OK, we like mixologist Eddy Buckingham for selfish reasons. After all, he created a cocktail just for us, named The Huffington Toast (more on that later).
But Buckingham is noteworthy for other reasons, too: Not only does he look like Captain John Smith in real life, he's been Justin Timberlake's personal mixologist since joining the team at Timberlake's tequila brand, Sauza 901, last year -- he basically comes up with all the promotional fancy drinks for the brand, as well as the cocktail recipes for Timberlake's parties.
"Justin acts as a bit of a launching pad," Buckingham told HuffPost. "He trusts me. He's an expert in his field and me in mine."
Timberlake even brought Buckingham along to The Tonight Show this week to promote the tequila by making Jimmy a drink of his very own, a take on the old fashioned called The Fallon.
When Buckingham creates a recipe, he said he considers everything from the theme to the menu, to even the personality of the host. For The Huffington Toast, which Buckingham created for this interview, he said he thought about HuffPost readers -- he wanted to make a drink that's "very attractive to look at" -- as well as our brand.
"I was thinking about making something with a bold character," he said. "It’s a crowd pleaser, so it was important that it would have broad appeal."
It's a take on a tequila sour, mixing silver tequila with pomegranate juice, lemon juice, simple syrup and Aperol, with a splash of soda.
Not only is it refreshing, but we're also honored, Eddy. And kind of drunk right now.
See the recipes for both The Fallon and The Huffington Toast, as well as two more tequila-based drinks, below.
2 parts iced tea
2 parts lemonade
1/4 part agave syrup
Stir all ingredients together in a collins glass with ice and garnish with a mint sprig and lemon wedge.
1 part simple syrup
1 part fresh lemon juice
Blackberries
Blackberry liqueur
Combine all the ingredients (except the liqueur) in a shaker; shake well. Strain and serve over crushed ice in a rocks glass. Float the blackberry liqueur on top and garnish with fresh blackberries.
1 part maple syrup
2 dashes orange bitters
Stir the ingredients together in a rocks glass, and top with ice. Stir again; garnish with small skewered jalapeño.
Jalapeño-infused tequila:
1 bottle of silver tequila
1 teaspoon agave syrup
Four jalapeño peppers
Pinch of salt
Chop the jalapeños; mix all the ingredients into a bowl and stir. Sit for up to one hour. Strain back into the tequila bottle.
2 parts pomegranate juice
1 part lemon juice
1 part simple syrup
Splash of Aperol aperitif
Splash of club soda
Combine all ingredients (except for Aperal and soda) in a shaker and shake vigorously. Strain over ice into a tall glass; top with soda and a splash of Aperol.
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