add ice and shake.
• Double strain over a large block in a rocks glass with a Tajin Salt rim.
• Garnish with mint and a slice of cucumber.

The Grand Encounter: Behind the Bar journey now comes to its end with the final episode of the season. We now travel to New Orleans, the homeland of jazz and the city where one of the biggest global events in the bar industry takes place, Tales Of The Cocktail. It’s New Orleans that enables another Grand meeting, the one between the series’ host, Carina Soto Velasquez, and an industry pioneer, award-winning cocktail consultant and educator, Deniseea Head.

The last episode, elevated+local, concerns the great ability of Deniseea Head to combine elevated experiences with a local and approachable way, creating a grand encounter in her own cocktail activations. And she has been doing so since the creation of her companies, Chicken and Champagne and Good Trouble, through which she uses spirits and cocktails to tell stories about Black and American history and Activism.

According to Deniseea, “Local bars are more connected to the city…they are the heartbeat of the community”. Thanks to that unique positioning, they can make elevated experiences more inviting and approachable. Ingredients can do the same too, since “You can make a great cocktail anywhere. The space doesn’t dictate what you put in a glass”. And ingredients are the focus of her Grand Encounter cocktail, the Grand Jam, creating specially for The Grand Encounter Behind the Bar: a simple cocktail inspired by NOLA’s local drink scene and made of both superior ingredients and ingredients that come straight from your kitchen, mixed up through an easy technique. Nothing but the Grand Encounter between Local and Elevated.

The Grand Jam by Deniseea Taylor

Ingredients

• .75 oz Espolòn Blanco Tequila
• .75 oz Grand Marnier
• .75 oz Lime Juice
• 1 spoon of Strawberry Jam

Garnish: Dehydrated strawberries and pinch of Tajin.

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients to shaker tin and agitate with bar spoon to incorporate the jam
• Add ice and shake vigorously and pour unstrained into a rock glass over pebble ice.
• Top with additional pebble ice and garnish with dehydrated strawberries and a pinch of Tajin.

Watch Episode 1 with Hugo Togni and Episode 2 with Takuma Watanabe.

Discover Deniseea’s Top 3 Philosophies as a Drink Maker and Educator.

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By Laila Ghambari.
Over two decades, Laila Ghambari has held just about every position you can in the coffee world. Before settling into her current roles as a business owner, consultant, and educator, she became the US Barista Champion and was elected to the executive board of the Council for the Barista Guild. Follow her at @lailaghambari and visit one of her cafes next time you’re in PDX: guildercafe.com.

What is Mouthfeel?

Mouthfeel is more than just a sensation: it’s the tactile experience of a drink that can elevate or diminish its overall enjoyment. While flavor often steals the spotlight, mouthfeel is arguably just as important to the overall drinking experience and deserves consideration and attention.

Why Mouthfeel Matters for Bartenders

As bartenders, you’re not just mixing drinks; you’re curating experiences. The texture, weight, and feel of a drink in the mouth are integral to that experience.

Imagine serving a cocktail, only for the guest to find it too thin, too heavy, or overly astringent. Understanding mouthfeel allows you to anticipate these reactions and adjust your creations.

Most bartenders are used to judging a drink’s merits on flavor and aroma—but building your ability to understand and articulate mouthfeel allows you to craft more balanced and enjoyable drinks. For example, if a drink is too drying due to high alcohol content, adding an element that provides a coating sensation, like sugar or salt, can enhance the overall experience.

Words Are An Ingredient

Developing a robust mouthfeel vocabulary is a powerful tool for communication and education.

When developing new recipes, being able to lucidly describe a drink’s physical sensations not only offers another way to consider its overall impact, it helps you unlock problems of taste and aroma. Consider you are working on a new cocktail and the flavor is great but as a stirred, up serve, it’s too aggressive or uneven. It’s just not there. Being able to identify and describe these sensations enables you to better explore solutions. Would the drink work better shaken and served on the rocks, where increased aeration and dilution could tame the more aggressive notes? Or would clarifying it as a milk punch make for a more rounded, cohesive experience?

Want to describe your creations to entice customers and pique their interest? Learn to talk mouthfeel. You’ll craft more attractive menus and drop lines, and be able to better guide guests to the right option. When you can describe a drink’s mouthfeel with confidence, you’re not just showcasing your expertise—you’re enhancing your guest’s experience.

Key Terms for Describing Mouthfeel

In order to train this sense, it’s critical to develop your ability to communicate it. For that, you need a vocabulary!

When discussing mouthfeel, essentially you are talking about two experiences: the physical sensations (the tactile) and the liquid’s “weight” (the body).

TACTILE
This refers to physical sensations we experience when eating or drinking something. There are lots of tactile descriptors but they often fall into these categories:

• Coating: The way a banana coats your mouth as you eat it. 
• Drying: When eating things like a biscuit, which remove moisture from your mouth.
• Contracting: Have you ever bitten into a lemon? It can provoke physical reactions and intense sensations.

BODY
This refers to qualities associated with the weight of a liquid. It generally breaks into three categories:

• Light: Watery, tea-like, silky, soft. Ex: green tea, non-fat milk, vodka.
• Medium: Smooth, syrupy, creamy. Ex: whole milk, salt water, reposado Tequila
• Heavy: Full, round, thick, coating, velvety, chewy. Ex: heavy cream, PX Sherry.

Mouthfeel Vocabulary List

Before starting your tasting exercise, here are some vocabulary words to help guide in communicating mouthfeel. Use them as a starting guide:

Training Your Palate: An Interactive Exercise

To sharpen your skills in identifying and describing mouthfeel, I’ve laid out an exercise using common kitchen liquids. This method, adapted from coffee industry practices, will help you break down different sensations and understand each one individually.

Activity: Solutions Tasting

Prep: Below are a series of tastings designed to isolate and identify various mouthfeel sensations. Prep the following solutions:

• Half & Half: (100g Distilled Water + 30g Half & Half)
• Olive Oil: (100g Distilled Water + 5g Olive Oil)
• Lemon Juice: (100g Distilled Water + 6g Lemon Juice)
• Salt: (100g Distilled Water + 0.5g Salt)
• Tea #1: (8 oz Distilled Water + 1 Tea Bag, steeped for 4 minutes)
• Tea #2: (8 oz Distilled Water + 1 Tea Bag, steeped for 15 minutes)
• Distilled Water (Control)

Instructions: Make each of these solutions and add to a glass. Take a sip of each one and make notes of the mouthfeel sensations that you experience, using your new vocabulary. Note both the tactile experience and the body. Drink from the control (water) in between sips to use as a comparison. 

Closing Thoughts:
This exercise can be tested with all sorts of other beverages—Use everything you eat or drink as an opportunity to consider mouthfeel!

That could be as “official” as formally tasting through a category on your back bar, or simply contemplating your pre-shift drink, noting the rough and irritating qualities of the bubbles while enjoying its coating and slippy qualities. Happy drinking!

The second episode of Grand Marnier’s exclusive mini-series, The Grand Encounter, we head south from Montreal to the Big Apple, where host Carina Soto Velasquez meets Takuma Watanabe for a conversation about everything from his earliest cocktail memories and the importance of tradition and classics in building contemporary drinks.

In this episode, modern+classic, Watanabe discusses the importance of classic drinks as an essential element for contemporary bartending, just like Grand Marnier combines past, present and future in its recipe. As Takuma remembers his upbringing: “Classics are very important to me: my father worked at an hotel bar in Japan and I used to drink their cocktails and feel like wow, this is history”.

Takuma is the well-known bartender and owner behind several beloved and awarded spots in NYC. His reputation, built through spotless hospitality and utmost attention to details, has earned him a spot on the coveted Top 50 list.

Check out the recipe for Takuma’s Orangetini cocktail, a Martini riff built around tea-infused gin and his love of the chocolate-covered orange snacks.

It goes without saying at this point that the Aperol Spritz is the undisputed champion of the Aperitivo Hour. Not only is it delicious and hugely popular, but it’s a cinch to make right—hint: learn the PASS method to ensure a perfect serve.

We love this creative twist on the classic, and your guests will, too. We particularly like this recipe from Lorenzo Amati (@stasera.cucina.lo.chef), because it’s easy to follow, scales well, and can be done quickly (we’ve all worked with that one opener).

All you need is Aperol, cold oil, and Agar Agar, which is a plant-based gelling and thickening agent used in many modernist culinary applications.

Watch our video on how to make Aperol caviar using Agar Agar or read on for step-by-step instructions.

How To Make Aperol Caviar

Recipe by Lorenzo Amati (makes one serving)
Ingredients:

• 100 ml Aperol
• 1 gram Agar Agar
• 1 glass Cold Vegetable Oil

Instructions:

1. In a sauce pan, combine Aperol with Agar Agar over medium low heat until it thickens. If it doesn’t thicken, add additional .1 gram Agar Agar.
2. Add mixture to a squeeze bottle and drop into a glass of chilled oil.
3. Strain, and rinse with water before serving.

Use your Aperol Caviar in this deconstructed Aperol Spritz!

Instructions:

1. Add Aperol Caviar to a Champagne flute.
2. Top with Cinzano Prosecco and serve.

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By Danny Childs, author of the James Beard Award-winning Slow Drinks: A Field Guide to Foraging and Fermenting Seasonal Sodas, Botanical Cocktails, Homemade Wines, and More. His recipes are informed by his academic background as an ethnobotanist and grounded in hands-on practicality by his experience as a forager and bartender.

In the year since we published our book, the question I’m asked most is “where should I start?” My unequivocal answer is simple: Start a ginger bug and then begin fermenting your own sodas. The recipes I’ll share here are approachable, relatively quick, and delicious enough to be enjoyed on their own as a sparkling NA option or in a unique highball.

Over the years, I’ve made sodas out of all kinds of different ingredients – evergreen needles, coffee, rhubarb, maple sap, prickly pear, radicchio root, dandelion, hops, carrots, and many more. Across this wide range, I’ve found the most consistent key to success is having a clear vision from the start. When experimenting with a new ingredient for the first time, I start by envisioning a popular soda brand as a jumping off point for building a flavor profile and successful recipe. I call this flavor range the “soda continuum”, and below I’ll share some key recipes to master it.

The Soda Continuum

On one end of the spectrum are the acidic, bright, and zippy sodas. Think ginger beer or lemon-lime. Jump to Ginger Beer recipe.

On the opposite end are the malty, richer sodas like root beers and colas. With these, just the slightest touch of citrus is needed to make an optimal fermentation environment—too much will drown out the deep, roasted flavor we’re after. Jump to Chicory Cola recipe.

In the middle are the sodas that benefit from a medium amount of citrus, enough to compliment the main ingredient but not overpower it. For this category, we’ll feature a celery soda à la Dr. Brown’s—a staple of mid-Atlantic delis since the 1860s. Jump to Celery Tonic recipe.

Below you’ll find a little about the why and how of fermenting your own sodas, plus instructions on how to make a “ginger bug”, the essential starting point in building out your soda game.

We’re also sharing three step-by-step recipes from the book: ginger beer, celery soda, and chicory cola. These recipes are easy to make, scalable for a bar program, and once you master them, offer incredible templates for experimentation. Happy exploring!

First, a little background science on fermentation.

The soda fermentation process we’re using begins with a ginger bug. A ginger bug is a slurry of grated ginger, sugar, and water.

1. The sugar in the slurry feeds the naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast present on the skin of the ginger root.
2. When the LAB consume the sugars, they produce lactic acid (the chemical that gives sauerkraut and kimchi their distinctive tang).
3. When the yeasts consume the sugars, they produce carbon dioxide and ethanol.
4. With time, these two microbial colonies begin to exist in symbiosis within the ginger bug, creating a SCOBY (literally, a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). Sounds familiar? It’s the same concept as a sourdough starter or kombucha mother.

Time and Alcohol:

If you left this to ferment for a month or longer, it would result in an alcoholic final product. When the process is cut down to only a few days* though, the result is a sparkling, living beverage with less than 1% alcohol. 

*1-2 days of primary fermentation in a non-airtight container and 1-2 days of secondary fermentation in a sealed bottle

How to Grow a Ginger Bug

Day 1

Ingredients:

• ½ cup of grated, organic ginger
• 1 ¼ cups of simple syrup
• 1 ½ cups of filtered water

Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a food safe container, stir to incorporate and cover with cheesecloth or tea towel secured with a rubber band, or other non-airtight lid, so that the gasses can escape, but no bugs can enter. Store at room temperature (between 65 and 70 degrees).

Days 2-4 

Ingredients:

• Add additional ¼ cup grated ginger, each day
• Add additional ½ cup simple syrup, each day

Instructions:
Stir to incorporate ingredients. By day 4, you should start to see signs of microbial activity: it should bubble when you stir it and smell mildly alcoholic.

Day 5 and beyond

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup grated ginger
• ½ cup simple syrup

Instructions:
Add these on day 5. Your bug should be active by now and ready to be stored. Continue to add this same amount of ginger and simple syrup once or twice per week moving forward to keep the bug alive.

Troubleshooting
If your ginger bug is not showing signs of life after a week, the problem is most likely your ginger or water.

Ginger: Much of the ginger available in grocery stores has been irradiated, a process which kills the bacteria and yeasts necessary to produce a healthy bug—try to use organic ginger.

Water: Some tap water contains high amounts of chlorine, which will inhibit microbial growth. Typically, it will be removed by any standard water filter, but if you’re using organic ginger and still experiencing problems, try using distilled or bottled water.

Within a week, you should have an active ginger bug. Now it’s time to put it to use: Start off bright making this DIY Ginger Beer.

Ginger Beer

Makes approximately six 750mL bottles

Ingredients:

• 3 quarts water
• 1 quart simple syrup 
• 2½ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1¼ cup freshly grated, unpeeled ginger grated using a box grater
• ½ cup ginger bug

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients for the base and add to a thoroughly cleaned 6-quart food safe container. Cover with cheesecloth or tea towel secured with a rubber band, or other non-airtight lid, and allow to sit at room temperature for two days to ferment.

After the first 24 hours, you should begin to see signs of fermentation; the liquid will turn cloudy, the grated ginger will begin to rise and fall in the suspension, and if you put your ear close enough, you may even be able to hear bubbles faintly popping.

After two days have passed, it is time for the secondary fermentation. This step involves straining out the ginger solids and decanting the liquid into clean swing cap bottles. The naturally occurring CO₂ produced in this step will build pressure and cause the gas to be absorbed by the liquid in the bottle, resulting in a naturally carbonated beverage. This process is known as bottle conditioning. The soda should be sufficiently bubbly in 1-2 days, but may take an additional day or two.  Once sufficiently carbonated, place the bottle in the refrigerator. Will keep for one month or more.

Next up is the middle of the soda continuum: less citrus-forward than ginger beer, but zippier than a cola. This style is a fantastic template for more delicate ingredient-driven beverages where you want to showcase specific flavors. Try it yourself with this Celery Tonic recipe!

Celery Tonic

Makes approximately seven 750 mL bottles

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds stalk celery chopped in 1-inch pieces (from approximately two heads with the base removed)
• 3 quarts water
• 1 quart plus one cup simple syrup
• 1 cup lime juice
• ½ cup ginger bug

Instructions:
Working in batches, blend the chopped celery with water to extract the juice from the celery. Strain through a fine mesh strainer lined with a cheesecloth or tea towel to remove the solids, squeezing as much liquid from the solids as possible. Discard the solids.

Add celery juice, remaining water, simple syrup, lime juice, and ginger bug to a food-safe container, and cover with a tea towel or cheesecloth bound with a rubber band, or other non-airtight lid. After one day has passed, strain out the solids and decant the soda into 750 mL bottles.

Cap tightly and let sit at room temperature, checking every 12 hours to make sure that it hasn’t overcarbonated (celery tonic is usually pretty active). Once sufficiently carbonated, place the bottle in the refrigerator. Will keep for one month or more.

And finally, we move to the cola end of the continuum. This recipe builds off of two DIY components: cola syrup and chicory coffee, the latter of which is a robustly-flavored, caffeine-free recipe with deep ties to New Orleans.

Chicory Cola

Makes approximately six 750 mL bottles of Cola

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts room temperature chicory coffee (*recipe below)
• 45 oz. water
• 4 ½ cups room temperature cola syrup (*recipe below)
• 1 oz. lemon
• 1 oz. lime
• ½ cups ginger bug

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in a thoroughly cleaned 6-quart food safe container. Cover with cheesecloth or tea towel secured with a rubber band, or other non-airtight lid, and allow to sit at room temperature for two days to ferment.

After two days have passed, strain out the solids and decant the soda into 750 mL bottles. The soda should be sufficiently bubbly in 1-2 days, but may take an additional day or two. Once sufficiently carbonated, place the bottle in the refrigerator. Will keep for approximately two weeks.

Chicory Coffee

Makes approximately 2 quarts chicory coffee

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts plus 1 ¼ cups just-under boiling water
• 9 tablespoons ground chicory root (64g)

Instructions:
Grind chicory root in a Vitamix and pour into a 6-quart food safe container. Bring water to a boil, let chill for one minute, and pour over the ground chicory to infuse. After 10 minutes, strain through a cheesecloth to remove ground chicory root. Will keep for one week when stored in the refrigerator.

Cola Syrup

Makes approximately 4 ½ cups of syrup

Ingredients:

• 18 oz. water
• Zest of one lemon, one lime, and one orange
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 ¼ teaspoons coriander seeds
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 ¾ cups demerara sugar
• 1 ⅓ cups maple syrup
• 3 oz. orange juice
• ¾ oz. lemon juice
• ¾ oz. lime juice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:
Bring water, citrus zests, cinnamon sticks, coriander, nutmeg, demerara, and maple to a boil, then strain out solids. To the strained liquid, add 3 oz. orange juice, ¾ oz. lemon, ¾ oz. lime, and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. Will keep for approximately 1 month in the refrigerator. 

For more great recipes and tips on fermentation and foraging, pick up a copy of Slow Drinks and follow Danny on IG: @slowdrinks.

Thirsty for more great recipes and techniques? Check out our expert guides on:

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Step By Step Guide to Making Clarified Milk Punch

When I first started bartending in Melbourne as a brash teenager, I felt like I had a natural style and rhythm behind the bar. I loved this new-found attention and I played to it; I was a slave to it. I quickly worked out that I could get even more attention from putting weird things into my cocktails and lighting things on fire. Squid ink was utilized, along with fresh sage, coriander and basil. But there was no foundation for any of this.  

All of our drinks at Ginger tasted great (in my opinion) but there was no consistency between them, no underlying principles that linked them together. They were just a bunch of recipes that were tweaked and added to enough that they balanced out and tasted good. But could you identify each nuance and ingredient in each drink? Certainly not. It was slightly out of control chaos but in frozen glass form. 

My opinion changed when I walked into Milk & Honey. Everything about that experience changed me.

I didn’t know of Milk & Honey, Sasha Petraske or Michael McIlroy when I moved to NYC in the spring of 2004 as a cocky little 21-year-old with ridiculous hair. I actually wasn’t very impressed with the cocktail scene when I first arrived either. Yelp didn’t exist, neither did World’s 50 Best Bars or any accessible list of the city’s top cocktail bars.  

In my limited experience, the cocktail bar scene in London and Australia was quite a bit more advanced than NYC’s at that time. But that opinion changed when I walked into Milk & Honey. Everything about that experience changed me. Walking through the heavy velvet curtain and into a candlelit den with jazz lightly playing and the heavy ka-chunk-ka-chunk sound of a Daisy being shaken on one solid block of ice transformed me.  

After initially being denied a seat as I was reservation-less, I came back half an hour later when I received the phone call. I sat at the bar and watched in awe. The cocktails seemed so simple but the attention to detail and methods of preparation were mesmerizing. I needed to work here.  

My experience and skill set didn’t count for shit. I had to consume everything that this bar embodied. I inquired about a job after I spent more money than I had on two drinks and, by chance, Sasha himself picked up the phone the next day when I called. We agreed to lunch. Even though he forgot about the meeting initially, he met me, a little late, and we chatted over French dip sandwiches and drip coffee for nearly three hours – in which time I convinced him to hire me. 

Over the next few years, I learned from a slew of older bartenders that had been helping Sasha tighten up everything about drink making, from refining old recipes to tightening up orders of operation. We all had one goal: to make drinks as fast as possible whilst never compromising the end quality of the drink.  

Maximum chill and optimum dilution were paramount. I asked a lot of questions from these incredibly talented bartenders. I probably annoyed them with my eagerness. In fact, fuck it, I hope I annoyed them with my eagerness.  

My experience and skill set didn’t count for shit. I had to consume everything that this bar embodied.

The underlying theme with the drink-making process, though, was simplicity. The cocktails we were making for the world were so simple but so delicious. Three to five ingredients were used at most (bitters, egg white or club soda were usually not counted as an ingredient). They were all based on classic recipes from cocktail books we had found on eBay and in second hand bookstores.  

We compiled everything into a few categories: Sours, Collins, Gimlets, Rickeys, Manhattans, Martinis, Old Fashioneds, Flip/Dessert. Each category had an underlying formula that applied to 95% of the drinks in that category. The mission for new bartenders was to learn those formulas. Learn how to identify which category new drinks could be assigned and be consistent about the recipes. It gave great insight into how to prepare the drink during the crunch of service if your fellow bartender asked for a spec refresh. It also made learning the 100s of cocktails a lot more manageable when there were consistent and underlying formulas. 

Sasha didn’t love new drink creation. He believed that there were enough old drinks to learn without the need for the creation of new ones. But he grumpily would try whatever we were working on and critiqued the hell out of them. Man, he was tough! He also didn’t like a lot of the more popular drink styles that the modern bartender pushes these days, particularly bitter and smokey. Nope, he was not a fan of the Penicillin or the Paper Plane. He once famously told McIlroy that his Thumbs Up cocktail had too much Angostura in it (there was no Angostura in it).  

But each new drink needed to fit into this mold. Could it be assigned into one of these categories? Did the formula match other drinks in this category? Would you order another one directly after? Does each ingredient stand out and have an important place in the drink? Were there other, better drinks that fulfilled this request in said category? If you answered no to any of the first four questions, the drink was scrapped and it was back to the drawing board.  

If you want these drinks to be replicated at homes and bars around the world, keep it simple!

These are still principles we live by at our bars. And, let me tell you, we have not exhausted all of the possibilities available to us. With a constant plethora of new ingredients coming to market every month, there are constant opportunities for new drink creation that still adhere to these principles. I’m still doing it 20 years later and so are the very talented members of our teams in both Nashville and NYC.  

If you want these drinks to be replicated at homes and bars around the world, keep it simple! As much as we all love interesting infusions, rotovapped ingredients and milk washed everything, if you want your creations to be spread and recreated everywhere, use readily available syrups, ingredients and spirits. Emphasize technique, ice, chilled glassware and high-quality ingredients and make sure you’ve mastered the above formulas. All drinks can be based and built off of these, even the weird ones with squid ink in them. 

In 2007, Aki Wang had just won one of the biggest cocktail competitions in London. He called his mentor to tell him about it, only to find out that he had passed away. “He never used to smile too much, but taught me to give it all, always,” Wang recalls. “I remember him taking me out for beer and yakitori one night, and he asked me if I wanted to be a bartender forever. He didn’t give me time to answer and said I was taking too long, already. That made me realise yes, I wanted to go through the sacrifices it took. So, I decided to invest in his belief in becoming the best.”

Having worked as a bartender, brand ambassador and consultant in Warsaw, London, New York, and now established as one of the top names in the business, Wang flew back to his native Taipei to pursue his mission: to inspire young generations and showcase Taiwanese heritage. Now, he is the founder of the Indulge Life Hospitality Group (which includes the acclaimed Indulge Experimental Bistro) and manages the Liquid Art lab in Taipei.

One of the best he became, indeed. Wang began his journey in the hospitality business out of necessity, juggling four jobs at once to support his family, after their business went bankrupt. “I was a junior bartender and kept feeling this interest in learning, I was never tired. Then I realised how drinks could be an art, to provide the guests with new experiences.” At 19, he moved to Japan, spending time in Osaka and Tokyo, experiencing the local, traditional bartending culture, which focused on attention to detail and craftmanship. “That’s where I learnt how to always be alert and nurture good manners: how a bartender would be a guide, introducing themselves, allowing the guest to live the best moments possible.”

Advocating for Taiwan

Wang describes Taiwan’s culture as ‘glocalized’ – a term meaning when a product is developed and distributed globally but is adjusted to suit the needs of the consumer in the local market, and most importantly, is available anywhere. His own contribution to this is his push to celebrate Taiwan’s identity, by allowing drinkers to savor the country’s history through its local ingredients. And to do so, local bartenders must have access to education and be in contact with the industry’s most knowledgeable bartenders, to learn from them and grow.

That was the philosophy behind one of Wang’s creations, International Taiwan Bartender Week, which launched in 2015, and proved to be a pivotal event for Taiwanese bartenders. “We wanted to show younger generations how important it is to absorb from other bartenders, to be inspired to become better professionals.”

Things changed after that week, he says: uniforms, manners and service all became more contemporary – and the word ‘mixologist’ became obsolete: “A mixologist wants to teach; a bartender wants to share.”

How things are changing

Taipei’s bar scene is on the rise, with spaces ranging from izakaya-like spots to secluded high-profile venues, and an adoption of more experimental recipes. But the journey to reach this advanced level has not been without challenges: “Twenty years ago, cocktails were regarded as fruity, kick-less concoctions. Bartenders themselves didn’t know what an actual cocktail was.”

When Wang moved back from New York in 2009, he started working on an education plan, while in the mean time other hospitality legends such as Hidegutsu Ueno and Sam Jeveons were investing energy in educating Taiwan’s young generation about classic cocktail and history. It worked: “The industry is now growing, consumers are starting to ask for higher quality, and we have been able to represent ourselves… Flavors are more delicate nowadays, and we are able to tell stories and showcase our creativity through our ingredients as well.”

Wang indicates his signature Scent of the Woman cocktail as the perfect example of his philosophy: ginger lilly flower, to represent the northern region and elegance; muddled with Sauvignon and green apple from the islands; vodka for purity; shiso for the umami; served in a Martini glass.

For Wang, Taiwan’s identity can best be imparted in cocktails through its local ingredients when properly used: “I remember using gardenia flower in an Aviation, for example, and it worked great. There’s no such thing as a Taipei Old Fashioned or something like that, but we should use our local resources to make our version of classics.”

With young generations of bartenders today easily sourcing information and having a much more open nature towards external input (“The language barrier was tough to overcome, as local bartenders are shy, but younger bartenders are getting better”), Taiwan has to be considered one of the most interesting landscapes for future professionals.

The Power of Tea

One ingredient that dominates the country’s identity and heritage more than others is tea: “We are surrounded by 268 mountains, [adding] up to nearly 1,000 plantations of tea: it’s our national drink. I remember going abroad for work and everyone would bring their own local produce such as sake or Scotch whisky, so I wanted to do the same. I use tea as a national language for our cocktail making.”

Taiwan’s tea can be divided in six main categories, based on their degree of oxidation: White, Black, Green, Yellow, Oolong and Pu’er. Just like wine, it is heavily influenced by terroir, varying impressively from farm to farm according to the growers’ working methods and philosophy. Wang indicates Dong Ding Tea from Deer Valley as his favorite: “It has a beautiful aroma of flowers and rose, sweet notes of lychee, and you can easily spot oudy flavors in the aftertaste.”

Wang believes that education on tea should start with black tea, the most common variety. “It has a familiar citrusy flavour, something bartenders are quite accustomed to, so it’s a big opportunity for experimenting. The earliest tea ever shipped to Europe was black tea, and a lot of information can be found everywhere.” But can every variety of tea work well in cocktails? “Yes – if it’s good tea.”

Follow Aki Wang here @AkiWang.