Johneatsanddrinks

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

JOHNNY COFFEESEEDIt’s National Whiskey Sour Day! Three points if you already knew this obscure fact. To celebrate, obvio...
08/25/2026

JOHNNY COFFEESEED
It’s National Whiskey Sour Day! Three points if you already knew this obscure fact. To celebrate, obviously we’re making a riff on the classic. It starts with a nice coffee-infused whiskey and brings in some hints of Fall with apple and maple syrup. A little amaro helps add sweetness and ties the maple and coffee together really nicely.
Photography note: I’m usually more of a soft light kind of guy, but lately I’ve been playing around more with hard light/shadows. Which do you prefer? See the poll below!

1.5oz Coffee whiskey (Centerfire Spirits | Centerfire Distillery, gifted)
0.5oz Apple brandy (Laird & Company | America's First & Finest)
0.5oz Amaro Meletti (Ditta Silvio Meletti)
0.75oz Lemon juice
1 barspoon Maple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters (House of Angostura)
1 dash Orange bitters
1 egg white
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Shake all ingredients without ice, then add ice and shake until chilled. Express and garnish with a lemon twist. Cheers!!

BLTiniThis drink was worth the effort just for the name alone. The idea should be obvious: a martini-style drink emulati...
08/17/2026

BLTini
This drink was worth the effort just for the name alone. The idea should be obvious: a martini-style drink emulating the classic sandwich. But why? I counter: why not? But how? Gather round.
Bread: take heavily toasted wheat bread and sous vide with 5-6oz genever at 145F for 1hr.
Lettuce: take some lettuce (dealer’s choice, maybe avoid iceberg right now) in 4oz fino sherry, 4-6hr room temp infusion.
Tomato: collect tomato water by straining finely chopped tomatoes over a coffee filter.
Bacon: I used Fee Brothers, Inc. new bacon fat wash, kindly gifted.
To round out the drink, I added a little mezcal, soy sauce (salinity, umami), and citric acid for a pop. The result really does read BLT, from the malty toasted bread, savory tomato/bacon, and refreshing counter from the lettuce/fino. If I made this again, I might try a mayo fat wash for the genever to enhance the mouthfeel (and this might bring a slight tang that the citric acid brings).
Fyi: you can gently roast tomato skins in the oven and process in a spice grinder for tomato powder!

1oz Toast-infused genever (Bols Cocktails North America)
0.5oz Lettuce infused fino sherry (Tío Pepe)
0.5oz Tomato water
1tsp Mezcal
1 dash Soy sauce
8 drops citric acid (15%)
4 dashes bacon fat wash (Fee Brothers, Inc., gifted)
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Stir, strain into Nick & Nora glass dusted with tomato powder. Garnish with bacon. Cheers!!

LET’S ALL GO TO THE LOBBYDoes anybody else know this old-timey jingle that they’d play to encourage people to go “get ou...
08/10/2026

LET’S ALL GO TO THE LOBBY
Does anybody else know this old-timey jingle that they’d play to encourage people to go “get ourselves a treat” during movie intermission? A great life motto, honestly. In any case, it’s hard to beat a big buttery bag of popcorn and a cold soda… so why not make that into a cocktail?
First, I infused bourbon with popcorn (countertop would probably work, but I sped things up with a sous vide at 145F for 1hr). The build included a root beer syrup (but really, pick your favorite soda), a touch of fino for balance, and a little amaro to bring out those cola-flavors (Ramazzotti or Averna work great). And what movie theater popcorn isn’t complete without that butter flavor— queue the dashable fat wash kindly gifted from Fee Brothers, Inc.. The end result is pretty much what you’d expect: buttered popcorn and soda. A popcorn snack and a good movie are optional but complete the experience.

1.75 Popcorn-infused bourbon (Redwood Empire Whiskey, gifted)
2tsp Root beer syrup (see post 7/20/26)
0.25oz Fino sherry (Tío Pepe)
0.25oz Amaro
2 dashes browned butter fat wash (Fee Brothers, Inc., gifted)
Soda water
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Add all ingredients minus soda water to glass, add pebble ice and stir briefly to chill. Top with more ice, soda water, and stir to incorporate. Serve with popcorn. Cheers!!

KING BLUE BEANAfter the first success, I had to try the lactofermented blueberry syrup in another cocktail. Instead of a...
08/03/2026

KING BLUE BEAN
After the first success, I had to try the lactofermented blueberry syrup in another cocktail. Instead of a highball, I went to a stirred, Old Fashioned-esque build. I again leaned into the slight funk with an Irish whiskey + rum base (great combo, by the way). A touch of amaro worked great here— this one in particular seemed to bring out the berry notes while helping keep the sweetness in check. Last, a hint of bitter coffee was the final piece. I’ve sung the praises of blueberry coffee before (maybe my favorite flavor?) so it was no surprise that I enjoyed those undertones.

1.5oz Irish whiskey (Writers' Tears Irish Whiskey, gifted)
0.5oz Jamaican rum (Appleton Estate USA)
2tsp lactofermented blueberry lemon balm syrup (see post 7/7/26)
1tsp See the Elephant Amaro (See the Elephant Amaro, gifted)
1 dash Coffee bitters (Luxardo USA)
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Stir, strain into glass with large block of clear ice adorned with coffee beans and a blueberry. Cheers!!

THE VELVET POPPYA reshake of Anu Shukla. Okay, seriously, it has been far too long since I’ve shaken up someone else’s d...
07/30/2026

THE VELVET POPPY
A reshake of Anu Shukla.
Okay, seriously, it has been far too long since I’ve shaken up someone else’s drink on my page (outside of some fun paid collaborations). Side note: hoping to change that and make this a more regular occurrence!
Anyway, I saw this beauty on Anu’s page recently and it caught my eye— not only does it have a cognac base (tell me more), but it uses an amaro I recently got ahold of but haven’t used in any cocktails yet. Sold!
The drink has a sidecar-esque feel, but with a lovely depth and balance from the amaro. I love lemon poppyseed bread, so the flavor pairing was well-received. I already had some honey lavender syrup made, and a touch of floral was a nice touch too. If you aren’t already following Anu, you seriously have to check out his page. If you aren’t wowed by his photos, I think you probably need to get your vision checked.

1.5oz Cognac
0.75oz Greenbar Gran Poppy Amaro (Greenbar Distillery)
0.75oz Lemon juice
0.5oz Honey syrup
1 egg white
4 drops saline
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Dry shake, wet shake until chilled. Fine strain into coupe and garnish with lemon twist (discarded) and poppy seeds. Cheers!!

LAYER PLAYEROne of my earliest “weird” infusions back when I started this page was caramelized onion vodka. Time to brin...
07/27/2026

LAYER PLAYER
One of my earliest “weird” infusions back when I started this page was caramelized onion vodka. Time to bring them back! We’re talking super caramelized, dark brown onions that are super sweet and have very little bite left. The infusion is easy, once the onions are cooked— just add a tablespoon or so to 5oz of vodka in a mason jar, shake, and refrigerate for ~24hr before straining (this may take a couple passes).
Here, the drink is a stirred, almost martini-esque build featuring the caramel, nutty notes of Oloroso sherry. To the vodka infusion, the base incorporates agave spirits, including a vanilla-forward añejo tequila and mezcal. To tie everything together, a touch Cynar and mole bitters added a nice “bass” note. The result was really enjoyable, and just the right amount of savory without being too weird/onion-forward.

0.75oz Caramelized onion-infused vodka (Armen’s Barrels, gifted)
0.5oz Añejo tequila (SWŌL Tequila, gifted)
0.5oz Mezcal
0.75oz Olororso sherry
0.25oz Cynar (Cynar USA)
3 dashes mole bitters (Dashfire)
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Stir, strain into coupe and garnish with an orange twist. Cheers!!

MAST EFFECT Here’s my hot take for the day: stirred down cocktails should have more of a place in the Summer cocktail ro...
07/23/2026

MAST EFFECT

Here’s my hot take for the day: stirred down cocktails should have more of a place in the Summer cocktail rotation. I get it— frozen drinks and highballs are awesome when it’s hot. But the right kind of stirred cocktail still has its place.
This drink, for example: a Mai Tai-inspired Old Fashioned of sorts with a hint of coffee. It’s refreshing, tropical, and brings me straight to the beach. For the base, I used an incredible 18-year aged Panamanian rum and instead of orgeat, the almond flavor comes from a delicious Amaretto. There is still some rhum agricole as expected, but the orange flavor comes from an amaro instead of the traditional triple sec. Lime bitters and a fresh lime wheel give the necessary citrus presence. A little touch of coffee rounds out the edges and adds an extra dimension that I really enjoyed.

1.5oz Aged Rum (La Marielita Rum ™️)
0.25oz VSOP Rhum agricole
2tsp Amaretto (Gabriello Santoni)
2tsp Amaro Montenegro (Amaro Montenegro)
3 dashes Lime bitters (Scrappy's Bitters)
1tsp Whole coffee beans
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Combine all ingredients. Stir, strain over large ice cube (IceBlox | Premium Craft Ice, gifted). Garnish with a lime wheel. Cheers!!

Drink Responsibly - Be 21+ to enjoy

ALL FLOAT ONQueuing max nostalgia today: root beer float edition. I didn’t necessarily love root beer as a kid (I’m good...
07/20/2026

ALL FLOAT ON
Queuing max nostalgia today: root beer float edition. I didn’t necessarily love root beer as a kid (I’m good with it today in certain contexts), but getting soda and ice cream together as a kid was a special kind of Summer-only treat. There might be easier ways to cocktail-ify this drink, but I wanted the foam to be the star ingredient and give full vanilla ice cream vibes.
To do so, I needed a creamy, airy, egg-less foam, so I tried a new approach for me using methylcellulose (F50) and xanthan gum. The result is a light, but incredibly stable foam without being gummy or weird. The base of the foam contained heavy cream, whole milk, vanilla syrup, vanilla extract, and salt— all charged with nitrous oxide in a iSi cream whipper. DM me if you want the fully nerdy specs. I can also share the syrup specs but basically I just reduced a bottle of root beer by 50% and added enough sugar to get to a brix of ~50.
The result was awesome and absolutely reminiscent of a root beer float. And that foam… I could definitely eat it plain and it reads just like vanilla ice cream.

1.25oz Rye whiskey (Rittenhouse Rye)
0.75oz Aged rum (Club Kokomo Spirits, gifted)
0.5oz Root beer syrup
0.25oz Amaro Averna or Ramazzotti
1 dash Absinthe (Jettywave Distillery, gifted)
Vanilla ice cream foam
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Stir all ingredients and strain into glass. Top with foam. Cheers!

07/16/2026

SHADES UP

I can’t get enough watermelon cocktails this Summer. This drink brings in other elements so it’s less melon-centered, but still as refreshing as expected. The backbone is an awesome gin that has floral and fruity amongst other interesting botanicals. I accentuated those elements with fresh strawberry, fortified wine, and a touch of amaro.
The result: juicy, packed with flavor, and crushable, making it a perfect serve for a hot July day.

1.75oz Waterloo Gin Company Prickly Pear & Rose Gin
0.5oz Lillet Rosé
0.25oz Bitter Bianco
0.5oz Watermelon Syrup
0.75oz Lime Juice
1 strawberry
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Muddle strawberry in the syrup. Add remaining ingredients and shake with ice until chilled. Fine strain into coupe and garnish with fresh strawberry. Cheers!!

Music by Citrus Avenue - Beach Life via Thematic.

MORNING MELONAs I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the world’s biggest watermelon fan, though I do love the flavor. One way ...
07/13/2026

MORNING MELON
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the world’s biggest watermelon fan, though I do love the flavor. One way I have enjoyed eating watermelon more is pairing it with salty foods like feta cheese. This drink is cheese free, but I used that inspiration to bring in some salinity and minerality from fino sherry. A lightly aged and beautifully earthy and mineral-forward reposado tequila is a great base spirit here. For depth, I added a touch of sugarcane funk. The mint on the nose really helps bring the drink together— definitely recommend this one!
Photography note: I stumbled into this lighting set up based on how I cleared by last shoot. I used a speedlight through a lampshade with diffuser, shooting at a 45 degree angle, partially blocking the light with a large diffusion screen. It gives that “ray of sunshine” look without making the entire scene too dark.

1.75oz Reposado tequila (Tequila Rimari, gifted)
0.75oz Fino sherry (Tío Pepe)
0.25oz Cachaça ()
0.5oz Watermelon syrup (cryoconcentrated)
0.5oz Lime juice
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Shake, strain into glass with fresh ice. Garnish with mint and watermelon slice. Cheers!!

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