MIXOLOGY SHAKES UP THE CITY: Concocting the Perfect Cocktail

It’s official. We are living in the golden age of cocktails. Forget bartenders; these days the people creating drinks at the hottest spots around Los Angeles have been elevated to a higher status known as “mixologists.” These “cocktail experts” are not just delivering alcohol any more. No, these creative types are taking inventing drinks to a whole different level.

In fact, if you ask Ryan Magarian, the mixologist whose Liquid Relations agency (www.liquidrelations.com/) clients include SBE Entertainment Group (owners of high-end restaurants and nightclubs including Katsuya, S-Bar, Area, and Hyde), both the Fairmont and Sofitel Hotel chains, and the Holland America Cruise Line, he believes that the current cocktail revolution is a natural progression that ties in with the recent explosion in high-end food.

“In the last fifteen years you’ve seen this evolution in the dining experience where the dining itself has taken center stage,” Magarian enthusiastically explains. “I believe that we now enjoy something in restaurants that’s called ‘palatial entertainment.’ With the public’s understanding of how great and artistic and how beautiful a dining experience can be, there’s been a much greater interest in quality culinary craftsmanship in general. So I just think what’s happening is this interest in cocktails and spirits is coming on the heels of people wanting more and more high-quality flavor experiences.”
Katsuya's Burning Mandarin.
In other words, as chefs across America have become culinary superstars (like Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, etc.), and as consumers have developed what Magarian calls a “flavor hobby,” it has led to the development of cocktails that go far and beyond a rum and Coke, to drinks like Magarian’s famed Burning Mandarin, Katsuya’s (www.sbeent.com/katsuya/) signature drink made with Absolut Mandarin vodka, a hint of orange and lemon, and muddled Serrano chili, a cool slightly sweet taste shot through with a perfectly balanced spicy heat.

“We consider our bars to be liquid kitchens,” he says. “If you operate under the same joy and passion, working with the principles of freshness and seasonality in the same way that a chef does, you’re no longer creating value and simple alcohol delivery, but creating truly memorable and occasionally life-changing culinary experiences – only, of course, these are shaken up and served in a glass.”

Jason Lara, the mixologist and beverage manager for Social Hollywood and its Citrus at Social restaurant (www.chinagrillmgt.com/social) helmed by Chef Michel Richard, elaborates on what it takes to compete these days in the high-stakes game of high-class cocktails, drinks that can go for $12 to $15 each. “Always, when you’re behind the bar you’re always trying to make something new that no one else has really done,” he says. I look for the ‘wow’ factor that comes when you give someone a drink that they have never encountered before.”
The Barrymore from Citrus at Social.
Cocktails in Lara’s arsenal include the “Barrymore,” a refreshing blend of fresh raspberries, blackberries, and mint leaves mixed with X-Rated Vodka and Chambord, or the Hemingway, made with lime juice, grapefruit juice, pomegranate syrup, and 10 Cane Rum.

Interestingly enough, premium liquors like 10 Cane Rum are getting into the mixology act themselves, capitalizing on the rising consumer interest in creating and drinking specialty cocktails. 10 Cane is marketing a “10 Cane Mojito Kit,” a boxed set of their premium rum paired with a “Stirrings Mix” made of mint and lime juice; just put the two together, add ice, and you’ve got a mojito-flavored drink.

But of course, professional mixologists scorn an easy-to-throw-together mix; instead, they pride themselves on the very specific blends, muddles, super-fresh components, and mixing techniques they use to create the perfect libation.

“All of my cocktails are precisely made with the finest of ingredients,” Magarian explains. “We measure every ingredient because there’s no room for imperfection in a great cocktail. If you miss an eighth of an ounce you can go from life changing to average drinking experience in an eighth of an ounce. I really believe that.”

Mojito Kit from 10 Cane Rum.

Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Hotel’s Beverage Director David Foss agrees, which shows in his spectacular Honey Peño, made with Canton Ginger Cognac, Milagro Orange-Infused Tequila, Dekyper Cinnamon Liqueur, a muddle of lime wedges, ginger slices, honey, and an orange slice, and five (count them, five) slices of fresh jalapeño (www.chinagrillmgt.com/adecLA/main.cfm?pp=0). And Jason Lara assents that being specific about a recipe is the key to any top mixologist’s ability to keep people coming back for more. “For every one good drink that you see on the menu there’s about ten bad ones that we’ve rejected. It’s a matter of trial and error, finding the right recipe combination, and trying to figure out basically what hasn’t been seen – and not only what hasn’t been seen, but what the majority of people will like.”

At Boé Restaurant & Lounge at The Crescent Hotel in Beverly Hills (www.crescentbh.com/), mixologist Allen Artcliff thinks people will like his “Garden & Herbs” cocktail menu, “nature-inspired” $14 drinks including the “English Quat,” concocted with Hendrick’s gin, fresh mint, and kumquats, and the “Salad Toss,” made with Veev açai liquor, cucumber, fresh basil, and blood oranges. Larry Nicola of Nic’s of Beverly Hills (www.nicsbeverlyhills.com) throws pickled potatoes in with Krol, the Polish vodka infused with dill to make his “So Fresh and So Clean” cocktail, and at BLT Steak, the “Passionfruit Chili Margarita” is made with fresh passionfruit puree, chili syrup, and lime juice poured over silver tequila.
Nic's Martini.
So how do these guys do it, creating delicious cocktails with elements that the rest of us would never think to put into a drink? According to Ryan Magarian, it is just like learning to become a creative chef.

“To make great modern cocktails, you first need to know the classic templates. It’s just like the mother sauces with cooking. You need to know your basics in cooking before you can cook up some crazy foamed-up disappearing dish. Bartenders are starting to understand that to make great drinks, it is not just throwing stuff in a glass. You’ve got to start somewhere,” he says. “The place that you start, just like with food, is that you start with the classics, the Sidecars, the Manhattans, the Sours, the Collins, the old-fashioned cocktails. All those are just like templates. I have a rule. When I create new drinks I try to make it never more than two or three steps away from a classic.”

If creating purees and muddles and crazy combos like Jason Lara’s Cucu Cocktail (a cucumber and cilantro muddle mixed with Patron tequila, lime juice, and simple syrup, shaken up, strained, and poured over ice) seem too much to try to duplicate at home, the good news is that virtually every top restaurant is following the lead of the talented mixologists mentioned here, so finding a place to sip some spectacular inventions is easy enough to do.

Just remember Magarian’s advice when it comes to drinking his high-end concoctions, however.

“If you have three well-made cocktails with really well-made spirits and fresh ingredients, and you drink a big tall glass of ice water with every one of them, you’re going to wake up feeling like a trillion dollars.”