Hey guys, I’m Brandon, a cocktail enthusiast and home bartender based out of Durham, NC, and I am stoked to be working with Sip’d on this project.

While I certainly am an amateur (strictly in the sense that I have never tended bar professionally), I am a true cocktail fanatic with an ever-growing collection of spirits, homemade cocktail accoutrements, and cocktail books, developing my passion on a hobbyist budget. That’s where I hope to help you all!

In some ways, that makes me an ideal person for this series – I have developed a passion for studying all things cocktail but with a necessary ingenuity brought about by substituting for (or creating) missing pieces of the inspirational craft cocktail I found myself reading. I hope to pass along not only my appreciation of the art of craft cocktails, but also the tricks I have collected along the way. 

The aim of Riff’d is simple: to help aspiring or beginning home bartenders understand the essential classic cocktails and begin their own journey of creating original cocktails by playing with flavors, presentations, textures, and techniques within the classic template.

Additionally, it is the goal of the blog to offer sources of expert information through intermittent posts dedicated to cocktail book reviews (through an amateur lens, of course). Wherever possible, I will attempt to present the basic building blocks as well as intended flavor-profile of my riffs, so that the reader has the freedom to experiment with your own substitutions or creations.

Ultimately, I hope to foster not only the sense of personal accomplishment that comes with learning a new skill but also a sense of community. Afterall, how better to try out new drinking-making skills than with loved ones! Salud!