CÎROC and Dave's Hot Chicken debut a self-serve Martini Machini at a one-day Lower East Side pop-up on 6 November

Key Takeaways

• CÎROC has unveiled the Martini Machini, an interactive self-serve machine that lets drinkers customise their own savoury martini.

• The machine pours the Messy Martini, CÎROC's new signature serve made with its vodka, pickle brine and banana pepper brine.

• Dave's Hot Chicken is hosting Tender's & 'Tinis at Sommwhere, 48 Ludlow Street, New York, on Friday 6 November from 4pm to 10pm.

• Guests who RSVP for free receive a machine-made martini and a Dave's Hot Chicken meal item, and an at-home tie-in with Filthy and Uber Eats starts on 1 November.

CÎROC has built my dream machine - the Martini Machini - which is making its debut alongside Dave's Hot Chicken at a one-day pop-up on New York's Lower East Side, where guests can mix their own briny cocktail and order hot chicken tenders on the side. The vodka brand describes the machine as a first-of-its-kind, self-serve way to mix a martini, and it has been built to show off the Messy Martini, a new signature serve that combines CÎROC Vodka with pickle brine and banana pepper brine for drinkers who like their cocktails on the savoury side.

The pairing of a grape-based vodka with a Nashville-style hot chicken chain makes more sense than it might first appear, because pickles are a fixture of hot chicken plates and the Messy Martini puts that pickle flavour straight into the glass. The event, named Tender's & 'Tinis, runs for six hours on a single Friday in November, so anyone hoping to try the machine will want to RSVP and get to Ludlow Street before it disappears again.

CÎROC Martini Machini lets guests choose their brine, garnish and flair at Tender's & 'Tinis

The Martini Machini is designed for drinkers who want control over how dirty their martini gets, and CÎROC explains that guests can customise a savoury martini by choosing their own ratio of brine, their garnish and a final flourish the brand calls flair. At the New York pop-up, guests can adjust their brine ratio, pick their garnishes and choose from six options, and Dave's Hot Chicken has created a bespoke brine of its own so that drinkers can give their Messy Martini a flavour linked directly to the chicken on their plate.

Nick Tran, President and CMO of CÎROC, summed up the thinking behind the project when he said "The Martini Machini is about giving people permission to play with the martini and make it their own," and he added that the Messy Martini "takes the familiar dirty martini and loosens it up" for anyone who finds the classic version a little too buttoned up. CÎROC describes the drink as a trademarked, layered twist on the classic dirty martini, and its combination of pickle brine and banana pepper brine gives it a tangier, spicier edge than the usual splash of olive brine.

Tender's & 'Tinis takes place on Friday 6th November from 4pm to 10pm at Sommwhere, 48 Ludlow Street, and the event is free for guests who RSVP online in advance. Everyone who signs up receives a CÎROC martini made by the Martini Machini and a Dave's Hot Chicken meal item, while the pop-up also serves exclusive items from the Dave's menu and sells co-branded merchandise for anyone who wants a souvenir of the evening. There are no plans to roll the device out further after this appearance, which means the Lower East Side pop-up is the one chance to see how a self-serve martini behaves when it is let loose on a room full of hot chicken fans.

For drinkers who cannot make it to Manhattan, CÎROC has also teamed up with the cocktail garnish brand Filthy on an at-home version of the idea that begins on 1st November. Customers in select cities who order a 750ml bottle of CÎROC through Uber Eats may receive Filthy's signature cocktail mix with their order, and CÎROC bottles in select markets around the country will carry Filthy neckers. Tran explained that "With the Martini Machini and Filthy, we're bringing that experience to drinkers wherever they are." and the Filthy partnership extends the Messy Martini well beyond a single night in New York.

Dave's Hot Chicken began as a Los Angeles parking lot pop-up in 2017 before a $1 billion sale

Dave's Hot Chicken has a fitting history for a brand partnership built around a pop-up, since the chain started in 2017 as a pop-up in a Los Angeles parking lot run by four childhood friends who specialised in Nashville-style hot chicken. The business grew so quickly that it was sold to Roark Capital, the Atlanta private equity firm that owns Subway, in a deal valued at $1 billion that was announced in June 2025, and at the time the company expected to finish that year with around 400 restaurants worldwide. Drake is one of its best-known investors, and the rapper celebrates his birthday every 24th October by giving away hot chicken sliders, so the chain is well used to turning a single day into an event.

CÎROC itself is made in France from French grapes and distilled five times, according to the brand, and its North American business has been through a significant change over the past couple of years. In April 2025, Diageo formed a joint venture with Main Street Advisors in which it exchanged majority ownership of the North American rights to CÎROC for a majority stake in Lobos 1707 tequila, with the stated aim of maximising the value of CÎROC's brand rights in the region. The Messy Martini now arrives as the signature serve that CÎROC is backing in the United States this November, and the brand describes the Martini Machini experience as part bar and part playground, which suits a launch held at a hot chicken pop-up far better than it would suit a hushed hotel bar. Diageo still co-owns the brand through that joint venture, and its North America business unit is starting the new push in New York, so the Lower East Side pop-up is the first place where American drinkers can try the Messy Martini straight from the machine.

Vodka brands have been having plenty of fun with the martini lately, and the CÎROC launch follows Gabbriette fronting Belvedere's Dirty Hour campaign, where short films played with the cocktail tutorial format as the model and musician mixed coffee drinks with Belvedere's Dirty Brew vodka.