This recipe is part of a larger dinner party menu you can find on my Substack. The category is Sandwiches, and it features five sandwich-inspired courses, yet none of them are actual sandwiches. You can find the recipe booklet and a handy party prep schedule here.

I’ve always found mixology intimidating. I feel like I don’t know enough to add my voice to the din. When it comes to cooking, I have endless internal resources. A vast culinary vocabulary of flavours, pairings, and textures. An armoury of techniques, in-the-field fixes, and quick shortcuts. I don’t have that when it comes to beverages. My partner does, but I do not. I only recently learned what fino sherry is, so I’m not exactly in the know, you know? But how did I acquire that culinary thesaurus of textures, that barrage of technical skill? I did it through trial and error, through burnt cakes and pizzas ordered after dinner defeats. I did it through 15 years of trying. Perhaps, I can do the same with cocktails. So this is me, trying. And today’s Celery Gimlet is, in my less-than-informed opinion, my most successful try yet.