Violet Crown
John Berens John Berens

Violet Crown

I have a fruit-forward Springtime drink to share today! The strawberry tarragon syrup has been a huge hit and is nearly gone, so here is one more drink featuring it. This one includes a beautiful purple gin kindly sent by @mcqueenvioletfog that is flavored with berry/hibiscus. The strawberry was a natural pairing here with the berry notes. I added a bit of tequila because I love the hibiscus/agave combo. Bitter bianco brought some depth and balance to the build. For being a fairly straightforward Tom Collins riff, this one was highly touted by my (albeit gin-loving) wife.

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Stoplight
John Berens John Berens

Stoplight

Yes, this is one of those Instagram Drinks that is unnecessarily complicated in order to get visual appeal (stay tuned for @bestcocktails League Finals tomorrow!). Sorry not sorry. With that being said, this drink is actually really tasty and refreshing and even after stirring it up there is still a bit of a gradient (as opposed to a murky brownish color, which often happens after disrupting layered drinks).

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From The Ground Up
John Berens John Berens

From The Ground Up

Happy Earth Day everyone! To celebrate, I am continuing this week’s trend of Making Things Complicated with more layers, a homemade tincture (using otherwise discarded fennel fronds), and citrus peels that were going bad (garnish). The drink is shot in my garden and if you have the space, I highly encourage you to plant something if you don’t already.

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Clean & Bright
John Berens John Berens

Clean & Bright

As I’ve pointed out before, I don’t have too many vodka-forward cocktails on my page, but they can be really nice when some warmer weather rolls around. I really like the crisp, refreshing, crushable feel of a citrus-forward, fruity vodka sour. Here’s one that I definitely recommend, even if you don’t take the completely-unnecessary-but-awesome step of layering.

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