When The Wild Honey Pie met Desert Door, the spark was instant. We partnered with them to spread the word on their unique spirit, wild-harvested sotol, the lovechild of your most herbaceous gin and a smooth premium mezcal.

In The Mix

In The Mix with Desert Door was The Wild Honey Pie’s way of doing our part when the pandemic took a toll on both the restaurant and music industries. We targeted Nashville, Boulder, and Atlanta, collaborating with restaurants and artists in each city to pair artist-inspired dishes with Desert Door creations using cocktail recipes by the artists (Kishi Bashi, Becca Mancari, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters) themselves. The microsite offers access to these recipes, plus exclusive interviews and artist-curated playlists.

In addition to partaking in the artist booking process, I collaborated with Desert Door’s PR team for a press release and directed a month-long promotional social media campaign across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that culminated in a booming restaurant week.

In The Mix: Roadrunners

Fast forward one year later, and Desert Door wants to go even bigger. Finding ways to safely bring people together to experience live music was The Wild Honey Pie’s top priority, and we were so stoked to make it happen through In The Mix: Roadrunners, a road trip concert series that hit Houston, Austin, and Dallas featuring hometown artists and their favorite rest stops, restaurants, and sights along the way.

I once again helmed the lineup curation, booking bands who not only suit the Desert Door’s brand image, but know how to throw a party. We hit the road with artists like Buffalo Hunt, Cowboy Diplomacy, and Marley Moon. And our longtime friends at Two Robbers Hard Seltzer joined for the ride.

Desert Door also sponsored The Wild Honey Pie’s Top 100 Songs of 2020 and Top 30 Albums of 2020 playlists, to which I contributed curation and write-ups. You can find those reviews, along with my other journalism work, here.