Early Beginnings: 2018 - 2020
Not long after starting BarNoir, my understanding of purpose shifted from networking to a more intentional level of creation. Let’s say, now we have this big network of Black bartenders in Boston, we all know each other. Now what? What can we create together? And how do we make our mark, creating a more inclusive hospitality industry than the one we found when we started?
Naturally, the answer was: let’s make some drinks.
Give Her Flowers | vodka, peach, jackfruit, absinthe rouge, citrus, soda As part of a continuing tribute to Rita Hester, a Black woman whose murder in Boston launched the Transgender Day of Remembrance, Give Her Flowers is a floral, delicate sipper, a reflection of the light and softness we bring as Black women and femmes when loved, cared for and protected. All proceeds from Give Her Flowers during its launch went directly to transgender rights collectives.
Raingurl | fermented ricewater, rose, sugar
E$pera | baijiu, ampalaya (bittermelon), lime cordial, green chartreuese E$pera is an early working, or representation of a more intentional move into diasporic mixology. As a new business, this cocktail was created as a money manifestation, a practice shared between the Filipinx and Black American communities.
Death, Trapped | black pepper brandy, pineapple, ginger, kalamansi, egg white, MSG In craft cocktail circles, the chase to create new flavorways is always on. What ingredients can we use to manipulate our perceptions of taste, sight, smell? Much of this discourse centered whiteness and masculinity, leading to ingredients and flavors being presented as ew and revolutionary, all the while being painfully common in nonwhite cultures and spaces. I wanted to conceptualize a cocktail that called this cultural ignorance to the carpet: years of covert anti -Asian propaganda gave MSG a bad name, yet today in the beverage world, we openly embrace umami? Death, Trapped was intended to challenge our perceptions – and perhaps address unrecognized biases.
Ube Sour | genever, ube, kalamansi, egg white
Pandan Punch | rum, pandan, coconut, lime, golden falernum