The Art of Mixing Cocktails: A Journey Through Mezcal and Tequila

As we sit here at the Salt Bar, surrounded by the sights and sounds of summer, I find myself pondering the nuances of mezcal and tequila. These spirits, often overlooked in favor of their more popular counterparts, are worth exploring for their unique flavors and aromas. Mezcal, made from the Agave plant grown in the ground, is a complex spirit with earthy tones reminiscent of wine. Its smokiness adds depth to the drink, making it a perfect candidate for experimentation.

One of my favorite cocktails to create is the Mojito. To make this refreshing drink, I begin by adding three limes and four to five pieces of fresh mint to the shaker. The essence of the mint is released as I smash everything together, squeezing out the flavors. A touch of simple syrup adds a hint of sweetness, balancing out the acidity of the lime. Next, I add two ounces of Simon mezcal to the mixture, which provides a rich, earthy flavor. Shaking the ingredients together allows them to meld together in harmony. Straining the mixture into a chilled highball glass and topping it off with soda water creates a beautiful summer drink.

As we continue our journey through mixology, I'd like to challenge you on one of my favorite drinks – the original Martini. A gin martini is where it all began, but many people are unaware that this classic cocktail was never meant to be vodka-based. The original recipe called for gin, which added a subtle botanical flavor to the drink. To recreate this iconic cocktail, I reach for a sour apple gin and Dead Drop gin from our selection. By shaking the mixture with ice, I'm able to chill the ingredients quickly and effectively. This technique may have been frowned upon in the past, but it's an essential part of creating a well-crafted Martini.

The addition of Apple Pucker liqueur gives the drink its signature sweetness, while the Dead Drop gin provides a crisp, clean flavor. The result is a refreshing and tangy cocktail that would be perfect for sipping on a hot summer evening. To take it to the next level, I strain the mixture into a chilled martini glass, which allows the flavors to shine through. A splash of fresh sour mix adds a touch of acidity and helps create that signature foam texture.

Throughout our journey, we've explored the unique characteristics of mezcal and tequila, as well as the nuances of classic cocktails like the Mojito and Martini. These spirits offer endless possibilities for experimentation and creativity in the world of mixology. As we continue to push the boundaries of what's possible with these ingredients, I invite you to join me on this journey through the world of craft cocktails.

The Proper Martini: A Journey Through Gin

One of my favorite aspects of mixology is the art of creating a well-crafted Martini. This classic cocktail has been around for decades, but many people still struggle to get it right. The original recipe calls for gin, which adds a subtle botanical flavor to the drink. However, I often find myself wondering what would happen if we used other types of spirits instead.

In this article, we'll delve into the world of gin and explore how to create the perfect Martini using Dead Drop gin as our primary spirit. But first, let's talk about why it's so important to use a high-quality gin when making this cocktail. The type of gin you choose can make or break the flavor profile of your drink.

To start, I reach for two ounces of Dead Drop gin in my shaker. This particular gin is known for its crisp, clean flavor and subtle botanical notes, which add depth to the Martini without overpowering it. Next, I add one ounce of Apple Pucker liqueur to the mixture. The sweetness of this liqueur helps balance out the acidity of the lime and adds a touch of complexity to the drink.

Now, let's talk about shaking versus stirring. In the past, bartenders were often told to stir their Martinis instead of shaking them. However, I believe that shaking is the way to go when it comes to creating this cocktail. By shaking the mixture with ice, I'm able to chill the ingredients quickly and effectively, which helps preserve the delicate flavors of the gin.

As I shake the mixture together, I can feel the flavors melding together in harmony. The botanical notes of the gin are released, adding a subtle complexity to the drink. Once I've shaken the mixture for a few seconds, I strain it into a chilled martini glass and top it off with soda water. The result is a crisp, refreshing cocktail that would be perfect for sipping on a hot summer evening.

Throughout this article, we've explored the art of creating the perfect Martini using Dead Drop gin as our primary spirit. By experimenting with different combinations of ingredients and techniques, I hope to have shown you that even the most classic cocktails can be reimagined in new and exciting ways. Whether you're a seasoned mixologist or just starting out on your journey through craft cocktails, there's always something new to learn and discover.

Conclusion

As we conclude our journey through mezcal and tequila, as well as the world of classic cocktails, I hope that you've gained a newfound appreciation for the art of mixology. Whether you're experimenting with new ingredients or refining your skills in the kitchen, the world of craft cocktails is full of endless possibilities.

I invite you to join me on this journey through the world of mixology, where we'll explore new flavors, techniques, and recipes together. With every sip of our carefully crafted cocktails, I hope that you'll find yourself transported to a world of creativity and experimentation. Cheers!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign J books found back with our good friend of course Gabe Geller and master mixologist and manager uh Jason Friedman you know you know that we're in the wine business but a lot of people don't know that we're in the spirits business too so we asked Jason to take some of our spirits and really mix it up and see what we can do so what's your first so my first drink is called uh give me some passion it's a it's a vodka based cocktail and this is a special drink that you created for salt for salt yes um it actually became one of our signature items on our menu it's our most popular cocktail on our menu so I use a a passion fruit wine probably about two two to three ounces of the wine now the passion fruit wine is from Morant yes Gershon Bodner yes and the passion fruit fruit puree it's a tongue twister um I use about two uh three two and a half ounces of that uh the past more add passion fruit wine it's probably about just a just about a half ounce there is a little passion fruit wine that I mix into the puree to soften up the puree um and I do what kind of voc is that this is uh liveov okay or Lavar vodka which is from Poland uh but it's uh coming from uh a town that's not far from uh border with Ukraine and the dog is named after a city in Ukraine from madin and uh Royal wine has been donating the proceeds of liberal of sales uh to the refugees uh in Ukraine so that's the cocktail and I do garnish it use a little of the dragon fruit fruit as a nice garnish that adds add a little color to it cool that looks amazing and then we finish it off with a edible flour you actually can pop that in your mouth absolutely yeah and then usually I drop a straw in there for the customer but that's our give me some passion okay so Jason what's next up so the next one I'm gonna do the old-fashioned which we're going to use a boondocks Rye which is very popular at Salt we use it all the time now Boondocks is known for their bourbon they have a rye too absolutely yes so with this drink That's The Boondocks so this this glass this drink is served in a rocks glass with a cube Gabe can you give us any insights into The Boondocks Rye of course so Boondocks you know is a great uh company that produces amazing American whiskey and rye uh the the master distiller behind it is Dave the uh Church who's a legend in the in the industry uh and uh this is just an amazing ride that you know people should know about uh it's got a hectare on it uh it's uh it's amazing and I'm sure that the cocktails that Jason makes with it are absolutely uh incredible when are they gonna make a coach of a pesach ride I don't think so right yep I'm likely so you got Brian there you've got orange you got an orange slice in there so I had an orange slice I use a maraschino cherry a real maraschino cherry not not the kind not the not the ones that make your teeth red and then I I top it off with my own homemade Walnut maple uh simple syrup just this little splash of the maple syrup in there I take my muddler I give that a quick muddle to to mash the orange to mash the grape to the the chicken so it all comes together exactly yes and then so it's not those the the maraschino cherry and the orange are not garnishes they're actually part and parcel of the flavor of the drink correct yes there you go the the the sweetness of of the Cherry a little bitter of the orange mixed together with the with the Rye makes a fence and you put the orange in with the peel so you get some of that I I shake it I strain it over the fresh Cube I garnish it with a uh orange twist and I just do a spritz of a chocolate Bitters and again this is a signature drink of salt correct yes it's not like a it's not in a book somewhere no no this is my this is my old-fashioned recipe so old-fashioned there's plenty of old Fashions but none with none this is in this kind of color correct yes and what did you just Spritz so I Spritz a little chocolate bitters in there just kind of gives a nice Bittersweet taste to the cocktail you think people who like chocolate would appreciate that yeah it's it's chocolate flavor is a little bitter uh obviously because it is a a bitter um but it is very good and and anyone that's trying to start off drinking rice or Bourbons this is a a great cocktail to to start off I've never seen that before what is that so this is just a little baby nose pin yeah a little tiny clothespin the customer wants to keep it in the glass take it out it just adds a nice little you'll see Jay what's amazing about uh Jason's work is that we see just in front of our eyes how we actually you know creates the drink and adds the complexity to it right that's the big difference you know with with wine where you know all the so it's not just ingredients it's the Artistry of putting it all together yeah great job what's what's up next next I'm going to do a Caliente Paloma so what I do is I just add two fresh jalapenos to it and I don't muddle it because I don't want it to get it too spicy I think by shaking it with the ice muddles it to some extent and I think that's good enough for the cocktail so I put the jalapenos in there I add a touch of agave nectar which adds a little sweetness to the cocktail right I add probably about a half ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice that we squeeze here so that also kicks up a little acidity correct yes right and then I'm an acidity or lime acid and then I use uh our fresh squeeze uh ruby red grapefruit juice and that's lovely bitterness too correct about an ounce and a half of that bitterness flavor sweetness a little bit are awesome tequila Padre Azul it's a Reposado I love the package that's a great one now it's going to taste beautiful bottle yeah really the the leather on here actually is from the Mexican wrestlers back in the day this was their mask that they used so it actually has the how much of that do you put in I put uh two ounces of this instead of cocktail so this is a pretty rich cocktail yeah it's it's it definitely has got some got some kick to it but with all the juices in the city to it right it kind of weaves out that's a little bit excited just a little quick Shake in there Padre Azul is uh one of those amazing uh premium tequila you know it's made from 100 Agave of course in Mexico and it's a really uh really a great line of Tequilas if you haven't tried it yet you really should check it out and I like what you did with the hill Himalayan salt why is it only on half of the class I give the customer an option if they don't want the salt they don't have to drink it with the salt and if they do want the salt they can drink it right they can drink it with the salt all right with the garnish on this I use a dehydrated grapefruit this is like actual fresh grape juice that you do here and then you dehydrate it here correct yes we dehydrate all of our fruits here a lot of our garnishes for some of our cocktail or all of our cocktails we do in-house you okay what's up next I'm gonna do a Mezcal based cocktail and we're just doing a uh simple uh take on a Mojito but we're gonna instead a typical mojito is made with rum we're gonna use Mezcal Simon mezcal beautiful bottle as well we got a panther spelled x-i-a-m-a-n it's delicious it's more of a sipping Mezcal than than any other mezcals that we serve here a lot of them are shots and stuff like that this is more of a sipping finer Mezcal okay do you know anything about Mezcal I have to admit I have no idea no I know so so Jason why don't you so what I've never seen Mezcal and Tequila so Mezcal is actually um made in in the ground it's it's made with the Agave inside the in in the ground and it's got more Earth Tones to it um kind of like wine has Earth Tones this has more uh Sandstone Sandstone Earth uh a little little soil in there a little smokiness in the drink so with the lime with the mint and the sugar kind of offsets everything and it makes it really nice let's see it baby all right so I'm gonna do for the Mojito is I'm going to add three limes I'm gonna add about four to five pieces of fresh mint oh I love fresh mint usually if you're smack it kind of opens up the essence of the mint in there I add a touch of simple syrup just to give it a little sweetness simple soup is basically sugar but it's yes it's in liquid form right correct it's equal parts sugar and water okay so I use the Simon mezcal but a two ounces of the mezcal oh and you muddle it and I muddle it I mash everything up together you get so it really squeezes out the flavors correct yes shake that up grab my highball glass add this to the glass got a beautiful color to it and then I just top it off a little soda water and it looks refreshing it looks like a really great summer drink it's a great summer cocktail and we're here at the summer and we're here at the at the beach and we're here at the boardwalk here at Salt bar okay I'm gonna challenge you you didn't know about the one I'm gonna ask for but one of my favorite drinks is a and this is the proper the proper Martini is a gin martini correct so the original Martini was a gin martini not vodka so I want a sour apple gin martini and I think we have a gin from our we do we do we have our uh we have dead drop gin okay so I wanted sour apple gin martini very well shaken all right and I want you to tell people why I asked for very well shaken what difference all right so when you shake when you really shake a martini a ridge the original Martini was supposed to be stirred not shaken so when you shake a martini you're getting your your mud you're kind of muddling and crushing all that ice into the cocktail and it's it's really making that drink really super super cold easier to drink easier to digest go ahead go for it all right so we're gonna do a little bit of a apple pucker liqueur so I'm gonna do one ounce of the Apple Pucker liqueur it's a very sweet uh alcohol so you don't have to add too much to it we add a little we add two ounces of the Dead Drop gin now the Dead Drop gin is very interesting story you know the story behind that drop so so that drop was started by a bunch of fellows one of them is uh yitzy Wise from Chicago is a real estate developer and the reason they became recently famous you know in the community is they developed also a line of great uh kosher purpose of Gene and vodka and it's really very high quality uh products and uh it's a perfect uh foreign about how during the prohibition era that they are in the place where they used to have the Dead Drop which from what I understand is something about where they dropped off either the money or the gin yeah uh just you know to kind of get into the marketplace so now I'm gonna since you want it super super cold I'm gonna shake it for a few seconds okay and then we're gonna strain it right into our chilled martini glass there you go now I saw you had ice in the glass I thought that was going to be I was going to drink that but really it was just yeah it was just a chill exactly let's make that glass chill so it's so the uh cold cold liquid is not going into a warm flat foreign that would be enough time but I want to make sure I do it right he's trying I'm telling you I've had this gin martini all over the world in Dubai and in China and in of course Manhattan and throughout the United States oh the color is right color is right there you go and in this drink I added the Apple Pucker we added the Dead Drop gin and what's giving it that nice foam texture is I just added a little fresh sour mix to the to the cocktail and that adds a little nice sour flavor to it so this is a heck of a way to end let's hope it tastes as good as it looks amen actually going to have this one got a lot of good spirits from uh our friends at Royal yep is to you hi I'm Jay what time Chaseforeign J books found back with our good friend of course Gabe Geller and master mixologist and manager uh Jason Friedman you know you know that we're in the wine business but a lot of people don't know that we're in the spirits business too so we asked Jason to take some of our spirits and really mix it up and see what we can do so what's your first so my first drink is called uh give me some passion it's a it's a vodka based cocktail and this is a special drink that you created for salt for salt yes um it actually became one of our signature items on our menu it's our most popular cocktail on our menu so I use a a passion fruit wine probably about two two to three ounces of the wine now the passion fruit wine is from Morant yes Gershon Bodner yes and the passion fruit fruit puree it's a tongue twister um I use about two uh three two and a half ounces of that uh the past more add passion fruit wine it's probably about just a just about a half ounce there is a little passion fruit wine that I mix into the puree to soften up the puree um and I do what kind of voc is that this is uh liveov okay or Lavar vodka which is from Poland uh but it's uh coming from uh a town that's not far from uh border with Ukraine and the dog is named after a city in Ukraine from madin and uh Royal wine has been donating the proceeds of liberal of sales uh to the refugees uh in Ukraine so that's the cocktail and I do garnish it use a little of the dragon fruit fruit as a nice garnish that adds add a little color to it cool that looks amazing and then we finish it off with a edible flour you actually can pop that in your mouth absolutely yeah and then usually I drop a straw in there for the customer but that's our give me some passion okay so Jason what's next up so the next one I'm gonna do the old-fashioned which we're going to use a boondocks Rye which is very popular at Salt we use it all the time now Boondocks is known for their bourbon they have a rye too absolutely yes so with this drink That's The Boondocks so this this glass this drink is served in a rocks glass with a cube Gabe can you give us any insights into The Boondocks Rye of course so Boondocks you know is a great uh company that produces amazing American whiskey and rye uh the the master distiller behind it is Dave the uh Church who's a legend in the in the industry uh and uh this is just an amazing ride that you know people should know about uh it's got a hectare on it uh it's uh it's amazing and I'm sure that the cocktails that Jason makes with it are absolutely uh incredible when are they gonna make a coach of a pesach ride I don't think so right yep I'm likely so you got Brian there you've got orange you got an orange slice in there so I had an orange slice I use a maraschino cherry a real maraschino cherry not not the kind not the not the ones that make your teeth red and then I I top it off with my own homemade Walnut maple uh simple syrup just this little splash of the maple syrup in there I take my muddler I give that a quick muddle to to mash the orange to mash the grape to the the chicken so it all comes together exactly yes and then so it's not those the the maraschino cherry and the orange are not garnishes they're actually part and parcel of the flavor of the drink correct yes there you go the the the sweetness of of the Cherry a little bitter of the orange mixed together with the with the Rye makes a fence and you put the orange in with the peel so you get some of that I I shake it I strain it over the fresh Cube I garnish it with a uh orange twist and I just do a spritz of a chocolate Bitters and again this is a signature drink of salt correct yes it's not like a it's not in a book somewhere no no this is my this is my old-fashioned recipe so old-fashioned there's plenty of old Fashions but none with none this is in this kind of color correct yes and what did you just Spritz so I Spritz a little chocolate bitters in there just kind of gives a nice Bittersweet taste to the cocktail you think people who like chocolate would appreciate that yeah it's it's chocolate flavor is a little bitter uh obviously because it is a a bitter um but it is very good and and anyone that's trying to start off drinking rice or Bourbons this is a a great cocktail to to start off I've never seen that before what is that so this is just a little baby nose pin yeah a little tiny clothespin the customer wants to keep it in the glass take it out it just adds a nice little you'll see Jay what's amazing about uh Jason's work is that we see just in front of our eyes how we actually you know creates the drink and adds the complexity to it right that's the big difference you know with with wine where you know all the so it's not just ingredients it's the Artistry of putting it all together yeah great job what's what's up next next I'm going to do a Caliente Paloma so what I do is I just add two fresh jalapenos to it and I don't muddle it because I don't want it to get it too spicy I think by shaking it with the ice muddles it to some extent and I think that's good enough for the cocktail so I put the jalapenos in there I add a touch of agave nectar which adds a little sweetness to the cocktail right I add probably about a half ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice that we squeeze here so that also kicks up a little acidity correct yes right and then I'm an acidity or lime acid and then I use uh our fresh squeeze uh ruby red grapefruit juice and that's lovely bitterness too correct about an ounce and a half of that bitterness flavor sweetness a little bit are awesome tequila Padre Azul it's a Reposado I love the package that's a great one now it's going to taste beautiful bottle yeah really the the leather on here actually is from the Mexican wrestlers back in the day this was their mask that they used so it actually has the how much of that do you put in I put uh two ounces of this instead of cocktail so this is a pretty rich cocktail yeah it's it's it definitely has got some got some kick to it but with all the juices in the city to it right it kind of weaves out that's a little bit excited just a little quick Shake in there Padre Azul is uh one of those amazing uh premium tequila you know it's made from 100 Agave of course in Mexico and it's a really uh really a great line of Tequilas if you haven't tried it yet you really should check it out and I like what you did with the hill Himalayan salt why is it only on half of the class I give the customer an option if they don't want the salt they don't have to drink it with the salt and if they do want the salt they can drink it right they can drink it with the salt all right with the garnish on this I use a dehydrated grapefruit this is like actual fresh grape juice that you do here and then you dehydrate it here correct yes we dehydrate all of our fruits here a lot of our garnishes for some of our cocktail or all of our cocktails we do in-house you okay what's up next I'm gonna do a Mezcal based cocktail and we're just doing a uh simple uh take on a Mojito but we're gonna instead a typical mojito is made with rum we're gonna use Mezcal Simon mezcal beautiful bottle as well we got a panther spelled x-i-a-m-a-n it's delicious it's more of a sipping Mezcal than than any other mezcals that we serve here a lot of them are shots and stuff like that this is more of a sipping finer Mezcal okay do you know anything about Mezcal I have to admit I have no idea no I know so so Jason why don't you so what I've never seen Mezcal and Tequila so Mezcal is actually um made in in the ground it's it's made with the Agave inside the in in the ground and it's got more Earth Tones to it um kind of like wine has Earth Tones this has more uh Sandstone Sandstone Earth uh a little little soil in there a little smokiness in the drink so with the lime with the mint and the sugar kind of offsets everything and it makes it really nice let's see it baby all right so I'm gonna do for the Mojito is I'm going to add three limes I'm gonna add about four to five pieces of fresh mint oh I love fresh mint usually if you're smack it kind of opens up the essence of the mint in there I add a touch of simple syrup just to give it a little sweetness simple soup is basically sugar but it's yes it's in liquid form right correct it's equal parts sugar and water okay so I use the Simon mezcal but a two ounces of the mezcal oh and you muddle it and I muddle it I mash everything up together you get so it really squeezes out the flavors correct yes shake that up grab my highball glass add this to the glass got a beautiful color to it and then I just top it off a little soda water and it looks refreshing it looks like a really great summer drink it's a great summer cocktail and we're here at the summer and we're here at the at the beach and we're here at the boardwalk here at Salt bar okay I'm gonna challenge you you didn't know about the one I'm gonna ask for but one of my favorite drinks is a and this is the proper the proper Martini is a gin martini correct so the original Martini was a gin martini not vodka so I want a sour apple gin martini and I think we have a gin from our we do we do we have our uh we have dead drop gin okay so I wanted sour apple gin martini very well shaken all right and I want you to tell people why I asked for very well shaken what difference all right so when you shake when you really shake a martini a ridge the original Martini was supposed to be stirred not shaken so when you shake a martini you're getting your your mud you're kind of muddling and crushing all that ice into the cocktail and it's it's really making that drink really super super cold easier to drink easier to digest go ahead go for it all right so we're gonna do a little bit of a apple pucker liqueur so I'm gonna do one ounce of the Apple Pucker liqueur it's a very sweet uh alcohol so you don't have to add too much to it we add a little we add two ounces of the Dead Drop gin now the Dead Drop gin is very interesting story you know the story behind that drop so so that drop was started by a bunch of fellows one of them is uh yitzy Wise from Chicago is a real estate developer and the reason they became recently famous you know in the community is they developed also a line of great uh kosher purpose of Gene and vodka and it's really very high quality uh products and uh it's a perfect uh foreign about how during the prohibition era that they are in the place where they used to have the Dead Drop which from what I understand is something about where they dropped off either the money or the gin yeah uh just you know to kind of get into the marketplace so now I'm gonna since you want it super super cold I'm gonna shake it for a few seconds okay and then we're gonna strain it right into our chilled martini glass there you go now I saw you had ice in the glass I thought that was going to be I was going to drink that but really it was just yeah it was just a chill exactly let's make that glass chill so it's so the uh cold cold liquid is not going into a warm flat foreign that would be enough time but I want to make sure I do it right he's trying I'm telling you I've had this gin martini all over the world in Dubai and in China and in of course Manhattan and throughout the United States oh the color is right color is right there you go and in this drink I added the Apple Pucker we added the Dead Drop gin and what's giving it that nice foam texture is I just added a little fresh sour mix to the to the cocktail and that adds a little nice sour flavor to it so this is a heck of a way to end let's hope it tastes as good as it looks amen actually going to have this one got a lot of good spirits from uh our friends at Royal yep is to you hi I'm Jay what time Chaseforeign J books found back with our good friend of course Gabe Geller and master mixologist and manager uh Jason Friedman you know you know that we're in the wine business but a lot of people don't know that we're in the spirits business too so we asked Jason to take some of our spirits and really mix it up and see what we can do so what's your first so my first drink is called uh give me some passion it's a it's a vodka based cocktail and this is a special drink that you created for salt for salt yes um it actually became one of our signature items on our menu it's our most popular cocktail on our menu so I use a a passion fruit wine probably about two two to three ounces of the wine now the passion fruit wine is from Morant yes Gershon Bodner yes and the passion fruit fruit puree it's a tongue twister um I use about two uh three two and a half ounces of that uh the past more add passion fruit wine it's probably about just a just about a half ounce there is a little passion fruit wine that I mix into the puree to soften up the puree um and I do what kind of voc is that this is uh liveov okay or Lavar vodka which is from Poland uh but it's uh coming from uh a town that's not far from uh border with Ukraine and the dog is named after a city in Ukraine from madin and uh Royal wine has been donating the proceeds of liberal of sales uh to the refugees uh in Ukraine so that's the cocktail and I do garnish it use a little of the dragon fruit fruit as a nice garnish that adds add a little color to it cool that looks amazing and then we finish it off with a edible flour you actually can pop that in your mouth absolutely yeah and then usually I drop a straw in there for the customer but that's our give me some passion okay so Jason what's next up so the next one I'm gonna do the old-fashioned which we're going to use a boondocks Rye which is very popular at Salt we use it all the time now Boondocks is known for their bourbon they have a rye too absolutely yes so with this drink That's The Boondocks so this this glass this drink is served in a rocks glass with a cube Gabe can you give us any insights into The Boondocks Rye of course so Boondocks you know is a great uh company that produces amazing American whiskey and rye uh the the master distiller behind it is Dave the uh Church who's a legend in the in the industry uh and uh this is just an amazing ride that you know people should know about uh it's got a hectare on it uh it's uh it's amazing and I'm sure that the cocktails that Jason makes with it are absolutely uh incredible when are they gonna make a coach of a pesach ride I don't think so right yep I'm likely so you got Brian there you've got orange you got an orange slice in there so I had an orange slice I use a maraschino cherry a real maraschino cherry not not the kind not the not the ones that make your teeth red and then I I top it off with my own homemade Walnut maple uh simple syrup just this little splash of the maple syrup in there I take my muddler I give that a quick muddle to to mash the orange to mash the grape to the the chicken so it all comes together exactly yes and then so it's not those the the maraschino cherry and the orange are not garnishes they're actually part and parcel of the flavor of the drink correct yes there you go the the the sweetness of of the Cherry a little bitter of the orange mixed together with the with the Rye makes a fence and you put the orange in with the peel so you get some of that I I shake it I strain it over the fresh Cube I garnish it with a uh orange twist and I just do a spritz of a chocolate Bitters and again this is a signature drink of salt correct yes it's not like a it's not in a book somewhere no no this is my this is my old-fashioned recipe so old-fashioned there's plenty of old Fashions but none with none this is in this kind of color correct yes and what did you just Spritz so I Spritz a little chocolate bitters in there just kind of gives a nice Bittersweet taste to the cocktail you think people who like chocolate would appreciate that yeah it's it's chocolate flavor is a little bitter uh obviously because it is a a bitter um but it is very good and and anyone that's trying to start off drinking rice or Bourbons this is a a great cocktail to to start off I've never seen that before what is that so this is just a little baby nose pin yeah a little tiny clothespin the customer wants to keep it in the glass take it out it just adds a nice little you'll see Jay what's amazing about uh Jason's work is that we see just in front of our eyes how we actually you know creates the drink and adds the complexity to it right that's the big difference you know with with wine where you know all the so it's not just ingredients it's the Artistry of putting it all together yeah great job what's what's up next next I'm going to do a Caliente Paloma so what I do is I just add two fresh jalapenos to it and I don't muddle it because I don't want it to get it too spicy I think by shaking it with the ice muddles it to some extent and I think that's good enough for the cocktail so I put the jalapenos in there I add a touch of agave nectar which adds a little sweetness to the cocktail right I add probably about a half ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice that we squeeze here so that also kicks up a little acidity correct yes right and then I'm an acidity or lime acid and then I use uh our fresh squeeze uh ruby red grapefruit juice and that's lovely bitterness too correct about an ounce and a half of that bitterness flavor sweetness a little bit are awesome tequila Padre Azul it's a Reposado I love the package that's a great one now it's going to taste beautiful bottle yeah really the the leather on here actually is from the Mexican wrestlers back in the day this was their mask that they used so it actually has the how much of that do you put in I put uh two ounces of this instead of cocktail so this is a pretty rich cocktail yeah it's it's it definitely has got some got some kick to it but with all the juices in the city to it right it kind of weaves out that's a little bit excited just a little quick Shake in there Padre Azul is uh one of those amazing uh premium tequila you know it's made from 100 Agave of course in Mexico and it's a really uh really a great line of Tequilas if you haven't tried it yet you really should check it out and I like what you did with the hill Himalayan salt why is it only on half of the class I give the customer an option if they don't want the salt they don't have to drink it with the salt and if they do want the salt they can drink it right they can drink it with the salt all right with the garnish on this I use a dehydrated grapefruit this is like actual fresh grape juice that you do here and then you dehydrate it here correct yes we dehydrate all of our fruits here a lot of our garnishes for some of our cocktail or all of our cocktails we do in-house you okay what's up next I'm gonna do a Mezcal based cocktail and we're just doing a uh simple uh take on a Mojito but we're gonna instead a typical mojito is made with rum we're gonna use Mezcal Simon mezcal beautiful bottle as well we got a panther spelled x-i-a-m-a-n it's delicious it's more of a sipping Mezcal than than any other mezcals that we serve here a lot of them are shots and stuff like that this is more of a sipping finer Mezcal okay do you know anything about Mezcal I have to admit I have no idea no I know so so Jason why don't you so what I've never seen Mezcal and Tequila so Mezcal is actually um made in in the ground it's it's made with the Agave inside the in in the ground and it's got more Earth Tones to it um kind of like wine has Earth Tones this has more uh Sandstone Sandstone Earth uh a little little soil in there a little smokiness in the drink so with the lime with the mint and the sugar kind of offsets everything and it makes it really nice let's see it baby all right so I'm gonna do for the Mojito is I'm going to add three limes I'm gonna add about four to five pieces of fresh mint oh I love fresh mint usually if you're smack it kind of opens up the essence of the mint in there I add a touch of simple syrup just to give it a little sweetness simple soup is basically sugar but it's yes it's in liquid form right correct it's equal parts sugar and water okay so I use the Simon mezcal but a two ounces of the mezcal oh and you muddle it and I muddle it I mash everything up together you get so it really squeezes out the flavors correct yes shake that up grab my highball glass add this to the glass got a beautiful color to it and then I just top it off a little soda water and it looks refreshing it looks like a really great summer drink it's a great summer cocktail and we're here at the summer and we're here at the at the beach and we're here at the boardwalk here at Salt bar okay I'm gonna challenge you you didn't know about the one I'm gonna ask for but one of my favorite drinks is a and this is the proper the proper Martini is a gin martini correct so the original Martini was a gin martini not vodka so I want a sour apple gin martini and I think we have a gin from our we do we do we have our uh we have dead drop gin okay so I wanted sour apple gin martini very well shaken all right and I want you to tell people why I asked for very well shaken what difference all right so when you shake when you really shake a martini a ridge the original Martini was supposed to be stirred not shaken so when you shake a martini you're getting your your mud you're kind of muddling and crushing all that ice into the cocktail and it's it's really making that drink really super super cold easier to drink easier to digest go ahead go for it all right so we're gonna do a little bit of a apple pucker liqueur so I'm gonna do one ounce of the Apple Pucker liqueur it's a very sweet uh alcohol so you don't have to add too much to it we add a little we add two ounces of the Dead Drop gin now the Dead Drop gin is very interesting story you know the story behind that drop so so that drop was started by a bunch of fellows one of them is uh yitzy Wise from Chicago is a real estate developer and the reason they became recently famous you know in the community is they developed also a line of great uh kosher purpose of Gene and vodka and it's really very high quality uh products and uh it's a perfect uh foreign about how during the prohibition era that they are in the place where they used to have the Dead Drop which from what I understand is something about where they dropped off either the money or the gin yeah uh just you know to kind of get into the marketplace so now I'm gonna since you want it super super cold I'm gonna shake it for a few seconds okay and then we're gonna strain it right into our chilled martini glass there you go now I saw you had ice in the glass I thought that was going to be I was going to drink that but really it was just yeah it was just a chill exactly let's make that glass chill so it's so the uh cold cold liquid is not going into a warm flat foreign that would be enough time but I want to make sure I do it right he's trying I'm telling you I've had this gin martini all over the world in Dubai and in China and in of course Manhattan and throughout the United States oh the color is right color is right there you go and in this drink I added the Apple Pucker we added the Dead Drop gin and what's giving it that nice foam texture is I just added a little fresh sour mix to the to the cocktail and that adds a little nice sour flavor to it so this is a heck of a way to end let's hope it tastes as good as it looks amen actually going to have this one got a lot of good spirits from uh our friends at Royal yep is to you hi I'm Jay what time Chase\n"