The Buildout

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Picon Bière Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

French soldier Gaétan Picon crafted his namesake liqueur — an intensely bitter, herbal, and orange-forward spirit meant to fight off fevers — in the 1830s. Back home, locals soon discovered that a dash of Amer Picon in their beer transformed an ordinary pint into something extraordinary. And so the Picon Bière was born. Joining us to explore it today is Jay Zimmerman, long-time bar owner and bartender at Bar Ba'sik, which sadly recently closed, and sales manager at Good Time Brewing Co. Listen on (or read below) to discover Jay's Picon Bière recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

Jay Zimmerman's Picon Bière Recipe

Ingredients

- 1 ounce Amer Picon or alternative, such as Braulio or the Pathfinder

- 6 ounces beer, such as Kronenbourg, Witbier, or Good Time IPA Non-Alcoholic

Directions

1. Build in a 10 ounce Highball glass.

2. Serve as cold as possible without ice.

📖 The Secret to Flavorful Booze-Free Cocktails? NA Beer

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The (Re)Mojito Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

Few cocktails capture the essence of sunshine, simplicity, and sheer refreshment as the Mojito, a humble mix of rum, mint, lime, sugar, and soda water. But don’t be fooled — beneath the easygoing exterior lies a rich history, deep cultural significance, and surprising amount of craft and technique to perfect it. Joining us to explore it today is Maestro Cantinero and founder of Miami's Café La Trova, Julio Cabrera. Listen on (or read below) to discover Julio's Mojito recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

Julio Cabrera's Mojito Recipe

Ingredients

- ½ tablespoon (10-12g) granulated white cane sugar

- ¾ ounce fresh lime juice

- 6-10 mint leaves

- 2 ounces white rum, such as Bacardi Superior, Flor de Caña 4 Year, Don Q, Banks 5, Bounty etc.

- Garnish: mint sprig and one dash of Angostura bitters

Directions

1. Add sugar and lime to a highball glass (8 or 10 ounce) and stir to create a paste.

2. Add mint leaves and muddle gently, without breaking leaves.

3. Fill glass with cube ice and add rum.

4. Top with soda water and garnish with mint sprig and bitters.

5. Serve with long stirrer or spoon (no straw).

📧Get in touch: cocktailcollege@vinepair.com

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- Café La Trova: https://www.instagram.com/cafelatrovamiami/

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The Rusty Nail Mar 20, 2025

Show notes

The Rusty Nail is basically just Scotch and Drambuie, stirred over ice — no citrus, no dilution debates, no garnish wars. And yet, this two-ingredient classic has a history as layered as the whisky it’s built on. Here to explore it with us is Jordan Valls, bar manager at Palomar in Portland, Oregon. Listen on (or read below) to discover Jordan's Rusty Nail recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

Jordan Valls' Rusty Nail Recipe

Ingredients

- ¼ ounce Drambuie

- ½ ounce papaya cordial

- ½ ounce Cutty Sark Prohibition

- 1 ½ ounce Johnnie Walker Red Label

- 4 dashes Angostura cocoa bitters

- Garnish: orange coin

Directions

1. Add all of the ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.

2. Stir to combine and strain into a rocks glass over a large cube of ice.

3. Garnish with an orange coin.

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The Hotel Nacional Mar 13, 2025

Show notes

Named after the iconic Hotel Nacional de Cuba, today's tropical Daiquiri riff combines rum, pineapple, apricot liqueur, lime, and sugar, serving a perfect balance of elegance and escapism. Beyond its postcard-perfect vibes, the Hotel Nacional carries some serious history. Here to explain it all is SC Baker, bar lead at Epiphany in Louisville, Kentucky. Listen on (or read below) to discover Baker's Hotel Nacional recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

SC Baker's Hotel Nacional Recipe

Ingredients

- 1 ½ ounces lightly aged rum, such as Misguided spirits Red Sky, Hamilton 87 White ‘Stache, Real McCoy 3 year

- ½ ounce apricot liqueur, such as Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot

- ¼ ounce rich simple syrup (2:1 white sugar to water)

- 1 ounce pineapple juice

- ½ ounce lime juice (freshly squeezed or Superjuice)

- Garnish: dried apricot on a cocktail pick (optional)

Directions

1. Add all of the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice.

2. Shake until chilled and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

3. Serve as is or garnish with a dried apricot on a cocktail pick.

📧Get in touch: cocktailcollege@vinepair.com

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- Baker: https://www.instagram.com/thecuckoochanel/

- Epiphany: https://www.instagram.com/epiphany_ky/

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The Southside Mar 06, 2025

Show notes

The Southside is a cocktail with a split personality — part speakeasy classic, part country club staple, and depending on who you ask, a drink with roots in gangsters or golf courses. It’s a simple mix of gin, citrus, mint, and sugar, but behind that refreshing exterior lies a surprisingly tangled history. Here to unpack it all is Ryan Garrison, head bartender at Brooklyn’s Bitter Monk, a lead bartender at New York’s Sugar Monk, and the distillery manager for Atheras Spirits. Listen on (or read below) to discover Ryan's Southside recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

Ryan Garrison's Southside Recipe

Ingredients

- ½ ounce simple syrup

- ½ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 2 ounces London Dry Gin, such as Ford's

- 5-6 mint leaves

- Garnish: attractive mint sprig or simple mint leaf

Directions

1. Slap chilled Nick & Nora glass with mint leaves then add to a cocktail shaker with the rest of the ingredients and ice.

2. Lightly shake until chilled then double strain into one side of the shaker.

3. Add a splash of soda water and pour into chilled, prepared Nick & Nora.

4. Garnish with mint sprig or single mint leaf.

📧Get in touch: cocktailcollege@vinepair.com

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Techniques: Savory Cocktails Feb 27, 2025

Show notes

Food-inspired cocktails, ingredient-driven drinks, and cutting-edge techniques: These are some of the key tenets of one of the hottest trends in mixology right now and the topic of today's show. It's savory cocktails, and our guest is David Muhs, head bartender at Brooklyn’s Sama Street, and head bartender and partner at New York’s Monkey Thief. Listen on (or read below) to learn how David brings all these components together in one (of many) delicious recipes — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

David Muhs' Major Tom Recipe

Ingredients

- 1 ounce London Dry Gin

- 1 ounce Mizu Lemongrass Shochu

- 6 dashes chili tincture (about 3:1 by weight, Florida Orange Blossom or Acacia)

- 1 barspoon ginger syrup (2:1)

- ½ ounce lemongrass syrup (20 grams fresh lemongrass into 1:1 simple syrup, boiled, seeped, and strained)

- ½ ounce CoCo Lopez

- 1 ounce fresh lime juice

- 1 pickled fish sauce cherry tomato with 1 barspoon pickling liquid (cherry/grape tomatoes pickled with 2 parts rice wine vinegar, 1 part fish sauce, a couple garlic cloves, and Thai chilis, some Cubeb or black peppercorns. 24-hour pickle)

- Garnish: lime leaf and atomized lime leaf tincture

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice.

2. Shake until chilled and strain into a rocks or ceramic glass over one large cube of ice.

3. Garnish with a lime leaf and atomized lime leaf tincture.

📧 Get in touch: cocktailcollege@vinepair.com

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- David: https://www.instagram.com/muhsman/

- Monkey Thief: https://www.instagram.com/monkeythiefbar/

- Sama Street: https://www.instagram.com/samastreetbk/

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The (Re)Missionary's Downfall Feb 20, 2025

Show notes

Few tiki and tropical drinks are as light, herbal, and dangerously sessionable as the Missionary’s Downfall. Created by Don the Beachcomber in the 1930s, it’s one of the genre’s earlier recipes and one of the first cocktails to embrace the power of the blender. And it is the blender itself — and proper blending technique — that will primarily be in our crosshairs on today’s episode. Here to lead us on that exploration is returning guest, VinePair Next Wave Awards Bartender of the Year (2024), and Chief Cocktail Officer at Brooklyn's Sunken Harbor Club, Garret Richard. Listen on (or read below) to discover Garret's Missionary's Downfall recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

Garret Richard's Missionary's Downfall Recipe

Ingredients

- 5 drops saline solution

- ½ ounce acid-adjusted pineapple juice* or lime juice

- ½ ounce rich honey syrup (about 3:1 by weight, Florida Orange Blossom or Acacia)

- ½ ounce peach liqueur, such as Giffard Crème de Pêche de Vigne (from freezer)

- ½ ounce RinQuinQuin Peach Aperitif (from freezer)

- 1 ounce white rum, such as Probitas or Havana 3-Year (from freezer)

- 60 grams chopped pineapple chunks (frozen for a day, then taken out of freezer to defrost, and strained)

- 12-13 fresh mint leaves

- 1 ½ cups (170 grams) crushed ice

- ¼ teaspoon Xantham gum

- Garnish: pineapple wedge and mint sprigs

Directions

1. Add all ingredients sans ice to a blender and flash blend until fully incorporated (blend for as short a time as possible to achieve this).

2. Add ice and blend until chilled and fully incorporated (again, the shorter the better here).

3. Serve in a chilled Pearl Diver (or 10 ounce) glass with a spent lime in the bottom, and garnish with mint and pineapple wedge.

*Acid Adjusted Pineapple Juice Recipe

Ingredients

- 3.2 grams citric acid

- 2.0 grams malic acid

- 100 milliliters fresh pineapple juice (strained)

📧 Get in touch: cocktailcollege@vinepair.com

🏆 Garret's Next Wave Awards 2024 profile

📖 Techniques! Extracts and Essences With Garret Richard

🍍 Tropical Standard

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The Tequila Sunrise Feb 13, 2025

Show notes

It’s sweet, it’s colorful, and it’s got a history wilder than a Rolling Stones tour bus — it’s the Tequila Sunrise. And while it might look like a poolside guilty pleasure, behind the gradient glow lies a story of rock ‘n’ roll excess, reinvention, and one major identity crisis. Here to explore this storied creation's history is Nikolas Vagenas, bartender and co-owner at Brooklyn's Mr. Melo. Listen on (or read below) to discover Nikolas' Tequila Sunrise recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

Nikolas Vagenas' Tequila Sunrise Recipe

Ingredients

- ½ ounce agave/grenadine mix (1 part water, 1 part agave syrup, 1 part pomegranate molasses)

- ½ ounce Luxardo cherry syrup (diluted slightly)

- 2 ounces blanco tequila

- ¾ ounce acid-adjusted orange juice*

- 2 dashes orange bitters

- Splash of soda

- Garnish: orange slice and Luxardo cherry

Directions

1. Build all ingredients in a chilled highball glass in the order listed.

2. Add ice and garnish with an orange slice and Luxardo cherry.

3. Serve, directing guest to stir before drinking.

*Acid Adjusted Orange Juice Recipe

Ingredients

- 34g citric acid

- 22g malic acid

- 2g tartaric acid

- Pinch of salt

- 1 quart freshly squeezed orange juice

📧Get in touch: cocktailcollege@vinepair.com

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- Tim: https://www.instagram.com/timmckirdy/

- Nikolas: https://www.instagram.com/nikpicks/

- Mr. Melo: https://www.instagram.com/mr.melobar/

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The Death in the Afternoon Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

Fine French sparkling wine meets absinthe in the two-ingredient Death in the Afternoon, a cocktail created by Ernest Hemingway and named after his 1932 non-fiction work of the same name. Joining us to give this simple concoction the Cocktail College treatment is Kassidy Scholl, beverage director at New York's Ask for Janice. Listen on (or read below) to discover Kassidy's Death in the Afternoon recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

Kassidy Scholl's Death in the Afternoon Recipe

Ingredients

- 2 ounces absinthe

- 4 ounces Champagne

- Garnish: lemon or orange twist

Directions

1. Add chilled absinthe to a chilled Champagne flute.

2. Slowly add chilled Champagne.

3. Express a lemon or orange twist to garnish then discard.

Kassidy Scholl's Death in Havana Recipe

Ingredients

- ¾ ounce absinthe

- ¾ ounce white rum

- 1 teaspoon Maraschino liqueur

- 1 teaspoon velvet falernum

- Champagne

Directions

1. Add chilled absinthe, white rum, Maraschino liqueur, and velvet falernum to a chilled Champagne flute.

2. Top with chilled Champagne.

📧Get in touch: cocktailcollege@vinepair.com

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- Ask for Janice: https://www.instagram.com/askforjanice.nyc/

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The Fourth Regiment Jan 30, 2025

Show notes

Never before on Cocktail College have we covered a cocktail that’s so defined by the inclusion of a very specific type of bitters as today’s drink: the Fourth Regiment. The bitters in question are of the celery variety, the drink is a riff on the Manhattan, and our guest is Chris Lemperle, who runs the bar at New York's Crane Club. Listen on (or read below) to discover Chris' Fourth Regiment recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe!

Chris Lemperle's Fourth Regiment Recipe

Ingredients

- 1 ½ ounces rye whiskey, such as Rittenhouse

- 1 ½ ounces sweet vermouth, such as Carpano Antica

- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters

- 2 dashes orange bitters

- 2 dashes celery bitters

- Garnish: lemon twist

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.

2. Stir until well chilled.

3. Strain into a chilled coup or Nick & Nora glass and garnish with a lemon twist.