Drinks with the Cocktail Queen
My little sister, Camille, turned 27 this April (can you tell I’m behind on blogging?). I am very fortunate to live in the same city as her and we get to spend some quality time together. While she had plans for her birthday dinner with her sweet boyfriend Andrew, I got to spend the day with her. We started off with a pink drink at Starbucks. Because you get a free birthday drink, so you gotta, right?
Next, we grabbed a snackie lunch at the restaurant inside Restoration Hardware in Green Hills. I’ll just go ahead and say it: everything there is overpriced. BUT if you’re going to pay $20 for fries, they should feed two people for lunch, be perfectly crispy, and be covered in real truffle shavings, parsley, parmesan, and garlic. So…yeah. Worth it on those. We ordered a bottle of rosé and sipped the early afternoon away!
We split up so Camille and Andrew could dine, but we reconvened for a surprise event organized by her friends Liz and Bianca. Our dear friend Brandan came to town and we all met up at Liquor Lab in downtown Nashville. If you know me, you know I care deeply about civic infrastructure and it was exciting to be in a space in downtown that wasn’t only dedicated to country music and day drinking (even though I love both of those things).
Liquor Lab kicked off with a small dinner from Peg Leg Porker (which was excellent as always) and basic orientation to the tools at hand. We then started on our first of three drinks. The most interesting thing we were taught was using a cranberry and cinnamon tea bag to flavor the tequila in one beverage. It only took two minutes and totally changed the drink for the better!
How cute are these two?!
Ok, we’re pretty cute too ;)
We had to bring the crew, obviously. And this crew knows a good bit about beverages. While Andrew isn’t big into alcohol, he is a chocolate milk expert. Alec has worked in the alcohol industry, Jackson brews, Bianca is opening a bar in Seattle, and Camille—the cocktail queen— regularly creates cocktail menus for events, restaurants, and individuals.
We highly recommend Liquor Lab for a good time if you’re in Nashville and looking for an alternative to the honky tonk scene.
xo,
em
