How It Began

The Challenge

When Dr. Nicola Nice launched Pomp & Whimsy, gin liqueur represented a relatively unfamiliar spirits category in the American market. Consumers understood gin. They understood liqueurs. But this fruit-forward, botanical spirit occupied a space of its own.

Working with Nicola, the challenge was to help demonstrate the versatility of the product and give consumers another way to understand how it could be enjoyed.

Take Pomp & Whimsy beyond the cocktail glass.

I developed recipes that used the spirit itself as an ingredient, allowing its botanical, fruit and floral qualities to become part of the food. The resulting recipes were designed not just as content, but as demonstrations of the product itself—showing consumers, media and potential partners what this unfamiliar category could do.

The Creative Brief

The Strategy in Action

My Role

The project began with a conversation about women and cocktail culture. I first met Pomp & Whimsy founder Dr. Nicola Nice when she invited me to join a panel for The Kindred Spirits Society: The History of Women & the Cocktail, a sold-out San Francisco event presented by Pomp & Whimsy and the Museum of the American Cocktail.

The recipes gave consumers a new way to understand what Pomp & Whimsy could do.

By moving the spirit beyond the cocktail glass and into the kitchen, the project translated an unfamiliar spirits category into something tangible: recipes people could make, taste and share. It gave the brand a new storytelling platform—one that could extend across editorial, events, media and consumer education.

  • Culinary Brand Strategy

  • Recipe Development

  • Culinary Creative Direction

  • Photography Art Direction

  • Food Styling

Remove pears and allow to cool. Turn pot up (without pears) to a full boil. Boil until reduced by half. Remove from heat, cool and add Pomp & Whimsy to taste. Can me made up to 3 days in advance. Store pears in the refrigerator with the syrup you have made. To serve, if pears are small, serve whole, if larger, cut in half (tip to base) leaving the stem on but using a small spoon, “carve” out the core, that’s the small area where the pits are, after you have cut the pear in half. Serve with a mint or tarragon leaf and drizzle pear with generous amount of the Pomp & Whimsy Pear Syrup. Save any leftover syrup and drizzle over ice cream!

Pomp & Whimsy Poached Pears

(Makes 6 servings)

7 pears, any kind that are in season (one is for testing, see method)

2 cups Riesling

3 ounces Pomp & Whimsy for poaching, plus 2–3 ounces to finish the syrup

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

3 ounces piloncillo (or brown sugar)

4 cloves

4 Juniper berries

Peel pears and leave whole with stem intact, use immediately after peeling so pears do not oxidize. Add 2 cups of Riesling, 3 ounces of Pomp & Whimsy, piloncillo, cinnamon, cloves, juniper berries and pears in a saucepan large enough to accommodate all the pears, but just barely. Add water to cover pears. Bring to a boil and reduce immediately to a low simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Make one extra “tasting” pear. Make one extra “tasting” pear to check for doneness. After 15 minutes, remove the tasting pear and check the texture. It should be tender but still slightly firm. Continue simmering the remaining pears as needed until they reach the same texture. Remove pears after 15 minutes, check texture. Pears should be still a little firm but not hard (not soft either). Continue to cook if needed to achieve desired texture.

If you have a chef’s torch, proceed to brulee the grapefruit sections until they start to caramelize (just on one side, the side facing up). If not, you will need to raise the oven shelf in your broiler so that it is as close to the flame as possible. Turn your oven to broil and place the baking sheet on the oven shelf. Broil until the grapefruit starts to caramelize. Watch the grapefruit sections carefully; the difference between caramelized and burnt is 15-20 seconds.

Cool grapefruit sections. Meanwhile, squeeze the reserved grapefruit membrane and collect the juice in a bowl. Add to your reserved grapefruit juice. Prepare your salad dressing using the following proportions:

Toss arugula with shaved fennel and dressing, add any grapefruit sections that are not whole just before you are ready to serve the salad, if using gooseberries, toss them in as well. Plate the arugula salad. Arrange grapefruit whole grapefruit sections on top of the arugula with the caramelized side facing up, dividing them evenly between the 4 plates. Sprinkled with toasted pinenuts and grated Ricotta Salata, finish with a light dusting of finishing salt.

Arugula Salad with Pomp & Whimsy-infused Bruleé Red Grapefruit

(Makes 4 servings)

 4 cups loosely packed arugula

1 small fennel bulb, very thinly shaved — about 1½ cups

3 ruby red grapefruit

4 ounces Pomp & Whimsy

4 ounces brown sugar

4 ounces toasted pinenuts

4 ounces Ricotta Salata, coarsely grated

12- 16 gooseberries (optional), washed, top bit and husks removed, and halved

Salt to taste for the dressing

Finishing salt

Prepare the grapefruit by removing the peel and pith and cutting the fruit into membrane-free segments, working over a glass bowl to catch the juices. If you’re unfamiliar with the technique, see this guide to supreming citrus.

You should now have a bowl of membrane-free grapefruit sections sitting in the collected juice. After supreming each grapefruit, squeeze the remaining membrane and any fruit still clinging to it over the bowl to extract as much juice as possible. Carefully pour off all the juice and reserve it for the dressing. Add 2 ounces of Pomp & Whimsy to the grapefruit sections and let sit for about 5 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, carefully remove your grapefruit sections to a baking sheet that have been lined with aluminum foil. Lay the sections out so they are not overlapping. There should be little or no liquid on your baking sheet. Sprinkle brown sugar over the grapefruit sections.

Pomp & Whimsy Chunky Mango Salsa

1 ripe mango (not overripe), diced to ¼” or smaller

1-2 Serrano or jalapeño peppers (see below for how to choose), minced

2 ounces Pomp & Whimsy

½ bunch of cilantro

½ red onion, fine diced but not minced

Salt to taste

 Dice mango. Set diced mango in a glass bowl and add Pomp & Whimsy, mango should be almost completely covered, so use a wide, shallow bowl. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. Strain off the Pomp & Whimsy (and save it, or better yet, sip it!). Use Serranos for a spicier salsa, jalapeños for a milder salsa (tip: for a “hotter” salsa, do not discard seeds and veins, for a milder salsa, remove seeds and veins and discard). Coarse chop cilantro leaves. Mince cilantro stems. Soak diced onions in cold water for 15 minutes. Drain well. Mix all ingredients using only half of your chiles at first. Add salt. Mix ingredients, taste and add more salt and/or chiles to taste.