Happy holidays! Tobin Shea, bar director at Redbird in Los Angeles, joins us to explore different ways to transform the dry Martini and other classic cocktails into holiday-appropriate drinks.
The holidays are a time for Eggnog, Coquito, and a number of other drinks that are only brought out at this time of year. But what if you just feel like having a Martini or another classic cocktail during the season? Tobin Shea, bar director at Redbird in Los Angeles, joins us to explore the different ways to transform beloved classics into festive holiday cocktails.
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Paul Clarke
Hi everybody, welcome back to Radio Imbibe from Imbibe Magazine. I'm Paul Clarke, Imbibe's editor-in-chief, and Happy Holidays!
The past few years on this podcast, we've looked around the cocktail world to find seasonally appropriate drinks for Imbibe's audience. We've covered eggnog and coquito and flaming rum punches and the Tom and Jerry, among others. We've got all of those episodes and recipes for you in our online archives. Just click on the podcast link at imbibemagazine.com and you'll find plenty to keep you busy.
But at this time of year, it's also important for us to recognize that not everybody is an eggnog person or a coquito person or even a flaming rum punch kind of person. Many of us like to stick somewhat close to familiar favorites, even when the lights are going up and the punch bowl is being prepared for service. It could be that you just really like martinis or negronis or margaritas and that's how you prefer to roll year-round. But still, it's the holiday season, a time when we bring out the reindeer sweaters and put up trees in our houses. We just do things differently at the holidays. And that's what helps make this time of year so special.
So how do we bridge this gap? How do we connect that perennial love for a dry martini with seasonal celebrations? That's what we're going to explore in this episode and to take us on this journey, we're turning to someone who's both an ardent fan of classic cocktails,
and adept at designing seasonally appropriate drinks: Tobin Shea, the bar director at Redbird in Los Angeles.
Before we get started, this episode is brought to you by Charleston Wine & Food. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2026, this Charleston based festival is known for incredible food and drink experiences, a stunning setting and thoughtful programming you won't find anywhere else. Imbibe is a proud annual media partner. Beyond the festivities, Charleston Wine & Food is a non-profit dedicated to strengthening our culinary and hospitality community through education, workforce development, and meaningful community support. The 2026 Festival takes place March 4th through 8th. Find out more about the 2026 festival at CHSWF. org.
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Paul Clarke
Tobin, welcome to Radio Imbibe.
Tobin Shea
Thank you for having me today.
Paul Clarke
It’s great to talk to you, and first off, happy holidays. We're having this conversation in mid-December, right in the heart of the holiday season, and you know, this is the time of year when people start craving things like eggnog, or mulled wine, or drinks that have cinnamon, or apples, or allspice, and all that kind of thing. All of which are amazing. But, this also creates a kind of conundrum for those of us who love classic cocktails, and who love martinis. Because, as we know, martinis are amazing too. I wanted to have you on to help us bridge that divide between the eternal beauty of a classic martini, and the sense of embracing the holiday spirit. So to start off with, I don't want to take this for granted, but you are, I'm assuming, a fan of martinis. Is that safe to say?
Tobin Shea
Oh, I'm a big fan of martinis. I would say it's my favorite all-time drink. Definitely my go-to at any new bar that I go to. I don't want to say I use it as a measuring stick. I just kind of always like to see different takes on martinis. So it's always interesting to be trying new ones all the time.
Paul Clarke
Right, right, right. And to back up just a moment from martinis, also at your bar, Redbird in Los Angeles, you get into the spirit of the holidays. Is that fair to say with season-appropriate cocktails and flavors and things of that nature?
Tobin Shea
100%. Every year, typically, the week before or the week of Thanksgiving, we kick out our holiday menu, which is always inspired by cocktails from around the world and how they celebrate Christmas through imbibing whether it's non-alcoholic or alcoholic cocktails. So we put a lot of time and effort to that, and we try to change it up every year to where half the menu is returning and the other half is new to our returning guests.
Paul Clarke
Right. Okay. When you look at your menu right now or in a typical December, what kinds of flavors or ingredients do you like to tap to help suggest the spirit of the season, help people kind of get into the festive mood?
Tobin Shea
There's always a hard push for your warm spices, your cinnamon, your cloves, your nutmegs, but also refreshing wintergreen, especially, is always incorporated in some form or another. Maple syrup, we always try to use as a sweetener. Coconut from the Caribbean, we try to have some coquito flavors, but once again, that ties into those warm baking spices, your cinnamon, clove, allspice.
Paul Clarke
Right. Okay. And keeping in mind that you're in Los Angeles, you're not necessarily in the right terrain for like hot toddies and Tom and Jerry's, although of course I'm sure that if a guest wanted a hot toddy, you could do something like that.
Tobin Shea
Yeah. Actually, one thing that we're really proud of, and this one comes back on a regular basis, is the traditional drink from Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Boilo, which is traditionally served in a crock pot with caraway and ginger and orange juice and Four Queens bourbon. kind of turned that into refreshing highballs where we make a caraway hydrosol and clarify orange juice and make this fresh ginger syrup and add bourbon and kind of turn it into a super refreshing highball. So we do have one or two hot cocktails, but we try to do riffs on warm cocktails that are more California appropriate, more weather appropriate. And that's definitely one of my favorite one. This is the Boilo highball that we do at Redbird.
Paul Clarke
Right, okay. So how do you respond if a guest is coming in and they're not necessarily looking for one of the menu cocktails or something that fits into the classic holiday drinks mode, but they still want to recognize that it's December, that maybe they should try something different and seasonably appropriate. How do you kind of, you know, help them bridge that gap?
Tobin Shea
Well, especially with martinis. And the funny thing is we're in December and everyone's talking about eggnog and hot toddies and hot buttered rum. But if we go back to, especially like when I was a child, oysters were consumed in your BER months, which is October, November, December, January, February. We're always like, that was the best time of year to have oysters. And I can't think of anything more that I want with oysters than a martini or maybe champagne sometimes. But I think that because of that, I always attach martinis to those colder months, just October, November, December. But also if someone comes in and they're want to be participating in a holiday cocktail, but still want the classic martini, we do a few riffs. like the Mickey Finn is essentially a dry martini with a little absinthe and a little creme de menthe in it. that's one we definitely do, the absinthe, the star anise, that kind of ties into those flavors, but also the creme de menthe to the martini is absolutely perfect. But you have some flavors from a classic martini, but with a little dash of creme de menthe in there. It kind of gives it that holiday feel.
Paul Clarke
Right. I'm so glad that you brought up the Mickey Finn, because that is kind of a secret weapon that martini drinkers can try it out at this time of year. Because, like you said, with the creme de menthe and with the absinthe, it hits it just hits that kind of holiday mode, you know, as a kind of minty brightness. but still it's a dry martini when you come right down to it,
Tobin Shea
it is. Yeah, I'm a big fan also to, I think some other riffs that we can do spirits that come out of Alpine countries and Benedictine and chartreuse. There are definitely ones like the Poet’s Dream, where once again, we're just adding a little Benedictine or with the Alaska cocktail, depending on how you make it. I like to add dry vermouth to my Alaska cocktail. And I know there's another name for it, I just can't think of it right now. But where you add the dry vermouth and a little dash of yellow chartreuse, I mean, I think of those spirits. When it's cold out, I think of chartreuse. I think of Benedictine, warming up. So those are two more ingredients that I think of adding to martinis that almost give it that winter flavor. Definitely a unique take on it, but also adds that holiday feel to it because I think both those spirits in general add those Christmas flavors without being overly Christmas.
Paul Clarke
When we ran our martini feature earlier this year in a warmer season, we were asking some bartenders around the country for very minor risks that you could do on a martini that can get a drink kind of a different mood while still sticking within that classic martini formula. And I think, you know, as you mentioned, chartreuse, benedictine definitely fit within that mode. Even something, you know, instead of like a dry vermouth or matching some of the vermouth with something like Cocchi Americano, which kind of has a, you know, kind of like a little bit of a cinnamon warming spice kind of note to it. So it can fit into that mode or something like Italicus, which, you know, bergamot, that kind of, you know, citrusy aspect. It has a very kind of wintry character to it as well that can contribute to it.
Tobin Shea
100 percent, too. And then I even completely glossed over on, you know, what could be the first martini ever is the Martinez and adding the sweet vermouth, which always has those, those Christmas flavors are just baked into sweet vermouth all the time. So it's just one of those ones to where just like you said, just changing that vermouth a little bit. And it doesn't necessarily have to be the classic dry vermouth. And it just adds those spice flavors, especially, like I said, the Martinez, which some consider to be the first martini ever. But I mean, that sweet vermouth and that maraschino, especially the sweet vermouth, though, those cinnamon flavors that are completely baked in, especially if you have a more luscious one like Cocchi Torino or Carpano Antica right now. they have those massive, massive cinnamon and clove flavors and baked into them.
Paul Clarke
Right, right. And since, you know, we started talking about martinis and we're still kind of talking about martinis, but rolling that into the other kind of classic cocktails. You know, the martini is amazing, but it exists in that pantheon of classic foundational cocktails alongside things like the Negroni and the Manhattan and the Daiquiri and things of that nature. So if you're to turn the same kind of consideration to any of these drinks so that a guest could still enjoy that favorite Negroni or Manhattan kind of character, but feel festive at the same time, what other kinds of options do you have available to you if you're looking at some of those classics and just give them that little holiday tweak?
Tobin Shea
Well, I, a lot of times too, I think of when we start subbing the base ingredient, like as opposed to using rye whiskey, even though rye whiskey is a spectacular winter holiday spirit, I sometimes will sub in apple jack or apple brandy of some sorts. And it's so funny because this time of year, it's almost hard to get because I think so many people are buying so much apple jack or apple brandy right now. just changing those base spirits, turning your Negroni into a Applejack Boulevardier or an Apple Brandy Boulevardier. Same with a Manhattan, even doing a split base rye and Applejack base for a Manhattan always makes it, takes it over the top into the winter essence. And then if we take it a step further, going back to what we spoke about earlier, split base, apple brandy, rye whiskey, sweet remote, then add a little Benedictine or yellow chartreuse on the end of that. Then we really have like these over the top inadvertent Christmas flavors that necessarily don't scream Christmas, but in the back of your head, you're reading this is a Christmas cocktail.
Paul Clarke
Right. Absolutely. And I'm so glad you brought up the split base cocktails because yes, you can do that with like rye and apple brandy, as you said, or rye and cognac for that matter. It has that kind of, you know, that kind of roundness to it that isn't necessarily a holiday flavor, but your brain can kind of translate it in that same kind of way. And then again, you know, looking back that classic combination of cognac and rum, just keeping that as your base. If you did something like that, you know, again, it's not really holidays, but it is kinda.
Tobin Shea
A hundred percent. Like, I mean, you're just taking those eggnog flavors and moving them over to a different set. An old fashioned, making a cinnamon syrup and having an old fashioned, like you said, that's split cognac and rum base is absolutely spectacular. Yeah. Or it doesn't, it doesn't have to be necessarily cognac, but brandy of some sort. That is absolutely spectacular. funny because if we look at the spirits that are really heavily leaned on in the holiday time, which is rum, cognac, rye whiskey, apple brandy. Like it doesn't take rocket science to make those scream Christmas. Just a little addition of this and whether sometimes it's Benedictine or creme de menthe or a cinnamon liqueur or a cinnamon syrup is really Yeah, it's gonna kind of take that home and give you that Christmas feeling without being overtly Christmas.
Paul Clarke
Exactly. So it's possible, you know, if even for people who don't necessarily want to go full full Christmas mode, you can still kind of get into the swing of the season while still loving your classic Negroni or your classic martini.
Tobin Shea
And I find it crazy too, how much Negroni has become like part of the holiday schedule now. Like every Thanksgiving and every Christmas, it seems to be how everyone's starting their day out. So it's great to just do little riffs on that to kind of make it Christmas or just in general, like make it a little special for your guests that you're having over your house or at a bar at Redburn.
Paul Clarke
Any final thoughts or best practice to share when thinking about adapting the martini or any classic cocktail for that matter for the festive season?
Tobin Shea
Absolutely. I think whether you decide to go all out and do that eggnog that Jeffrey Morgenthaler made famous or reintroduced to a whole new generation of bartenders and drinkers, or you choose to go more of just a classic cocktail route and adding a little bit of this, whether it's creme de menthe or Benedictine or one of our Alpine spirits like chartreuse, I think you can incorporate those feelings and those flavors of the holiday without going over the top and still getting a great drink
Paul Clarke
Tobin, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insight, your experience with us and for indulging this little thought experiment of ours. I appreciate everything and happy holidays.
Tobin Shea
Thank you, Paul. And happy holidays to you.
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Paul Clarke
You can find Tobin Shea on Instagram at @TobinShea and check out Redbird online at redbird.la. We've got those links for you in this episode's notes.
And once again, this episode is sponsored by Charleston Wine and Food, taking place March 4th through March 8th in Charleston, South Carolina. Find out more about the 2026 festival at chswf.org.
And that's it for this episode. Subscribe to Radio Imbibe on your favorite podcast app to keep up with all our future episodes. We've got tons of recipes and articles for you online on our website, imbibemagazine.com. Keep up with us day to day on Instagram, Pinterest, Threads, and Facebook. And if you're not already a subscriber to the print and or digital issues of Imbibe, then here's the perfect opportunity to change that. Just follow the link in this episode's notes and we'll be happy to help you out.
I'm Paul Clarke. This is Radio Imbibe. Happy holidays, everybody, and I'll catch you next time.