Ira Flato (3:10)

As you said, people picked up on you via TikTok. First of all, how surprised were you when you turned turned on when you were logged onto TikTok and you saw these many people are following me making drinks?

Nicholas Hamilton (3:23)

Yeah, it was massive. I was a very quick run up. I think I've been acting since I was a kid, so we kind of. I had like a base of a certain amount of followers, but I think, you know, within a few months we were at a million and it just, it had, you know, exploded. It just, it opened up a completely different avenue for me. Obviously I've been in the entertainment industry for so long, but I think this being I was able to have such creative freedom and was able, you know, I edited my own videos and there's no scripts and it's just me and it's my personality, if not heightened on screen. And to see people, you know, respond to that was really, I guess, gratifying.

Ira Flato (3:59)

What did you learn? Does well on cocktail talk.

Nicholas Hamilton (4:04)

I think there's obviously there's a balance. You can go the very clickbaity, you know, trendy stuff. I remember when, when that interview came out about that Game of Thrones show and the Negroni Spagliato was a drink of choice. I made that. It's one of my most viewed videos now. Obviously you kind of have to lean into that every now and again. I try to just make what I want to drink that night I like. You know, as I said, I have an extensive bar at home and if I want to make an espresso martini with a twist, I'll do that and I'll try and just make it funny along the way. I think what I've noticed is that when people watch the videos, yes, there are certain people watching it for the drinks and they'll make the drink at home. I think a lot of it is if you make it entertaining enough, whatever's in the glass, as long as it looks pretty, should be fine.

Ira Flato (4:51)

My guest is actor, musician, Turned content creator Nick Hamilton. He joins us to discuss his new book, Sipsy Doozy 100 plus respectfully crafted cocktails for the Home Bartender. When did you realize that you had enough recipes to put into an entire book?

Nicholas Hamilton (5:07)

Yeah, I started pretty early on, I think when I first started making videos. And of 2021, I, you know, I had a notes app from months prior of drinks I've been creating and things I like making. So eventually I just kind of started forming a book on my own, designing it myself just to see what it would look like. And that was over about a year and a half and I eventually had something that I probably could have self published. Ended up taking that to a few, a few publishers and we got a deal. And now, yeah, two years later, it's arguably a lot better, a lot prettier than I could have ever made it.

Ira Flato (5:42)

Where is the title from? Sipsy Doozy?

Nicholas Hamilton (5:46)

Yeah, it was originally a different title so that I have so many bits on the videos, I think a lot of it.

Ira Flato (5:57)

My guest is Nick Hamilton. His book is called Sipsy Doozy 100 plus respectfully crafted cocktail for the Home Bartender. Nick, can you hear me?

Nicholas Hamilton (6:09)

I'm back. Am I back?

Ira Flato (6:10)

You are back.

Nicholas Hamilton (6:11)

Incredible. Sorry, we're on Hotel WI fi in Portland, Oregon.

Ira Flato (6:15)

Understood. All right. You were explaining Sipsy Doozy, where the title came from.

Nicholas Hamilton (6:18)

Yes. No, we have a lot of bits and that's why people come back to the videos, I think. I think the, the. For example, we have an ice bucket that looks like an urn. So it has, it has grandma across the front of it. I've just got said grandma's chili bones from the, from the, from the first get. So stuff like. But yeah, I mean, for years I've said, whenever I take a drink, I say, we'll take a Sipsy Doozy. And it was originally called hey, Cheers. And that's also something I say at the end of the video, but that was deemed too generic. I think Sipsy Doozy is the, the right amount of whimsy.

Ira Flato (6:51)

I think it's interesting across the top of the book, you have all of these different flavors that make an appearance in the book. I'm going to read them out. Bitter, chocolatey, coffee, creamy, fizzy, floral, fruity, funky, herbal, hot, nutty, rich, smoky, spicy, tart. And they're all in the books and they're all sort of mixed in depending on the sort of the flavor or the profile of the drink. So for the listener, what makes a drink fruity versus floral.

Nicholas Hamilton (7:23)

That's a good Question. I think one of the, one of the main issues I have with cocktail books in the past is the difficulty in navigating them. I think if you're not, you know, extremely well versed in what Campari tastes like and every, you know, all the above, it's, it's really tricky to know what you're going to like drinking in the book, but everyone knows what flavors they like. So if you know that you like a fruity, fruity flavors, more kind of more sweet cocktails, you know that if you flip to a cocktail that has fruity in one of the, one of the tags, then you know you're probably going to like that. So each, each of the drinks have, has three of those tags associated with it. So you can have, you know, a fruity floral tarts drink and it's more likely to be kind of a sweet sour cocktail with some floral elements. I think that's, it's what I've gotten the most compliments on, which is really exciting. I think when I wanted to make a cocktail book, I just didn't want to make a drinks book because I had a TikTok following and that would be enough to sell the book. I wanted to make something that was, you know, actually readable and, and change the game a little bit.

Alison Stewart (8:28)

It's interesting because the book does contain true classics like Moscow Mules and whiskey sours. Why do you, did you feel it was important for people to understand those drinks and what goes into those kind of drinks before you went off on your own inventions?

Nicholas Hamilton (8:45)

Yeah, definitely. I think the. I started making classic cocktails. That was what I started with. And I think, you know, all if not most riffs on or like original cocktails are riffs on classics. I think those 20 classics that are at the start of the book are just there as a backboard of knowledge. You know, if you're just getting into the drink space and you haven't had an Old Fashioned, you haven't had a Moscow Mule or a Negroni, you can make those. And then it says at the top of the bios of each of those drinks, you know what the riffs in the book of those. I think it's very hard to make an original drink that isn't a riff on a classic because the classics are classics for a reason. So having those 20 there, it's essentially just an encyclopedia of the best classics.

Alison Stewart (9:30)

For example, you have the Old fashioned on page 54 and it says perhaps almost definitely the oldest drink in the book. The Old Fashioned is a good way to Drink whatever whiskey you have that isn't good enough to be drunk neat. But you mentioned that you need a sugar cube.

Nicholas Hamilton (9:48)

That's right. Yeah.

Alison Stewart (9:49)

Explain that to me.

Nicholas Hamilton (9:50)

So the. Yeah, I mean everyone in the past few years has gone on to when they make old fashions, they'll use a simple syrup. The traditional way, the kind of classic way is to douse a sugar cube in Angostura bitters and then put the whiskey over top and stir it all together. I prefer that it gives you a little bit of jolts of sugar every now and again. It still allows you to taste the flavor of the, the whiskey and it doesn't make the whole cocktail too syrupy.

Alison Stewart (10:16)

All right. Where do you stand on ice in cocktails? Just in general, do you. I.

Nicholas Hamilton (10:23)

Look, there's, there's different kinds of ice, isn't it? I think the, the, the clear ice world that is. That I think more content creators are getting into is. And obviously very, very fancy bars is awesome and incredible to look at. And I think they, they melt slower. Which is, which is a nice take. I think my thing has always been if you only have a bucket to drink out of and some like bag to ice and you just kind of want to shake a drink up and pour it into the bucket and drink it out of that, I think you should be fully within your rights to do that as long as you, as long as you like what you're tasting.

Ira Flato (10:57)

We're talking to Nicholas Hamilton.

Alison Stewart (10:59)

His book is Sipsy Doozy 100 plus.

Ira Flato (11:02)

Respectfully crafted cocktails for the Home Bartender. All right, about halfway through the book, there's the section that's called mine. Hey, I invented these. And the first one up is the Lonely Valentine. Tell us what inspired this recipe.

Nicholas Hamilton (11:17)

The Lonely Valentine is one of my favorites in the book. I think it's probably the prettiest one. That's why we put it first. But it's. Yeah, it's in that fruity category. It's one of my favorites because it's pink and fluffy and sugar coated. We've got a sugar rim on there. But it's actually when you sip it, it's quite bitter and complex and layered and has a nice evolution. I think that's my favorite type of cocktail is that is something that looks pretty and is Instagrammable but is complex and is going to challenge even the most kind of experienced drinker.

Ira Flato (11:53)

Yeah. If you're looking at this recipe, it's got. It's labeled fruity, bitter and tart. And the ingredients include tequila, Campari, grenadine freshly squeezed lemon juice, an egg white, and some aromatic bitters. So, first of all, what does the egg white do to this drink?

Nicholas Hamilton (12:13)

Yeah, good question. I get that question a lot. I think the. Especially in recent times with eggs being so expensive. I. What I've turned to is actually, it's in the book, there is a. They call it fee. Foam. It's a foaming bitters, essentially. So you just put a few dashes of this. I can imagine it's only chemicals into this, into the drink, and it'll. It'll foam up in the same way that egg whites get you. So the egg whites are there to give you that kind of velvety mouthfeel, but also that. That froth on top that you see there as well.

Ira Flato (12:42)

I wanted to ask you about a dirty Shirley, or you call it a fancy pants.

Nicholas Hamilton (12:47)

Yeah, that's. I love one of my favorite backstories of that one. You're picking great cocktails. This is a. My nan, her name is Shirley. So obviously whenever I. I try to dedicate some cocktails to family members, and when I was going to do one for her, dirty Shirley was kind of obvious. I think a lot of people, when they make, you know, dirty Shirley Temples, the spirit that they choose is usually whiskey or rum or cognac. Something fairly simple. But my. My godfather slash uncle her, my nan's only son, his favorite spirit was Southern Comfort. And that was. I know people have some. Some different feelings. Feelings about Southern cover, but he loved it. He loved shooting it. That was his kind of party, cocktail party, party spirit. And he unfortunately passed away when I was very young to brain cancer. So he's been a massive inspiration to my kind of my coming up and my. My life and my career in general. He was like one of the only entertainers in our family. So he not only has he inspired me in my career in general, but this, yeah, this cocktail specifically, it's an amalgamation of him and my nan.

Ira Flato (13:56)

All right, so this cocktail is labeled as herbal, fruity and tart. It's called Singing in the Rain, and it calls for both tequila and absinthe. Now, you call absinthe, a quote, a divisive flavor.

Alison Stewart (14:15)

Explain why.

Nicholas Hamilton (14:16)

I think absinthe obviously has a very strong licorice flavor, and I think licorice in general is a very divisive flavor. I think a lot of people still believe that absinthe is illegal. It hasn't been for. For a while. I think the. It's all, you know, purely marketing now. But the. The world in which absinthe was illegal. Was a. It was a long time ago. It was made in a different way. Now it's all marketing. Absinthe is essentially just a licorice liqueur slash strong spirit now. But, yeah, licorice in general is very. Is very divisive. The drink that this is a riff off is a. It's called the Hole in the Cup. It's a very classic absinthe cocktail, but it's designed so even though it's a divisive flavor, it should go down pretty quickly.

Alison Stewart (15:04)

And then you go down to the second paragraph, and it says, if you want to explore absinthe further, do try the Sazerac, a classic. And the Tequila Tequil Me Elmo.

Nicholas Hamilton (15:18)

Tequila Me Elmo.

Alison Stewart (15:19)

Yeah, Tequila Me Elmo. All right, explain a Tequila Me Elmo.

Nicholas Hamilton (15:23)

It's one of my favorites, honestly. That was. We. We came up with that one on a. I think it was a TikTok Live. I used to do a lot of TikTok lives, and we would create cocktails and kind of come up with names. So I think what would usually happen is I'd bring out a notebook and put down a bunch of the names that people were saying in the comments in the notebook. Pick one, and then to make a drink that's based off the name. Because coming up with cocktail names is one of my favorite parts of my job. So Tequila Me Elmo is obviously. It's a. It's a play on Tickle Me Elmo. So I wanted to make it as red as possible with a hint of yellow for. For Elmo's nose. So I think if. If I'm correct, I don't have a copy in front of me. It's a Sazerac riff. So there's no. There's no ice in the cocktail. Not served with any ice, served neat, which I attributed to Elmo's hate for Rocco. So there's no rocks in the drink. It's a very loose interpretation of a pun. But, yeah, it's a Tequila Campari Raspberry Sazerac. It's actually very, very, very good.

Alison Stewart (16:25)

What is your favorite drink in this book? Not the one that you said reminded you of your family members, but one that you really, really are like, I hit it. I got a good drink.

Nicholas Hamilton (16:34)

Alison, there's a hundred drinks in the book. I think it's like picking children today.

Alison Stewart (16:39)

Who do you like today?

Nicholas Hamilton (16:40)

Right. So we're obviously on the book tour right now. I'm in Portland as of yesterday, but we were in Austin a few days ago. And on the menu at the event in Austin was a drink called the Cafe Rouge. And that's just a really, I think obviously this drink is designed for home bartenders and there's very simple techniques. One of my favorite simple techniques is to float one liquid on top of another liquid. I think it's very scientific and there's a lot of that in this book because it's very easy to do. But so this one, the Cafe Rouge, is essentially a coffee. It's a stirred coffee, Manhattany kind of very rich cocktail with a float of red wine on top. So it's essentially, you know, all the good things in life, red wine and coffee in a cocktail. But you get, because you sip through the red wine as you get to the coffee cocktail. So there's layers of the kind of sweet, bitter, dry red wine and the very sweet kind of rich coffee drink underneath. That's one of my favorites.

Alison Stewart (17:42)

The book is titled Sipsy 100+ respectfully crafted cocktails for the Home Bartender. My guest has been Nick Hamilton. Thanks, Nick.

Nicholas Hamilton (17:50)

Thank you so much, Allison.

Alison Stewart (17:52)

This is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, the science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for curious people by covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the rapidly changing world of AI to the tiniest microbes in our bodies. Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.