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Cocktail Hour Meets … Beati Fumo di Nonio

What made this challenge more fun was hosting Zoom hangouts with friends and creating cocktails together. One of our favorite cocktails was created on Day 20: Beati Fumo di Nonino. A lot of it had to do with the drink, but even more so it had to do with the Zoom friends. While concocting this cocktail, the whiskey brought Jeremy and me back to our trips to Isle of Skye. The most recent visit was with Zak, who honed his axe-throwing skills (seen above—very impressive!)

How to make for yourself:

1½ ounces Amaro Nonino

½ ounce Lonach 10-year scotch whisky (distilled by Laphroaig)

½ ounce honey

½ ounce lemon juice 

Garnish: lemon peel

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into martini glass, Garnish with lemon peel.

Buy our book tomorrow! It has even more recipes, laughs, and stories to keep you entertained!

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Cocktail Hour Meets … The Americano

Day 1: The Americano

It’s the drink that kicked off this wild adventure! Andy opened the liquor cabinet and his eyes landed on the bottle of Campari. While Campari and soda is a classic, we wanted more oomph for our first sip, so he took to Google and landed on the Americano. 

How to make for yourself: 

1½ ounces Campari

1½ ounces Cocchi sweet vermouth

Topo Chico mineral water

Mix Campari and sweet vermouth over ice in a highball glass and top off with the Topo Chico. Voila! Simple and easy.

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Cocktail Hour Meets … The Rules

The Cocktail Hour Rules per Jeremy:

  1. Never begin before 5pm.
  2. Never enter my wine room.
  3. Avoid bottled lime and lemon juices at all costs. (Unless those limes are $0.50 each. *cough, cough* We’re looking at you, grocery store owned by a certain internet company!)
  4. Measurements do not have to be exact. If you are one of the scores of friends, family, and colleagues to join us in our homes over the years and locales, you know that “measurements” in drinks is not my thing—so the following recipes might be described as “directional”.
  5. The cat can belly up to the bar to watch but is not allowed to imbibe.
  6. Feel free to make substitutions. (Google is helpful).
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Cocktail Hour Meets … Jeremy

Working in the hospitality industry had me developing bar and beverage programs for a number of hotel brands and entertainment concepts. Over the years, I have sampled a variety of cocktails and accumulated a number of … unusual (and unexpected!) types of mixers. The collection Andy and I had on hand made the 50 Day Cocktail Hour Experiment even more interesting. 

The nightly cocktail journey brought structure and routine back into our lives. Even when you couldn’t remember what day it was, there was always cocktail hour to look forward to at 5pm. Whether you discover this book during the pandemic or afterwards, we hope it inspires you to mix things up a bit with someone you love (sorry for the lame pun).

—Jeremy

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Cocktail Hour Meets … Andy

Jeremy and I (Hi, I’m Andy…the guy pictured on the right) don’t usually drink cocktails other than the occasional margarita. Our first choice is wine, with straight tequila, whiskey, or rum coming in second. But back in April, I posted on Facebook that we wanted to start a challenge for ourselves—daily cocktail hour! We’d try a new cocktail every evening during the pandemic to expand our horizons and maintain our sanity. 

Fast-forward to Day 40 and our friends and family were encouraging us to make this little cocktail adventure into a book … and now here we are. Ready to launch “Cocktail Hour Meets … A Pandemic” into the world. 

This began as a way to memorialize how we occupied our days during these stressful times. We hope it brings you comfort and a laugh or two. Enjoy the book (out this Friday!) and make yourself a cocktail. You deserve it.