The Pickle Shooter with John King (TCGS S5 E3)

TCGS S5 E3 – The Pickle Shooter

Announcer: [00:00:00] Jonathan Pogash is the cocktail guru, a mixologist and hospitality expert that see, yeah, you know, big words, dude. I'm, I'm the cocktail guru. Cheers Jeffries, his dad, a wine and spirits author, historian, and consultant. Oh.

Jeffrey: I do my homework.

Announcer: With decades of experience, they're always looking for the next big thing.

Announcer: Join this father and son duo for a few laughs as they explore the hottest trends in hospitality with the service industry's leading trailblazers and taste makers. Welcome to the Cocktail Guru Show.

Jonathan: Well, dad, we are. We're actually here at your Mecca.

Jeffrey: We're in the deepest, darkest recesses. Of the tropical forest of Tahiti.

Jonathan: We are at the newly revamped maka in Fort Lauderdale and our special guest who happens to be here and he met us for dinner, Mr. John King from the [00:01:00] original pickle shot. Hello John.

Jonathan: Hi guys. Thank you for having me.

John King: What? We just had dinner. What'd you think? Oh, it was amazing. The performance was amazing and on top of the food was amazing as well. The cocktails are pretty good.

Jeffrey: That fire dance was really a show, a sight to be seen.

Jonathan: Um, you know, they, they revamped this about. Well, they started a few years ago. Yeah, just opened about six months ago. We came here. We've been here a couple of times. We've been

Jeffrey: here at least three or four times.

Jonathan: And of course, everyone knows at home that we're tiki fanatics. Um, and really this is one of the, uh, utmost.

Jonathan: Tiki cocktail bars, restaurants, performances that you'll ever see anywhere.

Jeffrey: One of the last remaining great tiki restaurants in the United States. Exactly.

Jonathan: And, um, you know, we're going to sit down with you a little later at Swizzle Rumbar in, uh, closer to downtown Fort Lauderdale, I think. Right? Yeah, [00:02:00] exactly.

Jonathan: Yeah. I'm excited. Yeah. So that's gonna be a lot of fun. Um, and I mean, what are, we, have you had, you've had Pickle Daiquiris, obviously with the original Pickle Shot.

John King: It goes with more cocktails than you can think of. It really does and, and you can get creative with it. And that's why we think bartenders are gonna love it because it's the, we haven't even scratched the surface of it yet.

John King: It's limitless to cocktails you can do with pickles. Yeah.

Jonathan: Yeah. Well,

Jeffrey: we're excited to talk more about it and I can't wait to try the pickle shot. And the Spicy Pickle.

John King: He is the pickle guy, so he's gonna be the true test.

Jeffrey: I'm, I'm the spicy pickle shot guy with Bloody Mary's. That's right. Yeah.

Jonathan: He, he is. So, um, you guys stay tuned for the interview, uh, coming up next with Mr.

Jonathan: John King.

Commercial: Thanks for agreeing to come to Couples Therapy with me. Kim,

Commercial: why don't you tell me what's bothering you?

Commercial: Well. I saw you tell the entire tailgate that the pickles on the toothpicks and the top martinis was your idea. [00:03:00] Mm, when it was me Who came up with that?

Commercial: I think you're overreacting. Dustin.

Commercial: Is that from Kim?

Commercial: My tailgate therapist or my friend?

Commercial: If you consider that two people can independently come up with the same idea,

Commercial: I think that's a cop out

Commercial: here, but that was me speaking as your tailgate therapist. Let's role play. Kim will be you. You'll be Kim.

Commercial: Wait, I'm confused.

Commercial: No, look at me. I'm Dustin. I care about who gets credit for putting pickles on toothpicks.

Commercial: Wait a minute,

Commercial: let her finish

Commercial: fine.

Commercial: I'm a sad little man, so obsessive for tiny things. I'm Kim

Commercial: and I brag about things I didn't even do to feel better about myself.

Announcer: I am sorry.

Commercial: I think we made a lot of progress today. Well, I don't,

Jonathan: we are here in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. How exciting is this, John? It's so exciting. And we had, uh, we're traveling. We

Jeffrey: are,

Jonathan: we had [00:04:00] an illustrious time at um. My Kai last night. Right?

Jeffrey: Oh, it was fantastic. What a time.

Jonathan: Thanks to our next guest. I know, um, just the scenery and the cocktails.

Jonathan: We were just talking about how they've really stepped up their cocktail game and their ingredients and they're using better ingredients in their drinks. Yeah. Um, and technique seems to have improved as well. The

Jeffrey: cocktails that I had last night were infinitely better than what

Jonathan: Yeah. They

Jeffrey: had done

Jonathan: in the past.

Jonathan: I, I like how they had a section of the menu that was lower proof. Well, they had no proof, zero proof. They had lower proof, and then they had kind of the, um, higher octane. Cocktails. Yeah. On there, right? It was so good. Um, delicious. But we have, uh, an, an amazing guest. You met him, uh, when we did the segment at Myka last night.

Jonathan: Mr. John King, who is, uh, one of the co-founders of the original Pickle Shot. Uh, and we're so excited to have you here on. The Cocktail Guru Show. Welcome.

John King: Welcome, John. I appreciate it. Jonathan Jeffrey. Thank you guys for having me. Excited to be here.

Jonathan: That was fun last night, right?

John King: Uh, it was my first time. I know some people have been there before, but it was, uh, an awesome show.

John King: Uh, the [00:05:00] food was great and the cocktails were even better.

Jeffrey: Yeah. And the food was better than usual as well? Yes, I thought Big improvement, I think So. Quality of the food? I

Jonathan: think so. Um, and I was just saying that. My kids would probably enjoy it too. I think that they, they're at the age where they can sit through it and they could probably find something to eat, because that's always, that's always an issue with them.

Jonathan: Right.

Jeffrey: Well, speaking of eating, yes. Pickles yes. Are among my favorite foods there. You grow

Jonathan: up, you've got some stories about your experiences with pickles. I do have choice. I won't bore, bore you with, maybe we'll have time for one of them, but they have to do with. Eating pickles out of a pickle barrel, of course.

Jonathan: And, and really the, the, the Brian, the pickle, Brian is the star of the show in the original pickle shot. And we wanna, you know, go, uh, delve a little deeper into the brand, the story, the origin story. Um, and you also, John, so let's just start out. Pretty informally. Sure. Um, how, how did the idea come about?

Jonathan: What is the origin story of the original Pickle shot?

John King: So, the, the great thing [00:06:00] about the original Pickle Shot, it actually started in the trade, so perfect for, you know, this segment. Um, it actually started with bartenders, with the owner of a bar at a local bar in Ocean City, Maryland. So, small beach town in the Northeast, uh, gets a ton of visitors over the summer and the, the story goes, this predated me and I can't take full credit.

John King: You know, it wasn't my brilliant idea. Um, but um, before my co-founders even owned it, it they, the owner, the bartenders just created this shot by using leftover pickle juice and they needed to, they couldn't get enough of it, so they used to drive around to other restaurants and collect the old used pickle juice, bring it back to the restaurant.

John King: Ironically called Pickles Pub, and then mix it with, you know, your standard cheap vodka and, and boom, you have your pickle shot. Now, when my co-founder moved back from Florida and took over the pub, um, he had the brilliant idea to, you know, start sourcing it himself, start making it, infusing it himself.

John King: And that's really where, that was back in about, [00:07:00] uh, 2014 when, when he kind of started that. And then we formed it in 2018. But that's where the original pickle shot really started.

Jonathan: Awesome. And, um, you sourced the pickle brine, um, from one location, multiple locations

John King: at that time. He did it from one location.

John King: Um, it's a little bit of our trade secret, but something we're very proud of. We spent many years, uh, I, I say O'Brien is not created equal, so now we use a proprietary. Brine. It's real pickle brine. There's no artificial flavors in it. So that's why, and you'll find out you get that great strong pickle taste that's gonna remind him of being a kid and eating it out of the pickle battle.

Jeffrey: Yeah. And there's no sugar.

John King: There is no sugar. No sugar.

Jeffrey: Gluten free.

John King: Gluten free. Um, kosher. Kosher certified. Just

Jeffrey: like the pickles,

John King: the color is real. We like to point that out. Everyone looks at it and like, what is that beautiful green color? It's actually real, real ingredients, flavor that, that, that brings out that brine.

John King: Yeah, I can see it from

Jeffrey: here.

John King: Exactly. And if you go to a liquor

Jonathan: [00:08:00] store, it's actually quite reasonable, um, to, to grab a bottle and bring it home and make yourself some cocktails, some bloody Mars. That's, that's the best

John King: part about it. We're not something, we're not an overpriced brand. We're an everyday, you know.

John King: Drinking brand and, and it's, it's not super expensive. It's my dream

Jeffrey: come true because you know how important Pickle Bryan is to my bloody Mary's, that's one of, they do, I'm revealing this for the first time publicly. It's one of my secret ingredients in the Bloody Mary. Wow. And it just adds so much character.

Jeffrey: And now, ever since I was introduced to John King and his great product, I've been using Pickle Shot. I love it. The original pickle shot for my bloody Mary. And you're, you're somewhat of a purist when it comes to Bloody Mary's, um, right. Well, I'm a pure, yes. I mean, I use very good ingredients. Right. So I use top ingredient.

Jeffrey: Yes. So utilizing this, I mean, I think

Jonathan: goes with your philosophy of, of kind of that purism Yes.

Jeffrey: But, but my goal is to make it taste good. Yeah. And you know. That's my primary concern to make drinks the taste good spice.

Jonathan: And you [00:09:00] like a bit of spice in your bloody mar too, right? Oh, I use a lot of spice React.

Jeffrey: Yes. I use, and I don't use, um, the traditional tab. Oh, you put some No, you don't use, I don't use traditional pepper sauces and pepper sauce. I use uh, cayenne pepper, cayenne,

Jonathan: yes. Actual, but using the tops, the original pickle shot. Um, spicy. But yes, I was gonna

Jeffrey: say, now I can use, instead of doing that, I can use spicy.

Jeffrey: Original pickle shop

Jonathan: and, you know, um, it's really an interesting dichotomy between, you know, cocktails these days. Savory cocktails are definitely huge and I've, I've loved experimenting with savory ingredients in cocktails, um, saline, you know, salt. Pickled ingredients, all of that is really hot. And I've, what I've noticed is that around the world, especially in some of the top cocktail making places in Asia, in Europe, they're really focusing in on those brine ingredients, um, saline salt ingredients.

Jonathan: Um, and [00:10:00] they're the ones that are getting the top recognition. These days. And also the ones in the US obviously like the World's 50 best. The world's a hundred best, which I forgot to mention we're here, um, at Swizzle, rumbar and Drinkery in Fort Lauderdale. They have a Miami location also, and they are number 78 in the North America's.

Jonathan: Best 100 Mm. Uh, which is a, a really big deal. That's impressive. Yeah. And so the, the savory cocktail trend is huge and I don't see it falling off anytime soon. And low A BV is also a trend as well. And so combining the two together, I think makes a really incredible cocktail. Yeah. Itself.

Jeffrey: And, you know, it's kind of like bacon.

Jeffrey: Every great cocktail needs to have pickled brine. I mean real, it just makes the drink taste so much better with when you put tops in it. It does. Yeah. Yeah. And you're,

Jonathan: you were saying last night that you guys do these big pickle festivals, right? I mean, these are kind of viral sensations these days.

John King: It's [00:11:00] crazy.

John King: When I started this thing, I like pickles. I like 'em a lot. When we go to these, so it's called the Big Deal. It's promoted as the world's largest pickle party. So it's not just a festival. It's brings together from people all over the country. There people come internationally and they are crazy and crazy, in a good way about pickles, kinda like this guy here, and it's, it's just super fun.

John King: Everyone's great spirit and they just love trying different, whether it's pickle, cocktails, pickle food, you see it in the supermarket. When you walk in now, there's dedicated aisles to pickles. You see it when you go to Disney World now. There's a pickle cocktail on the menu. Um, it's, it's taking over

Jonathan: and I'm, I'm thankful that it is taking over because, you know, it's, it's in my blood.

Jonathan: I think

Jeffrey: Brian runs through my, yeah, I think it runs through me too. Ever since I was two years old and used to go to visit Ed at his local supermarket. Please do tell in, uh, in Maplewood New Jersey where my. Parents lived, but my grandparents lived [00:12:00] next to my parents. It was an apartment complex. And my grandmother used to stroll me over to Ed's, which was a half a block away from our apartment.

Jeffrey: And every time we walked into that store, I strolled into the store. Um, ed would go over to the barrel, take the top off, and then with his, uh. Tongs, whatever implement tongs he was using, uh, he would take a pickle out and hand it to me and I would. Be there in my stroller. Laid back. Munching, like gnawing on it.

Jeffrey: Yeah. Yeah. As a kid. Yeah. And that's my introduction to people. I did the same thing. I remember that I

John King: remembered as a kid sitting in the cart. And that's why we call this brand nostalgic. It's, it's, it, it, we don't have a age, you know, age market. It literally goes from all ages. Kids are already starting to love pickles.

John King: They're not our customers yet. No, no. But maybe in the future. Mm-hmm. Definitely do that. Yeah.

Jonathan: So, um, remind me again of the, the [00:13:00] year that the brand started, or, or, well, I know there's a difference between the, the recipe or the um. Thought behind it

John King: versus when the brand came up. We actually bottled it halfway through two th 2018, so we actually just crossed our seventh year, which we're very proud about.

John King: Mm-hmm. Um, and let's just say all the years weren't as easy and it, it's still not easy, but all the, you know, the first couple years were a struggle in this business. Sure. Um, so we, we were self-distributing for two years. I was. Delivering, selling, loading up cases into my Honda Civic and driving 13 hours to deliver to retail accounts, to bars.

John King: Um, but we, we made it through that and, and then it, it kind of just took off from there. We dis distributors kept saying yes. Um, they, they saw the trends of the savory flavors, the low A BV, and it's, it's really been, uh, a wildfire now.

Jonathan: That's awesome. Um, and do you have, I mean, I, I presume, I know that you have big plans for the future and you've [00:14:00] done trade events like WSWA, which we saw you at last year.

Jonathan: We were doing some episodes there. That's the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America

Jeffrey: and Bar Convent, Brooklyn. Yeah. Bar Con Van Brooklyn. Great Event.

Jonathan: Tales of the cocktail. Yep. Uh, I know you were at, um, but what else, you know, what else are you looking forward to in the, uh.

John King: Coming years. It's, it's really, we think, and I, and I have a great team, uh, with brazen imports, um, that, that really are leading the charge, I guess you could say, to get it to the rest of the pickle people.

John King: Um, and even the non pickle people, the, the, you know, that we're experiment with, with cocktails. So really now the goal is to open up the rest of the us. Um, so we're, we're dead set on that. We're currently in 42 states. We're growing very fast. Um, the, the numbers are, are shocking and people still don't believe us, but we're getting the data to to back it up.

John King: Um, so that's fun to, to be able to show people that it's, it is growing, it's growing organically and there's still people that don't know about it and [00:15:00] people that still don't have that access to it. So it's our goal to bring it to the rest of the country, the US before we start looking elsewhere.

Jeffrey: And that's a noble effort.

Jeffrey: John,

John King: I appreciate

Jeffrey: that because bringing. Pickle brine and the original pickle shot to the people is very important to the pickle people. To the, to, to we pickle people. Yes. They deserve it. Yeah. Yes, we do. Yes, we do.

Jonathan: And you've, you, um, have done events like. Partnering with pickleball and other sporting events and that sort of thing, right?

John King: Absolutely. There's, it's, you know, we say pickle people and we do like to have fun at those events, but it's, you know, pickleball is an obvious one, but it's really, you think tailgates you, it's just getting the liquid, the lips, it's getting as many people to try it because it's not. It's not your everyday normal people think of your normal shop brand or your normal cocktail mixer because it hasn't been done before.

John King: So being the original is very important to us. Um, and, and being the market leader is very [00:16:00] important to us. So we want to make sure everyone tries ours first and maybe not some of the other ones. And, and I really like your

Jonathan: social media campaign with the, um, I think it's the tailgate therapist. I think that that's kind of.

Jonathan: Cute and fun and it's, uh, I mean, it shot really well and I, I think it's funny,

Commercial: remember, the hole that you're aiming at is not just the hole on that board, but the hole that exists within all of us. The pain that we can't be at a tailgate for our entire lives.

Commercial: Oh,

Commercial: wow. I feel so at peace. I didn't even hear it hit the board, so it went in right.

Commercial: Yeah, sure.

John King: It's, we have a, a great team behind us, marketing, very creative people, and that's we're, I say we're a fun brand. Yeah. You know, I didn't come from the industry, so I don't follow all the rules. I like to have fun with it.

John King: Good. So it, and it, it's, it's fun for the people too. It's, you know, they, we like to be creative and we like [00:17:00] to, you know, get it out there as much as possible. We've got the story, we've

Jonathan: got the background, we have the base, but the juice itself is pretty delicious. We've obviously had it before. We've experimented with it in cocktails.

Jonathan: Let's go ahead and try some right now. Yes. We must mean you can talk

Jeffrey: until you're blue in the face. I was just gonna say,

Jonathan: or until you're green in the face. Um, let's go ahead and uh, open up the original pickle shot Dill.

Jeffrey: Yes pickle. Yep. Hope you don't mind if I start without

John King: you. He can't wait. Ooh, wow.

John King: That's what, that's what a lot of people do when they first try. Yeah. They smell it. Yeah. They're, they're a little tentative. They're like, is this real? Oh, I'm not tentative. Oh, it's real.

Jeffrey: I'm just enjoying the nose.

Jonathan: Yes. Very nice nose, fresh pickle brine.

Jeffrey: Mm mm.

Jeffrey: That's so concentrated. Yeah. And delicious. It's just hedonistic pleasurable. Wow. Yeah, that's what it's hedonistic pleasure. [00:18:00] Yeah. Good with, can't even say it. Good on its own. Straight. Good over ice. I would imagine.

John King: That's the way I drink it. It's. Everyone drinks it differently. Yes. How, how else? I mean, you drink it of rice.

Jonathan: What else?

John King: When it started it, it really was a shot brand because it was just that kind of beach market. It was a beer and a shot. Yeah. And that's how most people were consuming it. And a lot of people still consume it that way too. But now we're getting into, we, we didn't even know, like the, the, the way cocktails were going, the savory flavors, and now.

John King: It's, we're coming up with all these creative recipes. You guys are helping us. I can't wait to try the one later. Yep. Full disclosure, we are helping with some recipe development. It's, it's just fun because it's a great flavor to bring to cocktails that haven't been done before or haven't been done.

John King: Right. So it's, it's really fun watching people. We get messages all the time of, Hey, this recipe is amazing. We, we just experimented on our, on our own. Yeah. Created this. Cocktail.

Jonathan: Yeah. Well, one of, one of my absolute favorite things in the work that I do is developing a recipe that when [00:19:00] someone looks at what's in it, they question it.

Jonathan: It's like an extreme questioning of whether those ingredients work well, well, but then they taste it, but then they taste it and they're like, what did you just do here? Um, you know that, that's kind of this like aha moment, you know, when they're trying and they're like, holy crap, I can, we can say crap.

Jonathan: Holy crap, this tastes. Pretty amazing.

Jeffrey: An aha moment. An aha. I just thought of Ahi tuna. This would be wonderful. With ahi tuna.

John King: It, it pairs great with a lot of food. With the saltiness, the, the brine flavor. What else? Oysters, oyster shooters. Yeah. We've experimented with those a a long time ago. Um. I said I drink it as shots now.

John King: My new favorite one is a pickle Lemonade. Oh yeah, it, I just heard about that. A sweet, like a sweet and sour it. Yeah. It's very refreshing. Same thing. It's one of our go-tos when we sample people and people still don't believe us. Yeah. And then they try it. It's a definitely, you need a quality lemonade to go with our quality brine.

John King: Yes. Um, but it, it, it actually mixes really well, but

Jonathan: also something easy for [00:20:00] any bar, any bar to do, anywhere to do. Right. And you can add a little splash of extra freshness by taking like a lemon wedge. Exactly. And it, you know, you use good quality lemonade. Little bit of a lemon wedge in there, pops.

Jeffrey: Okay.

Jeffrey: How about some of the original pickle shot? Spicy, please.

John King: Now it's funny you said that you like to book Cayenne pepper in your blend, Mary? I do, I do. So do you know the spice that we use in this? Cayenne pepper. Good job.

Commercial: Wow.

Jeffrey: Mm mm I remember you mentioned that to me when I was making Bloody Mary's with the original pickle shot.

Jeffrey: That's what gives

John King: it, that. It's actually the same brine and we, we infuse it with, with the Cayenne and, but it gives it, uh, just a completely different taste profile. Personally, I like it, uh, straight up it's, I call it like a seven outta 10 on the heat level, but everyone's got a different spice level.

Jeffrey: Hmm.

Jeffrey: Yeah. The nose is very similar. To the original. The original deal? Yeah. I think,

Jonathan: uh, I would say it's probably about a seven. That's probably what I would say. Everyone's got a different [00:21:00] spice, but Yeah. But it's spice that's more in the top of your throat as opposed to your lips. Yeah. And your gums in the roof of your mouth, you know?

Jonathan: It's not

Jeffrey: seven or eight. Seven

Jonathan: or eight, friend.

Jeffrey: Yeah. That's delicious. Yeah, it's really good. Yeah. And great when I mix it into a Bloody Mary,

John King: people say it's a game changer for Bloody Mary. It's, and they, they almost always use a spicy 'cause it tones it down a little bit too when you, when you mix it with the spice, with the bloody Mary.

Jonathan: Um, and one of the things that we do with our work is we make, um. We do big events and large scale events, and we do big batches of drinks. I mean, something like this is pretty easy to batch, make to batch. You know, it's kind of like a one-stop shop. You get this with a gallon of lemonade or something and you, you're great, you're good to go for your friends, for your parties, whatever, right?

Jeffrey: Your restaurant or bar, your restaurant, A bar, which pre-match

Jonathan: bloody,

Jeffrey: how about in

Jonathan: a keg? On draft, right? Yeah. Because a lot of bars are doing that. I don't know if they do it here at Swizzle, [00:22:00] rumbar, but um, there are bars that put cocktails. They make a big batch, you know, six gallon batch, put it in a keg and then put it on draft.

Jonathan: I want to make

Jeffrey: Bloody Mary's out of the barrel, out of a pickle barrel. Yes. I like the idea. Yeah. That sounds great. I just thought of it. We do. Yeah. Will you help me with that, John? I can, I'll

Jonathan: do that at our, um, annual bar. Convent. Brooklyn. Brooklyn brunch. We'll get a barrel from, um, yeah. A pickle company that we've partnered with before.

Jeffrey: Label, label, LaBelle it out,

John King: maybe a barrel of pickles next to it. It. Absolutely.

Jeffrey: And a barrel of monkeys to go with it. Sure.

Jonathan: Um, but you know, what I really wanna do right now is I wanna hop behind that bar and I'd like to make a cocktail with you, Mr. John King. Are you I'm ready to go.

John King: I gotta dust off my bartending skills.

John King: It's been a while, but I I, I'll try to help.

Jonathan: I'll be kind. Um, and you will be helpful. I know that. Um, and we're gonna do what we call our tip time segment.

John King: Cool.

Jonathan: Let's do it. Well, John King, thank you so much for joining us here on the Cocktail Guru [00:23:00] Show.

John King: Thanks for having me, guys.

Jeffrey: I appreciate it. It's been great fun.

Jeffrey: Great. And thanks for the Pickle Brine. There's more where that came from. Thank you.

Jonathan: So stick around. Tip Time is next at the Cocktail Guru. It's all about the experience. We want our. To taste and feel the aroma, the temperature, the flavor to make memories when they try our cocktails. The cocktail guru was born in 2006 when there was a need for high quality cocktails, bartender training, and expertly crafted drinks for special events.

Jonathan: Then the guru team moved to Massachusetts and expanded nationally. We even provide cocktail demonstrations on morning television institutions. Like The Today Show, consider the guru team for all of your events. Corporate clients enjoy our entertaining team building exercises. Bachelorette mixology classes are fun for everyone.

Jonathan: We can craft a signature cocktail bar for any occasion. Plus the guru team can design cost-effective beverage programs with staff training for any bar or restaurant. And be sure to join us for the Cocktail Guru [00:24:00] Podcast where we regularly interview some of the hospitality industry's best. So why not consider the cocktail guru for your next project?

Jonathan: Cheers.

Jeffrey: Tip time is brought to you in part by the original Pickle shot.

Jonathan: Okay. And here we are, uh, the tip time segment of the Cocktail Guru Show with our special guest from the original Pickle Shot, Mr. John King. Hey, hello, Jonathan. We are behind the bar behind an actual real life working bar, swizzle Rumbar Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and we are going to make this delicious daiquiri variation with the original pickle shot.

Jonathan: We call the briny daiquiri. You ready? Love it. Okay. We're, I'm gonna do two servings because it's us and we wanna enjoy a, an entire serving of the drink. So we are using the original pickle shot dill, and it's going to be the star of the show. Two servings. So I am doing, let's do a little quick calculation here.

Jonathan: So it's, it's gonna be equal parts, the original pickle shot [00:25:00] and rum. So I'm going to do two ounces of the original pickle shot into my small tin right over here. We are also going to do two ounces of our rum into our mixing tin right over here. And to balance all of that out, we do well, I, I saw this, these peppercorn bitters and I think that this will be a really interesting addition to the briary.

Jonathan: So we're gonna do four dashes of the peppercorn bitters. We have some fresh lime juice. I am doing one and a half ounces of fresh lime juice. And I'm doing one and a half ounces of simple syrup, which of course is just equal parts. Sugar and water. All right, we've got our ice right? Nice ice down shaker.

Jonathan: I'm going to give it a little bit of a shake. Ready? You wanna shake it up? Oh, you want, you want John to shake? Yeah.

John King: John, I can still do

Jonathan: it. You ready? Yeah. You still got it? I've seen this [00:26:00] done before there. Damn. It's actually pretty good. You have to, oh, hold on. There you go. I'm just gonna give, I'm just gonna give it a little bit more.

Jonathan: A little bit more Ice Cold. Ice. Ice cold. He does it way

John King: He does it way better, obviously.

Jonathan: There we go. You did, you did good. We're gonna grab our chilled cocktail coops, which are in here. Here we are, and we'll just strain. See how this comes out. Strain it out. Our two briny daiquiris right over here.

Jonathan: Beautiful color. Nice, right? Yep. And we'll do a little bit of a lime wheel in my daiquiris. I love doing just a lime wheel floating on top, because when you bring it to your nose, you get the crispness of that fresh citrus. There we go. Briny daiquiris. Beautiful. Mm. Look at that. Yes. Beautiful. Shall we?

John King: We shall.

John King: I'm excited. I've never tried this before. I see.

Jonathan: Wait, I see someone out the corner of my eye just lurking over there. Would you like to taste dad?

Jeffrey: I come in for the best part.

Jonathan: Okay. I'm gonna, I'm gonna [00:27:00] taste first. We can't taste at the same time.

John King: Oh wow.

Jeffrey: I have never had

John King: really, that's refreshing. A

Jeffrey: briny daiquiri. Well, first time

Jonathan: for everything. Good. That's a, that's really nice. Really crisp and refreshing. And

John King: it's, it's not overpowering either. It's, it's got a goodness. Oh, that is wonderful. Hint into pickle. It's actually delicious. That's

Jeffrey: perfectly balanced.

Jeffrey: Yeah. That's incredible. Mm. And no, no one ingredient stands out. It's just, that's why I blended well together. Yeah. Integrated.

Jonathan: The integration is, yeah.

Jeffrey: Chef's Kiss. This is a drink. This is a drink. I want to keep

Jonathan: pounding away. I know. I'm gonna finish this. This is good. Gonna say you guys are gonna finish it.

Jonathan: Um, well thanks again, John. The original Pickle shot, amazing product. Um, and this has been a really great episode of uh, uh, the Cocktail Guru show. And

Jeffrey: that brine is

Jonathan: coming. He's still talking. Still talking, and he might take mine still. I'm just gonna leave. I'll just leave you. Just keep talking about it.

Jonathan: So fresh. Bye. Let's

Jeffrey: [00:28:00] finish. This Tipple time was brought to you in part by the original Pickle shot.

Announcer: The cocktail guru presents cocktail commentary with Jeffrey Po. Sit back and enjoy the story of the original pickle shot.

Jeffrey: It is true that life comes full circle. When I was a young lad, probably two or three years old, my grandmother would take me to a very small neighborhood grocery store, what the French would call an e pli.

Jeffrey: Once there, the owner whose name was Ed, would go to his pickle barrel and pull out a luscious briny dill pickle, even at the tender age of three. I love the taste of pickles. Fast forward to today and the rest of the story. Bloody Mary happens to be one of my great loves and a drink that I make often for friends and [00:29:00] family.

Jeffrey: The classic Bloody Mary is made with vodka, of course, but for years now, one of my secret ingredients has been Pickle R. So when I found the original pickle shot. Spicy Pickle Shop. I was ecstatic. It's all in one. A vodka with Dill Pickle Brine and the Vodka's five time distilled and it's all natural and has no sugar and perfect for drinking neat over ice or in a mixed drink.

Jeffrey: The original pickle shot story begins in Ocean City, Maryland, where John King decided to bottle his popular drink Pickle shot that he was serving at Pickle's Pub. He spent a great deal of time to make sure that both the vodka and the dill pickle brine were of the highest quality. To ensure that pickle shot and spicy pickle shot would produce a delicious cocktail, like a pickle shot daiquiri.

Jeffrey: I will tell you that the dill pickle juice is right on. Its so precise and concentrated, [00:30:00] but at the same time beautifully balanced because it is perfectly integrated with the vodka. The brine recipe is proprietary to capture the taste of the original pub version. The original pickle shop was launched to the general public in 2018, and now you know the rest of the story.

Jeffrey: Hmm, hmm. So good.

Announcer: That's a wrap. If you enjoy what we do, please rate, review, and subscribe to the show and our newsletter. To watch or listen to today's episode or to see the show notes, visit the cocktail guru show.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, YouTube X, Instagram, or TikTok. The Cocktail Guru Show is produced by [00:31:00] First Real Entertainment and is available via YouTube, Spotify, zencaster.

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