“What do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino?” asks Jakob McCabe-Johnston, one of Punch’s Best New Bartenders of 2026, who works at Atlanta’s Kimball House. The answer? “Elephino.”
The joke, a play on “Hell if I know,” is the namesake for McCabe-Johnston’s take on an Americano, an eye-catching riff with a beet-dyed hue, and, in place of the customary lemon peel, a clever garnish. Inspired by a Campari jelly that McCabe Johnston had seen at Shapes for a Name in London, he makes a similar ingredient, but uses it as a filling to make what looks like a pimento pepper-stuffed olive. On paper, like the joke, it’s a little nonsensical. But in reality, it works. “Sure, I thought it was hilarious, but it also makes sense in terms of how it is received on the palette,” he says. “The bitter and salty play well [together].”
The jelly itself is fairly easy to make. McCabe-Johnston simply brings Campari to a simmer quickly (which is important to not lose aromatics), then whisks it with agar-agar. After chilling for about two hours, the Campari jelly can be sliced, turned into different shapes and even placed in squeeze bottles for later use as a paste, which McCabe-Johnston says works well on a cracker or on the rim of a cocktail glass. For the Elephino Americano, he cuts the jelly Campari into small cubes to stuff into the olives.
A third-generation bartender, McCabe-Johnston points to his mother Carrie McCabe-Johnston’s work in the kitchen at Nightingale, which she owns alongside Jakob’s father Jasha Johnston, as the reason behind his culinary-driven ethos. That background is on full display in this drink, where a sesame oil wash adds texture and an unconventional base spirit, aquavit, “acts more as a seasoning,” he says. A bartender should be “constantly thinking about balance of flavor,” he says. “The best bartenders are thinking about drinks like chefs think about food.”
