Patricia Grimm / Beverage Director, Adele’s, Nashville, Tennessee

Consistently rated one of Nashville’s top restaurants, Adele’s is acclaimed for colorful specialty drinks.

“Fire Breather” is Beverage Director Patricia Grimm’s spicy riff on a margarita and the top selling drink on their fall menu. Featuring The Perfect Purée Blackberry Puree in a blackberry-agave syrup, it balances tequila and lime and two bracing dashes of Scrappy’s Firewater Tincture.

“I needed a fruit flavor that would stand up to the tequila and the firewater tincture,” Patricia explains. “After trying a blackberry liqueur and comparing it to the blackberry purée, it was clear the purée was the winner.”

Located in a former auto garage in Nashville’s dynamic Gulch neighborhood, Adele’s is named after founder and celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman’s mother. The seasonal menu inspired by rustic contemporary California cuisine complements the airy, open feel of the converted garage that’s flooded with natural light. The menu focuses on seasonal, accessible comfort food sourced from local farms and purveyors.

Adele’s is part of the Red Pebbles Hospitality Group that also includes The 404 Kitchen with one of the South’s most comprehensive whiskey collections; Bajo Sexto Taco located inside the Country Music Hall of Fame; and Pemrose, a Nashville destination for coastal cuisine.

Adele’s signature milk punches are famous and the house recipe is a carefully guarded secret. To celebrate Fat Tuesday in 2019, Patricia created a Hurricane Milk Punch with The Perfect Purée Passion Fruit Concentrate. More recently, she used Passion Fruit in a brunch cocktail called “Breakfast Bourbon.”

“The tartness of the purée perfectly balances with the bourbon and maple syrup,” she says.

She began using The Perfect Purée several years ago and now relies on its fruit flavors for a depth and richness that plays well with a variety of spirits. The economics are a plus, too.

“Because the purées and concentrates pack such a flavor punch, I usually dilute them with water or syrup, which is a bonus as it cuts beverage costs,” she says.