De’Qustay Johnson / Atlanta Brand Ambassador

Atlanta Brand Ambassador for The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley

Mixologist & Owner at Mobile Bar ATL

De’Qustay Johnson is a bartender and mixologist with more than 10 years of experience serving drinks and a passion for delivering friendly, engaging customer service. Known as De (“Dee”), she is the owner and founder of MobileBarATL and the master mixologist at DeQustayJ Cocktails Inc., where she makes signature handcrafted cocktails for weddings, parties, special events and deliveries.

Like many beverage industry professionals, a pandemic layoff forced a change in her trajectory. De had been serving drinks at The Cheesecake Factory and other Atlanta establishments for 11 years when, in early 2020, she took advantage of The Perfect Purée’s complimentary sample program for foodservice professionals. That year as the pandemic kept bars and restaurants closed, she built her own business making and delivering custom drinks in fun, reusable pouches. She used her samples to make a Bourbon Blood Orange Martini for one of her Thirsty Thursday on-line events and played with Green Apple Puree and Red Sangria blend in delivery drinks.

De grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Benedict College in South Carolina. She worked in a pathology lab for St. Vincent Hospital Cancer Research Institute and moved to Georgia for graduate school. She started bartending to make money for school and soon realized she’d rather do that than look under a microscope all day, though she still finds parallels between science and mixology.

“The biggest thing is people. I love talking to people and I love engaging. That’s what did it for me,” she says.

Before ordering samples, De had used The Perfect Purée Mango Puree and Red Raspberry Puree in smoothies, lemonades and mango margaritas at The Cheesecake Factory. “I’ve been such a huge fan of The Perfect Purée for years,” De says.

She enjoys experimenting with different flavors—Peach Ginger blend, Lychee Puree and Green Apple Puree are her favorites. For clients she’s made a Papaya Spritzer and a Moscow Mule with The Perfect Purée Peach Ginger blend. De excels at networking and easily makes fans of The Perfect Purée at new establishments. She also clears up common misconceptions about its products.

“Some of my accounts say, ‘We don’t have any blenders,’ because they think you can only do blender drinks with frozen purées,” she says.