I put the pain in champagne and I put the — Don’t finish that sentence. This is a hot dog is a sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah. I put ice in my cereal. So what? That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast. A Hotdog is a Sandwich. I’m your host Josh Scherer. And I’m your host Nicole Enayati. And today we have a very special guest joining us for the pod musician, actor TikTok star, and author of the gorgeous book of alcoholic libations sipsy doozy, 100 plus respectfully Crafted Cocktails for the Home Bartender. Nick Hamilton, welcome to the show. That was lovely, man. Very, very nice. Thank you. I, your book is absolutely lovely. Thank you, uh, stoked to have it here, and we are doing a very special episode that is devoted to both you and your fantastic work and Nicole, and your fantastic work in building you. That’s right. We should call pregnant women bodybuilders, right, Josh? Whoa. I like that. I agree entirely. Well, we were talking, we wanted to have you on. Mm-hmm. We wanted to drink because drinking at work is a pastime of ours. But Nicole, with your, do you call it a condition? Yeah. No, I don’t call it a condition. Your issue. No, no enough negatives. It, it’s a beautiful blessing that is growing in my tumtum. With your beautiful blessing that’s growing in your tumtum. Uh, generally that too. It hurts. Do not drink any alcohol. So we are talking about mocktails today. How do you initially feel about mocktails? I think there is a place for them, specifically for people like you. Mm-hmm. Right. People afflicted with your specific kind of beautiful miracle. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. No, I think there’s definitely a place for ’em. I think even like, uh, dry January, it become, it’s becoming a very, mm-hmm. I guess trendy, for lack of a better term. That’s, it’s, it, it only helps. Yeah. Yeah. I. It took me a while to really understand it. Mm-hmm. On a deep level. And I think that was because I did my first sober month for what I realized was like since I was 16, a full month completely sober. No way, you know, uh, you start early. Alcohol’s not great for you. It’s a poison. However, it is also a beautiful ritual that has existed for tens of thousands of years in human history, and I think it is important. Thank you. I did like a full sober month and I sort of realized this wonderful placebo effect that when you put time. Intention into a drink, you have more fun drinking it around people. Mm-hmm. And so now I’m fully sold on it. That’s great. I mean, I was a very, I mean, I, I love to party, I always do. Um, so for me it was quite a transition to not spend my weekend, you know, going out and grabbing a drink with my friends or with my husband and stuff. But recently when I went out to dinner with, with, uh, the Mythical kitchen crew, I tried my first real serious mocktail, and it was such a revelation. Everyone had a sip and they said. This might be the best drink on the table. It’s incredible. Whoa. Yeah, a hundred percent. It had this beautiful, it had like a lemon grass and strawberry fizz situation. It was very complex. Delicious. Very delicious. And it had a bitter note that I think is really special in certain cocktails. Mm-hmm. That bitter note almost triggers something in my brain. I’m like, I’m drinking alcohol. So it made, so it made it a very, very. Easy transition to getting more mocktails and stuff like that. I had a non-alcoholic beer a few days ago. Yeah, there’s the tricky to get right. There’s like one or two that are actually fine. I drank a full six pack of non-alcoholic beer on Saturday. Oh, was it? Does it hurt? Did it hurt you? Did it hurt me in the end? Yeah. It feels like something that wouldn’t be like chemical, it’s full of chemicals. No. Oh, I don’t know. My body kind of runs on chemicals. I grew up drinking like 700 Slurpee and– America runs on Dunkin and Josh runs on chemicals. A hundred percent. And so for me, I just had a really great time. Okay. And I had just like, worked out beforehand, so I was like, the carbs in this are just helping me build strong. Sure. Coating. Thank you so much. Like an 1880s Belgian cyclist, uh, with no nutritional information. Uh, I wanna ask though, how did you get into making cocktails and what is like the guiding. Ethos behind your book? So I started making, uh, drinks when it, uh, when I moved to the states. Mm-hmm. Um, like seven, God, seven years ago. Mm-hmm. Uh, you can’t even tell you have an accent anymore. Thank you so much. Thank you. Were you from Portland, Seattle? Yes. Like in between Portland on the border, the, uh, I, I moved to New York and of 2021. And, uh, I was already a big fan of making drinks and I’d just moved into my new apartment. I was gonna go out to a, uh, it was the opening of Mrs. Doubtfire on Broadway. Cool. I’d just been invited out to right on. It was incredible. So I was wearing a suit, uh, and I was gonna make a drink anyway, so I decided to make a video as we do. And, uh, edited on the way to the show, posted it woke up the next morning and it had I think over a million views and damn, that was, yeah, three and a half years ago. Incredible. I started making the book kind of from then, as for the ethos, I think the main thing that frustrates me about cocktail books is that it, no matter how kind of, uh, rudimentary they are, they expect you to have some sort of knowledge going in. Mm-hmm. Sure. Whereas so many people when they buy their first book, I mean, when I bought my first cocktail book, I had no idea what things tasted like. Mm-hmm. So the beauty, and something I really fought for in the design is these flavor tags at the top. There’s a 15 ish flavor tags We’re calling them, uh, each category, each cocktail is categorized by these three flavors. So if you know that you like Fruity Tart, uh, fruity Tart and Bitter Cocktails mm-hmm. You can go to the Fruity Tar and bit of cocktail and you’ll know that you’ll like that. Or at least maybe will, you’ll like that you’re, you’re starting on a with a step up. Right. Um, ’cause no one knows what Campari tastes like. But you know that it tastes, what if you like bitter stuff or you like, uh, herbal or funky or floral stuff? How beautiful. I love that. It’s like color coding it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It’s, it’s making it a children’s book, which is, they didn’t like the phrasing of that. Children have a right to drink. That’s, you think in the factories in the 1930s, they weren’t getting slo deal with That’s they turned That’s what I’m saying. That’s gonna be taken outta context on Twitter somewhere. You’re in trouble buddy. Hey, whatever goes viral. Uh, the only cocktail book that I have in my own, own home is. Exactly what you’re talking about. It’s the death and co cocktail book, which is an incredible Bible if you already are very, very well verse knowledgeable. Cocktailing. Yeah. Um, and like little stuff, it taught me how to shake a cocktail properly. Mm-hmm. Before I was just really just banging the ice as hard as I could and they’re like, do it in a more slidey motion to not fracture it. And yet, so it gets really into the myopia of it. Mm-hmm. But I will never forget, like looking up the first three cocktails I wanted to make and I went to my local. BevMo, which has a massive selection. Mm-hmm. Of course. Yes. And they didn’t have like 80% of the ingredients. There were these like obscure local Amari that were like made in, you know, Oshkosh, Wisconsin and have their distribution. It’s weird. These were like the first few recipes in the book. No, I mean, there’s no like beginner section. Like they are just absolutely hardcore. It’s like Jess and Co is like they are gonna make those. Really? Yeah. Uh, because it’s not intended to really be like a first man’s uh, uh, cocktail book. Interesting. Actually, I think part of the culture of. Not only, uh, cocktails, but any sort of drinking culture, wine and beer. Part of it is the exclusivity that people sort of, you talked about this. Yeah, yeah. That it almost drives the industry, right? Yeah. If you have a hundred page wine list and you kind of get confused into spending $400 on a bottle because somebody with salesmanship told you to, right? Yeah. I think cocktails are someone similar. Yeah, no, I agree. I think there’s a, unfortunately there’s like a pretentiousness, preity preity indeed that, uh, is kind of built into it that I’m trying to kind of, the younger people in the space are trying to kind of go away from that. ’cause it is, you know, you hate the, there’s the, the stereotype of this curly mustached, uh, beret wearing guy behind the bar. That was my generation Armand. That was my, what are those armband called? Those like, those like pretty little They keep your sleeves. Yeah. Yeah. I’m sure there’s a purpose to, but they look stupid. I mean, just say cumber bun, but I know that’s wrong. Und It’s an armor. Yeah, it’s an armor bun. Yeah. Okay, fine. Uh, so it’s, it’s kind of going away from that, uh, that world. I think especially with the TikTok generation, you’re trying to just get. The kind, I, I guess the impetus is to get as drunk as possible, as fast as possible. And we’re trying to get away from that. And it’s like, as long as you, if you are getting drunk, fine, as long as you like what you’re tasting, right. Just don’t guzzle down bad vodka. So like all of this is, uh, you know, fairly rudimentary ingredients, simple techniques, uh, all the ingredients, like you said, you can either buy very easily or make very easily at home, right? It’s kind of the whole. Gist. Yeah. Yeah. You’re a, uh, not to to date you, you’re a relatively young man, right? That is, yeah. And we can date if you’d like, Josh. That’s fine. I’m in, I’m 25. 25, okay. So do you identify as a Gen Z? Yeah. Weirdly, I think like I, I think I’m squarely in Gen Z, but the older I get the more cuspy I become. Weird. Yeah. Because I think Jen Alpha’s taking over, unfortunately. A hundred percent. It’s gonna get faster and faster. Yeah. Like, no, I think the drinking culture that, that we grew up in, right. It was that pistachio bartender of course, where it was all about, I’ll never, I will never. Forget one of those pistachio bartenders pouring me a whiskey and just asking if like, I can taste the, uh, the sea salt from the atmosphere and I had to go. Yeah. Oh yeah. No, it’s, you’re so salty. It mostly tastes like whiskey, but also I, the atmosphere pretty good on this one. Yeah, it was like rain kind of. And so I love that you people, if you don’t mind, you people are sort of like. Making it, you know, more accessible. And I think it’s demystifying it. Demystifying it. And we’re seeing there’s rise of like disco cocktails come back, right? Yeah, exactly know, you know, but disco cheese, the espresso martini is just taken over everywhere and nobody knows what’s in one. Yeah, well, I mean that’s kind of the whole, the no no one knows. Every espresso martini you get is wildly different. All I know is that they get you caffeinated and they get you drunk, and that’s a pretty good mix whenever you’re out the town. Some have no coffee in them and do not get you caffeinated. If that’s the goal is to get caffeinated and get drunk. That’s. Totally fine, as long as you like the taste of the espresso martini on the way through. Like you, it’s a four loco, like the, it’s a four lo, it’s a four loco. It’s a four lo, it’s a four loca. The, uh, my, sorry. Me and my, uh, ex did a full, uh, range of the 12 four Locos with our friends as like a taste test, like ranking thing. I think I died that night. Yeah. I think this is a sec. I’m a second mate. Yeah. Yeah. You’re supposed to. To die after you have the four. I think it’s kind of made for that. Yeah. It’s like, it’s like reincarnation. You’re, you’re in purgatory right now. Good for that. On a quest to try and see if you go to heaven or hell. And your, your book tour is somehow detest. Yeah, exactly. Um, uh, alright, we gotta get into the, well, yeah, these are, these are resting. I’m surprised that cream hasn’t I know down, so it’s totally incredible. So these lovely gentlemen have made me mocktails lovely. That I can taste and see which one I like the most. So Nick, if you’d like to explain your cocktail, your mocktail first. Go ahead. So this mocktail is, uh, it’s a semi riff on one of the drinks from the book. Mm-hmm. Uh, called a London Fog. Okay. So it’s, uh, usually Earl Grain infused gin, uh, honey, kind of just like tea vibes. Tea and honey are best friends. Mm-hmm. Um, and then you float a level of, uh, of heavy cream with vanilla and lavender bitters beautiful on top. And it’s gonna, it makes it, you know, the, the direst Sure. The dires straits on it. Uhhuh is, uh, is beautiful. Uh, but, so now obviously I’ve taken out the gin. Mm-hmm. Just straight up English breakfast tea. Love it. Honey syrup, uh, and a vanilla cream. It’s very simple, very nice. Just like. Cup of tea, but cold. What would you call this cocktail? This one’s called the Burbank Haze. Ooh, wow. Burbank Haze. So that’s actually the water treatment center. That’s, that’s the cloud coming up off of that. Cheers. Yeah’s it. Cheers. First impressions. The first thing you get get is just this waft of nutmeg. Yeah, sorry. Garish. My nutmeg. Nutmeg. It’s gorgeous. Waft of just warm, delicious nutmeg. I try and sip through the cream to get to the, mm-hmm. To the tea. Wow. All that honey syrup, that’s really beautiful. Like it’s, I’ve been eyeing that cocktail as it sat there the entire, I’m glad it floated because it would’ve been embarrassing. It is so creamy, dreamy that that honey syrup sends it to like another level for me. It almost makes it, it, it’s, it’s weird. It ha it has like not a. I think the nutmeg adds this, like bitterness, like I said, like my brain just said alcohol. Yeah, it’s, it’s very, very crazy how the bitterness just triggers you. Mm-hmm. And it has this like delicious toasted honey note that’s just marrying with that English breakfast tea. It’s really good. Awesome. Thank you. It’s really good. I try to base a lot of my mocktails with tea. ’cause of the tannins. It makes it better, the drying, it just feels like it’s. Kind of alcoholy. If you boys wanna try it. I would love to. I don’t, if you guys, I’m not going strong. I’m, I’ll offer you guys straws if you want. Straw. Lips and lips. Lips and lips. Lips and lips. Lips and lips. I would love to hear, what’s the game kids used to play. Party suck and blow. Sorry, I never went to those types of parties. Cards. I wasn’t cards. Yeah, no, I, in my room, I, you didn’t do that in Portland. You’re referring to the movie Clueless. Is that why I’ve never seen it. Okay. Well, it’s upsetting. Can’t help you. Yeah, man. That’s just simple. Be simple. I’ve never tried it without the, uh, without the gin, obviously, and it’s just makes it more tea. Thanks, man. It, it makes it more tea, but also like, very importantly, I don’t feel like I’m just drinking an iced tea. Right, right. No, because I think, I think part of the helps, so different part of the mocktail is a ritual. And if we’re ultimately talking about our mocktails a scam, I, I’ve been accidentally scanned by mocktails. Okay. ’cause I was on a date with somebody and we were at. It’s called APO Tech. You know it, of course, I know Apo Tech weirdly pretentiousness, uh, in this. They wear lab coats. They wear lab coats and it’s sciencey, but it’s also kinda like a cool, sexy bar. Um, but we’re there, and I just am reading this cocktail menu and I see one that just says like. Beet pomegranate, ginger, something. And I was like, those are flavors I enjoy. Yeah, I’ll get one of those. It came with, you know, garnish with like poinsettias or something. Yeah. And poison. I drank it and I was like, that was absolutely delicious. And I went and I bought another one and it was $16. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I drank another one. I said, why do I feel bizarrely good in cogent right now? And then I looked and there was no alcohol in it. Oh no. They didn’t like put a little like asterisk or like a sign. No. And it’s, it’s literally like pretentious enough to wear. It was still $16, but at the same time. I watched you make this drink. This is not a fake. He actually went to the kitchen and made this drink himself. He made, I did it. He made it in front of us. Yeah. Um, that’s labor, right? Yeah. If you’re in a restaurant, yeah, sure. The same amount of labor is going into that cocktail. And even if you are using something like, uh, a non-alcoholic spirit, right? Mm-hmm. Like they make, what is it? Seed lip is the one. Yeah. You know, uh, like those things are expensive because labor and work that is going into that. Of course. So there’s. It’s not that expensive to make like grain alcohol, right? That’s not where the, the, uh, effort or the value is coming in. Sure. Um, it’s the labor and it’s the love, and it’s the attention and the storytelling in it. And there’s a hell of a story on that Burbank case. Yeah. Thank you, man. No, I, I, I agree with you. I think the issue is. That if you’re going into a, a drinking situation mm-hmm. With the idea to get drunk, that’s the, you know, that’s the, the, the end goal. Right. Uh, you are willing to kind of spend 17 bucks on a cocktail because, you know, it’s, you’re ta, it’s tasting a nice cocktail, but you’re also getting towards that end goal eventually. Right. If you’re going out, I guess, for mocktails, say if you’re pregnant or you’re sober like you are. You’re going out, I guess, more of a social thing, right? Totally. You just wanna wanna be around people that are drinking Totally. And having your time. But you still wanna be involved, hold something in your hand. Exactly. Yeah. So maybe then that 17 bucks price point is, is worth it for people like that. I think that’s totally valid. I think, uh, there’s nothing also wrong with getting a shot of water with lime. And that costs four, four bucks, five bucks. I don’t know, in la maybe not. But the, uh, have you ordered a shot of water with lime? A soda water? Oh, soda water. I think a shot of water. A shot of water. I was a shot of water. They’re ripping tequila. I was like, who’s who charged you $4 water? It’s the ritual of it all. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think like, there’s nothing wrong with just getting a soda. And I think nowadays maybe it was more of a faux pa, uh, earlier on and people will. Keen, more keen on judging people, right? Yeah. People are going away from that. Thank God. That’s been an interesting sea change is like now I, I used to be like embarrassed to not order a, a drink somewhere. Me too. Mm-hmm. Uh, you’d have to do the Yeah, yeah. You know, you have pull that I’m dd I’m the dd. Yeah. You have to have an excuse. So now you don’t. I don’t. Yeah, a hundred percent. Which is really. I would like to think, would that be millennial? No. Gen Z did that. Gen Z did that. Thank Nick. Thank you from the bottom. Thank you so much. Appreciate that. Thank you so much. I’m a cusper. Um, what’s this? Um, so this is, uh, MICADA Eat two Chilada Tambien. Uh, this is, this is, this is my actual modular of choice. This is what got me through a month of sobriety. I would go, I would go to a brunch with friends and I’d pound three of these and you look insane. So. Normally I’d make a virgin enchilada with non-alcoholic beer, right? Mm-hmm. And it tastes roughly the same. Then I realize I don’t even need the beer flavor, I just need the bubbles and the soup. And so I, uh, enchiladas for those who don’t know, it’s similar to a Bloody Mary mix, but if you use a Oaxacan style blend, which we do, I love Micheladas. It’s a great brand. Shout out to the Lopez family at Gag Getza. Um, but it’s like a majority just like. Wist, she and chilies and spices. Mm-hmm. And lime and really good stuff. You pour beer on top of that, rim it with Chao and tahin, put a lime in it. It’s delicious. And so, um, here I present to you the, uh, fizzy soup. I’m just gonna give this some mix ante. I’m just gonna give this a mix because the ice Italian, it’s a nice spritz. It’s a, yeah. Kind of s spreads it. And I know half of the fun is the rim, so I’m just gonna Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, I’m not a huge Hil guy. No. No. I can’t really do, I don’t like tro really? I’m not a, I’m not a cold soup guy. Oh, ugh. That’s a, like a grunt of pain or That was a satisfaction. Yum. Yeah. And you could tell that the entire way through too. Uh, no. Sometimes I would also put a little dash of fresh fish sauce in there. Oh, I didn’t do that. Interesting. I didn’t do that. Um, I will say this, it has, I don’t miss the beer. You’re right. Yeah. Okay. You do not, your is in the soup. It is, it is so complex and sharp. Mm-hmm. And it, it scratches that itch. You know, that michelada itch? Mm-hmm. It, it does the job. It’s like, well, do you get the michelada itch? No. Okay. Because there one you craving is the michelada rich. No, not at all. I never, so the specialty shampoo gets rid of it almost. I, I never crave, I never crave micheladas. But it does, it does do its job. It does the job. Okay. And I think it’s, it’s really well balanced. It’s very complex. It’s very delicious. You guys should try that. It is fricking good. Wait, Nick, where are you actually from? Originally? A place called Byron Bay in Australia. Byron Bay. What part of Australia is that? I’m just taking a sip. Yeah, take a sip. Take a sip. Oh, Alicia, sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’ll ruin you. You know? That’s really nice. Actually, after the initial, it is a shock. After the initial she punch in. It’s okay. He can have it. It was supposed to be mine. It’s okay. He can have have you were, it was supposed. That’s what you wanna hear when you order something. I saved you some. Literally. It’s mostly back. Watch Nicole. It’s for the baby. Not anymore. Not anymore. It’s not. I’ll have some of the rim. Um, I’ll say, yeah, it’s bracing. It is a shock to your system. Yeah, but it’s nice after that. But once you get through that, you kind of want more. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is Moorish. I never thought I’d like that. And congrats Josh. Thank you so much. I feel like my soul is actively being fueled like a video game character who has recovered as sort of Health Bar chug Jug. I, yeah. The Chug Jug Hotels. That’s my husband plays Fortnite. You’re so cool. You’re so cool. Nicole, you’re such a cool mom. Oh my gosh, your baby’s already in there. You guys could not give me two. More polar opposite cocktails to drink. I’m sorry, mocktail. I keep calling ’em cocktails because it tastes like there’s alcohol in both of them. As I said earlier, I didn’t put my, nevermind you were saying, oh God, these are both really different, but they’re both really good. And should I tell you guys which one I like the most? Please? I’d love turn everything into a competition. I’m gonna take, well, I mean, I’m a guest. Can you take that out of your. I don’t, I, one thing you should know about me is I will never treat guests any different. Hundred percent. Great. Utterly disrespectful. That’s where you spa at me outside. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Locked up. Um, I’m just gonna have each one of these again. Family. Nicole’s like the guard lama of the buildings when it comes to discuss literally who is the first person other than Adelaide, you saw was me. And I was like, Hey, they’re so different but so delicious. You know, the delicate balance of this one. Of the Burbank Haze. I can’t stop drinking it. You know what I mean? It’s such an addictive, this is too harsh for me to ha. If I have three of these, I’ll get acid reflux and have to go to the hospital. Yeah, so you gotta drink four. Then it cancels out when you get to an even number. This is too harsh. This is too harsh. It is, yeah. It’ll burn a hole in your stomach. The bourbon haze is just delicate and complex enough that you can have like a bunch of these and not feel like you’re gonna die. So my vote is Burbank Hayes. Let’s go. And it’s not because you’re a guest here. Well, no, I appreciate it. Look, honestly, it’s true. They, they for different purposes, like you said. Yes. Mm-hmm. That’s a complete, that’s a dessert cocktail. That’s a branch cocktail. And, yep. We’ll, I’ll, I’ll order one of each next time. Are you feeling okay? I, I do have a little bit of heartburn after check that I to come back. I ate some spicy tacos right before this as well. Oh, okay. Cool. And so I do see. I do see the inherent problem. It’s a resting you, your mix. Mix with cream too isn’t not great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That cream is turned into Caso fresco, right in the stomach. Oh my God. I’m Love it. No, that’s fine. Boom. If you wanted to make the Burbank Hayes slightly more accurate, so I mentioned there’s the water treatment facility. Yes. Right next to it though. Pastrami factory. Ooh. So if you did a kind of like pastrami fat wash on the tea, on the tape, on the tea, and then maybe like, get outta here, some dried, some pastrami. Did little like pastrami wood chip. That ordered some coriander and black peppers and you could do, instead of the nu, maybe you could do some, uh, some wood chips or some, maybe some salt pepper. I’m glad guys having so much fun. Yeah, I’m having a great do it. Boy, boy. But I’m glad. Thank you so much for the win. You deserved it, it you deserved it. But do you guys actually think that there a scam, like the actual act of putting. A mocktail on a cocktail menu with its own section. Do you find it to be a scam? Because I’m leaning more and more towards, no, it’s not a scam. It’s just a fun way to have a libation that’s not gonna get you drunk. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just, given the amount of bars that have been to and the amounts now, especially in New York that are. Growing their mocktail sections of the menus. I think there’s obviously needs to be a, a place for them. Mm-hmm. Right. I think the difference comes when they are $25 mocktails. I think it’s the The price. The price. And that’s, look, if you have the money then and you’re sober, then it’s more power to you. But I think. It is kind of phasing people out. When the mocktails are as expensive as cocktails, you may as well get a cocktail and you’ll get drunk in the meantime. Yeah, yeah. I wonder how much of that is restaurants trying to incentivize people to still order liquor. Mm-hmm. Because if you see a price difference between say, a $16 cocktail and an $8 mocktail. Mm-hmm. Right. And I know we talked about the labor that goes into it and sometimes it’s not feasible. Mm-hmm. But that’s like a big enough difference to where you would be like really influenced. Mm-hmm. Whereas if you saw $16 cocktail, $14 mocktail. You might just say, screw it, I might as well drink to feel like I’m getting a certain amount of value. Mm-hmm. So I think people still have that. In mind. Mm-hmm. But I don’t know, my, my question, anytime someone asks if a restaurant is like, scamming them right? Or This place is too expensive, Uhhuh, it’s like, where do you think that money’s going? Yeah, I know because like the restaurant, the chef ain’t getting paid that much. The workers aren’t getting paid that much rent. They’re likely behind on rent. Yeah. Right. Like the restaurant industry is in such peril right now. Their, their margins are so the farmers aren’t getting paid. Yeah. Right, right. The, the liquor distributors. Maybe, I mean, but they’re all conglomerates, right? So that money’s going all the way at the top. It’s not the individual, you know, makers of the tomorrows or whatever. Like is it just landlords? Are we just gonna go on like a big communist creed right here? Is that who’s scam? Everybody think think that’s where we’re going with this? Yeah. Landlords are a scam. Do we have to be. No, you don’t have to be. I suppose we don’t have to be. That’s a good point. I came in here thinking that we needed at least one thing. Yeah. That came from a communist viewpoint. Wrong podcast, I think. No different podcast. That’s the one thing. Hotdog is a communist. That’s two doors that way. Have you guys ever had like a. Marijuana based drinks or like kava drinks? Yeah. Yeah. Like the, the THC CCB D ones. Mm-hmm. How about the Kava drink? Have you ever heard of that one? It’s like a new, it’s like the Novo kind of drink that’s like supposed to make you feel giggly and cool, and like, it has like, almost like a hypnotic effect on you. I’ve never had, there’s a bar in Santa Monica that is a ca not, not, there’s Kava, the Spanish sparkling wine. Yeah. This is just like, this is a route from somewhere. KAVA? Yeah, yeah, yeah. In some sort of route. Like it’s from, uh, the Pacific Islands. I think it’s the, because kava, if you don’t, you’re correct. You get a Fiji and they’ll do like a ceremony. And I remember my dad and I did, uh, did that once and we didn’t leave the bathroom for the rest of the trip. But that was no way. I think we just had bad kava. Wait, what was the actual like, uh, uh, physical effect? Was it psychoactive? It was, uh, no, I mean, it was just purely like a, I think. You know, we were saying it like an all-inclusive resort, so I’m sure they were just trying to kinda scam us out of something and, uh, which more power to ’em. Mm-hmm. Uh, but we were all sitting in a circle and we had that little wooden bowl of, of Carver. Mm-hmm. Hmm. And they were doing the chants and then we, uh, we had a cover reach and I think it was probably like the second day on like a father son trip to Fiji. And then, yeah, for the next five days we just, we were in a bad, bad way, just kind of, uh, stomach issues. So I say we go to this coffee bar in Santa Monica and we just go shop for a shot on Think We do, yeah. Happens until, happens, until there’s no bathrooms. Like gimme like a few months and I’ll, and I’ll be there. But I think it’s cool how like people are doing like, no, like non-alcoholic alcohol based drinks at the same time. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It’s like the feeling of being drunk with a little asterisk on it. Yeah. Like, it’s like almost drunk, but not really. Yeah. We, we talked to a chef named Andrew Zimmer recently, who like, he was an alcoholic for many years and it like really, really destroyed his life. And he brought up an interesting point. Mm-hmm. If. If alcohol had never existed and somebody was trying to introduce it to the FDA or U SDA A today, right now, to get it approved for human consumption, no way that it would pass. Like you just, you know, go through all of the physiological effects, uh, what it can do. Liver disease, mood, emotion, liver. And then it drunk driving deaths. Mm-hmm. Like it’s utterly insane that we do this. I cannot stress this enough. I love drinking and I think I have a pretty healthy relationship with it. And also that’s good. There’s a strong case that the reason humans were roughly able to cooperate and coalesce together is because of the power of alcohol allowing was it shuts off part of your frontal cortex or something or other. I make one of the brain, one of those. I’m gonna guess I’ve drank too much. I’m too stupid. But, but you know, so I, I really do love drinking, but. Yeah, having some sort of alternatives to still make you feel a little bit different. Yeah. I actually had a mocktail, I remember maybe it was like three years ago, and they put buzz buttons in the cocktail. Yeah, yeah. Sexual hips. And oh my gosh, it was so crazy. And it’s like, it has like this, sometimes when you drink too much, your mouth does go a little tingly. So I was like, Ooh, this is so cool. Like they are, they’re finding all these really interesting attributes to being drunk. They’re editing them in ways that are not gonna be harmful to you, quote unquote harmful. And I just think that’s very, very interesting to be alive during a time where these things are readily available to us. Yeah, I agree. I would love to see more legal stimulant based drinks. Yeah, because here, like what? So you got. Ka. So Kat is a leaf that exists around like, you know, uh, like the Lavant Middle East area present and people will, you know, one just kind of like pack a lip of it. But then also they make cotton juice that they also happen to call natural Viagra. But just because it’s a stimulant, ’cause that’s what Viagra is, right? Sure. For any of you who didn’t know, um, originally supposed to be a heart medication ’cause it stimulates blood. I knew that. I knew that. I didn’t know. And so I knew that, uh, co like that exists or just like juicing the leaf of the coca plant. Mm-hmm. In South America. Mm-hmm. We need to legalize that in America. Alcohol’s a depressant. No man, I wanna be stimulated out there. Yeah man. I wanna bone a drink. I wanna bone a drink. Gimme a drink. I wanna drinks. S legal in America. I feel like she’s not seeing the vision here. I. Said, I want a boner drink. You drink. I’m, I’m one of the guys, I do remember us saying, I like pizza, beer, touch my bone. Fortnite. Yeah. You’re, I made a Fortnite today, guys, guys drinking beers. That’s out, guys drinking boner drinks with each other. That’s absolutely it. Yeah. That’s double. I be into that, man. I’m all in. Come on. Uh, how do we, if you had one Desert Island cocktail, one cocktail. Oh my God. To rule them all. What’s your favorite single one? And is it in this book? It is in a way. So I have 20 classics and 80 originals in the book. Jesus. That’s a lot of originals. It’s too many. It’s too many. Uh, so 20 classics. I mean, I’m, if I go out to a bar, any bar that’s kinda worth it, salt, I’ll try to order the weirdest thing on the menu. ’cause then I can’t make it at home and I’m spending 20 bucks on a cocktail, then I can’t make it home if I’m making something at home. It’s so more often it’s gonna be a classic, like a, I mean a big Negroni guy, a big Boulevardier guy, love, um, it would probably be a Kingston Negroni, which is a Jamaican rum in place for the gin in a Negroni. It’s so funky and so fruity and banana it’s bang on. Wow. Damn. I’m a huge, uh, I’ve been ripping a lot of Jungle Burger recently. Yeah. That is a fun. What’s the jungle bird? Mm, this is a, a Australian riff on the jungle Bird is the cover. Oh, shoot, look at that. It’s called the bin chicken because that’s a, have you heard of an IBUs? An IBUs bird? Yeah. Yes. Uh, in Australia, they, uh, they dig through bins and eat your fries and no one likes ’em. And they’re called bin chickens. We call ’em bin chickens. Hilarious. What makes it Australian? Uh, he uses Australian whiskey and, uh, Hamilton Rum. Yeah. Nicholas Hamilton. Nice. Uh, but it’s, it’s, uh, uses, uh, um, a split base of, um, of whiskey and rum instead just the rum from the jungle bit. I love, love a jungle bit. We gotta, can we have him back on here to do it? Just like a proper cocktail taste test episode. A few months. Here’s the thing I love, I love mocktails A few months. Wish I was rip [bleep] at work right now. You just gotta wait a few months. Yeah. We’ll wait until, yeah. Wait till the end of the year, cook. [bleep] number two. Totally fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cookbook number two, my desert island cocktail. Oh my God. I. Uh, if I want, where’s the, where’s the island? Where’s the island? Switzerland. Oh, what? There’s Swiss Island. Go with it, dude. Come on. Americans don’t really get taught geography, so she might actually think that we’re just kind of guessing. It was the first country came. You asked, asked me a question. I answered the question, Nicole. I don’t know. I think of like, I think of like, what’s that one movie Wilson? Come on. Cast away. Cast away, cast. If I were to be. On a castaway esque island. It would have to be a really spicy, salty margarita. Yeah. Nice. But not made with mezcal. ’cause I don’t like mezcal. You’re not a mezcal. I hate mezcal. Okay. But I do love other forms of smoky yumminess, but just not that. But yeah, it would probably be a margarita salty af. Like salty af. You said salty as F. Right. And like, and like. And like why are you laughing and like so much jalapeno that it’s. Almost gonna ruin my GI tract, but not really. Really? Oh, you, you claim the ada, the, the sopa Frite is too spicy for you because you’re out here drinking pure salsa and fire. It’s YI You, it was arresting, it was an arresting flavor. It was, it wasn’t. If I’m on a desert island, I’m on a podcast right now. If I’m on a desert island, honey, yeah, that might be good on a desert island. Maybe it’s the sopa za, it’s deserted island. I’ve been desert. It’s impossible to know. I’ve been saying desert that’s so salty at the bottom. It’s a deserted Swiss island. It’s why be salty at the bottom. It’s mostly salsa at the bottom. Yeah. Oh my God. If you are planning a trip this summer, imagine how much more meaningful your experience could be if you could speak the local language. Ordering a coffee, asking for directions, or just having a friendly chat. 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Yeah, dude, I like that a lot. I’m a big, I’m not a, I got into the dirty martini world very late. Mm-hmm. Uh, so like, I, I love olives now, and it’s just, I’m kind of getting into it. Uh, but yeah, I mentioned that I had a vodka martini with a dash of soy sauce and a at a rooftop bar. Wasn’t very good. But I love, I love, like I’m a condiment guy. You, I love condiments. I’m a condiments. I’m a condiment man. Always condiment. And I’m not a condom man. Condiment man. I think, I think you should be both, I think. Okay. I think both are on the right side of history. No, that’s a good point. That’s good point. Yeah. I guess I’m, yeah. Safe condiment. Anyway, we’ll move on. The, uh, yeah, like I’m a big fan of, uh, of that opinion and I think I’ll start doing it just, I think probably helps you like gi tracted or something. Yeah, I think it was good stuff. Nickles out. This is, you have an iron deficiency and you need to go see a doctor. Oh. If you’re craving. Super salty things, like high volumes of salty things. I think it might be an indicator of you needing something else in your diet that you’re not getting. And I’m gonna leave it at that. I just, I just remembered the great idea for a cocktail that I had. Mm. It was like weeks ago, but I didn’t write it down, but now I remember it here. What is that? It’s huge because I was mentioning, I was at these restaurants in Seattle and everybody was doing some sort of like seaweed infused martini. Mm-hmm. Right. Them. Uh, but uh. I thought fish sauce, lime, sugar, garlic, chili. No. Chum. Nook. Chum nook. Chum. No chum. Beautiful Vietnamese condiment. Nook, chum. You take that, you, you clarify it. Yeah. You know, shake it, chill it. I think it’d be good. Do I want that with just on, just, just a, just diluted No chomp. Yeah, just mocktail it. I thought you were gonna make it into like a thing. I love no chomp. Oh no, I was gonna say like, shake it with like a, like a, like a Japanese, what’s that? Roku Gin? Yeah. Japanese whiskey, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I, I think it’s more of a whiskey. Kind of like dark spirit. Yeah. I might try it. Josh, do it. Please do. Please try. I’m a knee. Uh, no, no. Love you out. I love Nook humm, but I don’t think. The cocktail version of it I can see in my mind because I’ve actually ripped Nook chum as a shot. Like I’ll finish eating my delicious Vietnamese lunch and then I will just fine take the rest of it as a shot. Fine, fair. And I, but now I want to get drunk off that. Okay. Also, I like the dichotomy of setup of like, um, add liquor, any condiment cocktail, add water to any condiment. That’s a mocktail. You know? Yeah. That’s essentially it, isn’t it? Yeah. Ketchup bar. That’s the equation. It’s the, yes. Yeah. Come on. What’s, what are the, what’s the first little liquid in the ketchup? What’s that called? It’s not ketchup, it’s tomato sauce. It’s really bad. You said Australian. The BES roll over the place’s incredible. So bad. That’s awesome. You can wash some footy. Nicole. Hey. Hi Josh. Hi Nicole. I’m a San again and I’m in Texas. So I’m, I’m a city slicker in the country and I wanna know why aren’t there any anymore GB savory beverages? I don’t always want a bloody Mary would. I want something savory? I don’t always want a bone broth. Gimme something else. I love you. We’re gonna give you Josh’s phone number. Call me, I’ll make you a blue cheese colada blue cheese dressing shaken with rum or coconut kind of milk. Oh my god, dude. Yeah, I think, I think it’s, it’s a, we’re in the condiment world. I think we move on to inter convents and uh, you just kind of pair it with a liquor, maybe some extra citrus and then you should be sweet. Normally go, we should do condiment, liquor pairings. That’s the next bulk count, mate. Sure. That’s the next one. Julie, you made a cocktail one time. It was, I believe, called a bull shot. It is indeed called a bull shot. Do you know the bull shot? Great name? No, it’s in great. It’s, I believe it is just lemon beef broth and vodka shaken, strained. And it was, it was absolutely a marketing campaign from Campbell’s. Mm-hmm. Because some of these cocktails will go back like 150 years to, uh, trying to cure scurvy on a boat or trying to cure yellow fever in New Orleans that the RAC was invented. Mm-hmm. And then some of these cocktails are like, well, an ad executive in 1973. Right. Paid $13,000 to Time Magazine and now it lives on, and that’s the bull shot. It was Campbell Soup being like, uh, we can get alcoholics to drink our soup. Yeah. For fun times. Wow. And it’s really good. Okay. It sounds good. It’s, I mean, it it a person who chugs that Chilada is gonna love that, so I don’t blame you. I have very peculiar taste. Uh, she did call herself a city slicker being from San Diego, which is interesting. So I’ll give it to her. And she also has like a wildly southern accent. I’m a city slicker and there’s heather and accent. She’s been there for wild That’s exactly what, what she sounded, why can he do our accents? But you can’t do it. That’s a good point. That’s a good point. That was a bang up. And it wasn’t bad. Was it like it was pretty good, like western Oklahoma? Yes. That’s where I was going. A jaw posture. Yeah, exactly. It is where the tongue goes. I agree with this statement. There needs to be more savory options. Mm-hmm. What about. What about Hear me Out vinegarette Just like a little bit watered down, like a shrub. Like that’s Yeah. Ub, that’s a shrub. Yeah. Absolute. It’s the more vinegarette using vinegar and cocktails. I love doing it. ’cause essentially you’re just trying to get the balance between sweet, sour and a base. Mm-hmm. It’s chili oil is, and then, uh, I savory note on top of that. And you have sweet, which is why like, I really prefer cocktails to beer or wine or any other drinking. ’cause to me there is that actual, uh. It’s, it’s like a chef nest, right? Mm-hmm. You are actually like working to craft it, ology it. Um, I did though last time I made a shrub. I tried to make some like coconut and like raw cane, sugar, shrub, whatever. Mm. And I spent so much time trying to make this cocktail too impressed. My weird brother we talked about earlier. Um, and I put it all together and he drinks it and just goes. Is this Malibu and Pineapple. Oh beans. I realize that I fully recreated Malibu Reed Scratch. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks a lot, John. Delicious. But thanks John. Sometimes, you know, doesn’t pay off. Hi, I just wanted to send a follow up about the Biggie Smalls episode. I also agree and I think he’s doing juice because when you grow up, or, and I don’t know about like la, but. Purple drink juice, drank, you know, drink ’cause you’re a kid. Drink is I think bad, but yeah, purple drink is just like purple color, not juice. Definitely not a hundred percent juice in a big old jug. So I think when he said he had that welch, that was to show his money. That was a flex. I got name brand. Thanks. Bye. Um. Do you have any idea what she’s talking about? No. We can fill you in. So, uh, Nicole, can you wrap the lyric, um, um, part of it? Yeah. So he goes, um, well done. Steak, eggs, cheese, and Welch’s grape. Yeah. So this is Biggie Smalls. We’re talking about the best lyrics in the best food lyrics in in music history. And he doesn’t, biggie Smalls does not specify which Welch’s great product he’s consuming with his T-bone, steak, eggs and cheese. Oh, t-bone steak. I said well done. I’m so sorry. I’m so embarrassed. Yeah, well done. Steak. So he’s doing really well. He is getting well done steak. But that’s really interesting ’cause I did, I, I grew up exclusively on drink and our drink of choice was called tan temp Pico. Stamp Pico blue drink, say that. That was it. And so I actually did that by the time I was able to start affording like as an adult proper juiced fruit, that was a big moment for me. And so I do think that there is, that, that is a good like sociological understanding. Mm-hmm. Of what was going on there. It was definitely jelly, not juice, but also, yeah, people think it’s either juice, jelly, or grape soda. That’s the. Those are the three options. People think he uses tele and heli earlier. He was definitely going to rhyme jelly, but then found a better slant. Rhyme tell means hotel, but it doesn’t matter what it means, it’s, yeah. No, he is trying to, he was going for it and then, uh, chicken it out and then, but chicken out in a beautiful artistic way. Yeah, yeah, of course. As we all do. Yeah. As we’re all trying to do. Yeah. What’s the biggest artistic risk you’ve ever taken? Rotisserie chicken, you said. I was gonna say, what’s the biggest rotisserie chicken? You’ve, what’s the biggest artistic risk you’ve ever taken? Uh, artistic risk I’ve ever taken was, um, uh, there was. An 18 year period where I was straight and I kind of went away from that. You’re doing it for the art? I was doing it for the art. Oh, nice. And then all the art got queer, so I was like, I may as well do that now. Right. And then, so the last seven years I’ve just kind of been, uh, I’ve, you know, nothing’s really real. Is it? Yeah. Yeah. Been kissing boys and I’ve been, uh, telling ’em that I love ’em. And, uh, it’s nothing’s Don’t you love kissing boys? I love kissing Boys. Uh, we got one more opinion in Maggie. One more please. Hello? A hotdog is a sandwich. Hey, um, I think that Josh may be the only person on earth who will agree with me on this. I think. That blood is a dairy product. Oh, right. You’ve got two drinks that come from cows. You’ve got the milky drink and you’ve got the bloody drink. I just got chill my bud, and sometimes blood, you know, you make it congealed. Mm-hmm. That’s basically cheese. Yeah. My right, right. Yep. Come on, Josh. Agree with me on this. I know it’s not kosher, but like, come on. It’s not kosher, not kosher. I have faith in you. I like that he went into a huba stank song in the middle. I like a bloody drink. I like a milky drink. I can’t, I can’t. No, that’s not huba stank. That is jumble. It’s impossible to really kind of, it’s, it’s C jumble. No one really knows. Do that jumble. No. No one really knows. I don’t think, say we have these, I couldn’t even look it up. Um, no. No. Impossible. I don’t have mine on me. Uh, but I think, uh, because blood comes from multiple different animals, surely it can’t be a dairy. Well, I’ll tell you what, dairy comes from multiple different animals too. Oh, that’s a good point. And not just the ones you’d think of. Not just the goat, not I’m just thinking the sheep. Yeah. No, look. Nevermind Josh. Really? Penguins. Penguins make milk. Do they? So people, and you’ve tried it or? I’ve tried to get it and the zookeepers were not amenable to my outfit. They didn’t like it, did they Josh? They like that at all. They didn’t like that. You were there in the first place. You’ve been kissing the goat. No, especially that I wasn’t. Blood is not dairy. Sorry. Blood is not dairy. Yeah, I, I see where your head’s coming from. I get it. I love it. It’s wrong. It’s wrong. It’s disgusting. And I think that’s the kind of thinking that like common core math kind of create, you know what I mean? You know what, no, what did you say? Do you think common core math has created this, this idea in this head? Terrible joke with no payoff to anybody. Um, I see where you’re coming from. I don’t think it is, is correct, but I do use like coagulated pork blood. It’s like, yeah, it’s like how you make cheese is how you make paneer. You know, you kind of curdle it and you press it and you dry it. Yeah. Um, so soy milk is there, but not, not the same. Let’s, I think it’s valid. I think it’s a weird way of thinking. And you should go to someone, see someone. But it is, yeah. Yeah. Do you have anyone you can talk to, like professional or close friends? That’s us. They talk to us. It’s us in a way. It’s, it’s us. That’s you guys. That’s on you guys. I love that. Your note. No, it’s me. I’m in. He’s in it. Love. I’ll come back next week. Nick. Gimme your number. Just. Tell ’em where to find D. It’s three. Ah, are there any cocktails that have blood in it? You can make a bloody Mary, you make a with real blood. Wait, we’ve sure I’ve that I’ve done that before. It wasn’t good. I’m sure it wasn’t good. I hate, I don’t, I’m not like an awful guy. I’m not a, uh. A guts blood. I’m not, I’m, I’m not an awful guy. I’m a nice guy. Uh, so I’m not really kind of into the, the insides of things really. That’s not my thing. Fair. Not everyone is, um. Yeah, from a scientific standpoint, if, if you consume raw blood, it’s dangerous, but by the time you pasteurize it, blood turns into a solid. Right. And so it’d make it really difficult. You could do like a– I fed you the bloody Mary, the bloody blood Marys. Yeah. I drank raw blood. ’cause I’m comfortable assuming a certain amount of wrist. It wasn’t, it wasn’t raw. I made sure I did. You pasteurize it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, whatcha gonna do? Didn’t taste past. Yeah, I probably don’t do it though. It’s not gonna know. It didn’t taste pasteurized when you had it. Um, oh, I don’t think I drank it. Okay. I think I faked it on camera. Proud of you, because that was during the livestream. Yeah. Yeah. I lied. I didn’t, uh, I was, I was sober too. It’s okay. Um, well on that note, thank you for listening to A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich. We got audio only episodes every Wednesday and a video version on YouTube every Sunday. Nick, tell the people where they can find you. Uh, all on socials. Nicholas.Hamilton, uh, on Instagram, I think Nick dot Hamilton on TikTok. I make a lot of drinks on the internet. If you wanna buy this. Uh, search Sipsy Doozy on the internet. I’m sure it’s the only thing that comes up on Google. You can find it at Barnes and Noble. He’s bought two of, I’m sure he’s at Barnes and Noble for other people. Yeah, just today. That’s right. If you wanna be featured on opinions are like casserole, give us a ring and leave a quick message at 8 3 3 Dog Pod one for More Mythical Kitchen, Check out our other videos. We’ve got new episodes every week. See you all next time.