03 November 2025
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Congratulations to Colleen Hughes of Supperland, The 2025 MICHELIN Guide American South Exceptional Cocktails Award Winner!
Supperland is one of Charlotte’s top dining destinations. Housed inside a restored century-old church, the main restaurant is bright and inviting, with soaring ceilings and sunlight streaming through the windows. The cocktail bar, once the church minister’s residence, offers an equally charming and luminous atmosphere. Hidden beneath it is a second, more intimate cocktail bar for only ten guests, who enjoy cocktail tasting menus in a darker setting.
Read on to learn more from Colleen about the restaurant and its cocktail program.
How would you describe the cocktail program at Supperland?
In recipe format:
Supperland's cocktail program - shaken - straight up
1pt classic
2pt modernist
1pt molecular
2 heavy dashes of local & sustainable
Shaken until full dilution without being showy about it.
Double strained
Garnished with a smile
Our main dining room cocktail menu features drinks meant to be paired with the Southern steakhouse restaurant. Expect fun, modern twists on classic cocktails. The Queens Cosmopolitan is a local honey-sweetened riff on the classic, served with a glittery honey powder rim. The Midwood Manhattan is a blend of bourbon and rye whiskey and our house vermouth blend—which combines three different sweet vermouths—plus bitters and a house brandied cherry. (Because why settle for a three-ingredient cocktail when you can turn it into six?)
The main cocktail bar adds cocktails that are more technical and adventurous. This is where we experiment with cocktails, [with] techniques like nitro muddling. We offer several glass-evolving cocktails utilizing flavored ice. With precision and the use of a refractometer, we are able to control our ice melt times so our drinks evolve just the way we want them to. Clarified milk punches, olive oil and fat-washed cocktails are always on the menu.
For example, the Nitro Muddled Mint Julep. The mint is flash-frozen and pulverized into a fine powder. The 4G Negroni blends four different gins of varying styles, sweet vermouth and a little sherry, which we then wash with olive oil to soften the flavors and give the drink an elongated mouthfeel. We also feature items like green apple ice for highballs. Fresh apples are juiced, the color is preserved with a trace amount of sodium bisulfite and the juice is frozen into cubes. We take the remains from juicing the apples, cook them down to concentrate the pectin and combine that with a blend of hydrocolloids to make our foaming vegan egg white replacer.
The third program is a dedicated cocktail tasting menu in the 10-seat bar we lovingly call “The Speakeasy,” nothing like the name suggests. We change these menus based on a theme or season: whiskies of the world, the origins of the Tiki cocktail movement, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Wizard of Oz. The chefs are the first to sample them, and they base the food dishes around the different cocktails—keeping the cocktail as the primary focus of the experience. These cocktails can be more interesting by utilizing molecular technique…nitro freezing cocktails to zero, spherification, foams, airs.
What is your favorite cocktail on the menu?
In the fall, when local pawpaws are in season, I love the Paw Paw Spritz. It is a blend of Drumshanbo Gunpowder Green Tea Gin (I love gin), pawpaws cooked down with pineapple skins to enhance their tropical flavors and a touch of sugar. It’s topped with Pet-Nat sparkling wine and garnished with frozen grapes—cold and refreshing the whole way through without diluting it. And then the grapes can be a little snack. But really, anything with gin.
How about your favorite non-alcoholic drink?
The NA Amaretti Sour when I want something decadent.
What’s your ideal meal and pairing?
- a trip to the NC coast to enjoy our local seafood while enjoying ocean views, with a local beer or a glass of white wine.
- a perfectly made Margarita and Mexican food
- an Aperol spritz with salty cheese and olives
- a well-made Old Fashioned with anything chocolate or cheesecake
Does being in Charlotte and North Carolina influence your cocktail menu?
100%. We take pride in the incredible bounty of local, regional produce that we are able to source. Living in an agriculturally rich and diverse area, we love highlighting the variety each season brings to us in North Carolina. I go to the regional farmers' market weekly.
We are a growing Southern city, so I always like to have fun with a few twists of classic Southern cocktails. Seasonality is very important; we have long springs and falls, perfect for patio drinking, and I try to make cocktails that I would enjoy sipping on with friends outdoors. I love my community and my city, and it has a lot to be proud of.
What makes dining in Charlotte special compared to other cities?
I moved to Charlotte 20 years ago. It has had explosive growth, while being warm and generous. Charlotte is a diverse, vibrant, youthful city on the rise. I am happy to call it home.
How were you introduced to the world of cocktails?
In 2010, I stumbled into my first craft cocktail bar in Atlanta. I was working my way through Cicerone beer certifications. My whole life changed—I said goodbye to beer and set out to learn all I could about cocktails. I was hooked.
I bought the books, booze and tools and got to work. For the first few years, I was self-taught. Then I began going to bar conferences like USBG, Tales of the Cocktail and Portland Cocktail Week. I am a former national director of the USBG. I am returning to the conferences that taught me so much to present classes for the next generation.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be in a position like yours?
Taste everything, practice your craft, be cool with making mistakes, ask questions and stay curious. Take classes, pay attention to all the little details of bar operations, enter competitions, know your value, and value your time. And work very, very hard.
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Hero and thumb images: Justin Driscoll / Colleen Hughes
