Hi, everyone. My name is Claudiane. I am a
Brandeis alum, just like many of you. I graduated,
finished undergrad in 2013. I graduated with
a degree in HSSP and anthropology and then
the following year I got a masters degree
in global studies. So I'm a two time Brandeis
alumni. Since then I've gone on to work in
the healthcare field. Right now I work in
UX for a telehealth company and I also work
on social media as a social media influencer/blogger
under the name Nail the Cocktail. If you don't
follow me, please go ahead and follow me on
Instagram. I do a lot of fun things over there
but essentially what I do is I make cocktail
recipes, at least during quarantine I've been
making cocktail recipes throughout this entire
time to spread information about a lot of
the different social things that have been
going on in the world. Outside of that I also
work with a lot of restaurants where I showcase
their cocktails. So it's a little bit of everything.
If you like cocktails, I'm your girl. If you
like manicures, I'm your girl. I always have
a fun quirky manicure and today I kind of
went with the Brandeis theme so they're bright
blue nails.
So I'm going to start off just by introducing
you guys to the first cocktail that I'm making.
I don't know if you guys got the see the list
but we're making three cocktails today. One
is an easy level and that's a cereal milk
cocktail. One is a medium level and that is
the strawberry basil tequila soda, which is
really good. And then the advanced one is
the sage whiskey sour, which takes a little
bit of elbow grease but it tastes amazing.
We're going to start off with the medium level
one just because I want to save the cereal
milk cocktail for last because that's our
dessert cocktail. So I'm going to start off
with the strawberry tequila soda. So what
you'll need is a glass, I'm going to use a
Collins glass, kind of tall glass like this.
And we're just going to build the cocktail
into it. So the first thing you need is a
few strawberries. I'm using four just because
I like the strawberry flavor. And what you're
going to do is you need a muddle or the back
of a spoon and you're going to be crushing
the strawberries into a pulp. And they're
going to stick down into the bottom of the
glass just like that, if you guys can see.
So you're just going to really mush it down,
get all of the juices out. It's going to make
some weird noises but that's definitely fine.
It should.
So you're going to have what looks kind of
like a mush, kind of like that. The next thing
you're going to do is you're going to add
some fresh basil right in there, and then
you're going to muddle it again. So if anyone
knows why muddling is important in mixology,
it's usually to get the flavors and the oils
out of any vegetables, fruits or herbs that
you're using. So right now what we're doing
is we're getting all of the juices and the
flavor out of the strawberry but we're also
breaking off the basil because there's a lot
of really good oils in the basil and that's
where you can get the basil flavor inside
your drink.
So as you can see here, we've kind of just
got a mush of basil and strawberry. The next
thing you're going to od is you're going to
take your sugar and you're just going to plop
it right in there. That's going to be what
sweetens the drink because the drink is already
pretty sweet with the strawberries. And then
we're going to take some fresh lime juice,
I'm going to use about an ounce of lime juice.
And you can measure an ounce. So an ounce
of lime juice, if you don't have what's called
a jigger, which measures an ounce on one side
and two ounces on the other side, if you have
a shot glass, I'm sure everybody here has
a shot glass somewhere inside of their house.
If you have a shot glass, one ounce is half
of it. So a shot glass is two ounces. So what
I'm just going to do is take an ounce of lemon
juice just like this and just pour it right
in here.
And now that we have in all of the good stuff
in the glass, just going to take a spoon,
whether it's the spoon that you muddled with
or just another spoon and mix it all together
so that the sugar gets incorporated in there.
And this is the basis of your cocktail. So
this alone tastes good as is. If you don't
drink alcohol you could just put the soda
water right in here and you have a very refreshing
spritzer. But as I am Nail the Cocktail, it
wouldn't be a cocktail if I didn't add tequila.
So what I'm going to do is add about 0.75
ounces of tequila, which essentially is just
right up until that line there. Just like
that.
And the good thing about this cocktail is
you don't really have to stick to the recipe
super strict. If you like a little more cocktail,
add a little bit more tequila. If you like
a little bit more fruit you can add a little
bit more strawberry and what not. So it's
really up until how you feel it tastes good.
So what we're going to do now is just mix
it around, get the tequila mixed in with all
the juice and all the sugar and that is what
it's supposed to look like at this point.
The next step is we're going to take some
ice. Going to plop enough ice cubes to fill
up to the top. Three or four ice cubes, just
like that.
Then you take some soda water and you're going
to top it off. As you can see here it looks
like one of those really tropical, refreshing
cocktails that you definitely want right now.
And then of course, a cocktail always needs
a garnish so we're just going to put a little
garnish with a little bit of basil, a little
bit of strawberry, top it off some more until
it reaches the top. Then, if you have fun
straws, you can stick a straw in there. You
don't need a straw but that is your first
cocktail. It is a strawberry tequila soda.
That's that. Yay. I see someone lifting their
glass, they made it. Yay. Who is that?
Cheers.
Cheers. Let's see. It tastes incredible. I
mean I didn't expect anything less. So that
is the first cocktail. So that cocktail I
really wanted to teach you guys the technique
of muddling and how you can use a lot of different
stuff in your house. Because a lot of stuff
that you wouldn't normally think to put in
a drink has a lot of really good oils and
flavors in them that once you muddle it out,
that's how you get those really cool flavors
that you usually get at a bar and at a restaurant
that you somehow can't seem to recreate at
home.
So the next cocktail that I'm going to make
for you guys is the hard level cocktail. Don't
get intimidated, it's really not that hard,
it's just kind of the technique that goes
into it. For this cocktail we're going to
be using a shaker. I use a tin shaker, mine's
gold because I'm a little bit extra and I
just really like gold, as you can see surrounding
me. But you can get these literally at TJ
Maxx, Amazon for literally less than $10.
You don't have to be extra and get a gold
bar set like I did. But if you want to get
a gold bar set, there are plenty online. They're
a little more expensive but I think 100% worth
it.
So the first thing I'm going to do is we're
going to take our jigger. Remember, the big
side holds two ounces and then the little
side holds one ounce. So the first thing we're
going to do is we're going to take whiskey.
I'm using this Glenlivet whiskey because it's
the Caribbean reserve. I'm Caribbean, I'm
from Haiti, my family's from Haiti so I like
a little bit of Caribbean flavors in my beverage
but you can use a typical Irish Whiskey or
whatever you have. It all works in this but
I just kind of like this because I like the
feeling of the fruity undertones that it has.
It reminds me of being on a beach somewhere
in a resort.
So we're going to take an ounce and a half
of this. And usually jiggers usually have
lines inside of them so if you buy one of
these you'll see where the 1.75 line is. What
we're going to do is we're going to take it.
You're going to put it in the bigger one just
like that. And at this point this is where
you're going to add a couple cubes of ice
and the reason why I add the ice after the
main booze is because stuff tends to splash
and I don't like to waste alcohol so I usually
put the booze in first, then the ice and then
I add the additional ingredients.
So the next ingredient that we're going to
be doing is Triple Sec and we're going to
use half an ounce so we're going to go to
the side that has one ounce, fill it halfway.
Just like that. And then we're going to do
one and a half ounces of lime juice. So you
go up to the 0.75 line and you just dump it
in here. So right now the technique that we're
using is called building a cocktail. It's
essentially putting ingredient by ingredient
by ingredient inside of the tin with your
ice cubes so that when it gets time to shake
everything's built in there and then all you
have to do is just strain it into your glass.
So the next thing that we're going to do with
this cocktail is one of my favorite ingredients
to use in cocktail making, which isn't really
typical but it's Vermont Maple Syrup. I always
say this is a very bougie cocktail, it's one
of those that has really cool ingredients
so if you're going to use maple syrup you
might as well get the good stuff if you're
going to make a good cocktail. So we're going
to do half an ounce of Vermont Maple Syrup.
And we're just going to build it right into
the shaker. And then next ingredient, it's
a sage infused simple syrup and this is the
next technique I want to teach you guys. Simple
syrup is really one of the main ways to sweeten
a cocktail and how you make simple syrup is
by doing one part white sugar and then one
part water. Put it over a flame and just let
it boil up but don't let it burn. As soon
as it starts to turn slightly golden, that's
when you can take it off the flame.
And then simple syrup is a really great way
to flavor cocktails so what I do is once I
take it off the flame, whatever flavor profile
I want in it, I just throw that stuff into
the syrupy sugar mix and just let it seep.
And then it literally sucks out the oils and
the flavor from it. So as you can see, my
simple syrup went from being lightish, clear
white to this great green because all the
sage is just releasing all of it's oils into
it. Another simple syrup that I really like
to make is jalapeno simple syrup. So I just
take pieces of jalapeno and put it in the
same mixture. So you can literally make any
flavor of simple syrup, which means you can
literally have any kind of creative cocktail
in your arsenal.
So we're going to do, here, like a half an
ounce of this sage simple syrup, which is
homemade. And this is where you're going to
get that really, really complex flavor in
the cocktail. If you've ever found that you've
gone to a cocktail bar and you order a drink
and you're like, "Wow, this tastes really
good. I can tell there's this in it and this
in it." But then you go home and there's no
way to recreate it, these are the tricks that
they're using. They're using infusing different
spirits and infusing all of the simple syrups
and anything they use to sweeten it. That's
where all the flavor's coming from when you
don't usually see those exact ingredients
mixed up in your drink.
And then the next thing we're going to do
is a weird ingredient but at this point you
can either use egg whites or what I like to
use is chickpea water. It's the stuff that
comes in the can of garbanzo beans. So this
is something that I recommend to people who
are vegetarian or vegan. It literally does
the same exact thing that egg whites do, because
I know some people can be weird about, "I
don't want raw eggs in my cocktails." I personally
love a good egg white cocktail but this literally
does the same thing, doesn't change the flavor
profile at all. So what I do is I do about
a tablespoon of the chickpea water, which
is about an ounce, give or take. And then
we throw it in there. At this point we have
built the entire cocktail and now is the fun
part, where you shake.
With cocktails like this you want to shake
for probably about a minute because you want
to get that chickpea water to foam up, or
you want to get the egg whites to foam up
and that's what creates that really cool thin
white layer on top of the glass. So you're
doing it like an arm workout. I want you guys
to see the tin has literally gotten condensation
up until this point. That's kind of what you
want to see because you know when it's high,
because I started the cocktail right around
here, but the foam is now up to here, which
means the garbanzo bean water or the egg white
is creating a foam and that's the thing to
look for.
When you hear it start to get a little quiet,
when it gets quiet that means there's foam
in there and that's exactly what you're looking
for. Sometimes it gets stuck. But for this
cocktail I like to take a really pretty coup
glass, or honestly, you're at home during
quarantine, you can literally use whatever
you have. But just for the sake of being fancy
and because I put on a nice shirt for you
guys, I'm going to use a nice little cocktail
glas.s and I don't know if you can see but
there's a layer of foam in there, it just
looks like white foam, right? So what happens
when you pour it, and I want to strain it
so the ice doesn't get in there, it looks
like ... Just put that in front of me back
here. It just looks like foamy, wonderful
goodness.
Perfect. I still got it. That's good. So now
that we're done with building a cocktail I'm
just going to garnish it by taking a sage
leaf. And I usually use either my fingers
but if I'm making this drink for other people,
I'll use a little bar tweezer type of tool
and just lay it very carefully on top of the
foam. So now it looks super fancy, super pretty.
Literally looks like you paid like $20 at
a really overpriced bar for it. But you did
this at home. And as you can see, I don't
know if you guys can see really clearly here,
but you can see there's a layer of white foam
and the cocktail is kind of orangey-yellow
down below. And over time you'll get the foam
to go a little bit smaller and then the cocktail
will rise up a little bit. But I can't wait
that long, I'm usually the type of person
who starts drinking it now. But the longer
it sits the thinner the white foam gets and
the more Instagrammy it gets.
So that is cocktail number two. The Whiskey
Sage Sour. And the final cocktail, which I
know a lot of people are super excited for
is the cereal milk cocktail. I created this
cocktail because I kind of ... I'm not even
going to lie to you guys, I was watching cartoons
one Saturday morning and I had cereal laying
around. I literally had cereal and almond
milk and I don't like the taste of plain,
unsweetened almond milk and that's what I
had and I was like I need some sugar in this.
But I was like I'm also an adult now so I
can't just eat little kid cereal. So I was
like let me put it in a glass and let me put
in some booze and I made this cocktail. So
this is kind of how it came about.
So the first thing you want to do is you want
to grab a glass. I'm using a rocks glass,
it's kind of a short, stout glass. It usually
takes about three to four ice cubes. A lot
of people will drink Whiskey meat in this
or whiskey on the rocks, which is why it's
called a rocks glass. So a glass that kind
of fits right in the palm of your hand just
like this. So the first thing we're going
to do is we're going to grab our Baileys.
And I know a lot of people got the ingredients
for this one so if you've got the ingredients
for this one, this is your time to shine.
I would love if you put on your video, that
would be lovely. I would appreciate that,
but no pressure. No pressure. I'm here for
it though.
Okay, yes, I see a couple of videos coming
on. I love that for you guys. I see the glass.
Okay, awesome. So the first thing we're going
to do, we're going to grab out jigger. This
is our best friend, helps us measure. You
don't have to be a scientist because I know
a lot of you have science degrees and science
degrees from Brandeis are very difficult.
I don't miss chemistry lab at all. So what
we're going to do is we're going to grab our
Baileys or any kind of cream liqueur you have
and you're going to do one ounce of it. So
the small side. And you want to fill it right
to the top.
So you're going to have about that much of
Baileys. Then the next thing we're going to
do, is grab some vodka and we're going to
take the same amount. So do one ounce of vodka
right into the glass. So this is kind of what
it looks like right now. You can swirl it
up a bit. And the next thing we're going to
do is we're going to take two ounces of milk.
Or an ounce, depending on how you're feeling.
But that's what it's going to look like. And
this is a really easy cocktail, no tool. Just
swirl. You can do this in a shaker but honestly,
you're going to be eating with cereal, what's
the point of the extra step, right? So just
swirl it in the glass, get it kind of mixed
up here then I throw in about two ice cubes
just so that it gets chilled. And again, just
swirl it like that.
And then my favorite part ... Well, actually
my second favorite part is you're going to
get some chocolate syrup. Get the cheap stuff
because the sweeter, the cheaper, the better
it tastes when it comes to this. It's not
what I said about the Vermont Maple Syrup
earlier. This stuff, you want it to kind of
feel like you're getting a cavity with this
cocktail. So what happens here is we're just
going to wait for it to pour. That's how you
know I use this often because it definitely
is usually quicker than this but you're just
going to stream it onto the side and you're
going to stream a good amount of this, until
you see a little brown layer at the bottom
of the cocktail glass, that's when you know
you have enough in this. I am not claiming
that this cocktail is low calorie, I am not
claiming that this cocktail is healthy. The
same way you order dessert and almost regret
it is exactly how you're going to feel about
this cocktail.
As you can see, the chocolate's kind of settling
but if you give it some time it'll all settle
to the bottom of the glass. And then, my favorite
part. I have some Cocoa Puffs cereal. So you
take the cereal, any cereal of your choice.
And you literally just top it on top. And
then try to get it in a little mound. And
then you literally can throw a straw in there
and sip on it and then once it gets lower,
you grab a spoon and you sip on it. But that,
my friends, is the cereal milk cocktail. I
did the chocolate cereal milk cocktail with
Cocoa Puffs. If you want to use caramel cereal
and do Cinnamon Toast Crunch, that's another
cocktail I've done before. What I usually
do is I actually use Golden Grahams with caramel
syrup. Life changing. Literally it will change
your life. But this is my favorite cocktail.
And the cool thing about this is depending
on what level of ... How fun you want to get,
as it starts to go down and you want more
milk for your cereal, you can either add more
almond milk or, if you're like me, you can
add more Baileys. So it's like the drink that
keeps on giving, honestly. This is my favorite
drink so I'm going to take a sip of this but
I want to cheers all of you first. So cheers
to ... Look at everyone's cocktails. Oh my
gosh. This is awesome. Cheers to all of you,
Brandeis alum. Cheers. Oh my God, that's so
good. Not to toot my own horn but that's so
good. This is really delicious.
Oh, I want to show you guys what happened
with the sage one. Remember I said if you
give it some time you can see that color distinction?
So the foam starts to rise to the top and
then you get that really pretty foam that
you usually see with a nice shaken cocktail.
But this is how they do it. And if you follow
my Instagram you know my signature pose was
to hold a cocktail up to the screen with my
nails just like that. So there's the signature
Nail the Cocktail shot. But honestly, I'm
really here for this one. This is my favorite
one. So yeah.
Let's see. Did anyone make the cocktail and
enjoy it? Or did not enjoy it? I'm up for
criticism. I know you're wrong but I'm up
for criticism. I like that because a lot of
you guys made different ones. I saw a couple
sage ones, which I'm very impressed that you
guys went for the hard one. It wasn't that
hard though. Right? But we all just saved
an Uber ride home and a like $40 bar tab tonight
because we made our own drinks. That's what
it's all about. Does anyone on here follow
Nail the Cocktail? Or had known about Nail
the Cocktail before this? Yay. I love that.
Love that for you guys.
Feel free to follow Nail the Cocktail. I post
all throughout quarantine. I've been posting
my own recipes just because restaurants have
been closed. But normally, what I used to
do is, like I said, I would go out to different
restaurants and feature their cocktails to
let you guys know what's out there at any
given time. But right now I'm doing a mixture
of the both, just because I've enjoyed creating
cocktails all day long every day during quarantine.
And then I get off work and I'm like, "All
right, what's the next cocktail?" So I have
a ton of recipes that you guys can go scroll
through. Oh thank you. I appreciate that.
You guys can scroll through, see all the recipes.
When you see a picture, you just slide all
the way to the last photo and it gives you
all the ingredients in them. So it's like
your own little cocktail recipe book on Instagram
is kind of how I think about it. Your welcome.
Does anyone have questions for me? I like
questions. No? Wow. I feel like Brandeis students
had a lot of questions when I was in class.
I actually have a question.
Yay. What is it?
So I'm not sure if this is too advanced or
not really something you can talk about or
whatever, but I've heard a little bit about
people making their own bitters at home
and I don't know if you know about that? It
looks difficult, definitely a lot more-
I've attempted to make my own bitters and
it failed. So what I do is the easy way up,
it's still a little bit advanced, I just take
the regular Angostura Bitters, which is the
typical bitters that you have anywhere. And
what I do is the same way that I infuse my
simple syrup, I'll infuse the Angostura Bitters.
So I'll put chili peppers into the Angostura
Bitter and then I'll get chili pepper bitters.
So it's kind of the easy way out of it, rather
than making your bitters from scratch because
that is a whole process.
Yeah, it's quickly home brewing, I guess.
Yeah. I think the easy way to do it is just
get some good Angosturas and just take a couple
dashes of it and then just infuse it. Put
whatever spices or herbs or whatever and let
it sit for 72 hours just so it can get all
the flavor, then strain out the other stuff,
the stuff you want to discard and then you
have your flavored bitters.
Thank you.
Absolutely. Is there something ... I can't
see the chat. What's your favorite alcoholic
drink that doesn't taste like alcohol? Honestly,
I love everything. But I like really fruity
drinks. So I could do a pina colada all day
long and I don't taste the alcohol in pina
coladas, but if you've ever seen a pina colada
get made, a real one, it's like 50% alcohol.
So those are really good. I also really like
this one that I made, not to toot my own horn,
this one tastes really good but it literally
just tastes like candy and cereal. But those
are, I think pina colada is my favorite non-alcoholic,
alcohol tasting drink.
Let's see here. What was the first drink you
shared with your friends? When I turned 21?
I remember this, I was at Brandeis. When I
turned 21, my first alcoholic drink was a
My Tai. That was the first drink that I got
with an ID and that was my first drink and
I'm sticking to that story.
Okay, I answered that. Do you have any favorite
coffee based drinks? Yes. So my favorite coffee
based drink to make is I make an espresso
martini but I use something called Borghetti,
which is essentially the more fancy version
of Kahlua. Kahlua is kind of like you go into
a store and you grab it just like you grab
Baileys but Borghetti is a little bit more
on the expensive side. The same way like if
you buy Triple Sec versus buying Cointreau,
they're both the same thing but Cointreau
has a higher price tag versus regular Triple
Sec that you can get. But an espresso martini
with Borghetti is absolutely delicious.
How did you get into cocktail making? Honestly,
I used to be a bartender. So when I was at
Brandeis I worked for the catering department
and I worked as a bartender there. Literally
I used to bartend at the Stye, at the faculty
club, just pouring beer and wine and making
signature drinks for different people's events.
And I think the first real event that I made
real cocktails at was Robert Craft had a trustee
event there and I was mixing drinks for Robert
Craft and I was like, "Okay, I've got to be
good at this." And he liked one of my cocktails
despite the fact that he only ever gets one
type of alcohol. And then after I graduated,
when I was in grad school I worked for a temp
agency bartending throughout Massachusetts
and I kind of just ... The art of mixology
has just stuck with me but then after I went
on to work for the healthcare industry, a
couple of coworkers and I would love to go
out for drinks but where we were working at
in the city didn't have many cool bars. So
I was like, I think we need to go explore
outside downtown and stuff and so we started
going around to different bars and that's
how Nail the Cocktail started. I didn't see
anyone else doing an Instagram account exploring
bars so that's how I got into it.
Do you do your nails to match the cocktails?
No I do my nails to match my mood, to be really
honest. I love funky colors and I think it's
kind of funny because I've always worked in
government or corporate settings where the
whole funky nail thing is not professional.
But I always show up to interviews with the
craziest nails I can possibly show up to because
I know that they're always going to be a topic
of conversation and they're always going to
remember me. And literally every time I've
been hired someone's been like, "Oh my God,
I love your nails," during the interview.
I'm like, I know, I know. But I just do them
really funky colors because they stick out
in photos and I usually always wear all black
so this is the one place in my life where
colors come in.
Do you do any corporate Zoom events? My company
would love this. Yes, I do. This is actually
my third one. This is definitely the one I've
had the most fun on. Don't tell any of my
other clients but this is definitely the one
I've had the most fun on because this is just
talking to friends versus actually being professional.
Not that I'm not being professional for you
guys but ... Definitely, yeah. Reach out,
I would totally love to do this for any company.
Especially because a lot of companies are
now corporate, not corporate, remote. So a
lot of them are looking for things to do.
What's a low calorie cocktail? My favorite-Actually,
this one here, if you replace the sugar with
stevia or something or a zero calorie sweetener,
that's actually a really good low calorie
cocktail. But I'm very basic. Despite the
fact that I make all these crazy cocktails,
when I go out to a bar, I'm a vodka soda or
gin and tonic kind of girl. Which is completely
the polar opposite of cereal milk cocktail.
But I like a good vodka soda. I also like
Negronis, I don't really think those are low
calorie but they're also really strong so
that may be why.
Did I miss any questions? I can't tell, those
are going really fast. Have you done any pop
up events at bars and restaurants? Yes I have.
So back when the world was open, before March,
I actually used to host weekend brunches at
different restaurants. So I hosted a weekend
brunch at a restaurant that used to be called
Town. I've hosted a Beyonce brunch at Citrus
and Salt in Back Bay in Boston. I don't know
if any of you guys know that restaurant. But
I usually do some very now and then, I don't
do them too often because it's just a lot
of work. But they are fun. I get to meet a
lot of people that follow me on Instagram
that I have no idea who they are and they
have no idea who I am so it's kind of a cool
little experience.
Do you sell cocktail kits? I would buy. I
personally don't sell cocktail kits just because
the process of creating them and selling them,
that's a whole full time job. I don't but
I have collaborated with different charitable
groups to sell cocktail kits for a charity
over COVID. So the recent one I did, we donated
100% of the proceeds to The Trevor Project
to support LGBTQ youth. And then the one before
that, we did two charities that supported
the Black Lives Matter movement. So I've been
doing a lot of that during quarantine just
to give back and use this platform that I
have. Citrus and Salt is phenomenal. Their
tacos are amazing. I agree with you 1000%.
You've probably seen me there because I literally
used to be there every single week of my life.
Any brunch cocktail recommendations? So sick
of Mimosas and Bloody Marys. I am sick to
Mimosas and Bloody Marys too, the basic ones.
But there are a lot of places that are doing
really suped up ones, creative ones. I recently
saw a chili pepper and basil Bloody Maria,
which was really good. There are people who
do flights of Mimosas in the cute little things
where they have like four or five of them
with all different flavors. But I think a
good brunch cocktail is just plain champagne.
But then again I am bougie so don't listen
to me because I will steer you in the wrong
direction. But honestly, I think whatever
your favorite flavor profile is, there's no
such thing as a brunch cocktail. I think everything
I make here is a brunch cocktail. I think
vodka on the rocks is a brunch cocktail. I
think whiskey neat is a brunch cocktail. I'm
not going to be like I have to have a Mimosa
because it's brunch. But if you're looking
for something really, really brunchy, I think
espresso martinis are brunch cocktails, to
be honest with you. And we can debate that
all day long. But I really do feel like they
belong at brunches because they're just like
cereal milk with coffee at the same time.
Did I miss any questions? I'm just going to
scroll up really quickly. Low cal, answered
that one. The Stye, love the Stye. Mozzarella
sticks for life. Let's be friends. Send me
a message on Instagram. I'd love to follow
you guys back, as you can tell I have a lot
of followers who I can't really sort through.
So if you saw me on here, just send me a message
that just says Brandeis and I'll follow you
right back.
But I think I got most of the questions. If
you're ever in the Dorchester area, I am a
lot, swing by Reign Drink Lab, I have been
there, owned by Deis alums, very true. Wait,
are you one of them? I've been there before.
Yeah, I'm one of the owners at Reign Drink
Lab.
Yeah, I've been there. I think I follow you
on Instagram. Small world.
That's great. We would love to have you for
a pop up event if you're available.
Absolutely. 100%, I'm down. Especially now
that I know that you're Brandeis alum, I'm
super down.
That's great.
That was funny. I was reading it and I was
like oh my God, oh my God, yes, yes. I was
like wait, who are you? Show yourself. Yes,
Dorchester in the halls. Any more questions?
This is fun. I don't really get to hear myself
talk this much because I don't really see
many people during quarantine so I feel like
I'm having a little party in my living room
right now.
What's an unusual cocktail you enjoy? I like
spicy herby cocktails. So this is going to
sound really gross, but if you take celery
and basil and just muddle them together and
you get that celery basil juice, I like to
take that with vodka and then muddle that
with jalapenos and just drink it just like
that. That sounds very disgusting but if you
like Bloody Marys and if you like really stiff
drinks, it just tastes really refreshing but
spicy and herby at the same time.
Do you grow your own herbs for drinks? Yes.
I do grow my own herbs. So I actually have
a couple more of these planters. This is my
last empty space, I have like nine slots.
But right now I'm growing basil, thyme, I
just grew chives, green onions. I have this
leek that needs to be cut, it's pretty long.
Most of the regular stuff, chives, parsley,
all of it.
I love your plants. Which one is your favorite?
That's like asking someone to pick their favorite
child. You don't do that. But my favorite
plant might be this bird of paradise right
here. It was the first giant plant I ever
got. I also like this plant that's right here,
it's called a fatonia. It's very dramatic
so when it needs water it literally just flops
over and it looks dead but as soon as you
put water, in the course of 15 minutes it
just rises. So it's a really dramatic plant
so I really like that one. But I have almost
50 plants. You literally can't ask me what
my favorite is.
Let's see. I think that was all, if not most
of the questions. Anyone wants to slide in
and ask another one? This was fun. I wish
I did Nail the Cocktail at Brandeis. That
would've been really fun. I thought of this
idea a little too late. Well not too late,
better late than never but imagine if this
was at Brandeis.
Claudiane, as a staffer on the alumni relations
office, I think we're going to set you up
in the middle of our office as soon as we
get back on campus. This was absolutely fantastic.
I raised my fake glass to you here. Really
well done, I'm sure everyone had a good time.
If it's all right, we're going to break up
into some breakout rooms so y'all can just
hang out with whoever ends up in your rooms.
Claudiane is going to float around, I think,
to the various rooms, as will I, and you'll
see, hopefully some other folks you know and
all that. Thank you all so much for coming
and if you want to switch rooms come back
into the main room and we can try to figure
out, we'll get you into another room. But
again, I raise a glass to you Claudiane, this
was fantastic.
Cheers.
