🍸 Cocktails Worth Confessing: Inside the Saints & Spirits Recipe Book
Some cocktails start with a competition theme.
Others start with an ingredient I can’t stop thinking about—or a classic I want to take in a completely different direction.
After years of experimenting, creating weekly menus, and sharing drinks with guests, I wanted to put some of my favorites in one place.
Introducing the official Saints & Spirits recipe book: 25 original cocktails, plus bonus recipes, quick tips, and behind-the-scenes techniques to help you make them at home.
🔥 Years Behind the Bar, Collected in One Book
For those who haven’t met me yet, I’m Kendall Bartelheim, the mixologist behind Saints & Spirits.
I’m going on my fifth year as the lead mixologist at Melinda’s Alley in Downtown Phoenix, where we create a new cocktail menu every single week. That’s more than 50 menus a year—and plenty of tasting, tweaking, and washing shaker tins along the way.
Creating that often keeps me curious. There’s always another flavor combination to explore, another technique to practice, and another opportunity to make something a guest gets excited about.
This book is a collection of 25 of my original favorites, including competition entries and fan favorites. It’s a piece of the work, creativity, and passion that goes into what I do.
📖 What’s Inside?
The collection includes five cocktails in each category:
Vodka
Gin
Rum
Tequila
Whiskey
You’ll find familiar classics reimagined, tropical flavors, dessert-inspired drinks, and cocktails with a little more depth and complexity.
Here’s a taste of what you can expect.
🍫 Mint Conditioned: A Grasshopper With a Twist
I love taking a recognizable cocktail and giving it a different personality.
Mint Conditioned starts with the minty, creamy character of a Grasshopper, then brings in white chocolate-infused vodka and a touch of melon.
It’s playful, indulgent, and the kind of cocktail that makes you reconsider what a dessert drink can be.
If mint and white chocolate are your thing, this is a good place to start.
🌴 East Meets West: My Take on the Singapore Sling
East Meets West brings together pandan-infused gin, lychee, pineapple, and layers of herbal and citrus flavor in a Singapore Sling riff.
There’s a lot happening in this glass, but every ingredient has a job. The goal is to let those flavors work together while keeping the cocktail bright and balanced.
Finished with a lychee-and-cherry skewer and an orchid, it’s a little tropical escape with plenty of character.
🏆 From Competition Ideas to Your Home Bar
Competing in national and global competitions has pushed me to think harder about my cocktails: the balance, the presentation, the story, and how everything comes together under pressure.
Local competitions have also introduced me to talented bartenders, new friends, and people who care deeply about hospitality.
One cocktail in this collection, Renaissance, is my tiki-inspired New York Sour riff, bringing rye, aged rum, falernum, and citrus together with a spiced vanilla strawberry Cabernet foam.
It’s a great example of how a familiar classic can open the door to something personal.
Renaissance featured at Citizen Public House’s Creation Dinner.
Some recipes in the book came from that competition mindset. Others earned their place because guests kept coming back for them.
Both deserve a spot.
🧪 The Bonus Material: Learn What Happens Before the Pour
A finished cocktail is only part of the process.
There’s also the syrup, the infusion, the cordial, the foam—and all those little preparations that give a drink its character.
That’s why the book includes bonus reference sections with recipes, quick tips, and how-tos for the preparations and techniques used throughout the collection.
You’ll get a closer look at house-made ingredients and methods, including infusions, syrups, cordials, acid adjustment, foams, and clarification.
If you’ve ever read a cocktail menu and wondered, “How do they make that?” this is where you get to start finding out.
Some recipes are more involved than others.
Pick one that interests you, give yourself time for the prep, and enjoy learning something new.
🍸 Bring a Little Saints & Spirits Home
You don’t have to be a professional bartender to enjoy making a thoughtful cocktail.
Maybe you want to surprise someone with a new drink. Maybe you’re hosting friends. Maybe you just want to break out of your usual routine and try something different.
This book gives you recipes to follow and techniques to practice—with plenty of room to build your confidence along the way.
Your support means a lot. This is something I’ve put real time and passion into, and I’m excited to get these cocktails into more people’s hands.
🤝 Join the Community
One of my favorite parts of hospitality is the connection.
Meeting new people. Trading ideas. Making friends over a good drink. Watching someone get excited about something you created.
That’s what I want to keep building through Saints & Spirits.
Visit saintsandspirits.co to join the community and follow along. And if you make a cocktail from the book, tag @saints.and.spirits—I’d love to see what you’re making and hear which recipe becomes your favorite.
Stay tuned for more recipe books, e-books, and instructional materials coming soon.
🥂 Let’s Create Something Together
Planning a private party or special event? I’d love to bring the Saints & Spirits experience to your celebration.
And if you’re a bartender, chef, venue owner, creator, or brand with an idea for a collaboration, pop-up, or class, let’s talk.
I’m always excited to work with people who enjoy creating, sharing what they know, and bringing people together. A strong hospitality community grows through those connections—and I want to keep making them.
Until then, pick a recipe and make something worth confessing.
Kendall Bartelheim
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