Johneatsanddrinks

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Johneatsanddrinks

Cocktail photography, recipe development, and brand promotion. Specializing in imaginative cocktails where kitchen meets bar.

06/08/2026

ON THE RISE
Things are really starting to heat up lately, so here is a refreshing summer-friendly highball. It combines layers of funk with rhum agricole, clarin rum, and melon liqueur. There’s a little heat from a serrano-infused tequila, and a touch of gentian bitterness from Suze. Combined with fresh cucumber, the end result is refreshing, grassy, slightly funky, and absolutely crushable.

1oz Rhum agricole ()
0.5oz Clarin rum
0.25oz Serrano tequila
1oz melon liqueur (, gifted)
0.5oz Suze ()
0.5oz Lime juice
0.5oz Simple syrup
2 dashes Coconut bitters
3-4 slices Fresh cucumber
Soda water
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Muddle cucumber slices in the melon liqueur. Add remaining ingredients except soda water, shake until chilled, and fine strain into highball glass with an ice spear. Top with soda water and stir briefly to incorporate. Garnish with fresh mint + fresh cucumber. Cheers!!

06/01/2026

LOX & KEY
Schmear’s the deal, folks: this drink is definitely more…out there than any I’ve done in some time. Is this drink “everything”? No. Is it a fun, savory-leaning martini that delivers on a theme? You can bet your bottom-dollar bagel it is.
The concept, of course, is bagels and lox— specifically, cream cheese and lox on an everything bagel. The lox joins via a simple vodka infusion (done in the fridge for 12-24hr). The base also includes dill aquavit and Genever, the latter which adds a bit of maltiness that hints at a bagel. The cream cheese tang comes from whey— I made some labneh and used the whey byproduct (strained through a coffee filter for max clarity). A spritz of a smoky Scotch helps bring it back to the lox; and definitely don’t forget the everything bagel seasoning rim here.

1oz Lox-infused vodka
0.5oz Dill aquavit (, gifted)
0.5oz Genever ()
0.75oz Dry vermouth ()
2tsp whey
Spritz Islay Scotch ()
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Stir, strain into Nick & Nora with everything bagel seasoning rim (). Express and discard lemon twist, then finish with a spritz of a smokey Scotch. Cheers!!

05/26/2026

JAZZ MIND
I got the blues today, courtesy of the extended weekend being over… and some experimenting with a second light source (with blue color gel). The last two shots are more for reference— the third, a crisper spritz shot (faster shutter speed, more flash power) that overpowers the second (continuous) light source; the fourth, a weird but cool shot with no flash/only the blue light (underwater vibes anyone?).
But the drink: we added some beautiful jasmine to our backyard this year. I made a tincture: handful of flowers in high proof neutral spirit, 3-5 day room temp infusion). With it, I made a floral/Springtime martini with notes of coconut, pear, lychee, and jasmine. The pisco was a great fit, and the coconut gave an impression of some richness so the high floral notes didn’t overtake things.

1oz Jasmine, coconut, lychee vodka (, gifted)
0.75oz Pisco ()
0.25oz Pear Brandy (, gifted)
0.5oz Bianco vermouth ()
1/2tsp Jasmine tincture
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Stir, strain into coupe. Express and discard lemon twist, then spritz jasmine tincture. Cheers!!

05/18/2026

SHAKSHUKA PASTA
Starting off this week a little differently with a food post! I really enjoy taking dishes that I love and mapping them onto comfort food. And few things are more comforting to me than a big ol’ bowl of pasta!
Shakshuka is an amazing dish, typically seen on a breakfast menu but I think holds up well any time of the day. If I have it for dinner, I will usually add potatoes— which got me thinking, what if I subbed out this starch for another (pasta)? The sauce translates easily: just make your favorite shakshuka base. Here, I used tomatoes, red bell peppers, onions, homemade harissa, and plenty of cumin and smoked paprika. I let the sauce reduce further than I would normally; be sure to reserve some starchy pasta water in case it’s too thick.
But what about the eggs? This is such a crucial piece, and I didn’t necessarily love the idea of a fried egg sitting on my pasta. I cured egg yolks (just google it— refrigerate yolks surrounded by salt), which makes them hard enough to grate. So to finish this dish, I added fresh cilantro, plenty of feta, and grated egg yolk. Delish!!

05/14/2026

GOLDEN GARDENS

Credit for this recipe goes to Peter Patrician ().
This drink is a delicious, bittersweet riff on a Martinez. Instead of sweet vermouth, there is Punt e Mes, split with ’s Golden Hour Amaro. I love the bitter grapefruit in this amaro, and muddling fresh grapefruit peel really helps accent this note, especially on the finish after the sweeter/cherry notes fade on the front of the palate. I could see this one working great as an aperitif or enjoyed on a lazy Summer afternoon on the patio.

2oz Gin ()
0.5oz Golden Hour Amaro
0.5oz Punt e Mes
Heavy Barspoon Maraschino liqueur ( )
1 Grapefruit peel
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Muddle grapefruit peel in a mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients and stir with ice until chilled. Strain into coupe. Cheers!!

05/11/2026

RHUBARB RIBBONS
Whenever my Mom brings me fresh garden rhubarb, it’s hard to resist the desire to make more homemade liqueur with it— if you’re interested, scroll back to 6/26/25 for the full specs. It’s so tasty, seriously!
This recipe is fairly simple but refreshing and rhubarb-forward. I love the aquavit here (especially the strawberry, rhubarb, hibiscus, rose expression I used), and a little genever pairs well with the aquavit botanicals while adding a little malty sweetness. Ginger (bitters) and a touch of floral (tonic water) completes the build nicely.

1.25oz Aquavit (, gifted)
0.5oz Genever ()
1oz Rhubarb liqueur
0.5oz Lemon juice
2 dashes Ginger bitters
3-4oz Tonic water (, Floral expression)
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Shake first five ingredients with ice until chilled, strain into highball glass with fresh ice and rhubarb ribbons. Top with tonic water and stir briefly to incorporate. Cheers!!

05/07/2026

INTERLOPER
More cantaloupe please! The first drink using a homemade syrup (posted 4/23/26) was a hit, but I wanted to try it in a different format— here, a stirred number with a delicious high proof bourbon at the core. To bring out the funk of the melon, I added a touch of rum. For acomplementary flavor pairing, I brought in a layer of mint + chocolate via Braulio and chocolate bitters.
This one was delicious. The melon syrup was present but not overpowering, and added body and just enough funk. The chocolate and mint added a nice dimension and finish. Get yourself some melon and give it a try!

1.25oz Bourbon ( Pipe Dream 101, gifted)
0.25oz Aged Rum ()
0.5oz Cantaloupe syrup
2tsp Amaro Braulio (.italia)
3 dashes Chocolate bitters (, gifted)
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Stir, strain over large cube (gifted, ). Express and discard orange twist and garnish with fresh mint. Cheers!!

05/04/2026

CINCO POP

It’s almost Cinco de Mayo, so let’s have a little fun! Today’s cocktail inspo: tequila + chocolate strawberry liqueur. For the base, I used a nice añejo tequila to have a bit of depth and oak presence. Instead of a typical sour-style cocktail, I added balance via an Italian red amaro (and a little lime)— this is a great partner to strawberry and also helped make that bubble gum pink color pop.
I went with the playful bubble gum angle by adding in orange and pineapple. These two flavors combined with strawberry actually have a bubble gum-esque flavor to it. The drink still has a margarita-adjacent feel, which makes the whole cocktail fun given its interesting appearance!

1.25oz Añejo tequila
0.75oz Mozart Strawberry Chocolate Liqueur
0.5oz Pineapple rum
0.5oz Orange liqueur
0.5oz Italian red amaro
0.25oz Lime juice
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Shake, strain into glass over fresh ice. Garnish with lime wheel and strawberry slices. Cheers!!

Must be 21+. Please enjoy responsibly. Mozart product 15% ABV. Imported by .

04/30/2026

WINTER COBBLER

My friends at SennzaFinne occasionally highlight local bartenders. This recipe was created by former bar manger of the well known seattle amaro bar .
I love sherry, and every time I get around to making a sherry-centric cocktail (like this lovely cobbler here), I am reminded that I should really bring it into my cocktails even more than I already do.
The sherry blend here works super nicely with the botanicals in the Amaro— it honestly reads like a leveled up Cobbler. I find that it’s a fine line when riffing on the classics: too similar and it’s hard to distinguish from the original, but with too many changes the riff loses any sense of its original identity. This drink walks that line perfectly.

0.75oz Amontillado sherry
0.75oz Fino sherry
0.5oz Rustling Wood Amaro
0.5oz Simple syrup
0.25oz Lemon juice
2 dashes Orange bitters
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Fill a Collins glass with crushed ice. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and pour into the Collins glass. Garnish with a cherry and citrus wheel. Cheers!!

04/27/2026

1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Before you say anything, no, this is not a reference to the earworm of a hit, Mambo No. 5. I apparently have a knack for naming drinks in a way that makes people think of that… song. What a super power! The actual reason for the name is the ingredient ratios for this drink (1:2:3:4 parts). While more than 5 drops of bitters would be reasonable here, it worked great and I couldn’t pass on the chance to complete the concept.
The drink prompt was: stirred drink with Smith & Cross. Not the easiest ask. I went with a bold modifier (allspice dram) and a healthy dose of a middle-of-the-road amaro to keep the rum funk from dominating. A bit of richness from the cognac added a nice mouthfeel and finish. The tiki bitters rounded out the allspice to include some other warming spices. All in all, a really complex and delicious rum-forward sipper.

1oz Smith & Cross ()
0.75oz Amaro Averna ()
0.5oz VSOP Cognac
0.25oz Allspice dram
5 drops Tiki bitters ()
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Stir, strain, garnish with orange twist (this one inspired by ). Cheers!!

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Sugar Land, TX
77479

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http://johneatsanddrinks.com/

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