Drinks are a hobby and love for Richard Phillips.

Phillips came to Louisiana from New York at age 17 to attend Tulane University, and while he was here, he said New Orleans opened his eyes as to what the south was all about.

And while he doesn’t call himself a very good cook, Phillips, a New Iberia resident and a frequent reader of The Daily Iberian, loves to make drinks.

“I adore making drinks,” Phillips said. “It’s all self-taught and it’s an advanced hobby with me.”

An avid reader on the history of drinks and how to make them, Phillips said he has the most varieties of anything that an individual in New Iberia would have in terms of an encyclopedia of drink knowledge.

As hard as it is to believe, Phillips doesn’t eat seafood even though he has spent the majority of his life in Louisiana.

“Can you believe it, a guy down here and after living in New Orleans, still with all of those great restaurants,” Phillips said. “In the north( New York) we are meat and potatoes people.”

Growing up next to the Atlantic Ocean, Phillips joked that he made a deal with the ocean to not eat anything that came out of the ocean if it doesn’t eat him.

“I still have the pact with seafood,” Phillips said. “Not being brought up on red beans and rice, I don’t eat red beans and rice.”

There were two states in the U.S. at the time of Phillips’ youth that allowed for drinking before age 21 — Louisiana and New York, he noted, which eventually helped to develop his love for drinks.

“Although food makes you feel good, drinking in moderation makes you feel good,” Phillips said. “Contemporary with the art of cooking, I think is the art of drinking and I think I am a mixologist by choice.”

With New Year’s Eve on Thursday, what’s better to ring in the New Year with Phillips’ own “Sunrise in New Iberia No. 1” drink. Enjoy in moderation and with celebration this holiday season.

Sunrise in New Iberia No. 1

2 oz. Fresh squeezed Satsuma juice (when in season)

4 oz. Pineapple- Mango juice (in cooler, little juice, lotta sugar water)

2 dashes of Orange Bitters (on the shelf)

1 Fresh Orange Wheel (optional)

2 oz. 100 % Agave, Reposado type Tequila (your choice here)

1/4 oz. Chambord or Grenadine (pour into a shot glass)

*No.2 is with Orange juice (fresh preferred) when cannot source satsumas*

Mix, shake or stir fluids (except Chambord) with ice, strain into tall iced filled glass , add wheel and long straw and serve, but slowly add Chambord in front of tippler.

  

Richard Phillips

New Iberia, LA