 I'm Shannon Mustapher, an award-winning mixologist, educator, and author. Like a confession booth, the bar is a place for all walks of life to come in and share their stories. So today, I'll be sitting down with innovative creators to turn their journeys in the classic Grand Marnier cocktails with a unique twist on a tradition. AJ! What's up? This is Scott. Thanks for having me. You're an art curator. Yeah. Tell us what that work entails and why it's important. I like to think of what I do as something that really creates change because I'm not necessarily talking to artists that are already in their most successful or prominent space. I like to work with artists that are emerging. Traditionally, curators are people who have gone to school and studied items and movements around items and are sort of creating, again, the history to what is the art. And I want to give my best to this. I want to be a studious. I want to learn what I can learn, but I also want to add. And I don't want to just leave it as like, okay, you are here because you've learned 900 years of art history. So you're official. What about the next 900 years? Like, how are we going to start moving those people ahead and moving those conversations in? Personally, I always look back at African traditions like griots and things like that. We're showing that we have culture and that we're looking to retain it. I think those things deserve to be in museum spaces and institutions. So basically, you're like a keeper of culture. Is that a fair way to put it? I don't know. No, for sure. That's where I want to take it. Being a man of color and working in your field, has there ever been a moment when you've been in a museum or a gallery or other art institution and felt like you didn't fit in or like you were out of place? I think people often read the way that I look as like a summation of my experience. And I think that people see me as this young black male curator in question. Why I'm there and like my legitimacy there. And I think that oftentimes like I get shunned with education and opportunities. Like I was asked to learn someone else's history and someone else's culture and someone else's expression before giving space to learn my own. And it was really difficult. Based off of that, how do you push back? How does that maybe fuel or feed into your mission as a curator? Right now, I just want to be accessible. I want to learn. I want to go to art shows and talks and panels. I want to go to other artists openings. I want to support other curators. I just want to be a force in my community by being present in like a database of information for people. We don't have to just be working class people. We don't have to stay outside of these spaces. We don't have to reject creativity. All of these things can be fused into our everyday lives and like these museums and these institutions have to learn about us and our experiences and the way we maintain culture. So it sounds like your approach to curation is part anthropologists, part witness observer. Maybe if you don't realize the kind of hospitality that goes into being a curator, right? That goes into creating an environment. And so we're in a bar environment right now. And I'm curious what kind of mood you like to experience when you're having a drink. I'm laughing because I always like sweet tasting drinks. I guess that's like the southern enemy. I always wanted to feel a little like lemonade or sweet tea or something like that. I always get the martini glass cups for the drinks with the flowers and the whole like decorative things. It seems like you're not one for the regular path. So I'm going to take you off the beaten path. Does that sound okay? I'm excited. Thank you. I would love to taste you on the star of this drink. It's a Grand Marnier Louis Alexandre. This is a blend of 82% cognac and orange liqueur. Great as a gift, great for the holidays. And I think this drink is really going to bring that point home for you. It's really good. It's really great. And I really like drinking it neat. I can get the full taste of it. I think that some people think cognac is, you know, just a one dimensional thing. But what Louis Alexandre did, he's the founder of Grand Marnier, was to mix cognac with orange liqueur. No one had dared to do anything like that before. Interesting. And that was a bit of a grand gesture. Should we get started? Let's do it. I'm excited. So I started off with two dashes of orange bitters picking up on the citrus that comes from the orange liqueur in a Louis Alzonk. Next, I'm going to add a bar spoon of a citrus-infused simple syrup. Next, I'm going to use some vermouth. This is a vermouth Bianco. A little more aromatic. Last of star, the Louis Alzonk. So I put those two together with the bitters. I'm going to chill it down. I like the look already. It looks like a classic martini, but I want to give it a festive edge. I'm going to top it off some champagne to really bring it to the holiday zone and also change the way you think about this style of cocktail, right? So much like you treat your art like, hey, we're going to go to the old school and make it new. I think we can do the same thing here with this cocktail, which I call the keeper of culture. I love that. Let's see what you got. Yeah, I love where you took that. This is amazing. That's what's up. I mean, it's all about mixing it up a little bit old and new. Cheers.