Georgia O'Keefe Cocktails Featured at North Carolina Bars

O'Keeffe's Jimson Weed/ White Flower No. 1 inspired several of the special cocktails.

As part of its celebration of the exhibit The Beyond: Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Art, on view through Jan. 20, 2019, North Carolina Museum of Art partnered with restaurants in Winston-Salem, Wake Forest, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham to create cocktails inspired by the artworks in the exhibition.

Here's what this amazing group of bartenders - artists in their own right - came up with and their commentary on their creations, plus recipes so you can celebrate Georgia O'Keeffe at home.

We think these cocktails are (almost) too pretty to drink. But we'll do our best!

Golden Hillsides

bu•ku Raleigh
110 E. Davie St., Raleigh, NC
Inspired by Loie Hollowell’s Yellow Mountains

Andrea Chan, bar manager: “Inspired by Loie Hollowell’s Yellow Mountains work of art, this cocktail is influenced by the large regal curves the painting displays that reminds me of the roaring 20’s driving me to use gin as my base spirit and yellow chartreuse to complement the flavor profile of the Cardinal gin. I wanted to use orange and peach as a fruit aspect to the drink to reflect the orange and yellow tones of the painting.” 

Several of the bartenders found inspiration in Loie Hollowell’s Yellow Mountains, a work inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe.

1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1oz peach-thyme wheat ale syrup
3/4 oz lemon juice
3 cups Allagash White beer
3 sprigs Thyme, do not pick leaves
3 oranges, peel only
2 cups white granulated sugar
5 peaches 1/2 tsp Ascorbic acid

For peach-thyme wheat ale syrup: In a sauce pot, combine Allagash white beer, thyme sprigs, orange peel, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Strain Allagash syrup, reserve orange peels, and throw away the thyme sprigs. Let syrup start cooling. Remove pits from peaches and place into blender with ascorbic acid and the cooked orange peels. Blend until smooth, add some syrup to help shear ability. Strain through fine mesh strainer. Combine with the rest of the Allagash syrup, shake and strain, serve up in a coupe glass, garnish with lemon peel. 

Georgia O’Peach

bu•ku Wake Forest
1228 Heritage Links Dr., Wake Forest
Inspired by Loie Hollowell’s Yellow Mountains

Theo Lentz, bartender: “This cocktail was inspired by the warm hues, as well as the curvaceous figures in Yellow Mountains, which immediately brought peaches to mind. The desert landscape reminded me of the smokiness found in tequila and mezcal. I chose to grill the peaches and brulee the garnish as if it were baked in the hot sun of New Mexico, where most of Georgia O’Keeffe’s famous paintings were inspired.”

3/4 oz tequila
3/4 oz mescal
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz grilled peach puree
1/2 oz vanilla turbinado syrup
One egg white

Vigorously dry shake in a tin without ice. Add ice and shake again. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with bruleed peach slice.
For peach puree: grill 3 peaches until grill marks form then puree.
For turbinado syrup: use equal parts w
ater and turbinado sugar. Add one vanilla bean sliced open and simmer in a pot on medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.

Secret Garden

Crossroads at Carolina Inn
211 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill
Inspired by O'Keeffe's Petunias

Susan Pizzuti, bartender: “Springtime makes me feel like a happy kid, and I wanted to use a cocktail to inspire that whimsical joy in others, so I created The Secret Garden. Named for the classic novel about the magic of nature and childhood, The Secret Garden blooms as elderflower liqueur, fresh lemon juice, and just a few drops of house-made hibiscus syrup complement a delicate, off-dry Rosé vodka. I garnish the cocktail with fresh, edible flowers and always make sure to remind folks that if they haven’t eaten a flower since preschool, now is the time. I want people to sip this drink and remember the delight of climbing fragrant Magnolia trees or the careless joy of playing tag near thorny rosebushes. I hope those who order it on a dreary January day feel, for a moment, like they’re daydreaming in a sunny garden.”

2 oz Three Olives Rose Vodka
3/4 oz St. Germain
1/4 oz fresh lemon juice
4 drops hibiscus syrup
Edible flowers

Combine all ingredients besides garnish into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with fresh edible flowers.

Black Iris

The Crunkleton
320 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill
Inspired by O'Keeffe's Petunias

Colin Williams, bartender: "The Black Iris, a layered painting of Georgia O'Keeffe's, follows in her pattern of enlarged depictions of flowers and petals. With this cocktail, I hope to mirror the complexity and beauty of the original painting. In it's most simplified form, this is a riff on an Aviation, a classic gin cocktail that exudes class and elegance in a bygone era. With a black sesame syrup and Creme de Violette, this cocktail has the seductive floral accents needed to stand up to the brightness of the gin and fresh lemon."

1 oz London Dry Gin
1/2 oz Spanish Gin
1 oz Lemon
1/2 oz Black sesame syrup
1/4 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur
1/8 oz Creme de Violette

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice and shake well for ten seconds. Double strain into Nick and Nora glass and garnish with rose petal and drop of creme de Violette.

Yellow Valley

Hummingbird
1053 E Whitaker Mill Rd, Suite 111, Raleigh
Inspired by Yellow Mountains

Coleen Speaks, bartender: “This cocktail is inspired by Yellow Mountains by Louie Hollowell included in the The Beyond: Georgia O’Keeffe and Contemporary Art. The combination of Reposado tequila, Amontillado sherry, elderflower, agave and grapefruit oils creates an incredibly well-balanced sipper with nutty, floral, and vanilla flavors. Visually, the deep yellow color reflects the yellow mountains in the painting, and the blue space in the middle of the piece – the “valley,” if you will – relates back to the shape of the coup glass the cocktail is served in, and was the inspiration for the drink’s name.”

1 1/2 oz Reposado tequila
1 oz Amontillado sherry
1/2 5 oz St. Elder Liqueur
1 barspoon agave nectar
Grapefruit Peel

Stir all ingredients together with ice, pour into chilled coupe. Express oils on top from grapefruit peel. Garnish with Nasturtium or other edible flower.

Mount Song

Jack Tar & The Colonel’s Daughter
202 Cochran St.
Inspired by Yellow Mountains

Justin Sykes, bartender: “Working with the color pallet of Yellow Mountains, and the painting's art deco feel, the drink’s name references one of China's most dramatic peaks. Located in the Yellow Mountain range, it is the birthplace of Chinese Zen Buddhism and the Shaolin Temple.”

1 1/2oz Vida Mezcal
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/4 oz lemon juice
1/4 oz Damn Fine Coffee Liqueur

Add Vida, Benedictine, chartreuse and lemon to a shaker, fill with ice, stir, pour into coupe glass. Sink coffee liqueur.

Garden of Jimson

The Katharine Brasserie & Bar
401 N. Main St., Winston-Salem
Inspired by O'Keeffe's Jimson Weed

Levi Fryer, bartender: "'When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment,' Georgia O'Keeffe once said. ‘I want to give that world to someone else.’ I chose the Jimson Weed painting for multiple reasons. O’Keeffe’s arrangement of the flower showcases the unfurling beauty and soft breeze ruffling the petals. The flower grew close to her New Mexico home, which in turn reminds me of the dogwood, our own state flower of North Carolina. The bloom of dogwood and smell thru the fall is what I imagine O'Keeffe experienced in her garden.”

1 1/2 oz Sutler's Gin (local to Winston-Salem)
½ oz hibiscus syrup
3/4 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz egg whites
Lillet Rosé to float
Dogwood tree flower

Combine gin, hibiscus syrup, lemon, and egg whites in shaking vessel. Shake vigorously until creamy. Pour contents into small side of shaking container. Dump ice. Prepare dogwood flower inside of large coup. Leave at least 1/2 inch of stem to assure flowers placement. Shake cocktail dry in vessel for 8 seconds. Slowly pour contents into glass around flowers. Gently top with Lillet Rose.

The Sand Hills

Littler
110 E. Parrish St., Durham
Inspired by O'Keeffe's Small Purple Hills

Michael Kilbridge, bartender: “Small Purple Hills immediately reminded us of the classic blood and sand cocktail. This is our play on it, with a wink to the Pacific Northwest through the rainier cherries, and a double wink to our North Carolina sand hills home, an ancient beach.”

1 oz Ardbeg 10 Scotch
1 oz Auchentoshen Scotch
1 oz Antica Vermouth
1/4 oz luxardo
1/2 oz cherry syrup
1/2 oz blood orange puree
Brandied rainier cherry
Orange peel

Add all ingredients to a shaker glass with ice. Shake and double strain into a coupe. Garnish with a brandied rainier cherry and orange peel. 

Datura

Mandolin
2519 Fairview Rd., Raleigh
Inspired by Jimson Weed

Peter Marin, bardtender: “Georgia O’Keefe’s subject matter focused largely on local flora and the landscape, including Jimson weed, Datura stramonium, which grew new her studio and she painted often. In 1932, she was commissioned to make Jimson Weed which became the most expensive painting made by a woman to sell at auction. Datura stramonium is a psychotropic plant. It can be lethal, too. This cocktail explores the botanical nature of the desert with the use of succulents, the white/green color palette, and touches upon the simplicity of form to create its presentation. Mezcal reinforces this botanical narrative, since it is produced from a succulent as well, and peach vodka hints at the iconic fruits of the South East. The cocktail has a fresh, linear profile with hints of smoke and peach. Slight lemon adds the acidity to balance this refreshing, minimal and nuanced cocktail.”

1 1/2 oz Skyy Peach vodka
1/2 oz Vida mescal
1 oz aloe juice
3/4 oz St. Germain
1/2 oz lemon juice
3 dashes Crude bitters grapefruit/peppercorn
Mandolin Farm egg white

Mix all ingredients. Dry shake to emulsify. Add 4 ounces of crushed ice. Shake vigorously. Double strain into coupe. Add aloe garnish.

The Beyond

North Carolina Museum of Art’s Iris after Dark at Iris Restaurant
2110 Blue Ridge Rd., Raleigh
Inspired by Petunias

Head Barista Steph Caronna and Food Service Operations Business Manager Rachel Siegel: “Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s Petunias, we riffed on a Tom Collins to create 'The Beyond.' We partnered with Durham Distillery, choosing Conniption Gin as the drink's base. Adding sweet lavender syrup gave the Collins a burst of purple, connecting the cocktail to the painting. The tart lemon juice and tangy ginger ale balances out the drink for a refreshing treat. Georgia O’Keeffe’s takes on floral paintings and landscapes are iconic. Just as she took beloved genres of paintings and made them her own, we’ve done the same with our take on a classic Tom Collins to create 'The Beyond.' Visitors can enjoy this cocktail during Iris after Dark, each Friday evening from 5:30 to 8:30 pm in West Building.”

1 1/2 oz gin
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz homemade lavender syrup
Ginger ale
Garnish: lemon slice or lavender sprigs

The rich colors of O’Keeffe’s Petunias found favor with several bartenders.

Fill a rocks glass with ice. Pour in gin, then lemon juice, then lavender syrup. Top with ginger ale. Garnish with slice of lemon.

Lavender Syrup: ¼ cup dried lavender; ½ cup sugar; ½ cup plus 3 tablespoons water 

1. In a small sauce pan, add ½ cup water and lavender. Bring to a boil. 

2. Simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 20 minutes. Strain and discard flowers, leaving a lavender liquid. 

3. In a separate saucepan, add sugar and 3 Tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. 

4. Simmer for 4-5 minutes and then stir in the lavender liquid. Whisk until combined. 

5. Remove from heat and transfer to storage container until ready to use. 

Sedano Fiore

Pizzeria Toro

105 E. Chapel Hill St., Durham 

Inspired by Jimson Weed

Joey Allabach, bartender: “This drink was inspired by Jimson Weed. We knew the simplicity of the subject matter, the colors and the one, centric flower would translate beautifully into a cocktail. We just love this drink. Beautiful color and balance, almost as pretty as the painting itself.” 

2 oz Uncle Vals Botanical Gin
1/2 oz celery/pepper juice (blend, run through cheese cloth) 

Capful Chartreuse 

Capful of Luxardo 

1 oz lime juice 

One pretty, edible flower of your choosing 

Build in shaker over ice, stir, strain in martini glass, add flower.

Petunia de Santiago

so•ca

2130 Clark Ave., Raleigh

Inspired by Petunias 

Beverage Director Tolson Kenney: “Georgia O’Keeffe’s Petunias piece stood out to me mostly because I really enjoy natural colors of flowers and foliage. Growing up with a big horticulture background, it’s only natural that I love flowers. Contrasting shades of purple brought many flowers to mind, daisies, hibiscus, and lavender. This cocktail focuses on wonderful purple flowers while also embracing acidity, sweetness, and some herbal notes.” 

 2 oz white rum 

1 oz fresh lime juice 

1/2 oz hibiscus simple syrup 

1/4 oz yellow chartreuse 

1/8 oz Tazo ‘Passion’ Tea with Lavender 

Crude ‘Bitterless Marriage’ Bitters 

Combine ingredients. 

Short shake (about 7 seconds) with a small amount of ice. Double strain into chilled coupe glass. Garnish with dried rose petals.

Bourbon Toddy Texas Style

On a cold day, grab a bottle of bourbon and make this warming cocktail.

The festive Holiday Toddy is made with Fistful of Bourbon, a 100 percent straight American whiskey blend currently available exclusively in Texas liquor stores.

True to its name, Fistful of Bourbon is a blend of five different straight bourbons created by a company with over 100 years of blending experience.

Holiday Toddy

2 parts Fistful of Bourbon

2 parts hot water

½ part mint simple syrup

½ part fresh lime juice

1 bar spoon crème de cacao

2 dashes angostura bitters

Combine ingredients in a mug. Garnish with a large sprig of mint and freshly grated nutmeg.

‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ author Frances Mayes introduces her own wine label

Thanks to her wonderful books, Frances Mayes has made the Tuscany region of Italy as familiar to some readers as their own backyards. Now, with the introduction of her hand-selected Tuscan Sun wines, she brings the flavors and culture of Italy to life.

Since buying a house in Tuscany over 20 years ago, Frances Mayes has sought to share with the world the Italian philosophy of life she found there, a credo that emphasizes living fully and savoring each moment. Her breakthrough bestseller Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy, originally published in 1996, was made into a hit movie starring Diane Lane in 2003.

In an exclusive interview, we asked Ms. Mayes what role wine played in the writing of the book – and the making of the movie, as well as her entry into the wine business, the wines she chose, and the role wine plays in her books.

“My passion for growing, cooking, and eating food led me directly to wine. In Italy, wine is food,” Mayes told us. “We have old grapes on our property [in Italy] and initially we tried to make our own wine. It was awful! So we teamed up with special vintners who really know the art of winemaking."

The project started about two years ago over dinner with Curious Cork Importer Danny Keefe, who also has a house in Cortona where Mayes lives. “We found partners who would make wines that we specifically required—honest, up front, drink-me-now wines that are made to go with food and celebration," she explains.

"Winemakers everywhere, if they are in it for love, share a gusto for the good life. This is nowhere better exemplified that in Paolo Castelli, who makes our Sangiovese Tondo Tondo. If you go to Cortona, dine at his Trattoria Dardano and you’ll experience a big Tuscan welcome. His family-run trattoria is just the best.”

The four wines, three reds and a white, bearing the Frances Mayes's Tuscan Sun label each embody concepts derived from the Tuscan lifestyle.

• Pensiero (“A little gift”), a 100% Pinot Grigio, refers to the Tuscan custom of always bringing along a little gift, a basket of figs, a ripe melon – or a bottle of wine – when visiting. This sun-kissed vintage, Frances writes, is “what the angels sip as they fly over Italy.”
• Permesso (“May I come in?”), 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, immortalizes words always asked before entering a Tuscan home. At Bramasole, her home in Italy, Mayes says the door is always open, and a glass of wine is waiting for the unexpected guest.
• Auguri (“My best to you”) is a blend of 80% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Merlot. This is the toast used by Tuscans when they raise their glasses, the Italian equivalent of “Cheers!” used on special occasions. “On weekdays, we clink our glasses, say ‘cin-cin’ and pass the pasta around the table,” Mayes shares on the wine’s label.
• Tondo Tondo (“Just perfect”) is made of 100% Sangiovese grapes. It epitomizes the feeling of well-being brought on by a Tuscan feast and the appreciation of the simple joys of life.
• Update: Since this article was written, Mayes has expanded her line with several additional vintages, including Sentiero alla casa ("path to the house"), a red Italian blend; Abbracio ("an embrace"), a white Italian blend; and Toccare le Stelle ("touch the stars"), a sparkling Italian Prosecco. 

“At that point in my writing, we were just clearing the land and discovering that we had grapes,” Mayes said. “Of course, we immediately began to notice the wine experience, which back then was simple. In trattorias, they asked ‘Nero o bianco?’ Black or white. Most people chose the rustic ‘black’—the red, and diluted it a bit with water.

"Now the wine world has become enormously sophisticated. There are a few wine moments in the film, but what I think of first is the olive picking scene where Diane Lane slides down the hill.”

Mayes said that many of the locations in the book were used as locations for the film. “My actual house wasn’t used, but I found one for the crew that resembled my Bramasole,” she said. “The film was made in Cortona and is full of local people and places.”

Since the publication of her first book of Tuscan memoirs, Mayes has written several other books about her time in Italy, including Bella Tuscany and Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life; the illustrated books In Tuscany and Bringing Tuscany Home with husband Edward Mayes; and The Tuscan Sun Cookbook (also with Edward) as well as a travel memoir, A Year in the World; travel guides Shrines: Images of Italian Worship and Italy: Where to Go When; plus several volumes of poetry, her first love.

Recently, however, she has turned her talented pen toward another destination, the American South. Mayes and her husband now divide their time between homes in Cortona and Hillsborough, NC.

The move from the Piedmont region of Italy to North Carolina’s Piedmont isn’t as unlikely as it seems. Mayes grew up in Frederick, Georgia, but her family has deep roots in North Carolina, where her father’s family was involved in the early industrialization of the region. 

Mayes’s great-grandfather, John Henry Mayes, founded the Mayessays Mill, known for its “enlightened work environment,” in the village then called Mayesworth. Today called Cramerton, the village in east Gaston County is still centered on the Mayes Manufacturing buildings.

John Henry’s 1902 mansion still stands in Charlotte at 435 E. Morehead Street, occupied by the law office of Wyatt & Blake. Now on the National Historic Register, the elegant old Shingle style building is surrounded by freeways and tall buildings. Mayes describes it as “the only petunia in the onion patch.”

When Mayes moved back to the South after many years in California and Italy, she discovered an old cache of dusty scrapbooks, journals and her still-locked childhood diary. These inspired her most recent book,Under Magnolia: A Southern Memoir, in which Mayes turns her poetic skill with words to describing her childhood in Georgia and her early travels as a young woman throughout Virginia, New Orleans and Florida.

The new book, published this year, was named the Southern Independent Booksellers Association Spring 2014 Okra Pick. Mayes thinks it, like Under the Tuscan Sun, would make a good movie, but says that so far no producers are interested. “The report is that the Deep South is a mystery.”

It’s a mystery that Mayes expertly evokes. Reading her words, you can almost smell the wisteria and mildew, feel the heat and oppressive humidity, taste the sweet tea, diluted with melted ice, sipped on the porch in the days before air-conditioning banished us all inside.

That’s the heart of Frances Mayes’s skill and talent – the ability to transport you to another place with a few words. Now, she’s doing the same thing with her line of wines, full of hospitality and sun-kissed beauty and simple pleasures.

Take a sip and you’re in Tuscany.


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The wines on the Tuscan Sun label were developed in partnership with Curious Cork Imports, based in Denver, Colorado, and are distributed in North Carolina by Fine Wine Trading Company, based in Charlotte. Tuscan Sun wines are available at Harris Teeter stores, the D'Vine Wine Cafe, A Southern Season, the Wooden Vine, the Salisbury Wine Shop and other select restaurants and retail outlets throughout the state.

[Note: This story was originally published in 2014 on Examiner.com by Restaurant Examiner Renee Wright]

Caroline Calouche's Rouge Cabaret - why it's recommended for adults

@ccaloucheco @BlumenthalArts
The Caroline Calouche & Company  Rouge Cabaret isn't all #aerialdance....
February 9 @ 9pm
February 10 @ 5pm & 9pm
at the Booth Playhouse
Tickets

For a Rainy Day

Nothing like a glass of #JackDaniels #whiskey on a cold and rainy night. @LeroyFoxKitchen @JackDaniels_US

Caroline Calouche & Company presents Rouge

#aerialdance #flyhigh #cirque @ccaloucheco @BlumenthalArts

The high flying Caroline Calouche & Company returns for the 5th Anniversary of their Rouge cabaret show, filled with thrills, comedy, cirque and some great dancing both on and above the stage.

February 9 @ 9pm
February 10 @ 5pm & 9pm
at the Booth Playhouse

Tickets

For a review from previous years, go here.