“There’s one thing concerning the evolution of native tradition in New Orleans that evokes me day by day,” says Deniseea Head. “It’s all the time been uncooked and vibrant, however we’re beginning to see folks fuse that with some extra elevated touches. The result’s one thing that’s actually fairly particular.” Head’s profession in drinks has spanned the U.S. and now consists of the opening of the under-the-radar New Orleans speakeasy Good Hassle. Her authentic cocktails are sometimes suffused together with her passions for neighborhood—pairing inventive cocktail-making with storytelling and utilizing drinks to coach about Black historical past and tradition.

Most lately, she has collaborated with Grand Marnier as a part of The Grand Encounter: Behind the Bar sequence. This system challenges three creative cocktail minds to discover surprising mixtures of substances, in celebration of Grand Marnier’s personal origin story: The long-lasting French model was created in 1880 by Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle, who first mixed daring Cognac and a liqueur made out of the Bigaradia number of bitter oranges. For the sequence, every bartender was tasked with creating an authentic drink that responded to a duo of themes, together with “Paris + The World” and “Basic + Trendy.” For Head, the duty was to seize the frequent floor that exists between “Elevated + Native.” 

To host the sequence, Grand Marnier referred to as on Colombia-born, Paris-based hospitality veteran Carina Soto Velásquez, who spoke with a trio of famend bartenders, together with Head, Hugo Togni and Takuma Watanabe, pulling again the curtain on their inventive course of. In October, Togni and Watanabe developed this inventive collaboration additional by internet hosting a bar takeover on the famed coctelería Mauz in Madrid to ring in Grand Marnier’s inaugural partnership with The World’s 50 Finest Bars. 

When Head and Velásquez stepped behind the bar collectively, the 2 execs mentioned the surprising harmonies that may be present in clashing components, such because the seemingly distant delicacies of fried hen and Champagne (a pairing that doubles as Head’s Instagram deal with). 

“My model, Rooster & Champagne, is about how an encounter between two seemingly opposing components can unlock one thing outstanding,” Head explains. “The assembly of two areas of experience, corresponding to accessible native dive bars and the extra elevated bars that provide a extra curated expertise—once they come collectively, it’s fireworks.”

Partaking with the juxtaposed notions of “Elevated + Native,” Head created a cocktail she dubbed The Grand Jam. Her cocktail is a play on the Grand Margarita, Grand Marnier’s signature cocktail, which was lately acknowledged by the Worldwide Bartenders Affiliation as a world-renowned fashionable basic. The Grand Jam dials up the easy-breezy vibes with a easy equal-parts spec for all its liquid substances. In keeping with Head, her drink works properly for impromptu entertaining, or as a conveyable, make-anywhere “purse cocktail.” Head is from New Orleans, and champions drinks that may be loved on the transfer (she is understood to journey with a trusted mini cocktail shaker). 

The Grand Jam is a mix of three-quarters of an oz. every of tequila, Grand Marnier and lime juice, shaken with a spoonful of strawberry jam, served over crushed ice, and topped with spicy Tajín and slices of candy-like dehydrated strawberry. “You realize if you come to New Orleans, we’re all the time going to feed you, so it’s bought to have some garnish that you would eat,” says Head. When she pours the cocktail, Head intentionally forgoes the double-strain, choosing a superbly unfussy presentation. “We would like all of the goodness,” she says. “We would like all of the items of that jam.”

Try the video that includes Deniseea Head and Carina Soto Velásquez, and see extra of The Grand Encounter: Behind the Bar sequence by visiting Grand Marnier’s Instagram and the Campari Academy on YouTube. You may also study extra about Deniseea by studying her interview with Campari Academy right here.

Deniseea Head | New Orleans

For this Margarita variation, Deniseea likes to make use of substances you possibly can simply discover in your kitchen. To offer the drink’s candy part extra breadth and complexity, she reaches for strawberry jam for its dense, ripe crimson fruit dimension, and enhances it with the candied orange notes of the Grand Marnier. To garnish the cocktail, Head dusts it with spicy Tajín and a cluster of dehydrated strawberries.   

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 ounce tequila
3/4 ounce Grand Marnier
3/4 ounce lime juice
1 heaping barspoon of strawberry jam

Garnish: dehydrated strawberries, Tajín 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix all substances in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake till chilled.
2. Pressure right into a rocks glass over crushed ice.
3. Garnish with dehydrated strawberries and a lightweight dusting of Tajín.