Julianna McIntosh HAS A gift FOR MAKING EVEN THE FANCIEST COCKTAILS FEEL approachable.
The creator behind Join Jules has built a devoted following by translating classic bartending techniques into fresh, seasonal recipes that anyone can recreate at home. Raised in Northern California in a farming family with deep Italian roots, McIntosh grew up understanding the value of peak ingredients, Sunday dinners, and the magic that happens when people gather around the table.
That philosophy now informs nearly every recipe she creates, from inventive margarita riffs to effortlessly chic French 75s. These days, she’s intent on carving out a distinct voice in a traditionally male-dominated industry by making bartending feel welcoming, creative, and fun.
Read about Julianna McIntosh’s journey in her C&C 100 interview below.
What are some of your earliest memories of food and drinks that still bring you joy? Did it center around the holidays, or were you regularly helping your family out with everyday meals?
This is a really fun question. I grew up in Northern California where my family has been farming for over 100 years. So, I’ve been around farmers, an Italian family who loves to cook, and without fail having family dinner every single Sunday. I’ve only ever know to gather around food. I’ve always known where my food comes from because it was in my backyard. I think having italian heritage showed me a lot when it comes to flavor and never.. I mean never wasting. We always had to use what we had and what was in season. So it was really great growing up with such strong roots in the farming community that later evolved into Join Jules having a main focus of fresh and seasonal as the drive for 99% of all my recipes.
When did you realize you wanted to make cocktails part of your content?
It wasn’t until I visited my uncle, after telling him I had a budding interest in bartending (aka I was out of college and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life so thought exploring bartending would be a natural next step). When visiting my uncle he knew this interest was there and so he set up a 1:1 cocktail lesson just me and him. You see, his father was a bartender and so my uncles love for bartending and knowledge has always been there. We made 3 cocktails… it was the sidecar that gave me my lightbulb moment. You mean to tell me you can have 3-4 ingredients, measured perfectly, shaken with techniques to create a delicious, balanced cocktail? Oh yeah, I was hooked. I felt like Ratatouille when he tried fresh strawberries for the first time. My flavors and ideas exploded, and from them on, I never looked back.
Many people might think a culinary content creator's job is just to create delicious recipes all day, but what’s a surprisingly challenging aspect of your work?
SEO: my worst nightmare. Did you know that food bloggers and creators call their website their retirement plan? And rightfully so! We work so hard on creating these recipes for our community and we use social media to help promote that, promote our website, etc. But it’s SEO that drives traffic from a search engine like Google to help new viewers find your recipes. THAT is my worst nightmare… coding? SEO? It can be a challenge to have a day where you make a margarita & cream recipe, caviar dirty martinis and then the next you’re trying to fix your posture every 15 minutes and trying to figure out SEO for your website. All jokes aside, I think it’s really amazing that we are able to do this for a living regardless of the back strain.
“I find the ‘never give up’ mentality will reward you if you don’t let it get in your head.”
Can you walk me through your creative process of developing a recipe? Where do your best ideas come from?
I love this question—it changes constantly. Farmers markets, recent travels, viral recipe videos… all of this comes into play. I see an idea. For example: viral marinated blue cheese stuffed olives and then I go okay… well what if you took the leftover marinade and you use that to fat wash your gin FOR your dirty martini? Or say, finally strawberries are at the market… you can’t avoid that smell… and so what I thought was just going to be a new riff on a margarita turns into a margarita, made with aperol, an aperol that’s been infused with strawberries. I’m constantly asked, “how do you not run out of ideas?” And to that I say, the amount of people, ideas, cultures, places on this earth? I’ll never run out of ideas.
How have you managed to carve out a brand that feels distinctly yours?
Two things: Approachability & freshness. There’s no denying that my content is focused on fresh, seasonal cocktails. You can literally see the color change on my feed. But I think what really resonated with the community was the approachability. And honestly… a woman behind it. You see, bartending is such a male-dominated industry and so it’s always seemed intimidating to even try recipes that you see online. At least that’s how I felt. And so I think creating a place where people feel welcomed, people feel like they can ask questions, that I think is what makes my brand stand out.
What is the one go-to ingredient in your pantry or fridge that you must have on hand at all times?
Citrus. I NEED to have citrus around, whether I’m making a spritz (you need an orange slice), a Martini (lemon peel), or a margarita (it’s not a marg without lime), it’s so important to have it all on hand… and let me tell you, it rarely ever goes bad… that’s how much it’s used. As I’m writing this I’m looking at 3 separate citrus bowls that I will most likely have to refill in the next 3 days.
What’s a date-night cocktail that looks like you tried hard, but is secretly very simple?
This has to be a French 75, it’s champagne, it’s a cocktail, it has a gorgeous lemon twist… and the flavor? It just screams I tried really hard for this… but it’s actually so easy. The key is quality champagne and hey if you’re having a date night, get the good stuff because after you’re done with your french 75, you can always just sip champagne. It’s a win win if you ask me!
How would you describe your approach to building an online audience right now? What boundaries have you learned are essential to maintain?
Building an audience changes literally every second. I’ve STRUGGLED many many times, ebbs and flows truly. My best approach is to never stop. Keep going. Your recipe or video flopped? Oh well.. keep going. I find the “never give up” mentality will reward you if you don’t let it get in your head. I think the main boundaries I set is with myself, don’t let this world break you down. I think it’s important to not compare ourselves to others and really do what makes us happy because no matter what, videos and recipes will flop and videos and recipes will go viral.. It’s a coin toss so just have fun with what you’re doing and you’ll be much happier mentally to keep going.
Rapid fire POP QUIZ:
The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is:
Snuggle my cat Martini, without fail every morning she greets me by snuggling up and expecting at least 5 minutes of cuddling.
If I had one more hour in the day, I would:
Spend the hour really enjoying the outside: walks on the beach for sunset, enjoying the backyard without worrying about dinner, just really taking the time to have an extra hour that isn’t work and home upkeep related.
A song that describes the era I’m in right now is:
From my late 20s to now turning 30 it’s been Abba, the feeling of a Euro carefree summer is just how I want to feel when moving through life.
My current obsession is:
Being creative in the kitchen, trying new and viral drink recipes I see online or that I have in person when traveling to different places and cocktail bars.
Three words to describe the legacy I want to leave behind…
Creative, Inclusive, successful