Wanna See My Shake Face?

My world is wine with a little beer mixed in, so cocktails are relatively new to me. But they're making a comeback, and the more I taste some of the purer, fresher quality concoctions, the more intrigued I become. I gotta start out slow, so right now I mostly enjoy drinks made with a little wine.

Making cocktails is a little like being a mad scientist. Limitless different ingredients, mixed together in different ways to make thousands of different drinks. And when you shake your masterpiece with some ice, the expression on your face is called your "shake face." One bartender I met claims to have seven different faces; I'm gonna stick to just perfecting one.

My friend Jason Burton (pictured here with Brent Anderson, Stir Branding) from The LAB is a pro, and this summer he invented a drink that uses Riverbench Chardonnay. He served it at a recent tasting we hosted, and it was, in short, eye opening. I might be in love with St. Germain Elderflower. I bragged about our Riverbench cocktail to my owners and it ended up on the Far Western Tavern's bar menu, named, embarassingly, for me: the Mohseni. I'll probably always think of it and remember this past (unbearably hot) summer's trip in Kansas City, where it was invented, but I'm super honored.

The takeaway here? Dive in, folks. The cocktails are fine.

Try our very own Riverbench cocktail, and work on your own shake face. Here's the recipe: