Cocktail Wars&x27; Winning Drink Recipes: How to Make Them at Home Brett M Malec Wed, August 26, 2026 at 12:54 PM UTC 0 Originally appeared on E! Online Warning: Spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of E!&x27;s Cocktail Wars. Say "cheers" and raise a glass to these showstopping spirits. Two talented bartenders have already been crowned winners of E!&x27;s new mixology competition series Cocktail Wars. During the twoepisode premiere on Aug.
Cocktail Wars' Winning Drink Recipes: How to Make Them at Home
Brett M Malec Wed, August 26, 2026 at 12:54 PM UTC
0
Originally appeared on E! Online
Warning: Spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of E!'s Cocktail Wars.
Say "cheers" and raise a glass to these show-stopping spirits.
Two talented bartenders have already been crowned winners of E!'s new mixology competition series Cocktail Wars.
During the two-episode premiere on Aug. 18, cohosts Joey Fatone and Lance Bass—accompanied by mixology expert Melissa Brooke and special celebrity guest judges E!'s Justin Sylvester and The Real Housewives of New Jersey's Melissa Gorga—sipped, savored and debated before naming bartenders Jon Schott and Tyler Kent the champions of the first two rounds of competition, respectively.
Schott blew the judges' socks off after nailing episode one's creative challenge: using cold as an ingredient.
"John took the challenge and ran with it," Brooke commented after imbibing in his rum-based "Staycation" concoction finished with a cold pistachio cream. "The foam very much tasted like one specific thing, which was great by the way. And the cocktail tasted like another thing."
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After the *NSYNC band members announced Schott as the first winner of $10,000, the Washington, D.C.-based foodie was ready to celebrate with a round of shots (or should we say Schotts?).
"Winning feels unreal," Schott reflected in a confessional. "When I was bartending when I was 21, people would ask me what my real job is and I'll tell you right now: This is what I do. I win Cocktail Wars, I make drinks and I have fun doing it."
Now, fans at home can recreate the winning cocktails using the bartender recipes below. Check back each week for updates on all the tipsy treats featured on E!.
Cocktail Wars airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on E!.
EPISODE 1: Winning Drink by Jon Schott of RiffRaff
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Ingredients:
Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum
Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters
Fee Brothers Grapefruit Bitters
Monin Yuzu & Pineapple Syrup
Monin Passion Fruit Syrup
Lime Juice
Lemon Juice
Simple Syrup
Big Ice Cube with an Edible Orchid
Head here to purchase ingredients.
James Dimmock/E! Entertainment
EPISODE 2: Winning Drink by Tyler Kent of Marie’s Crisis
Ingredients:
Fords Gin
Orange Juice
Orgeat Syrup
Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
Aromatic Bitters
Citric Acid
Egg White
Orange Peel and Edible Glitter for Garnish
Head here to purchase ingredients.
EPISODE 3: Winning Drink by Mark Buettler
A SUNDAY IN KENTUCKY (FLIGHT)
Ingredients:
Cocktail 1
Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
Orange Juice
Teaspoon Citric Acid
Simple Syrup
Lanson Le Black Création Champagne
Orange Peel
Cocktail 2
Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
Simple Syrup
Fresh Lemon Juice
Sweet Tea
Cocktail 3
Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
Galliano Espresso Liqueur
Small Red Chilies
Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
Galliano Espresso Liqueur
Dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
Head here to purchase ingredients.
While fans wait for more delicious recipes, keep reading to learn some epic fun facts from their *NSYNC days.
(Originally pubished Aug. 18, 2026 at 8 p.m. PT)
1. AfterChris Kirkpatrick, 23 at the time, was passed over for theBackstreet Boys—the first instanceof shady impresarioLou Pearlmancapturing boy band lightning in a bottle—he told Pearlman he was still interested in being in a group.Pearlman agreed to put up the money if Kirkpatrick did the work of finding other guys to join him, and so the sifting through demos and watching hours of tapes began. They happened uponThe All New-Mickey Mouse Clubalum and aspiring singerJustin Timberlake, 14, who recommended fellow former MouseketeerJC Chasez, 19. ("JC was the cool older guy, and Justin wanted to be just like him," co-starChristina Aguileraremembered toRolling Stone.)They continued the search in Orlando, and Kirkpatrick thought ofJoey Fatone, 18, who he knew from his days performing at Universal Studios. But they still needed a deeper voice.Timberlake's vocal coach advised them to check out this kid from Mississippi,Lance Bass, who flew down to Florida on Oct. 1, 1995. Pearlman and Timberlake picked the appropriately named 16-year-old up at the airport in a black Rolls Royce.Backstreet BoyHowie Dorough, who knew Kirkpatrick way back when, gave himself a little pat on the back later on for all this serendipity,telling Pop Crushin 2015 that BSB asked Pearlman "to help [Chris] out in any way that he could and still fulfill his dream. He went back with Chris and formed a group and little by little that spun off to eventually be *NSYNC."
2. But Lance wasn't the first fifth member of *NSYNC!That wasJason Galasso, who know Fatone from high school choir and got a page out of nowhere from his old pal. Coincidentally, he also knew Chasez because, as Galassoexplained onThe Digital Get Downpodcast in 2019, he "used to kind of hang out withThe Mickey Mouse Club" stars.After a rendition ofBoyz II Men's "End of the Road," he was in the group. "I remember I'm like, 'Dang, Justin's young!'" he recalled. "But then I heard him sing, I'm like 'Oh, it doesn't matter how old he is, he can sing his butt off."At the same time, however, the bass singer was also in a three-man group called Unreal, "so I'm still trying to decide," Galasso, nowin the mortgage loan business, recalled, noting he'd come from "an R&B, hip-hop background."So when Pearlman came over with "this European-style techno, I was just like, 'Hmm, okay.'" He traveled with the other guys in Unreal to Atlanta to cut a demo, which he thought turned out great.Meanwhile, *NSYNC was starting to fashion a look and they were talking about putting a showcase together for Disney's Pleasure Island.Pretty soon, both groups were trying to get him to sign. Galasso said he took the dueling contracts to a lawyer and, while the deal with the trio was pretty standard issue, Pearlman had himself written into the *NSYNC contract as a sixth member, and that contract was "thick as a phone book."So Galasso ultimately went with the group that wasn't *NSYNC.
3. Aside from Timberlake's mom complimenting that they sounded so "in sync," the group's name incorporates the last letter of their first names: Justin, Chris, Joey, Jasonand JC.Oh, wait...The guys asked Lance if he wouldn't mind tweaking his name a bit to make the whole *NYSNC thing still work. And so, Lanceton was born. "They did call me Lanceton for a good year, just basically as a joke," Basstold EW.comin 2015. "I think it was Justin who first was like, 'Okay, Lanceton.' Then it kinda faded out once we got a deal and then came out. It didn't stick very long. It was either Lanceton or Landon."4. After a couple of years in which their biggest following was in Germany, ahead-of-their time fans of theMax Martin-penned "I Want You Back" and "Tearin' Up My Heart" ("In Europe, we were on the cover of every magazine," Bass recalled), *NSYNC finally got its big break in the U.S. when the Backstreet Boys turned down a "Disney Channel in Concert" gig.Instead,NSYNCin Concertcame out in 1998 and—thank you, cable—Disney Channel aired it over and over again. "The Disney Channel concert really changed our career," Bass told20/20. "It was incredible, and that one gig right there, to me, is what made us in America."
5. While they were all in Miami to play in their Challenge for the Children charity basketball game, the guys ordered room service to their hotel room not long before they were due at a press call. Fatone showed up at least 15 minutes late because, as it turned out, he had been waiting for a fresh burger—because the one on his plate had a bite taken out of it! But it wasn't delivered that way, Bassrecalledon theInside of You With Michael Rosenbaumpodcast. Timberlake had totally taken a bite out of it to screw with his pal."It was so funny. I've never seen Joey get so upset about something like that," Bass said. He "was probably tired or something," but "we make fun of him all the time for that outburst. All the time."6. Fatone may have blown up over a partially eaten burger, but Bass admitted he wasn't always the picture of patience. He told Rosenbaum that he sometimes lost his cool when Kirkpatrick would take his resident funnyman persona too far during interviews. "Chris, you know, he's very animated," Bass said, "and he's funny and he's always cracking a joke. But when someone is always cracking the joke in every single interview, and you do like 20 a day and there's five guys, your days get long and long and long.""So, there have been many times I'm like, 'Shut up. Just answer the question so we can move on because we are so tired right now.' So, he would always make all our interviews at least double the time."
7. At one point they were too busy to even stop by a barbershop for haircuts (or bleach jobs), so, Bass said, "that's when I started just kind of getting this bleach and putting it in my hair and just putting my fingertips in it, and that's how the frosted tips were born."Now you know.8. In 2000, to celebrate the diamond-selling status of their 1997 debut'N Sync, meaning 10 million copies sold, their managerJohnny Wright(who had previously been the road manager forNew Kids on the Blockalong with his wifeDonna) gifted the five with diamond-and-platinum pendants. "We are diamond," Timberlake announced, mostly facetiously,according toRolling Stone. "Screw all of you. I'm done. Forget this boy-band thing."
9. The members of *NSYNC did get rich—but not until they took matters into their own hands. Pearlman, who died in prison in 2016 while serving a 25-year sentence for money laundering and other crimes committed in the running of a Ponzi scheme, was seemingly screwing themandthe Backstreet Boys (andO-Town) out of money.Talking to ABC News'20/20in 2019, Bass recalled Pearlman flying them and their families to L.A. in 1998 for a check-presentation party. The amount: $10,000 apiece."I was in the biggest band in the world and selling millions of records…but I can't even afford my apartment in Orlando. I couldn't even get a car," said Bass, who ripped up his check when he got back to his hotel room. Added Kirkpatrick, "With all the success you would think that we were making hand-over-fist money and we were printing money and whatever, and it just wasn't the case."After realizing their contracts, like the members of BSB, treated Pearlman as a sixth member, meaning he got one-sixth of the group's profits as well as management fees, *NSYNC jumped ship for Jive Records—and were promptly sued by TransContinental Records and RCA parent BMG Entertainment, which had distributed their first album. It was a $150 million lawsuit, but Pearlman's big goal was to prevent them from continuing to use the name *NSYNC. They countersued for $25 million and settled for an undisclosed amount in 1999—and, most importantly, they retained the right to press on with their name intact.
10.No Strings Attached, their smash-hit sophomore album released in March 2000, was metaphorical AF."No Strings Attachedjust became the theme," Kirkpatrick, who thought of the concept after "I've Got No Strings" from Disney'sPinocchiopopped into his head, told20/20. "It became our battle cry of, 'We don't owe anybody anymore…we have no ties to anything but each other...and our fans."Chasez, who won a talent show in the seventh grade singingRichard Marx's "Right Here Waiting" only to have Marx write and produce "I Promise You" forNo Strings, toldRolling Stone, "This album is really in your face. Nothing is sang passively; everything is chopped and punched. You can definitely hear aMichael Jacksoninfluence in the way the words chop off—that's the way Michael delivers a line."Added Timberlake, "We're pissed off now—that's what it is. We're angry white boys who didn't get our props. No, I'm kidding—I'm kidding."Moreover, they were musically homeless for most of the time they were making it, unhappy with TransContinental and not yet ensconced at Jive, whose artists included Timberlake's then-secret (albeit a poorly kept one) girlfriendBritney Spearsand the Backstreet Boys.No Strings Attachedsold 2.4 million copies in its first week out, including 1.1 million on day one.
11. A year later, Jackson wason stage with them—first at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, appearing just as *NYSNC was winding down its performance of "Pop" and sending the crowd into a frenzy even though he didn't sing—and then for real all together days later on "Dancing Machine" at theMichael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration. The two-day concert event held at Madison Square Garden aired on CBS that November.In 2016, Bassrevealed onThe Meredith VieiraShowthat Jackson didn't speak to him for a year after the MSG show because, when Jackson insisted that Bass and Fatone (who had a movie premiere to attend) stay until the end for a group rendition of "Heal the World," saying it was "for the children," Bass giggled, not realizing the King of Pop was perfectly serious.
12. Once they all had more money in the bank, naturally they started spending it. In March 2000, Timberlake bought a Mercedes (his first big purchase) and a BMW M Roadster, and would add a Dodge Viper, an Audi TT, a Porsche 911 and a Cadillac Escalade to his collection by the following year. Fatone treated himself to a black Cadillac truck and homes and cars for his parents and siblings. Several of them purchased homes in Orlando, and Kirkpatrick bought a house for his mom, too. Bass got a house in Orlando, one in his home state of Mississippi, and one in the border area known as Floribama."There's a white grand piano, a white couch and a tapestry of knights on horses, and I have this beautiful acrylic statue of a nude man and woman that my friend got me," Timberlake detailed toRolling Stoneof the decor in his Orlando bachelor pad. "It's a beautiful piece: You shine a light on it and it shines right through. I've got a game room that we call theJimmy Buffettroom, because it's Orlando tropical, and I have a country kitchen to remind me of where I grew up. The bedroom is a whole safari motif, with a Japanese screen and a big sleigh bed."The following year, Chasez revealed he'd become a red wine aficionado, and had sprung for a $2,500 book of Helmut Newton photographs.
13. In 2000, just beforeNo Strings Attachedcame out, Kirkpatrick was dating the girlfriend he'd had for about a year before *NSYNC became a global phenomenon. They weren't meant to be, as he marriedKarly Skladanyin 2013 after three years together, with all of his former bandmates in attendance.Timberlake was still playing coy about whether he and Spears were actually dating ("Britney's a good friend of mine"), informingRolling Stone, "If I do decide to have a personal relationship with someone, I think it's best to keep it that—personal."Bass had previously datedBoy Meets World StarDanielle Fishel, even accompanying her to her high school prom. He'd choose to wait until 2006 to publicly come out as gay, and he's been married toMichael Turchinsince 2014.Fatone had been on and off with high school sweetheartKelly Baldwinsince 1993—but they were decidedly back on when they welcomed daughterBriahnain March of 2001. They got married in 2004 and had second daughterKloey Alexandrain 2010, but they split in 2019.Chasez, meanwhile, usually had girlfriends around (in 2001 he was datingBobbie Thomas, who wasinspired to start her own blogwhen she saw how the media treated Spears), but he has kept an impressively tight lid on his private life. He hard launched his romance with girlfriendJennifer HuYoungin a 2019 Valentine's DayInstagram tribute.
14. By 2000, Bass had started Freelance Management, hoping to develop country artists. Timberlake launched his eponymous foundation to benefit music and arts education in public schools. Chasez was producing music for girl group Wild Orchid and Kirkpatrick had started his own fashion and music production company called Fuman Skeeto.
15. Legions of screaming tween fans aside, they weren'ttryingto be extra adorable to appeal to as many kids (and their moms) as possible."We don't try to make ourselves do cute, we just are who we are," Timberlake toldRolling Stonein 2000. "We're boys. We burp and fart, just like boys."
16. Kirkpatrick considered himself the stereotypical guy's guy among them, tellingRolling Stonein 2001, "I'm like a bunch of college guys got together and said, 'Let's make a dude, a crazy dude.' And they made me."The writer described Bass as a "supernice, humble, patient guy who's so pretty he almost looks like a girl, and who never, ever stops smiling." Chasez was said to be the one whose offstage personality was furthest from his onstage persona, "the one most likely to meander right past you so silently you wouldn't even notice him."Fatone was "a giant wild boy with a rambunctious electricity bubbling constantly beneath his skin, as if he's about to make a party break out anytime, anywhere."
17. During rehearsal in New Orleans in 2001, a platform shot up too early and Fatone's lower leg was caught between it and the stage, somehow not breaking the bone but exposing alotof the interior of his leg."There was a hole," Bass toldRolling Stone. "You could see the bone, you could see everything. So we applied pressure on it, and the fat was coming out, and it was not good. He can take pain good, but he was in pain. Oh, he screamed. It looked like a bullet went through his leg."Added Chasez, "He ended up going to the hospital and they cut a piece of his leg out and had to rinse the metal out because his leg was caught between two pieces of metal. I don't know how it didn't break. He's a tough kid."A few weeks later, Fatone, who had been using a cane to get around, was back on stage dancing. "He's in pain," Chasez observed. "But Joey's got great showmanship. He knows how to cover his steps 'cause he's been onstage longer than any of us."
18. When you think about it, *NYSNC had a relatively tame run. They're the first to admit they had their fun, but they werenottroublemakers, nor did trouble have a habit of "finding them." Bass liked a Jack and Coke, but would more likely volunteer to be the evening's designated driver. "If some 12-year-old sees on the news that I got arrested for cocaine, that affects a lot of people," he toldRolling Stone. "I remember when I was 10 and I caught my sister drinking. It was so devastating to me." He added, "I can have water and feel like I'm getting drunk."19. Fame hadn't come overnight, but once it did, it was a whole new world."You realize what hard work it is and that it's not glamorous," Bass toldRolling Stone. "It's like going to Disney World, going into the tunnels and seeing Cinderella smoking a cigarette. The whole magic is gone."Timberlake admitted, "It's been a little tough There's definitely been times when I was totally depressed. But, you know, my spirituality helped me through that. I just feel like there's two of me: the public-eye me and the guy-who-brushes-his-teeth-twice-a-day me. They're getting along all right now. Sometimes brush-his-teeth doesn't get enough attention, but it's worth it.""You don't want to say or do too much," acknowledged Fatone. "You know, it's like breaking the fans' hearts if there's something out there that they don't know about and might get upset about."
20. In case anyone was under the impression that *NSYNC was composed of five disparate parts who just got lucky, they'd be wrong."We started out as best friends, and you know, I think it shows," Kirkpatrick,sitting down on CNN'sLarry King Livewith the rest of the group, said in 2001. "From when we're on stage, when we're clowning around, we do, like, so many shows that each show is so different because of the interaction amongst each other. And we'll goof around with each other."In response to King's observation that a lot of band members don't really get along behind the scenes, Timberlake added, "Well, the chemistry we have is unreal. I can't tell you, you know even with this tour last summer, I could just look at Chris and it could say 10 things at the same time, and he would know exactly what I meant just by looking at him, because we've been together."21. The channeled their misgivings about life in a fish bowl with their third album, 2001'sCelebrity.By then, Timberlake was openly dating Spears ("When we get together, that's just my girl, and I love her, and that's it. I don't think about what everybody's thinkin' about. She makes me happy. She's like salvation," hetoldRolling Stone; Bass added, "They're so perfect for each other, it's scary") and the group was making a reported $2.5 million a night on their PopOdyssey tour.
22. In 2000, Timberlake toldRolling Stone, talking about the influx of boy bands onto the music scene, "I think the next couple of years will separate the boys from the men. What worries me is the oversaturation of the market."Well, the other boy bands wouldn't have to worry about it for long.
23. *NSYNC went on a so-called "temporary hiatus" in 2002 after wrapping up theirCelebrityTour, mainly so Timberlake could focus on his solo career, and that turned out to be it. Though no one came right out and said it and the group never officially announced that they were disbanding."After you do something for a certain amount of time, you get into a rhythm of it and then new things spark your curiosity; you need new brain food," Chasez, who had a solo hit that year with "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love),"reflected to Huffington Postin 2019. "At that time, we just felt like we had exhausted every kind of idea for what we were doing and we just felt like, 'OK, let's do something different.' So, that's what we did."As for Bass, he said, "me and the guys were never on bad terms at al...The thing I was most disappointed in was not just Justin leaving the band. It's that our whole team, our record label, our management, everything like that, they all knew. They all knew it was over for three years before they told me."So, for three years, I'm sitting there getting ready for a new album as everyone else knows we're moving on."
24. The guys from *NSYNC pretty much went their separate ways as they embarked on their solo aspirations and Timberlake became a superstar in their own right (thoughthat'snotwhynone of them went to JT's wedding in Italy when he marriedJessica Bielin 2012), having releasedJustifiedin November 2002 and neverreallylooking back.So could their reunion performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards havebeenmore hyped?!It was short but sweet, and their moves were intact. And, as it turned out, it wasjust the first of many.
25. Reflecting on why he didn't come out while he was in *NSYNC, Bass said at the group's Hollywood Walk of Fame induction in 2018 that "at the time, I thought that I would never be able to tell anyone because not only was I terrified of the lasting rejection—I was certain that that would happen—but more than that I didn't want to jeopardize the careers of these guys up here, much less the hundreds of amazing people who worked tirelessly to bring *NSYNC to the world."Bass continued, "I thought if I had come out, *NSYNC would be over. So I kept my secret. And our wildest dreams were coming true and we were so incredibly thankful—and I still am. But so many nights onstage, I'd see so many young, gay fans singing their hearts out and I wanted so badly to let you know, I was you. I just didn't have the strength then. But I do today and so let me say loud and proud to all my LGBT brothers and sisters, who embrace me and show me the way to be who I am, thank you so much."We can only imagine he's gained plenty of new fans since going public with his true self. And if he lost any, those people never deserved him in the first place.
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Published: August 26, 2026 at 04:09PM on Source: RED MAG
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Cocktail Wars ' Winning Drink Recipes: How to Make Them at Home"> Cocktail Wars ' Winning Drink Recipes: How to Make Them at...
