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cccocktailcomeback Exotic ingredients, artistry and a touch of chemistry have all revived the craft of creating cocktails for a new generation of connoisseurs.

by Kara newman

Scott Beattie’s Classic Margarita

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“Are you sure this is the place?” I nervously ask

my friend.

We’re looking for famed speakeasy bar Apotheke,

deep in the middle of New York’s Chinatown and

known for its exquisitely prepared, innovative cocktails.

I’ve dutifully Googled the place and MapQuested the

address, 9 Doyers Street. My friend has her iPhone

in hand and has used its GPS device to navigate the

twisty warren of narrow, crooked streets. But despite

our best high-tech gadgetry, we can’t deny that this just

doesn’t look right. The address—9 Doyers—is correct,

but the sign outside says “Gold Flower Restaurant,”

tucked between a nondescript clothing store and a dim

sum shop. Who would want to come here? And it looks

dark inside. Surely, this must be the wrong place.

We take a deep breath and push open the door.

It’s the right place.

Inside, the entryway opens up to a large,

sumptuous room with tin ceilings, plush velvet sofas

and chandeliers. Later, I learn that Apotheke’s décor

is modeled after those of old European absinthe dens

and 19th-century apothecaries. At the end of the room,

the main feature is an enormous, sweeping bar lined

with bottles—over 500 of them. The bartenders all

sport pristine white lab coats and are busy checking the

contents of the bottles, setting lemon peels afire and

expertly shaking drinks. We sink into one of the velvet

sofas and scan the cocktail menu. It’s broken down into

“Sections of the Apothecary,” with varied categories

that include “Stress Relievers,” “Pain Killers,” and, of

course, “Aphrodisiacs.”

I opt for an “Elixir,” made with gin, muddled cilantro,

cucumber and a hint of absinthe. I inhale the botanical

fragrance. One sip from the chilled glass and the flavors

wash over my palate, fresh and enticing, each in perfect

balance and combining in subtle harmony, leaving the

faintest ribbon of anise lingering on my tongue.

Finally, I am starting to understand what all the fuss

is about.

HOW DID WE arrive at this rarefied cocktail renaissance,

in which bars all over the country offer extensive menus

of drinks carefully crafted with exotic ingredients that

can include liquid nitrogen? To fully understand, says

Scott Beattie, author of Artisanal Cocktails, we need to

step back nearly a century to pre-Prohibition times, the

first “Golden Age of Cocktails.”

“Before Prohibition in the U.S. and certain places

in Europe, bartending was serious business,” Beattie

explains. “You’d be an apprentice and would learn

for years. It was meticulous work—you measured

everything, memorized recipes, used certain glassware.”

Most of the cocktails we know and love today were

created in the pre-Prohibition era, ranging from the

Ramos Gin Fizz to the classic Pisco Punch. In addition,

certain cocktails from that era are now enjoying a

revival, such as the notorious Blue Blazer, a whiskey

drink set aflame and tossed back and forth in dramatic

style between two pewter mugs.

Prohibition went into effect in 1920 and was

repealed in 1933, but cocktails didn’t regain their

former glory. “By the time Prohibition ended, quality

drink-making had changed,” says Beattie. Booze was

made more cheaply and drinks were made to mask the

flavor of alcohol. So for the next few decades, right up

to the 1980s, wine became the alcoholic beverage that

mattered to most Americans and cocktails moved to

the back burner.

BETTER SPIRITS WERE one building block in

improving cocktails, and some say that the premium

vodka craze of the late 1980s helped set the stage

for the second Golden Age. Prompted by huge ad

campaigns, consumers began to request drinks made

Bridget Albert’s Carrot Chic

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ffrom a favorite vodka brand, such as an “Absolut Citron

& Tonic” instead of simply a vodka tonic. Some spirits

companies created cocktails featuring their brands,

printing up early, highly-branded versions of the cocktail

menus still used today. Other “premium” spirits soon

adopted this tactic.

Amid this backdrop, self-proclaimed “Cocktail

King” Dale DeGroff made it his mission to resurrect

the declining craft of bartending in America. Indeed,

DeGroff has been credited with reviving and reinventing

the profession of mixology when he took command of

the beverage program at New York’s famous Rainbow

Room in 1987. There, DeGroff pioneered a “gourmet”

approach to recreating the great classic cocktails,

helping spur a renaissance that would soon spread

around the world like wildfire. It’s no overstatement that

DeGroff is considered the father of modern mixology:

most of America’s best bartenders, such as Pegu Club

owner Audrey Saunders, trained with DeGroff, and

went on to spread the gospel to other “offspring” who

can trace their bartending lineage back to DeGroff.

By the mid-1990s, the stirrings of a more culinary

approach to cocktails could be detected. Celebrity

chefs were ascending stars, and before long, their

creative influence began to trickle over to the bar.

Ambitious bartenders began to use fresh lemon juice

instead of premade sour mix. Some began to brew

simple syrups (a mixture of sugar and water, brought

to a boil and then reduced to a thick consistency) in

place of artificial sugary mixers. Another approach that

popped up at that time was infusions, explains Lucy

Brennan, mixologist-owner of Mint and Mint 820 and

author of Hip Sips. “You add watermelon, etc., and

vodka takes on the flavor of the fruit. Then farmers’

markets came around, and people got more savvy

about using local and better produce.” By the turn of

the 21st century, the new mixology “culture” began to

take form and the second “Golden Age” of cocktails

had begun to unfold.

MOST BARTENDERS SAY that the current cocktail

renaissance began in earnest in 2004. It was kind

of a niche movement aimed at a select crowd—so

select that it sometimes took detective work or great

connections to actually sample these new creations.

By that time, a handful of old-school speakeasies

had opened in major metro areas, such as Bourbon

& Branch in San Francisco and PDT (short for “Please

Don’t Tell”) in New York City.

PDT in particular became famous for its unusual

entry policy, which requires a secret, unlisted phone

number that has to be dialed from a phone booth found

within Crif Dogs, a tiny hot dog joint. With the magic

number, a false back in the phone booth opens, ushering

the lucky guest into a dark, low-ceilinged annex where

master mixologist Jim Meehan plies his craft, mixing up

rediscovered classic cocktails like the Blood & Sand

(Scotch whiskey, vermouth, cherry brandy and orange

juice) and new creations like the Spice Market, which

consists of sake, gin, Velvet Falernum—a nutmeg-

spiked liqueur—and clove essence spritzed on top of

the drink with a perfume atomizer.

From left, clockwise: Scott Beattie’s Irian Jaya; Jeff Hollinger’s Opera; Lucy Brennan’s Sazarac; Bridget Albert’s The Apple Cocktail

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OF COURSE, EVEN WITHOUT PDT’S insider appeal,

these days you can sample cutting-edge cocktails with

a lot less cloak-and-dagger. Not only are cocktail menus

a staple at high-end bars, but large-scale restaurant

and hotel chains also hire “cocktail consultants” to offer

advice in constructing elaborate “cocktail programs.”

Adding to the terminology: many bartenders prefer to

call themselves “bar chefs” or “mixologists” rather than

bartenders. On the surface it may seem pretentious

but it’s probably the most accurate way to describe

them. “The new generation of bartenders cares about

the drinks. They are geeky as hell, sourcing ingredients,

making their own bitters and liqueurs. They really care

about what goes into the glass,” says Jeff Hollinger,

general manager at San Francisco’s Absinthe and

coauthor of The Art of the Bar.

According to mixologist Bridget Albert, author

of Market-Fresh Mixology, these days the culinary

cocktail movement has transitioned from upstart

movement to seamless symbiosis between kitchen

and bar—mixologists are not just creating cocktails to

complement food, but may create menus together with

chefs, even using the same produce or syrups that are

already present on food menus. For example, consider

how Albert’s savory creations, such as the Carrot Chic

or the Fresh Tomato Bloody Mary, might pair with in-

season salads featuring the same ingredients, or how

fresh summer berries in the Raspberry French 75 or the

Blueberry Lavender Mojito would complement desserts

featuring the same luscious fruits.

ARGUABLY, THE RINGLEADERS in the New Cocktail

movement can be broken into several categories,

although there’s undoubtedly some blurring of lines.

The Classicists. These are the Golden Age-inspired

bartenders who usually have a hefty collection of

antique cocktail books on the back bar. If you see a

Corpse Reviver #2 or other classic cocktails on the list,

you can rest assured that the drinks will be both well-

made and historically accurate. “I wanted to bring back

a time and era that was forgotten,” Hollinger says about

his classicist approach at Absinthe. “People are looking

to the past, and this will happen more and more—a

continued focus on the classics, and trying to rediscover

what’s long forgotten.” Consider, for example, the

classic Sazerac, which remains on Absinthe’s menu

intact from its historical format: an amber beauty with

the bite of rye whiskey, softened by a touch of sugar,

the aromatic whiff of Peychaud’s bitters and the anise

whisper of absinthe swirled in the glass. Hollinger also

features the Nouveau Carre, a clever adaptation of the

1930s New Orleans classic Vieux Carre (Old Square).

While the original is a whiskey drink, Hollinger’s

updated version subs in a rich, aged tequila for whiskey

and sweet, mellow Lillet for the standard vermouth,

while most of the other ingredients (Benedictine liqueur,

brandy, bitters) remain faithful to the original. The end

result is like a fun-house-mirror reflection of an old

friend—still recognizable, but just barely.

Examples: Pegu (New York), Absinthe (San

Francisco), Southwark (Philadelphia), Barrio Food &

Drink (Tucson), Café Adelaide and The Swizzle Stick

Bar (both in Loews New Orleans)

The Artisans. Walk into any of the bars helmed by

“artisans,” and it’s impossible to miss either fresh herb

nosegays or colorful bottles of tinctures and house-

made bitters lining the bar. “I have been using a lot of

products from the kitchen and have incorporated them

into drinks—a lot of purees, fresh juices. I don’t even

touch sour mix,” says Brennan.

Beattie echoes this approach. “One hundred

oLucy Brennan’s Irish Stout Sangria

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years ago, people didn’t have access to the insane

array of produce—yuzu juice from Japan, berries year-

round from Chile and all the dry ingredients, herbs and

spices.” Artisan-oriented bartenders joyfully embrace

this bounty, resulting in drinks like Beattie’s Creole

Watermelon and Irian Jaya.

The Creole Watermelon exemplifies the artisanal

approach starting with its spirits base, San Francisco’s

locally-distilled Hangar One Kaffir lime vodka. Added to

this is the luscious, in-season bounty of ripe watermelon,

fresh cilantro leaves and freshly-squeezed lime juice, as

well as extra-special touches, such as an innovative

dusting of chili powder, salt and pepper on the drink’s

surface to add a piquant foil to the sweet, vibrantly

pink martini. In contrast, the Indonesia-inspired Irian

Jaya is a riot of brilliant colors—jewel-red pickled red

peppers and vibrant green Kaffir lime leaves set against

the glowing yellow backdrop of the drink itself. And the

flavors are equally vibrant, combining tart lime juice,

sweet lemongrass and spicy ginger beer into a perfect

symphony on the palate.

This is the kind of innovation to expect from the

artisans, who tend to be the trend setters in cocktails as

they continually experiment with exotic ingredients.

Examples: PS7 (Washington, DC), Cure (New

Orleans), Apotheke, PDT (New York), Mint (Portland)

The Show-Offs. Whether they’re using dry ice,

Cointreau “caviar,” gelatin and cotton candy drinks

and other out-there concoctions, this category of

bartenders—aka “Molecular Mixologists”—favor flash,

razzle-dazzle and delicious, science-inspired ingenuity.

Consider the “Mojito of the Future,” a drink developed

by former Tailor mixologist Eben Freeman. The basic

mojito recipe remains the same. However, the drink is

morphed into something barely recognizable. Freeman

makes pureed mint into pearls by adding gelatin,

then freezes them in liquid nitrogen. He dilutes rum

with water, then thickens it with a bit of Xanthan gum

and carbonates it. The end result is a far cry from the

traditional Mojito meant to sip: it arrives laid out like a

board of appetizers. The lucky recipient first spoons the

pearls into his or her mouth. The pearls then pop like

caviar, releasing surprising bursts of mint and lime. This

is quickly followed by the rum bon-bon, which appears

as a milky, gelatinous solid, but actually fizzes like Pop-

Rocks in the mouth, another wonderful surprise.

Examples: Jean Georges (New York, Las Vegas),

Barton G (Miami), Tailor (New York)

The Specialists. These mixologists usually specialize

in cocktails made with one spirit. Mayahuel’s focus is

tequila. The spirit is blended, infused, and of course,

mixed into punches and cocktails. One house favorite

is the Spicy Paloma: jalapeño tequila with refreshing

grapefruit, lime, soda and a salted rim.

One of the hallmarks of a Specialist bar is often a

bartender who is well-versed in the spirit and is delighted

to answer questions. Some establishments even offer

tasting nights or classes to educate your palate.

Examples: Mayahuel (New York), Sazarac (New

Orleans) Cantina, Smuggler’s Cove (San Francisco)

y Lucy Brennan’s Avocado Daiquiri

Mixologist Bridget Albert

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Signature sipsIs all this talk about refreshing, tasty drinks making you

thirsty? If so, look no further than the lobby to sample

cocktail cool.

If you want a classic option, try the Park Avenue,

a modern Manhattan that blends rich bourbon

balanced by vermouth and enhanced by just a touch

of Angostura bitters. Go Latin with a refreshing Miami

Mojito, where smooth Bacardi rum pairs perfectly with

the spark of carefully muddled mint leaves and the

added sweetness of lime and a sugar cane swizzle

stick. Or sip the Lavender Drop, which is made from

Ciroc vodka, lime juice and a just a whisper of lavender

to add a savory touch that’s a departure from the fruity

flavor found in many cocktails.

These are all part of the Signature Cocktails

program at Loews Hotels, which just won the Vibe

Vista award for best spirit program and helped the

chain win the Cheers Benchmark Award for best hotel

beverage program. There’s a customized cocktail

for each of the 18 Loews hotels around the country,

reflecting the charms of each destination. “We wanted

to create cocktails with a sense of place,” explains

Ellen Van Slyke, corporate director of Food and

Beverage for Loews Hotels. That’s why the Loews

Santa Monica’s signature sip is the Beach Berry.

“When you think about California, you think organic.

You think about the beach. Every single thing in the

drink is totally organic, and that made total sense to

represent Santa Monica, California.” And by everything

s Van Slyke means everything: the spirits base of the

Beach Berry is Prairie Vodka, distilled organically from

organic corn. Beyond matchups between drinks and

hotels, organic vodka was simply the best choice,

flavorwise. “Vodka blends more, it absorbs things. So

when you have a really clean vodka to start and put

the other components in there and they’re all clean,

it’s just the most refreshing drink imaginable,” explains

Van Slyke.

To craft the cocktails, Van Slyke and her team

spent months creating and refining drink concepts

that fit each hotel and offer both classics and cutting-

edge concoctions. That’s why the Green Flash uses

the basics of a margarita but adds Midori Melon

Liqueur to give it a green color and soften the flavor

of the tequila. Then there’s the more adventurous

Casablanca, which made no sense to Van Slyke on

paper. “When I first read this recipe, my reaction

was, ‘Eww.’ Vodka, rum and vanilla liqueur with mint

leaves? That just sounded bizarre to me. Yet it was so

delicious,” she says.

I agree. I had one while touring Loews Miami

Beach because I am a dedicated journalist who fact-

checks everything, including whether signature hotel

cocktails are delicious. I discovered that they are and

that you can order any of the 18 Signature Cocktails

at any Loews hotel. I hope that you now respect my

immense dedication and in gratitude want to buy me

a drink. A Miami Mojito would be nice.

—Abel Delgado

The Miami Mojito