Cocktail Wars Episode 10 Recipes: Spicy and Spirit Free

Cocktail Wars episode 10 recipes come from the spiciest night of the season, and the one where three of the eight drinks have no alcohol at all. cocktailwars.com files the theme as Cocktails With A Kick, E! titles it Mocktails & Mayhem, and both fit: serrano and jalapeño in round one, yerba mate and no spirit at all in round two, an espresso drink that could not be an espresso martini in the final. Joey Fatone and Lance Bass host, Melissa Brooke scores the technique, and Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan guest judge. Below is the full Cocktail Wars episode 10 recap plus all eight published drinks, each with a one-tap link that saves it to your Velvet Shelf account.

Every spec below is copied from the official episode 10 recipe page at cocktailwars.com, so the measurements are exactly what the mixologists poured. Nothing has been rounded or tidied up, and where the page prints an ingredient with no measurement we left it blank. Two of these drinks list prep at batch size and keep the real build at the end of the method, so read it through. Save any of them and the cocktail lands in your bar with cocktailwars.com credited as the source.

Who competed on Cocktail Wars episode 10?

Genna Bestmann, Gray Mortier and Amanda Castronovo competed on Cocktail Wars episode 10, and Bestmann swept it: the first impression challenge, the skills challenge, then episode winner, the first clean sweep the recipe pages have recorded this season. Castronovo does not appear in the third challenge, which is where this format puts its single elimination, so Mortier took the final head to head.

Challenge 1: Getting spicy

The first impression challenge asked for heat. The interesting question is not how hot a drink gets but where the heat is dosed from: a syrup gives you a measurable quarter ounce, a muddled pepper gives you whatever that pepper had, a chili salt rim puts it beside the drink. The syrup took the round.

Hoja Blanco (Genna Bestmann)

The round one winner, built on three sub-recipes: basil rapid infused into fino sherry, a fine strained serrano and jalapeno syrup, and a basil, salt and sugar grind pressed onto half a coupe painted with that syrup. The ingredient list is batch prep, so the drink is the five lines closing the method; the list says 6 oz sugar to 1 oz water where the method says 6 to 6, and lists cherries no step uses.

Glass: coupe glass

Ingredients

• 2 oz Diplomático Planas Rum
• Cherries
• Handful of Basil
• 8 oz Dry Tio Pepe Palomino Fino Sherry
• 1 Serrano peppers
• 2 Jalapeño peppers
• 6 oz Sugar + 1 oz water
• 1oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• Salt, Sugar, Basil and Lime Rim

Method

1. Basil Sherry: In an ISI canister, rapid infuse a handful of basil into 8 oz of Dry Tio Pepe Sherry using cream chargers (charge twice). Open and strain out the basil. 2. Pepper Syrup: Blend equal parts sugar and water (6 oz sugar to 6 oz water) with 1 serrano pepper and 2 jalapeño peppers. Fine strain to remove pulp and seeds. 3. Glass Rim: Using a mortar and pestle, grind basil leaves, sugar, and salt until granulated. Paint half of a coupe glass with the pepper syrup, then coat the syrup with the basil-salt-sugar mixture. 4. Shake below ingredients with ice and fine strain into the prepared coupe glass: 2 oz Diplomático Planas, .75 oz Serrano/Jalapeno syrup, 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice, .5 oz Basil-infused sherry, 1 pinch of salt.

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Devil's Espresso Martini (Gray Mortier)

Reposado tequila under the espresso rather than vodka alone, with muddled chilies and Aztec chocolate bitters carrying the heat. The garnish is printed as chocolate and chili peppers while the method only puts peppers on top, and the chilies carry no count.

Glass: martini glass
Garnish: Chocolate & Chili Peppers Garnish

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Herradura Reposado Tequila
• 1 ounce of Deep Eddy Espresso Vodka
• 1 oz Café Bustelo Unsweetened Espresso Style Iced Coffee Beverage
• Chili Peppers
• 2-3 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
• ¼ oz Simple Syrup
• 2- 3 dashes Fee Brothers Fee Foam
• Chocolate & Chili Peppers Garnish

Method

1. Muddled peppers in the shaker. 2. Shake hard with all ingredients. 3. Double strain into a martini glass and top with a couple of peppers for garnish.

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Oh Shit (Amanda Castronovo)

The only sour of the round, and the only drink keeping its heat out of the liquid, in a chili salt sprinkle over the egg white foam. Yuzu arrives twice, as sake and as puree, with ginger syrup warming it instead of pepper.

Glass: rocks glass
Garnish: pickled ginger and chili salt garnish

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Fords Gin
• .5 oz Yuzu flavored sake
• .25 oz Monin Yuzu Purée
• .5 oz lime juice
• .5 oz ginger simple syrup
• 1 egg white

Method

1. Dry shake ingredients. 2. Add ice shake again. 3. Double strain over big rock in a rocks glass. 4. Garnish with a pickled piece of ginger & a sprinkle of chili salt.

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Challenge 2: The Yerba Madre mixture

The skills challenge handed all three mixologists Yerba Madre yerba mate to build around, making this the first round of the season with no spirit in any glass. Take the alcohol out and you lose body, bitterness and length at once, so the question was who could put those three back. Bestmann won this round too.

The Garden Party (Genna Bestmann)

The round two winner, and the drink that answers the no-alcohol problem on all three fronts: a cucumber and radish green syrup for body, matcha in club soda for tannin, lemon and salt for length. As with Hoja Blanco the list is batch prep and the build sits in step three; the page names no serving glass.

Garnish: Cucumber, Mint & Radish Green for the garnish

Ingredients

• Yerba Madre Enlighten Mint
• 1 small cucumber
• Handful radish greens
• 6 oz sugar + 6 oz water
• Salt
• 1 can Q Club Soda
• Two scoops matcha
• lemon juice

Method

1. Cucumber/Radish Green Simple Syrup: Blend 1 small, chopped cucumber, a handful of radish greens, 6 oz sugar, and 6 oz water. Fine strain. 2. Matcha Club Soda: In a mixing glass, stir 1 can of Q Club Soda with two scoops of matcha powder until dissolved. 3. In glass combine: 1.5 oz Yerba Madre Enlighten Mint, 1 oz Cucumber/Radish Green syrup, 1 oz Matcha Q Club Soda, 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice, 1 pinch of salt. 4. Stir ingredients quickly over light ice in a mixing glass. 5. Strain over fresh ice. 6. Garnish with a cucumber slice, a mint sprig, and a radish green sprig.

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Glinda's Giggle Juice (Gray Mortier)

Blended watermelon and basil pushed through cheesecloth, shaken with Fee Foam and double strained over a big cube into a glass rimmed with tamarind powder, chamoy salt, pink salt and sugar. The spec prints 2 oz of Fee Foam where two or three dashes is normal, and lists Q Watermelon Lime Refresher without using it.

Glass: glasses of choice
Garnish: Tamarind powder, pink Himalayan salt, chamoy salt, sugar and basil

Ingredients

• 2 oz Yerba Madre Watermelody
• Fresh watermelon
• Fresh basil
• Pinch citric acid
• Q Watermelon Lime Refresher
• Simple Syrup
• Lime Juice
• 2 oz Fee Brothers Fee Foam
• Chamoy salt

Method

1. Put fresh watermelon, basil, pinch of citric acid, pinch of chamoy salt, lime juice, and simple syrup in a blender. 2. Blend until well combined. 3. Put the Basil Watermelon mixture through a cheese cloth to take out any unwanted chunks. 4. Take two glasses of choice and dunk them in lime juice, coat rim with mixture of tamarind powder, pink Himalayan salt, chamoy salt, sugar. 5. Take two ounces of watermelon Yerba madre, and 2 ounces of the mixture with fee foam in a shaker, shake it hard and double strain over a big ice cube. 6. Garnish with a basil leaf.

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The Snowbird (Amanda Castronovo)

Four lines, the shortest build on the page, with a rosemary sprig burnt under the inverted Nick & Nora so the glass holds the smoke. Orgeat does the sweetening and the body; the yerba mate and ginger beer are published as splashes, not ounces.

Glass: Nick & Nora glass
Garnish: Lime Peel and Burnt Rosemary Sprig

Ingredients

• Splash Yerba Madre Pink Grapefruit
• .5 oz Lime Juice
• .25 oz Giffard Orgeat Syrup
• Splash Q Mixers Light Ginger Beer

Method

1. Burn a rosemary sprig under a Nick & Nora glass to retain the aroma. 2. Add to shaker with ice: Lime juice, Giffard almond orgeat syrup, Splash of Yerba Madre pink grapefruit, Splash of Q Mixer Light Ginger Beer. 3. Garnish with an expressed lime peel, and the burnt rosemary sprig clothes-pinned to the glass.

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Challenge 3: Beyond espresso

The creative challenge sent the last two standing after espresso, with the espresso martini ruled out. Both reached for the same espresso vodka and Cafe Bustelo cold brew, then went opposite ways: one stirred and bitter, the other shaken and spiced.

The Continental Rift (Genna Bestmann)

The $10,000 winner, and the argument the challenge was making: espresso belongs in a stirred drink too. Lemon zest infused espresso vodka under anejo tequila, with amaro, Oloroso sherry, a barspoon of undiluted agave and salt, over one big cube; the page prints the amaro and the sherry as .25 with no unit.

Glass: double rocks glass
Garnish: Lemon Twist Garnish

Ingredients

• .75 oz Lemon Zest Infused Deep Eddy Espresso Vodka
• 1.5 oz Tequila Herradura Añejo
• .25 Vecchio Amaro del Capo
• .25 Gonzalez Byass Alfonso Oloroso Sherry
• 1 barspoon undiluted agave syrup
• Salt
• Lemon Twist Garnish

Method

1. Lemon Zest Infused Deep Eddy Espresso Vodka: Add 6 oz Deep Eddy Espresso Vodka and the peels of two lemons to an ISI canister. Charge twice using cream chargers, then strain out the lemon peels. 2. In a mixing glass, combine ingredients, and stir for 15 seconds. 3. Pour into a double rocks glass over a large cube, express lemon oil for garnish and leave expression in the glass.

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It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (Gray Mortier)

The runner-up, and the dessert end of the brief: espresso vodka, triple sec, cold brew, simple syrup and cinnamon, shaken hard. Cinnamon appears twice, in the build and over the top; the orange bitters carry no measurement.

Glass: glass of choice
Garnish: Cinnamon stick, Orange twist, 2-3 dashes of cinnamon

Ingredients

• 2 oz Deep Eddy Espresso Vodka
• ¾ oz Bols Triple Sec
• 1 oz Café Bustelo Unsweetened Espresso Style Iced Coffee Beverage
• Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
• ½ oz simple syrup
• 2 -3 dashes cinnamon

Method

1. Shake all ingredients together hard and strain into a glass of choice. 2. Garnish with an orange peel and cinnamon stick.

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How the episode played out

Bestmann won all three rounds, and the through line was prep. A pepper syrup and a basil sherry in round one, a vegetable syrup and a matcha soda in round two, a lemon peel infusion in the final. On a show with a clock running that looks like a risk every time, and it kept paying because each sub-recipe gave her a flavor nobody else at the bar had.

Mortier answered with contrast: tequila under espresso, a blended watermelon mixture and a four-ingredient rim, then cinnamon and triple sec. Castronovo went home after the Yerba Madre round, her two drinks the leanest of the night. The page records the round labels and the winner, which is as far as we can take the scoring.

Three techniques worth stealing from episode 10

Blend your chilies into a syrup, not into the drink. Hoja Blanco blends one serrano and two jalapenos with equal parts sugar and water, fine strains out pulp and seeds, then doses heat three quarters of an ounce at a time. Muddle a pepper and you get whatever heat it had; a strained syrup gets you the same drink twice.

Stir matcha into club soda when a drink has no spirit in it. The Garden Party dissolves two scoops into a can of club soda and uses an ounce as a modifier. Matcha brings tannin and a dry, bitter grip, the thing most non-alcoholic drinks lack, and the carbonation keeps it from reading like iced tea.

Stir an espresso drink instead of shaking it. Nearly every coffee cocktail gets shaken to a foam. The Continental Rift stirs under an ounce of espresso vodka with anejo tequila, amaro and Oloroso over one big cube. No foam, no real sweetness, and the coffee reads as roast rather than dessert.

Save the whole episode to your shelf

Every recipe above has its own save link, the same kind we drop in the comments on Instagram. Tap it, sign in, and the cocktail lands in your favorites with the ingredients checked against your bar. Short a can of Yerba Madre or a bottle of Oloroso? The Barkeep will tell you what to swap.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won Cocktail Wars episode 10?

Genna Bestmann won Cocktail Wars episode 10 and the $10,000 prize with The Continental Rift, a stirred drink of lemon zest infused espresso vodka, Herradura Anejo tequila, Vecchio Amaro del Capo, Oloroso sherry and agave. She won both earlier challenges too, a clean sweep. Gray Mortier was runner-up; Amanda Castronovo went out after round two.

Who were the guest judges on Cocktail Wars episode 10?

Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan were the guest judges on Cocktail Wars episode 10, joining hosts Joey Fatone and Lance Bass and mixology expert Melissa Brooke. The E! synopsis introduces them by way of The Golden Life; both are Real Housewives of New York City cast members. E! titles the episode Mocktails and Mayhem; the recipe page calls the theme Cocktails With A Kick.

Are any Cocktail Wars episode 10 recipes non-alcoholic?

Yes. The second challenge was built on Yerba Madre yerba mate with no spirit in any glass, so three of the eight published episode 10 recipes contain no alcohol: The Garden Party, Glinda's Giggle Juice and The Snowbird. All three save to Velvet Shelf as non-alcoholic.

How do you make a spicy cocktail without overdoing the heat?

Put the chili in a syrup rather than straight in the glass. Blend fresh peppers with equal parts sugar and water, fine strain out pulp and seeds, then add the syrup by the quarter ounce and taste as you go. Hoja Blanco, the round one winner on Cocktail Wars episode 10, uses three quarters of an ounce of it.