Andy’s Candy: Chelsea Girl
For our monthly Andy’s Candy feature, Jose Cuervo has concocted the Chelsea Girl, a Warhol-inspired twist on a tequila Collins served in a custom Nachtmann Havanna tumbler. Mixologist Haley Forest blended Jose Cuervo Gold, yellow Chartreuse, and grapefruit soda with ice cubes made from butterfly pea flower tea, which turn from dark blue to fuchsia when hit with citrus. “Andy Warhol took mundane objects and turned them into art, creating something thought-provoking from something simple,” Forest says. “This slow but steady metamorphic quality plays with the idea how art can change over time.”
Originally from San Francisco and London, and now based in New York, Forest has always seen her job as “a place where creativity, entertainment, and old-fashioned physical work intersect.”
“It was something that captured my attention from a young age, way before I went to culinary school or started working in restaurants,” she explains. “I really fell in love with cooking, but mixology had its claws in me and I somehow kept coming back to it like a favorite lover that you can’t ever really quit.”
With all of her creations, Forest begins by exploring “memory triggers” and tapping into the power of nostalgia. “The glory days of Andy Warhol and the Factory—a scene and era I’ve always been fascinated by—were all about blurring the line of what was considered classic and modern, mundane and special, real life and fantasy,” she tells us. “I tried to look at some of my favorite classic cocktails and find subtle ways to tweak them to create a completely new experience, where the core would be the same and yet the imbiber would be left trying to put their figure on why it felt familiar,” she adds. “For me, drinking was always about the flavors, the journey, not about getting drunk.”
The Chelsea Girl
1.75 oz Cuervo Gold
0.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse
0.25 oz Honey
0.25 oz Grapefruit juice
2 oz Grapefruit soda
Ice cubes made from butterfly pea flower tea
