You & Yours puts peppers in its Spring Salad

After scoring a sweet parking spot in East Village, I pass by a man using his skateboard to move a couch down the sidewalk. Seems right. Then I duck into You & Yours Distilling Co., where tasting room manager April Kirby shares a smirk with me over skateboard mover man and welcomes me to grab a stool at the bar.

April Kirby

She begins with some background while I look over the cocktail menu. “We distill red and white California wine grapes. That’s the base for everything that we make. We have a liquor license that allows us to just carry our own distilled spirits, meaning there’s no vermouth, amaros, aperitifs, liqueurs — basically things that have flavor in them. So we are very produce-heavy. We juice a lot of fruits, vegetables. We use herbs, and flowers, and roots, you name it.”

The Spring Salad uses their classic vodka. “It has just a little bit of a sweetness to it. And that’s because we do what is called the ‘late tails cut,’ meaning we don’t mind that there is an ever-so-slight — not sweet and not grape-flavored — little bit of hint of sweetness and mouthfeel leftover from the grapes.” The recipe incorporates bitters made in-house from Buddha’s hand, also used in one of their gins. “We try to use every bit of everything that we can. And bitters is a nice way to use something that maybe you would have thrown away.”

This is the 12th-or-so iteration of the cocktail since they opened seven years ago. “It’s always bell pepper, always a different color, always a different fruit pairing with it. By the time spring comes around, you’re ready for bright yellow and citrusy,” she says, straining the vibrant, juicy mix into a coupe. “The bell pepper always throws people off, like ‘Ew that sounds weird,’ but then when you actually get down to the sweetness of them, they pair so well with fruit. So with this one, it’s juiced cantaloupes and yellow bell peppers. A beautiful ombré color there, and just so fun.”

Finally, she squeezes several droplets of lemon-infused olive oil across the top — the tableside dressing to the salad that is my drink. “Bright, light, doesn’t overly flavor it, but gives it a really nice mouthfeel when you drink it. You get sweetness and a little savory; it’s very layered in its flavor.”

Kirby says the goal is to reframe what people want in a cocktail. “Every drink that we make here is something very unique to this space, something that is unlike what you’ll get elsewhere.”

You & Yours

Spring Salad

• 1.5 oz You & Yours Vodka
• 2 oz yellow bell pepper & cantaloupe mix*
• 0.75 oz lemon juice
• 0.5 oz honey syrup**
• 2-3 dashes Buddha’s hand bitters
• Pinch of sea salt
• Lemon olive oil for garnish

*Yellow Bell Pepper & Cantaloupe Mix

• 1 c juiced yellow bell pepper
• 1 c juiced cantaloupe

Combine bell pepper and cantaloupe juice in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator for up to one week.

**Honey Syrup

• 1/2 c hot water
• 1/2 c honey

Combine hot water and honey and stir until mixed. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake hard and double strain into a footed coupe. Garnish with 5 drops of lemon olive oil.