High Spirits: Garden in a Glass

garden bloody mary

View Andrew Chabot and Graham Case’s recipe on page 66 »

HIGH SPIRITS GARDEN

in a GLASS

by

JUDITH MARA

The views are never ending at Blackberry Farm, which is tucked into the idyllic foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, and so is their connection to the earth.

The renowned restaurant, fondly called The Barn, is revered for both its Foothills cuisine and its resident culinary artists: the chef, the master gardener, the baker, the cheesemaker, the forager, the butcher, the jam lady, the chocolatier, the mixologist, and the sommelier.

Blackberry Farm’s Sommelier and Food & Beverage Director, Andrew Chabot, and Mixologist, Graham Case, have created no less than three separate cocktail menus based on what is grown on the farm. To us, nothing represents a garden of fresh flavors more than their Garden Bloody Mary served in a Mason jar. Chabot asserts that making their own Bloody Mary mix with Angostura syrup bitters and hot pepper sauce gives the drink a depth of flavor rather than just heat. The traditional ingredient notably missing is celery salt. He claims the fresh sour mix is what livens up the tomato flavor and makes the cocktail more vibrant.

However, this spirited drink has one distinction not tied to a garden: It’s made with fine Kentucky bourbon. When Chabot was asked why he uses bourbon, he responded, “Why not?” As fresh and delicious as this recipe tastes, we say the exact same thing.