“What do you get while you cross an elephant and a rhino?” asks Jakob McCabe-Johnston, considered one of Punch’s Greatest New Bartenders of 2026, who works at Atlanta’s Kimball Home. The reply? “Elephino.”
The joke, a play on “Hell if I do know,” is the namesake for McCabe-Johnston’s tackle an Americano, an eye catching riff with a beet-dyed hue, and, instead of the customary lemon peel, a intelligent garnish. Impressed by a Campari jelly that McCabe Johnston had seen at Shapes for a Identify in London, he makes an analogous ingredient, however makes use of it as a filling to make what seems like a pimento pepper-stuffed olive. On paper, just like the joke, it’s somewhat nonsensical. However in actuality, it really works. “Certain, I believed it was hilarious, however it additionally is sensible when it comes to how it’s obtained on the palette,” he says. “The bitter and salty play properly [together].”
The jelly itself is pretty simple to make. McCabe-Johnston merely brings Campari to a simmer rapidly (which is vital to not lose aromatics), then whisks it with agar-agar. After chilling for about two hours, the Campari jelly will be sliced, became totally different shapes and even positioned in squeeze bottles for later use as a paste, which McCabe-Johnston says works properly on a cracker or on the rim of a cocktail glass. For the Elephino Americano, he cuts the jelly Campari into small cubes to stuff into the olives.
A 3rd-generation bartender, McCabe-Johnston factors to his mom Carrie McCabe-Johnston’s work within the kitchen at Nightingale, which she owns alongside Jakob’s father Jasha Johnston, as the rationale behind his culinary-driven ethos. That background is on full show on this drink, the place a sesame oil wash provides texture and an unconventional base spirit, aquavit, “acts extra as a seasoning,” he says. A bartender ought to be “always excited about steadiness of taste,” he says. “The very best bartenders are excited about drinks like cooks take into consideration meals.”
