TikTok-Famous Mixologist Nigel Kabvina's Picks For Holiday Cocktails - Exclusive
These days, you're more likely to know Nigel Kabvina for cooking French toast than mixing drinks. He got picked for this year's TikTok Discover List because of his videos that show him cooking lavish meals for his mysterious roommate, who always remains off-camera. However, he's awfully good at sabering bottles of champagne (a skill he often shows off in his work), so it makes sense that he would come from a beverage background.
As Nigel Kabvina discussed in an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, his mixology bona fides run deep. He has a spirits certification from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and trained hundreds of mixologists while working at a bartender school in London. In fact, one of his students went on to become an award-winning bartender. Kabvina said his mixology training informs the aesthetics of his content: "My background leads to the theatrics in the videos because mixology's very over-the-top, isn't it?"
With the holiday season in full swing, we needed to ask this alcohol expert what his favorite winter cocktails were. His answers didn't disappoint.
The holiday classics never fail to please
Nigel Kabvina's number-one pick for a winter cocktail was something that's familiar to wintertime revelers all over the United States: "I tried an eggnog for the first time last year, this very American cocktail. I love that." Apparently, this creamy concoction isn't as popular across the pond, even though it evolved from egg-based medieval British drinks called possets.
For something with a little caffeine pick-me-up, Kabvina said, "I also love an Irish coffee. One of my favorite bars in New York, Dead Rabbit, [does] an amazing Irish coffee — I've been obsessed with always trying to recreate it." Per The Dead Rabbit's menu, the bar does a pretty traditional take on the classic: Irish whiskey, coffee, demerara sugar, and whipped cream. However, with such a simple beverage, the devil is in the details. What kind of coffee do they use? What are the ratios of the ingredients? We can see why this drink would inspire Kabvina to tinker in his home kitchen.
Fortunately for us, we have The Dead Rabbit's Irish coffee recipe straight from the source. If you want to make it just like they do at the bar, use Clontarf Irish Whiskey and Stone Street coffee and whip your cream using a protein shaker bottle.
You can follow Nigel Kabvina and stay up to date with his videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.