Credentials & Training
- Twelve-plus years of professional bartending, including five as a lead bartender at craft cocktail venues
- Advanced certification in distilled spirits and cocktail theory
- Completed formal coursework in classic cocktail history, menu development, and beverage cost architecture
- Mentored dozens of junior bartenders through bar programs and pop-up residencies
What Michelle covers
Michelle’s writing focuses on the practical side of cocktail making at home: spec ratios that actually balance, ingredient substitutions that work (and ones that don’t), seasonal variations on classics, and why the bottle you pour from matters more than most home bartenders realize. She leads Liquor Geeks’ Tequila Cocktail Recipes collection and contributes to the site’s broader cocktail library covering whiskey, rum, gin, and vodka-based drinks. She’s particularly drawn to lesser-known modern classics and regional cocktail traditions.
Editorial standards
Every cocktail recipe Michelle publishes has been made and tasted by her, typically multiple times across different spirit brands within the same category to confirm the spec works across a realistic home-bar set. Where a particular bottle is called out by name, it’s because Michelle has independently concluded it delivers in the specific drink; never as a brand-paid placement. Measurements are given in both ounces and milliliters for accuracy, and substitutions are noted when the difference materially changes the drink.
Contact
Reach Michelle via the Liquor Geeks support team at support@liquorgeeks.com — please include “Attn: Michelle” in the subject line for cocktail questions, recipe troubleshooting, or press.
