Hey! Michelle with a Mic!

Hey! Michelle with a Mic: More Than a Cocktail: Molly Wellmann's Love Letter to Cincinnati

• Michelle Jones • Episode 5

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0:00 | 57:12

On this episode of Hey! Michelle with a Mic, Michelle sits down with one of Cincinnati's most beloved storytellers, cocktail historians, and champions of local culture: Molly Wellmann.

While many know Molly as the woman who helped redefine Cincinnati's craft cocktail scene, there's so much more to her story. From growing up as a seventh-generation Cincinnatian to becoming an award-winning mixologist, entrepreneur, historian, and creator of Cincinnati Gin, Molly shares how her love for people, history, and hospitality has shaped everything she does. 

Together, Michelle and Molly explore the fascinating history hiding in plain sight—from legendary saloons and Prohibition-era stories to Cincinnati's surprising legacy as the whiskey capital of America. They also discuss the evolution of cocktail culture, why every great drink deserves a great story, and how preserving local history helps build pride in the city's future. 

The conversation also looks ahead to Molly's newest projects, including a new bourbon collaboration, neighborhood history research, and the exciting ways she's continuing to celebrate Cincinnati—one story (and one cocktail) at a time. 

Whether you're passionate about local history, love discovering hidden gems, enjoy a well-crafted cocktail, or simply appreciate conversations with people who make our region special, this episode is a toast to the city we call home.

Pull up a chair, pour yourself something good, and join the conversation.

SPEAKER_00

All right. Hello, everybody. It is hanging with nope, it's not. Hi, that's not what it is. It's Hey Michelle with the Mike. Thank you for joining us. And I have a super fun friend with me, Wally Wellman, who everybody kind of knows. And if you're not, you're going to know her after this. Um, I am a local blogger. Um, I say ambassador for the area, promoting local restaurants, bars, arts, and fun things. And now I want to bring you good people with great stories, and this is definitely a great story. So Molly and I have been able to share cocktails together here and there, which I adore. Yep. And history, because Molly is not only a very wonderful mixologist, she is a historian and an ambassador for our city, and shares the love through cocktails with her stories, and I love it. And sometimes you have a drink with Molly, and then you go outside, and then she points to buildings and she tells me more history. And an hour later, I'm like, we really have to go now, Molly. It's true. I know. She has so much knowledge. I don't know how she does it with dates. And sometimes she'll say, Wait, was it 1945 or 46? I'm like, honey, you can tell anybody whatever you want because they probably don't know either.

SPEAKER_02

Anyway, welcome. Thank you. I'm so excited. I haven't seen you in a while. So I was so excited.

SPEAKER_00

Glad I could start a podcast so I can see you.

SPEAKER_02

I know, right? Come on.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you have the smoothies from upstairs. It's a butter blend, a pina colada butter blend with no alcohol. It's no, there's no rum in there. Whatever. Well, that's fine. It's okay. Okay. I know that when people hear your name, they immediately think cocktails, right? Yes. Which is great. I love it. I mean, that's fantastic because that's that's who you are. But I want to know like what do people need to know about you that they probably don't know? Like maybe the beginning of your story. Right. Like how you even started in this fun journey.

SPEAKER_02

So it's funny because um I do, you know, I love making cocktails. It's like, but it really is not the only thing that I do. It's just like something um I've always just done and I love doing it. And but it's not, and it is a passion of mine, but it's not the only passion of mine. So um big time, like number one, I am the biggest uh cheerleader and um uh Cincinnati uh lover more than anything. I love this city so much, and um I strive every day to be um to inspire people to be proud of their city. Like that's one of my number one things to do. Uh and then learning uh our history, you know, our Cincinnati's stories, you know, our history is really important to me because I think once you know about things that have happened here, the people who have been here before, um, the people who walk the same streets that we walk every day, uh, I think you can like be inspired to do really cool things for the future of Cincinnati. And I think that's really important.

SPEAKER_00

So that is so fun. And like you said, sharing the history of our city, it makes me proud too. It's almost like your elevator speech when somebody says you're from Cincinnati and they kind of give you the look like, yeah. And you're like, Do you know? I know. Do you know? Yes, you know, and that's and they're like, wait a minute, what? Exactly. That's why when people move here and they say, Oh, you know, my husband or my wife was transferred here, and I said, Okay, you've got two years. Yeah. And they're like, Well, that was 10 years ago. Yeah. And you learn this city and you meet the people. We be we you and I grew up in Cincinnati. Yeah. So, you know, Cincinnati wasn't a melting pot at all when we were growing up. We were, we were what we were. But now we are such a cultural city. It is with food and arts and people. Yeah. When you're walking around and people are speaking different languages everywhere. I mean, I love that our city has turned into that, which is fantastic.

SPEAKER_02

I think it's fantastic. And I think that um uh when people do come here, even if they're visiting, I love how surprised they are. Same, you know, like how surprised they are that they thought this was just a flyover city or just like, you know, whatever. And they're like, this place is so cool, and the people are so nice, and you know, they're like everything is so beautiful here. I can't believe this. I'm so excited. And then how how many people have visited and then they end up coming and moving here?

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. And you know, you live downtown or OTR or downtown, and when you see people and they'll stop and say, We're in town for a wedding. Yeah, we really didn't expect much, and they're like, this place is really freaking cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and there's a lot to do, and there's um, and it is so welcoming, you know. I think so. Our city is good weather. So welcoming. Like, I love how much and I also those people who do come and move here from other places, the impact that they put on our city, you know, like the like some of them open businesses, some of them uh, you know, go into like wanting to be a part of our city, and I think that's really special. I love it. Really cool.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so start me on your journey. Let's let's give everybody a tidbit of how you got to the Molly we know and love even more now.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'm first of all, I was born here. Yes. I was born on the west side of Cincinnati. And um I'm a seventh generation Cincinnati and I'm really proud of that. My family's been here for a really long time. And uh I've done, of course, you know, I have the stories of the of the people who came before me and everything, and how they impacted Cincinnati and how they were a big part of Cincinnati as well. Um, and uh so I'm very proud of that. You know, um, I did move away for a little bit after um high or like in my 20s in the 1990s. I think that's always good.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I know I have three boys, and after college, I'm like, I want you to move away for two years. Yeah, go away because I know you want to come back here, but I want you to move away so that people, when you say I live here, you can say, No, I lived in Chicago, I lived in Colorado. I did have experience. I but yeah, but I want them to go somewhere else and appreciate our cost of living. Yeah, that number one and spend some our cocktails to other cities and things like that, you know, honestly.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. I mean, that's that's what I did. I mean, there wasn't much going on in the 1990s in Cincinnati. It wasn't. I lived downtown at the time and it was completely different. Yes, you like people think it like say, oh, Since I'm so dangerous. You don't even know until you've been because we've been there for the riots and downtown. When you lived here in the 80s and 90s, uh yeah. Anyway, that's so funny. We found fun though.

SPEAKER_00

We filmed it, but it wasn't like it was now.

SPEAKER_02

Oh we did, we found the great places. Anyway, um, I moved away to San Francisco, okay, spent time there, did a lot of cool things there. And then um in 2008, I decided I wanted to come home and make sure that my roots were gonna be here in Cincinnati, just like my uh my family had been here for so long. And uh when I it was funny, I was like, I'm gonna move back home. I'm going to get married to somebody I probably went to high school with and moved down the street from my parents and have like five kids or something. Nah, I didn't do that though. No, you did not. Not at all. I got in, I first thing I did is I looked for a job as a bartender somewhere. And because I uh am very colorful and I have a style that I did not want to switch up.

SPEAKER_00

Was that what you were doing in San Francisco? Did you, or is this you're just like this is just something I'm gonna do when I get home?

SPEAKER_02

I did, so I did work in the service industry. I was a bartender, started bartending in San Francisco, and then I was a cocktail waitress, and then I got and then also I did high-end retail when I first got there. So I worked for Chanel and Prada. Cool, and I sold shoes, and that's how I got in those shoes because I'm obsessed with shoes and booze, you know, that's my thing.

SPEAKER_00

I love it.

SPEAKER_02

But um so yeah, right there, shoes and booze. Um, but then uh I wasn't I I I went to school for jewelry design when I was in San Francisco, became a jeweler. Um, I'm also into jewelry, costume jewelry.

SPEAKER_00

We well, as as we can see, yeah. Are you decked out?

SPEAKER_02

Decked, yeah. And then um I also went to school for a minute uh for nutrition. I thought about maybe being a dietitian because uh, you know, I thought it was interesting. And then I figured out people don't like to be told what to eat.

SPEAKER_00

That is true.

SPEAKER_02

They don't, that is true. Uh so but they don't have any trouble being told what to drink, which is great, you know, like I'm gonna make you this and you're gonna like it, you know. But so I found a job bartending at this place called Chalk, which was one of Jean Robert's um restaurants back then. It was where Blinkers is today in Covington. And they said, I want we need somebody who can make classic and craft cocktails. And I'm like, oh yeah, I totally could do that. I didn't, I had no idea, you know. But then I went down a rabbit hole and I started to Google and I started to read uh books like cocktail books from before Prohibition. Okay, and I learned and I learned that they all had stories behind them. And so I was, I guess it was different. I've also, you know, I'm being a salesperson, especially in high-end retail all commission, um, and I can I've always been somebody who could sell. I get that from my grandfather, John R. Sweetman. But uh I know that I needed to know what I was selling, and I needed I was selling alcohol. So I instead of just being an order taker, I've always been somebody who sells you the drink, you know? So I learned the stories behind these old drinks and how to make them. And then I would serve you a cocktail, and I've done this to you many times, and um, then I would tell you a little background behind it, and then all of a sudden you're not just drinking a cocktail, you're like going back in time with a cocktail. And like you can kind of have an adventure with that, an experience. And that had, I mean, I had such great time with that because I had more people who stayed and they wanted to know more and have you know other cocktails and know the story behind it, and I'd have people who would come back and bring their friends.

SPEAKER_00

I was gonna say, yeah, repeat customers on that one because that's just so fun.

SPEAKER_02

It was, and I it it made it more fun for me too. It was everything was different every day, you know. And I I did that from the very beginning all the way until I still do it today, you know. So that's kind of how it was.

SPEAKER_00

That's cool. I started out with that. I thought maybe that was something that evolved with your with your industry or where, you know, because you have had many bars around town.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Um well even before I had the bars, I would work different places all over town behind different bars. And, you know, um, sometimes I'd work like Tuesdays here and Wednesdays here or whatever. And a lot of times the bartenders who were used to just being order takers, they'd be like, I don't know about Molly and her fancy pants, cocktails over there. They'd put me over in the corner. But I did realize that by the end of the night, I had more people coming and sitting in front of me and my well and staying longer and ordering more drinks from me than the other bartenders. So I knew I like people were interested.

SPEAKER_00

So that's funny because you, I mean, I think you I feel like you started the cocktail scene before, you know, it was always like vodka soda, nothing wrong with that, because that's kind of like a drink. I like it. Um, but I mean, you know, basic drinks. Yeah, I feel like you kind of put the cocktail experience on the map here for us.

SPEAKER_02

I I do know that Japs was the first cocktail bar. Yeah. So that for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

So I guess I kind of did, but uh that was your baby.

SPEAKER_00

That was one of your babies. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I don't have a big head about myself, so you know.

SPEAKER_00

No, but I mean, but it's true. And it is, I mean, I think everybody appreciates and acknowledges that.

SPEAKER_02

I know there weren't a lot of people doing it at the time. There were one or two, I knew, I mean, when we opened jobs, I had a lot of, you know, a few people who were very interested in that. And that made it easier to hire the first bartenders, you know. But nobody was telling stories behind the drinks, that for sure.

SPEAKER_00

And you have become, I mean, you're proficient, like bourbons and I mean you're everything, but you also have a gin. I do. Oh, I left it in the car. Oh, that's gonna be boiling gin by the fantastic gin.

SPEAKER_02

I do. Um, I have a Cincinnati gin, which when I sold, I sold uh my bars in uh 22.

SPEAKER_00

You know, that was the last of the bars, right? That was the last of the bar. I can't believe it was that long ago.

SPEAKER_02

I know. I was just thinking about that the other day. I'm like, that was like four years ago.

SPEAKER_00

Because you had, okay, go through the list.

SPEAKER_02

So I had ja I had neon, Japs, Annex, which was the nightclub. I don't recommend anybody ever do that.

SPEAKER_00

That's a whole nother deal. It is awful. And that is not where you sit around and tell a story. That's where you're literally serving vodka sodas or a high noon and everybody's going doing their thing.

SPEAKER_02

It was a lot of fun. Oh, sure. I loved that nightclub. I did. Yeah. But man, running a nightclub is a whole nother animal. Yeah, it's another animal. Um, but besides that, I had old Kentucky Bourbon Bar. Yes, Myrtle's Punch House.

SPEAKER_00

This was so good. That was up the street from my house with these wanted to tell us. And you see, she served all the punch in these big crystal bowls. I was just telling somebody about this. They had no idea they were younger. And all the little glasses, like in your grandma's punch. And it was so funny because these big burly men would come in and you ordered the punch by the bowl, and they were this big burly men drinking these little coffee mug cups, and it was so cute. I loved that whole concept. I loved that bar. I loved that.

SPEAKER_02

It was so fun. Everyone loved that bar. It was, you know, it's one of the like when you put a concept together, like for bars, um, well, anything, but um, you never know. Like you have the whole thing, you write out the business plan, you have this idea of what you want and what you're gonna do and serve and everything. And then usually after like a month or so, like the concept changes a little bit by, you know, the people who are coming in and what they need and what they want. Um, but Myrtle's was exactly the way I planned it. It was exactly what I wanted. We didn't change up anything really. It was, oh God, I loved that.

SPEAKER_00

And it was a destination. Well, you knew like on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday night when you walked in there, yeah, that you were gonna see run into somebody. It was just a cool and you had the downstairs like cage. Yeah. It was it's a it's it was a cool spot. I do miss that spot. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Um, but then we had um Northside. North Yeah, well, Melts. Melt. Uh we had Melts uh in Northside, and then we had um the cafe, which was in the convent or the uh contemporary art center. And then um, and then I had a uh event space as well. So that didn't last very long. Yeah. So but that's okay. It was like it was fun, it was really fun. And then 2019, um uh we switched it up, you know, like I some of them were sold, and then I had Japs and I had old Kentucky or sorry, I had Japs and Myrtles, and then COVID hit. Oh, and I sold, but I sold I Myrtles I had to get rid of right before COVID, which I was so mad about, but then it was a blessing.

SPEAKER_00

Blessing ever.

SPEAKER_02

It was.

SPEAKER_00

I was there that very last night. I exposed myrtles the very last night. We all had word that out that this was gonna be the last night, and we all went down there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But then a few months later, COVID hit. Could you imagine having a punch house?

SPEAKER_00

No, sometimes, you know, the blessings you don't know what's gonna happen when it's going on.

SPEAKER_02

It's like God was looking down on me and was like, believe me, you're not gonna be mad about this. I know you're mad now, but you are going to be so relieved, Molly.

SPEAKER_00

Um you've spent so many years studying the history of Cincinnati. If you could sit down, have a drink. I'm sure you've been asked this maybe with any historical Cincinnati figure. Who would it be and what would you be drinking?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, what would I be drinking? Yeah. Ooh, bourbon.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Makes sense. Yeah. I would want to try the whiskey that or you know, the bourbons that were being served then.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And then I would then I'd want to compare it with what we have now.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. And who would you be having that drink with?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, there's so many people. But let's see, bourbon-wise, um let's see. You know what? Okay. So I mean, I start the history like from the very beginning in Cincinnati, 1788, right? Okay. And um one guy I I love reading about him. Always just really interested in like what he's seen. And, you know, he seems he seemed like he would be kind of a f a jovial guy, but just very interesting, is Israel Ludlow. Oh, okay. Like he was this one of the first surveyors, you know, he came with John Cleve Sims as part of his survey team, right? To pull like first of all, survey the entire purchase, which was millions of acres between the two Miamis from the river all the way up to like, you know, what Butler County is now.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And um he also then took over the partnership once um one of the original founders, John Philson, disappeared. Right. If you know the whole story of the founders of Cincinnati, you know that story. But he became that, and then he also helped to um survey Dayton and Hamilton as well. And then, you know, he settled down. He like he built a blockhouse um, you know, right on the Mill Creek where, you know, Northside is today. And then he built a like one of the first mansions, like right on Mill Creek and had a farm and just knew everyone. And I just would love to sit down and have a drink with him and find out some of the crazy things that the stories that he had about doing all of that. Absolutely, you know, and then what he thought for the future of this of this settlement, you know, the city, because with all of that work and all the things that he was involved with and that he settled down here, um there must have been big dreams for the city. And I think that would be so interesting to hear.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that would be awesome. I love hearing these names. And when you hear, you know, Philson and Ludlow, you know, we hear these at the restaurant. And I, you know, I love it because we just I could tell you about all of that. So, okay. So I have my elevator speech when I try to promote the cities. Tell us a few of your fun history, you know, whether it's the prohibition, like all tell us a few of your stories that you just love to share.

SPEAKER_02

So I will tell you right now, I mean, I I love sharing um uh a lot of stories. Um, I love sharing the story of Cora Dow. She's somebody I'm very inspired by. She owned 11 pharmacies by herself. Oh, wow. And she's this was in the uh the early 1900s. Okay, like 1900. Like she had 11 drugstores with soda fountains that she built all by herself. No man, no, no man helped her with this. Like she did it all herself.

SPEAKER_00

And for those of the who are young, like back in that time, a drugstore had a soda fountain. And it was kind of a gathering space all on top of being it was kind of like a saloon but without alcohol.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

You know, diner-ish kind of vibe.

SPEAKER_02

And it had it served like um ice cream sodas and and uh, you know, egg uh, what are they? Egg sodas. What are those called? Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, they're so good, too. And I I've I've been meaning to make one. Uh egg cream sodas. Yeah, they're so good. But like things like that. I mean, Cora Dow, she even she could not find an ice cream that she liked. So she actually created her own ice cream to serve at her soda fountains. Um, she had her hand in like 150 different companies and products because she wanted to make sure they were quality. Oh my god, she set her own prices. Uh, she loved the symphony. She uh left a bunch of money to the symphony. I believe her trust is why we still have our Cincinnati Symphony today. She's really neat. So she's one. I also love um the saloon stories, you know. Bring it. I love stories. So there used to be like all around like Fountain Square, especially Fift and Um Vine and Walnut, uh, that area, the Fountain Square area, there were quite a few absolutely gorgeous saloons, beautiful saloons. Like there was this one, um, it was on Walnut Street between 4th and 5th Street. Okay. Kind of like um today the U.S. bank building is there. Okay. And so on the side, on the walnut side, when you walk in those doors, I imagine it would have been right there. Okay. At the time before the U.S. bank building, that was the Gibson Hotel. Oh, okay. Okay, which had been there since like the 1840s, right? That's a whole cool story, too, about the Peter Gibson. He was cool. Uh anyway, but so there was a saloon, it was three stories high. Um that there were living quarters. There was an office on the second floor, and then the living quarters were on the top floor. Okay. And it was owned by this guy named Um Theodore Foucar. Okay. And he was in the restaurant business, and like, you know, he was a hospitality guy. He opened this beautiful saloon and it was gorgeous. Like you'd walk through these big, beautiful mahogany doors with beveled glass, right? And brass um, you know, to open the doors. And then, excuse me, the bar, excuse me.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, have some of that pina colada smoothie.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, it's really good. Um so you'd then you'd walk in and there would be this gorgeous, beautiful mahogany bar with inlaid wood and everything, these big beveled glass mirrors behind the bar. The floor was all marble. There were $25 gold pieces embedded into the floor. And then there's the beautiful paint like wood paneling everywhere, beautiful, you know, furniture. It's just gorgeous, like every detail. And then there's art on all the walls. Art by some of the best, like the most amazing artists um in Cincinnati and beyond. Like in this one in Pilkar's. There was a huge, huge uh it was a pastel painting of a woman, a nude woman reclining on a couch. And it was by Frank Duvenac. Oh, yeah, another another big name in the area. Exactly. Here in Covington, especially. Um and uh Yeah, it was it was insane. And then you would walk to the back, and there was this like dining room um which had all these tables and it was in a Flemish style. It had a huge domed stained glass ceiling. It was absolutely gorgeous. And you would sit down, you know, at one of the tables and you would order a cocktail of the day. And the the one of the cocktails they had was um, it was called a cobblestone. Oh the bartender behind the bar at one point, his name was Philip Gross, and he was a mixology. He was like kind of like the Molly Wellman from back then. He was the mixologist in the city. He was award-winning, everything. And um, he created this uh a couple cocktails from Sitsani. The the Commodore, also the cobblestone, uh, another one called um, oh shoot, it's uh Foucar a la Kankan, you know? Wow, very interesting, you know. Um, and you would order one of his drinks, they'd set it, they'd they'd uh go and order it, and then they'd come out with this huge plate of roast beef, sliced fresh roast beef. God, I want this place hot buns, like you know, hot like buns, you know, um, all these different spreads, mustards, and everything. And it would be free because you got a free lunch when you ordered a drink in those days.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Have any of these guys were the the saloon guys back in this day, they were very wealthy. They were extremely wealthy. There's no way today we could do that, you know. It would be the worst food ever. And this was peanuts. Yeah. It was crazy. You know, if you're lucky, and even that's too expensive. You know, believe me, I tried to have snacks and people made meals out of it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. You should really have peanuts on the bar because the more peanuts you eat, the more you want to drink.

SPEAKER_02

It gets to the point because I had that at Japs once and people made meals out of it. And I was going bankrupt just from the like, you know, the little bar snacks. Oh, it's nuts. Anyway, um, I don't know how they did it, but it was it was a common thing to have free lunch with um, you know, a drink. But cars did it up, they did roast beef sandwiches. And most places, especially in Sinsa, you'd get like a hot dog, a Frankfurter or something, a Wienerwurst or something.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. Yeah. So I mean isn't that so cool? And you wonder why that ever was torn down or all that stuff was taken.

SPEAKER_02

Prohib prohibition. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like that one keeping the beauty of it. You're just like, oh it I know.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, it was they were it was so gorgeous. Like we had in Cincinnati now, not only did we have thousands of saloons and drinking establishments in the 1800s before Prohibition, but we also had industry for that. Like we had so many uh saloon um fixture makers, you know, okay, like building saloons and bars and everything like that. If you ever want to go and learn more about that, go to Wood and Nickel and talk to Mike Williams.

SPEAKER_00

I just drove by there yesterday and I'm like, you know, that is a little gem. I need to stop in.

SPEAKER_02

It really is a gem. But he like he's taught me more about the saloon fixture like industry here in Cincinnati than anyone else in the city. And he gets a lot of the old ones, you know, too, which is cool. Um, but that industry, so they decked this place out when they had to close because of prohibition. Um, that one Duvenac painting of the woman, the naked woman. Um, for years, the women of Cincinnati thought that that was the disgrace. They thought, oh my God, you gotta corrupt our husbands and sons going on looking at this naked woman. Um it was he they thought it was just the worst thing ever. And when they when he had to like, you know, shut down, he sold pretty much all the art except for that painting, all the saloon fixtures, everything, right? Sold it all. And that painting he donated to the Cincinnati Art Museum. He said it was too risque for my saloon, but not for high society. Isn't that crazy? And they have it up at the art museum. But they don't have it hanging. They did it rotates probably. It does. They did have it when they had the donut. And I literally went up there and I sat in front of it and I cried because I learned so much about it. I was like, I feel like I have like a connection, you know. Like I feel like I know Theodore Foucar and what he was thinking, you know, from just doing the research on his saloon. It's just so neat.

SPEAKER_00

So do you think so? Like you were talking about these cocktails before prohibition, kind of what you do now. Yeah. Do you think some of that after prohibition when bars started opening again, that's when things changed to like not so much the cocktail mixing?

SPEAKER_02

Right. So 13 years, and we uh Ohio went into prohibition uh a year before national prohibition. A lot of people don't realize that. And so, you know, for 13 years, I mean, you did more people were drinking, but the drinks were different, you know. You were um uh getting alcohol wherever you could, you know. Uh if you were lucky enough to get bootlegged, you know, good stuff, it still was cut, you know, it was still cut. And so during Prohibition, also, they didn't really make fancy cocktails, they made stuff that you could quickly get down and get a buzz off of. They really did. Yeah. And what they could quickly sell, you know. We did have a lot of speakeasies in Cincinnati, a lot of, you know, um, you know, backdoor, you know, uh places in the new cafes.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_02

You know, if you were in a hotel, uh you would usually see people drinking tea. It doesn't necessarily mean there was tea in the cup. It could have been whiskey, yeah, you know, and a lot of times it might have been. So like little things to get around it, but um it changed. Like the cocktails changed. Like before this was people's profession, you know, like people really got into it. It was, and the cocktails were really, really important. I think cocktail creation um pretty much really got into being super creative and super um uh uh you know, fancy from um the end of the Civil War all the way to Prohibition. They got really fancy with everything. And um during prohibition, that kind of went out the window because quick and and cheap. And then after prohibition, it was like all these guys who maybe worked in the speakeasies, there weren't a lot of bartenders that came back who were the pro in the profession. And taste had changed, you know. Now we have women, we have um we have a lot of laws, you know, like so many more restrictions on how things are done with the bars. Um the whole way that uh spirits are sold is completely different than it was before Prohibition. So a lot of things have changed. And so that's um that's why it wasn't as spectacular as it was before.

SPEAKER_00

So you like bringing back those old cocktails. Yeah. What are some of your favorites that you love from that time that you like to bring back?

SPEAKER_02

So uh I always uh let's see. One of my favorite drinks, and it's one that you could any bar could pretty much make. It's called a Pago Club.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And the Pago Club dates back to the 1880s. It was created um for an officer, a British officers club in Malamar, you know, um, which oh my goodness, excuse me. I just burnt, you could take that out. Oh my gosh, sorry. I hope you didn't hear that. That's hilarious. Oh dear lord.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Um but the um the Pago Club, uh, it was it was so refreshing. It's gin and simple syrup and lime juice, and then a dash of bitters. It's so easy. It's one of my favorite cocktails. And when I'm at a just a really regular bar, there's a lot of people be like, hey Molly, did can you suggest a drink for me? And I'm like, yeah, do you have these three things? And usually people do at the bar, and I'm like, easy peasy. But it's a really it's a really good drink. That's that one of my favorites. And then um, oh gosh, oh, I have so many.

SPEAKER_00

The mess the names, the names crack me up of all these drinks, too.

SPEAKER_02

I love a good martinez, and we like a martinez is like kind of the great granddaddy of the martini.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I didn't really know.

SPEAKER_02

So it's gin instead of uh dry vermouth, it's sweet vermouth. Okay, uh little maraschino liqueur, which is an Italian cherry liqueur, very, very good. Um, dash of bitters. Sometimes people will put uh a little bit of absinthe in there if they're feeling fancy. Yeah, but it is so good. And it sounds great. It dates all the way back to like the 1850s, 1850s, 60s. And as it its popularity spread throughout the United States, um, by the 1880s, it was really popular, especially here in Cincinnati. It was so it was served at all the saloons. It really was. It was such a famous cocktail, and I love that cocktail.

SPEAKER_00

And I feel like gin was so big back then. Like you know, all the gin joints. Oh, yeah. All the gin joints. No, yeah. Um and I always say, like a lot of people my age say they do not like gin. Oh, I hear it. I know. So I used to be that person until I figured out I don't like tonic. Right. So our age, it was gin and tonic. Gin and tonic lime. Yeah. I mean, that was just the drink. So I was like, I don't like gin. Well, I I like gin. I didn't like tonic. Exactly. So it took me that to figure out. And then there are people like you who are like, yes, you do. Exactly. I did. Put it in another drink. Yeah. In a drink without tonic. I'm like, oh, I do like gin. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_02

And also depending on what kind of gin you're being served. You know, there's so many different ones.

SPEAKER_00

Like the Cincinnati gin.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like Cincinnati gin. Thank you very much. You're good at plug plug. Love it. Um, so yeah, like I've gotten so many people to like gin by finding out their tastes and then going with the right kind of gin one and making it into a cocktail that complements the gin rather than tonic. I mean, tonic was used, um, tonic was, you know, the medicine. Like it was it's a very it was very bitter. Yeah, it's very bitter. I mean, uh, back in the day, uh, you know, the whole gin and tonic came from sailors who, you know, sailors got a ration of booze every day, couple a couple pints of it a day. Um, sometimes it was rum, sometimes it was gin, if you were British. Um, sometimes it my gosh. Sorry. Sometimes it was gin, sometimes it was bourbon, sometimes it was wit uh brandy, but and most of the time it was rum, especially people going in the tropics. Now, quinine was given, which is a Peruvian bark, right? Very, very bitter. That was given every day to sailors to ward off malaria because malaria would kill you, you know? It's terrible illness, you know. And um they found that this Peruvian bark would, you know, allow you to either cure malaria or you know, ward it off. So they'd got a ration of that, and they would mix it together with their fooze ration and add a little sugar to cover up the bitterness of it. Basically tonic. Okay. So there you have it. So it was basically a medicine. You know, that's that's it's really weird. If you make a drink with gin um and complement the different botanicals that are in that gin, magic happens.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_02

It really is so cool. And the time type of gin, a lot of people think that all gin tastes like a Christmas tree.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yes, it doesn't, not all of it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you can find different gins that are really more citrusy, so more bright, more floral, things like that.

SPEAKER_00

And where I also I explored was Castle and Key.

SPEAKER_02

Oh gosh, they're amazing.

SPEAKER_00

And that's like, oh, these are all great.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Botanical, yeah, great.

SPEAKER_02

It's all all gin is is a uh flavored vodka. That's all it is. It's a botanical flavored vodka. It's all infused with botanicals, and it starts with vodka.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. And are you you do so many like private parties and things like this? Like, you know, this is such a gem for us to have. And I know when you talk to people, and it is an experience, so you almost want to huddle around the bar and just listen to you tell the stories because when you're making it, you always, you know, for while you did it at Arnold's, and I every time you were there because I'm like, this is so fun. You just say, This is from down you know, down the street, yeah, you know, all the history of our what other exciting liquor history. I mean, a couple other things.

SPEAKER_02

A lot of people don't realize that Cincinnati, we know we're a beer town, right? We know that history.

SPEAKER_00

German history.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. And we did have a lot of breweries, um, but we also were a whiskey town. And in fact, Cincinnati, we had more distilleries and what we call wholesalers or rectifiers. They were the guys who blended whiskey. Okay. Not making blended whiskey, like, you know, blended whiskey, which is a bottom shelf kind of thing. No, these guys took um spirit and they or they would take uh like whiskey and they would blend different barrels together, you know, um, to, or or sometimes they'd add flavoring to make it more palatable, you know. Um, that's been done forever, you know, to make the whiskey taste better or to with gin, you know, that's all it was. It's all rectified. So they would add different herbs and botanicals in it to make it taste like gin. And usually they'd sweeten it too, right? Um, and then uh and then put it in their portfolio and sell it, you know. But we had so many of them. In fact, at one point in the 1880s, Cincinnati was known as the whiskey capital of the entire United States. Wow. Not Kentucky, Cincinnati. That's crazy. Isn't that cool? So I love bringing that to light. Yeah. I love researching all the different distilleries that were here as well. Um, you know, a lot of people remember going down 75 and hitting that one spot by Carthage. Yep. Yep. And then you're like hitting, you know, the the national distillery, which had it with Jim Beam had uh then took over, and hitting that that alcohol, that smell.

SPEAKER_00

And I I can distinctly remember it because that's was my drive. I mean, to 75, and I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, that that there's been a distillery right on that spot, right on the Milk Creek in Carthage, uh, since 1806. Wow. Isn't that neat?

SPEAKER_00

That is really cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, James Codwell, he had a distillery there. There's a cool story about that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and your names. I like I like all the names you come up with. I don't know how you remember all this stuff, truly.

SPEAKER_02

I love it. I see the entire history of Cincinnati in one big movie, one big moving picture. And so that's how I can remember all of them. That's very interesting. It's fun. It's my, it's my it's kind of like my ism. You know? Yep, I do.

SPEAKER_00

My ism. Yep, I love that.

SPEAKER_02

But I love it. It's my superpower now, too. Oh my gosh, that is so fun.

SPEAKER_00

So, what do you have on the horizon? Do you have anything new coming up?

SPEAKER_02

I do. I have lots of things coming up.

SPEAKER_00

Um I know you're always working on something.

SPEAKER_02

I I have to keep busy. You all in your mind.

SPEAKER_00

You have too much, you have too much good information.

SPEAKER_02

Always have like, you know, 15 things going on in my brain. And I like doing 15 things at once, too. That's right.

SPEAKER_00

Because that's the way things should be.

SPEAKER_02

And if you're not in that 15 thing at the moment I'm doing it, you're gonna have to wait because I'm already in there. Um, okay, so I have a few things coming up. One, um, I'm about to launch a bourbon that I'm really excited about. Um, I'm working with the Neely family distillery.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so I I like you have always been a big fan. Yes, and I've been grandpa. Yes, my picture and papa signed my bust. Yes. So my sister, Debbie, and I were on our way to little, we were on our way doing something, some blog thing. And we were like, let's just go to this random. I mean, this is years and years ago. And let's get this random off the beaten track here by the speedway. Yeah. And pull in. Well, then my sister loves what does she always get there? Like their caramel or something. Oh, yeah, they're a caramel moonshine thing. Something like this. She was like, in the lunch. Oh gosh. You can just sip on that at night. Yes. It's so good. But and it was little then. Yeah. And it was like Hatfield McCoy story. Yes. And we got such a cool story. And he was so cool. He has since passed. Yeah, he passed away. He was so cute. It's so great. And the last time I went, oh, I was like, oh, you guys have grown.

SPEAKER_02

Oh gosh. And you should see it now. It's big. There, it's really cool. They just got a three uh chamber uh uh column still that they just installed. Oh wow, it is incredible. There's not uh you don't see those very often. Okay. Um Royce Neely, who is the master distiller there. Um, he is just so he's so smart. He's such an incredible distiller. He really is. I mean, he learned it from generations since the 1700s. The Neely family has been distilling, not legally.

SPEAKER_00

But now that's called moonshine.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And they they started out with moonshine, and it's some of the I I don't always like moonshine, but I love the Neely's moonshine. It is so good. Um, but the bourbons they're putting out, the rye, especially they're putting out, um, the like Becca, his wife, she's one of my most favorite people, and she has a palette like no other. She really does. Like our palettes, they match because you know, when we're doing this um this new bourbon, we were the one, you know, both of us went through and tasted. Um, the there was one day we tasted 27 barrels. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00

That was a lot. Hopefully, you spent the night.

SPEAKER_02

Uh yeah, I yeah, I was careful. Well, I was very careful. But um, no, it was it was a lot of fun. Uh, but tasting all through this, like she's incredible. Um, she keeps that place going as well and is just so um interesting.

SPEAKER_00

This is probably a whole nother uh podcast, right? Is to figure out how you make your bourbon different than everybody else.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, here's the thing: all bourbon is different. It all is, you know. Um, even the single barrels are a little different in each batch, you know. Um, the trick is finding the barrels that match, the doppelgangers, you know, that's what I call them like that all go together. Um, but it that's the thing about whiskey. And that's the thing about I say whiskey because rye as well.

SPEAKER_00

I always get that confused, like, is it was whiskey, bourbon, bourbon?

SPEAKER_02

Well, all bourbon is whiskey, but all whiskey is not all bourbon is whiskey, but not all worse whiskey is bourbon. That's right. So there's all try to remember that. But with American whiskey, I mean we have bourbon, and that's America's whiskey, you know. But we also have rye whiskey, and we have corn whiskey, and we have Tennessee whiskey, and you know, all different kinds. Um but bourbon has standards of identity that make it truly bourbon, and that's what sets it apart from everybody else. Okay. So make our um shoot, I lost track. What's it what was the question?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, well, no, we oh, I was telling you, oh, what were you doing next?

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so what I mean with the well, uh, so the bourbon. So when we go through all these different barrels, every barrel tastes different, right? And that's like I said, the magic of whiskey. You never know how it's you could control as much as you can with the you know, the grain and how long it's in there, the char of the barrel, you know, like things like that. You don't know what it's gonna turn out to be, like these different flavors that come naturally. Exactly. They are there, they're they really are, they all have their own personalities. And so when you are are putting a uh uh you know a blend together, which is kind of where the industry is going, you know. Uh it's always gone that way, but it's more um detailed now. Yes, you know, these small batches of different barrels. And once those are gone, they're gone. You'll never have that again. That's the coolest thing about it. So going through all these different barrels, tasting the uh profiles of each, the flavor profiles of each one, and then blending them together like you're a chef. So you get an advent uh, you know, tasting whiskey should be an adventure, you know, from the start all the way through the finish. Yes. To make you want to have another drink of it.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_02

So that's the goal.

SPEAKER_00

And I love it. I try to do bourbon tastings, and I'm invited to do a lot of those, and I am such a whim. I feel like when I take a sip, that hair is growing on my chest. Oh gosh. Oh my god, huh? So it's so funny because people are like, you're allowed to sip your water. Like you're allowed to sip. Because I'm like, I love bourbon in a cocktail.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, you know what? You let me pick with you once. Okay, like we'll pick together and I will show you exactly the way to do it to get the most out of it. Okay. Where it won't feel like I'm like, oh yeah. I will help I will help you. I will hold your hand and we will go through it. I do promise so many barrel picks. It's so much fun. I love it. I love it. So, okay, uh, next things I'm doing. Um, so the bourbon, and then I have I'm partnering again with um Northern Row in Over the Rhine. Oh, yeah, uh, for their vodka, which is called Good River. And it is absolutely beautiful. I'm not a big vodka person, but I really like their vodka. And so they call it Good River because we are surrounded by waterways, you know? And for a long time, our waterways were not so great, you know, like dirty. Everything there it's changing now, like the waterways are being cleaned. There's so many um groups uh uh that are really cleaning up the waterways, yes, and so so part of the proceeds go back to helping clean up the waterways here in the Cincinnati area, and I love that too. So I partner with them on the Good River. I love it because it's affordable, it's so clean, it's so beautiful, and it really impacts our um our community, which is so great, and that's what I'm all about. So the another thing, really quick, I know not the news, but um I this the beginning of this year, I always challenge myself. I don't do resolutions, and I don't do dry January. Don't either. No. If I do any, like I take breaks throughout the year, you know, because my job is alcohol.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm like, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no. I mean, we don't, I mean, I understand people like a good reset and everything, and it's fine. But um I always set a goal for myself for the year, not a resolution, but it's always a project, you know. So the project this year is to research as much as I can about each neighborhood in Cincinnati and in northern Kentucky. Like I want to know how each neighborhood started. I want to know right up your alley. I know, I love it so much. I want to know um, you know, who were the ones who came to settle it first, who were the ones who like plotted out the land and like had the dream to make it a community, you know? Yes, and why they named the streets, you know, right. Why the streets are named that way.

SPEAKER_00

It does match up. You're it does. You find out you're like, oh, that's why it's named that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Like it's it's best. I'm working on Covington right now, which I know I was like, all right, we're gonna have to do this in parts because it's so big, so big, so much history. Um, I've written two so far. I thought, you know, when I started this, I'm like, yeah, every week I'll just do another one. No, not at all. Like when I get into researching, like I dig. Like I'm at the library downtown. I go to the mercantile library. I am going through old books, I am researching records, like dig. And then um, and I look for pictures so you can get visuals and everything. So, and then the first two I've written, I wrote about Colrain because that's where I grew up. Oh, there you go. And that was it's really cool. You should go back and read it. Uh, they're long, I know.

SPEAKER_00

Where are we finding these?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, you're finding them on Facebook. Okay, but I also want to put them on Instagram. So I'm now going to be doing them in parts so that they're not as long because they are long, I know. I like that, but some people don't.

SPEAKER_00

Super short.

SPEAKER_02

Uh yeah. And I know this, I've known this forever. Like I'm working on a book, and I realize like when I say I'm writing a history book about drinking in Cincinnati, and people are like, Oh, yeah, I'll buy it, but I probably won't read it because I don't read books. And I'm like, okay, so we got to switch that up. So I'm gonna do it in parts, and also for each um neighborhood, I'll be cre creating a cock, a specialty cocktail for each neighborhood. I love it. That's so cool. Because everybody should have a drink in their hand when they're reading a story, right? Absolutely. So I'm just branding it right now. Um uh I'm not gonna tell you what it's called yet. Don't because I wanna put it out and you know, do it the right way. But I'm really excited about it.

SPEAKER_00

Now, are you doing something at Cincinnati Lagerhouse? Yes, so um Sinai, I I'm doing uh used to be Moreline for those who don't know, they've switched now to Cincinnati Lagerhouse.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, which is great. I love working. Yes, I love Cincinnati Lagerhouse so much. I get to do so many great events with them. Yes. I love working with Greg.

SPEAKER_00

He's a tribe. Greg Greg's just I mean, I love that guy.

SPEAKER_02

He's the best. I mean, I I always go into a meeting with Greg knowing that it's not gonna just be an hour. No, it's gonna be a few hours. We're probably gonna have lunch and we're gonna probably get to taste some whiskey somewhere, you know. Like it is always such a great time. And he's my one of my dearest friends. I love him.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

So coming up in uh July, we're doing a summer soiree.

SPEAKER_01

Oh now.

SPEAKER_02

Have you ever you've been to my uh fire nights in the winter? This I've done that for I guess the last four years now.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it's been it's so fun.

SPEAKER_02

I love it. It's something to do in January after the holidays, and it's just always a great time. Uh so we wanted to try to do something in the summer, kind of in that realm. And but we're gonna make it very summer. Bartenders and employees in this entire city. Yes, they are so great. They really, really are. Um, but I love and I love working with them. So starting on Thursday, I'm going to be create, I'm going to be making cocktails for some of their watch parties. Oh, okay. So they're they're doing these big watch parties. Yes, you know, Factory 52, and then also down at their union Braxton. And I'll be through the entire um, you know, World Cup each week, I will be either at 52 or at Union and creating or serving these cocktails that I've curated, and I'm so excited. And each cocktail is there, it's all inspired by who's playing that day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I love it. Yeah, it's so great.

SPEAKER_02

So stay tuned for that. Stay tuned. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Um, okay, so what do you I have a few fun questions? I was like, I have so many questions that I was writing down for you. Um, what do you think the most underrated cocktail everyone should try?

SPEAKER_02

Oh gosh. Oh, that's a hard one.

SPEAKER_00

I know because there's so many. Like, but I I know. Um You and I loved a cocktail back in the uh in Walnut Hills at the old um.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, Anjou. I still dream about that cocktail.

SPEAKER_00

You made me drink it one night. I'm like, I don't know about this. Yeah, because it had red peak, I'll take another one.

SPEAKER_02

It had red pepper. Red pepper. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It was so good.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh, Chris uh Chris Wolf. Yes. Yeah. Oh, I love Chris Wolf. That was a good thing. He he's one of the coolest, most amazing bartenders.

SPEAKER_00

We are lucky. This city does have, you know, I love going to knowledge bars. Yes. And those girls, they those are bartenders kind of remind me of you, because I can tell them, like Kelsey will say, Well, what are you in the mood for? But like, tell me the spirit. Yeah. And I'll roll. And like, and she nails it every time. And there's so listening to people make cocktails is unbelievable. There is it's a vocabulary like you don't know. Right. Exactly. Listen to these bartenders train. Yeah. And I'm like, the knowledge is not simple like it used to be. No. Like, you know, like I know. I don't know anything. But listening to them, I don't even know the words they're using. And it's so great. And that's why I say people have to watch you make these cocktails to make you realize why you're spending the money. Yeah, yeah. Like, it's $15 or whatever for this drink. I'm like, yeah, watch them, what they're doing to this cocktail. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02

We, I will say, and I will stand behind this 100%. We have the best cocktail, or excuse me, the best bartenders and service people in this city. I think we have really good. Anywhere. Really good. Like they are kind, they are knowledgeable, they are excited, you know. Uh, for the most part, when I go in, people are excited to make me a drink. And I love that. That's funny. Like, oh my God, no. It's great. I still get people who are nervous.

SPEAKER_00

Recently, I don't know if you've had it. Uh, is the rice ball at Nice Life.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh, Nice Life is such a bar on Fort Street.

SPEAKER_00

Oh. And it's called the Rice Ball.

SPEAKER_02

It is so good. It's one of my favorite cocktails.

SPEAKER_00

It's Geo's drink. Geo is a bar tough there. And it's so different. And every time I'm in there, I I literally talk it up to everybody in the bar, and they're all like, what? First of all, it comes in a really pretty glass. It's gorgeous. But it's such a good drink. And that is like my drink right now.

SPEAKER_02

That bar, I think everybody needs to go and visit in Cincinnati. It really is. It's right on Court Street. Um it's it's kind of horrible. She's she's awesome. Yeah. It's very Asian inspired. It's very modern. The cocktails, though.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my gosh, there's some really great cocktails.

SPEAKER_02

It's I love it. I love the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, you couldn't do underrated. How about overrated?

SPEAKER_02

Overrated. Oh, the freaking espresso martini. Espresso martini is over that.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, like I could, I now I used to get them often and now I kind of don't anymore. But I another back at uh Knowledge Bar, they do a pistachio.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, that's got pistachio.

SPEAKER_00

And it's so good. You know, but at least switching it up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That's what I'm always looking for. I'm I'm also looking for um that they're not just using like bottled espresso, like uh, you know, liqueur and stuff.

SPEAKER_00

And it comes around and you're like, this is no. No, you can tell right in here now.

SPEAKER_02

I I'm sorry, I know there's some like great places that use it, but I if it comes out of a machine. That kettle one machine.

SPEAKER_00

I thought that was fun at first, and then I had one of my things.

SPEAKER_02

No I hate that. I just can't stand like make it fresh, you know. Like, yes, I don't like anything out of a machine, honestly.

SPEAKER_00

Honestly, yeah. Yeah, there's a time and a place unless it's like a smoothie, yeah. Smoothie. Yeah, a fruit cake or something out of a thing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, there's a time and a place for that. Um, but yeah, that espresso mark. I never understood. I get it.

SPEAKER_00

Oh gosh, that's so yeah, it's it's kind of made its making its way out. Yeah, I think so. Um I I don't know about that, but people still get them a lot. Um, okay. What are three things you always have in your home bar?

SPEAKER_02

Some key I always have fresh citrus at my house. Always have fresh citrus. I always have bitters, lots of bitters. Um gosh, I have an entire wall of liquor in Michelle. So I mean I'm sure. But I always have, you know, I always um I always have vermouth as well. Um because when I come home, like I'm real simple. I drink martinis.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

I drink either I either drink a dram of some really great bourbon or whiskey. Um, or I make myself a martini.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Or, you know, right now I'm like, um, I I do, I mean, I have to drink because that's my job, but right now I'm like on kind of like a little um like wanting to have more fresh things because everything's so fresh right now.

SPEAKER_00

Summer makes that.

SPEAKER_02

And I have been making every day uh this watermelon drink. And sometimes I'll put gin, you know, some Cincinnati gin in it, sometimes I won't. But it's so easy. I just blend up a bunch of like chunks of watermelon in my blender and then uh add just a little, just a little bit of fresh lemon juice and then um a just a pinch of sea salt. Oh. And I just drink that, I top it off with um uh lemon cello LaCroix. I hope I'm saying that right, but that's what I thought. Oh yeah. La Croix. And it is one of my favorite things. And sometimes I put gin in it, and that's that's like one of my that's been my drink for the past couple weeks.

SPEAKER_00

I love it.

SPEAKER_02

It's so good, and it's just if you know, even if I don't want to drink alcohol, I just drink it. Drink that. I love it. It's so good. There's no sugar in it, it's just awesome. That is so good.

SPEAKER_00

Well, now I'm gonna I have to go get a cocktail after this.

SPEAKER_02

I feel like I know, right? I know. I have to make a whole I have to I'm uh I have to make a bunch of syrups and stuff and mixers after this.

SPEAKER_00

All these parts they make all make all the stuff fresh. It's so good. I love it. It's a part of the job. Yes. I'm very particular. I go to tell them by the bottles that are on the bar. Yeah, usually has masking tape. Yeah. Then you're like, I'm getting the real deal.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's why that's when you know when they have like, you know, the painter's tape for the you know, it's uh that's what I use. Uh I I love it. I uh go to Finley Market, I pick up everything I need for my mixers, and then I make everything homemade, everything fresh. Awesome. Yeah, have to.

SPEAKER_00

That is great. Well, I am so happy we could chit-chat. I have one one final. I usually do one little final little question. So if you were in a room with everyone you loved, worked with and inspired, what are you raising your glass to? What is your toast?

SPEAKER_02

I do not take um the people who uh who are my friends, my loved ones, my friends, the people of this city. I do not take them for granted. I will raise a glass uh and thank the thank the universe that I have all these people in my life. And I am so freaking grateful that I get to do what I get to do and be my true self every day. So I'm raising a glass to that. I'm raising a glass to um being so grateful and and being so um being able to do to create my own world. And I love that.

SPEAKER_00

I love it.

SPEAKER_02

And and also uh inspiring people to love and be proud of their city.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that that's 100%. Cocktail or not, yeah. Yes, showing shining light on our city is fantastic. Well, I raise a glass to you. Thank you so much for coming onto my podcast.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. I can't wait to have cocktails with you soon. We need to do that soon. You're a busy girl. I know. So are you. I'll stop for a cocktail with mom. I will stop for a cocktail with Michelle.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. I thank you so much for having me on. I love you.

SPEAKER_00

I love you too. Cheers. Cheers.