December 7, 2017
Circulation: 2,050,000
THE 10 BEST NEW COCKTAIL BARS OF 2017
It’s a good time to be a drinker. This is true for myriad reasons, not least of all the incredible, ongoing
evolution of American cocktail culture.
The country’s best bars revitalize their categories, and get us excited about tiki, Negronis, and even
speakeasies all over again. Creative mixologists launch entire menus dedicated to single ingredients or far-
flung destinations, and classic cocktails are illuminated by fresh perspectives faster than you can say,
“matcha bourbon sour.”
To compile our list of the 10 best new cocktail bars in America, we polled staffers, industry friends and
strangers, and VinePair readers. We asked editorial contributors and the most opinionated members of our
Facebook community to amass widespread, national responses. We broke our nominees down by
geographic region, preventing hometown biases and causing a lot of discussion of what, exactly, constitutes
“the West.” (We ultimately went with the esteemed James Beard Foundation Awards’ geographic bounds.)
Criteria were simple: Prospective bars had to have opened within the last two years, they had to specialize
in cocktails, and they had to be bars first, not restaurants with cocktails (though in truth we are fond of those
as well). We drank a lot of exciting cocktails, and some lackluster ones. We confirmed that pounding
coconut water in the airport does not cure every hangover.
Here are VinePair’s 10 best new cocktail bars of 2017.
GREAT LAKES (IL, IN, MI, OH)
The Ladies’ Room at Fat Rice
Location: Chicago, IL
Two Michelin-starred chefs with no formal mixology experience opened this Logan Square den in
July 2016. Inspired by Macau’s glittering casinos, and decked out in sexy-trashy red snakeskin, the
snug space is accessible via Fat Rice bakery. The list spans reimagined classic cocktails, like a
white Negroni and “Dr. Manhattan,” as well as house creations such as the Surfer on Acid on Acid,
made with Scotch, amaro, yellow chartreuse, avocado leaf tincture, and salted coconut foam.
MIDWEST (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)
The Monarch Bar
Location: Kansas City, MO
Architect David Manica created stadiums (London’s Wembley, Beijing National Stadium) before
tackling this soaring cocktail bar in Kansas City. Part of the Country Club Plaza shopping center, it
has a marble bar and chandelier adorned by more than 1,000 acrylic butterflies. Bar manager Brock
Schulte’s 40-page drinks menu features illustrations for cocktails like the Momento Mori, made with
two types of rye, barrel-aged demerara simple syrup, and charred acorns, plus three pages
dedicated to “Negronis of Distinction.”
WEST (CA, HI, NV)
Birds & Bees
Location: Los Angeles, CA
The past few years have been good to Los Angeles’s bar scene, with recent openings Lono, Ever
Bar, and Rudolph’s Bar and Tea diversifying options for serious cocktailers. Birds & Bees brings a
dose of retro-chic to DTLA, combining classic cocktails with tiki flourishes and trending modern
ingredients. (Consider the Doris Day cocktail, a neo-Whiskey Sour made with bourbon, citrus,
honey, and matcha foam.) The dimly lit space has a very “Mad Men” Season 3 aesthetic, with low-
slung upholstered couches and midcentury light fixtures, but the drinks from Betheny Ham (The
Corner Door) and local luminary Marcus Tello (1886, Malo, and many others) make the whole
experience feel fresh.
NORTHWEST (AK, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY)
Navy Strength
Location: Seattle, WA
Husband-wife duo Anu Apte and Chris Elford (Rob Roy, No Anchor) helm this Belltown spot offering
a refreshingly sophisticated take on tiki. The bright, breezy space serves juice and coffee by day,
and, at nightfall, offers creative, expertly balanced concoctions that go beyond the tiki canon. There
are tropical drinks that bring modern sensibilities to classics, as in a kiwi-and-banana Vodka Sour
or a Manhattan made with aged rum and Calvados. The menu’s “Travel” series consists of drinks
inspired by destinations; the Salabat Hot Toddy riffs on Filipino ginger tea, and the Butuan City
Soundtrack self-identifies as a “bourbon slow jam” and combines the brown stuff with mango and
kalamansi, a southeast Asian citrus fruit.
SOUTHWEST (AZ, CO, NM, OK, TX, UT)
Millers & Rossi
Location: Denver, CO
Denver artists (including curator and photographer Dustin Miller) are on display in this storefront
gallery in RiNo. Behind the exhibition space lies an eponymous speakeasy, where the warm,
industrial-chic interiors include a handsome copper-topped bar, plush seating, and a neon sign
reading, “We’re all animals.” None of this would matter if the cocktail list weren’t superb. It is, and
it includes remixed classics like the smoked Old Fashioned for which glassware is theatrically
cedar-smoked to order, as well as stellar house creations like the Blackberry Walnut St. Smash,
combining Woodford Reserve, black walnut bitters, blackberries, lime, and mint. Small plates
include a chili-topped Frito Pie made with dry-aged sirloin from local whole-animal butcher Western
Daughters.
SOUTH (AL, AR, PUERTO RICO, FL, LA, MS)
Portside Lounge
Location: New Orleans, LA
This welcoming neighborhood tiki dive in Central City proves that low-key vibes and top-tier
libations need not be mutually exclusive. The drinks list skews more Caribbean than Polynesia (the
bar posits that Nola is the northernmost city in the Caribbean), offering classic Daiquiris as well as
house-made Rum Punches. The space also hosts art exhibitions, chefs’ pop-ups, and live music.
“Now that I’m in my 40s, I’m looking for a place to hang out,” owner Danny Nick, a metal musician,
told The Times-Picayune in April 2017. “A place where you can get a really good cocktail but don’t
have to dress up.” Mission accomplished.
SOUTHEAST (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)
Paper Crane Lounge
Location: Atlanta, GA
In a former event space above Staplehouse, Chef Ryan Smith’s white-hot Old Fourth Ward
restaurant, lies this snug cocktail den fitted with vintage furniture and an intimate, private-party vibe.
Open four nights a week on a first-come, first-served basis, Paper Crane Lounge serves a rotating
cast of cocktails including a sparkling Negroni and Night Vision, a beet-red mezcal concoction
served in an elegant coup, as well as limited-edition bottles like the Crossing, a quadruple malt,
copper pot-distilled whiskey the Staplehouse team created with ASW Distillery. (Proceeds from the
latter benefit The Giving Kitchen.) It’s a sultry, sophisticated answer to the cavernous restaurant
bars across the city.
MID-ATLANTIC (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)
Columbia Room
Location: Washington, D.C.
Named the country’s best watering hole at the 2017 Spirited Awards (the first time a D.C.
establishment has won the title), Shaw’s Columbia Room is actually three bars in one. The Punch
Garden is a lush outdoor space, Spirits Library specializes in rare pours, and the Tasting Room
pairs wildly inventive, seasonal drinks with coursed food menus. One especially cerebral pairing
includes a milk punch made with rum, cachaca, Madeira, and squash; it’s served with a pasta
course of penne, Benton’s bacon, and roasted corn.
NEW YORK CITY
The Pool Lounge
Location: Manhattan, NY
In a city dotted with exceptional cocktail bars (PDT, Death & Co., Pouring Ribbons), and a year
with such noteworthy openings as Chicago export The Aviary and Brooklyn’s Diamond Reef, the
Pool Lounge stands out. Located in Manhattan’s Seagram Building, a Mies van der Rohe- and
Philip Johnson-designed skyscraper that formerly housed the Four Seasons, the swank space
overlooks the landmark white marble pool in the dining room. Inspired by a single ingredient (chili
pepper, tomato), the drinks are both conceptual and satisfying and were created by Thomas Waugh
of Major Food Group’s ZZ’s Clam Bar.
NORTHEAST (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT)
Blyth & Burrows
Location: Portland, ME
Lifelong bartender and Portland native Joshua Miranda debuted this bi-level Old Port
speakeasy in spring 2017. There’s an oyster pit, quartz bar, small plates, and a vaguely
nautical theme throughout (the bar was named for two sea captains felled in the War of
1812). More importantly, there are exceptional drinks. The navy strength selection is
booze-forward, and can involve brown butter-washed rum, smoked bitters, and house-
made celery kombucha, while the rotating special drinks list includes a Silk Road-inspired
menu with globetrotting accents.
December 17, 2017
Circulation: 880,000
30 Most Exciting Food Cities in America 2017
Meredith Heil
It was an incredible year for dining across the U.S. in 2017. With chefs from New York, Chicago and San
Francisco moving to smaller markets like Denver, Raleigh, Seattle and Charleston (among others), culinary
innovation is booming in cities big and small. But which food town had the biggest growth spurt this year?
For one final look back, we've asked editors around the country to make a case for the city they believe
had the biggest year in food by assessing the number of exciting new openings, award recognition and
national media attention. Then we let some of the top food media brass weigh in on which locales were
most exciting. Don't see your pick on the list? Let us know in the comments.
No. 28: Kansas City, MO
Kansas City has had quite the year. After garnering five James Beard nominations, the oft-overlooked
Missouri metropolis took home some major awards: The Rieger Hotel’s subterranean Manifesto added
Outstanding Bar Program to its list of accolades, fine-dining destination Bluestem, helmed by French
Laundry vet Andrew Longres, picked up an Outstanding Restaurant nod (as well as a Zagat 30 Under 30
National honor for bar manager Andrew Olsen); Best Chef: Midwest went to Patrick Ryan of Port Fonda
fame. Other noteworthy openings included world-class cocktail bars like the epically swank Monarch Bar
and Swordfish Tom’s, a speakeasy-style cocktail den from seasoned barkeep Jill Cockson; EJ’s Urban
Eatery, a hit meat-and-three by chef John Cedric Smith, who cut his teeth at Tom Colicchio’s Craft in NYC;
and ex American Restaurant executive chef Michael Corvino’s highly regarded brasseries and music venue,
Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room. And with new places opening every month, KC is moving away from
its rep as a BBQ mecca and into the spotlight as one of America’s most exciting up-and-comers.
—Meredith Heil
October 16, 2017
Circulation: 118,500,000
Stamped ice trend heats up at cocktail bars
Marissa Conrad
At The Monarch, a new cocktail bar in Kansas City, Missouri, the namesake Negroni comes with an
Instagrammable surprise: The ice cube, a perfect 2x2-inch block, is etched with the outline of a monarch
butterfly.
Meet our ice artist, I imagine the bartender saying, pulling back a curtain to unveil a steady-handed sculptor
armed with a set of tiny chisels. Bars have done crazier than that in the name of good ice. But the story at
The Monarch, which opened Aug. 21, is much simpler. Bar director Brock Schulte ordered a custom-
designed stamp in the shape of a butterfly, made of brass instead of rubber. It looks more like a branding
iron than the stamp you'd use in a scrapbook. When the metal hits ice, the transfer of energy melts the
surface. "You just set the stamp on the cube and within seconds [the design] is imprinted," Schulte says.
The Monarch isn't the first bar to experiment with ice stamps. Jimmy's, a longtime favorite in Aspen, began
serving cubes stamped with a loopy cursive "J" about three years ago, and Dante in New York has offered
ice stamped with the bar's name since spring of last year. But recently, stamped ice has gone from a novelty
to a trend found everywhere from L.A. to Charleston.
The flashiest example comes from Apogee, a Chicago cocktail bar that opened in May. Bartender Joel
Rund, who is responsible for all sorts of crazy ice, carves animal-shaped punch bowls out of 300-pound ice
blocks, then uses a steel stamp to brand each frozen friend with Apogee's logo, an "A" in a circle. The $48
Spirit Animal, recently a whale that sacrificed its blowhole for a pocket to hold alcohol, serves three to four
guests.
At Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco, ice branded with a "PCH" stamp has "become a staple" since
the bar opened last year, says general manager Kevin Diedrich. Order an old fashioned, the Leeward
Negroni (made with coconut-washed Campari) or the Extra Fancy, a bourbon drink with orgeat and crème
yvette, and the cube chilling your cocktail will be monogrammed like it came out of a Lillian Vernon
catalogue.
In New York, stamped ice recently hit the menu at Añejo in Tribeca, where bartenders sear the restaurant's
name into extra-large cubes. Head to Cannon Green in Charleston for a cube branded with a crest bearing
the initials "CG," served in a Manhattan made with High West Double Rye whiskey, Carpano Antica
vermouth and vanilla-cherry bitters. During Negroni Week in June, Westbound in Los Angeles served two
versions of the classic cocktail with cubes stamped with the restaurant's winged "W" logo.
October 11, 2017
Circulation: 12,800,000
5 Bartenders on the Best Under-$30 Booze You Can Buy
Paula Forbes
Building up a home bar doesn't have to mean going broke.
The idea of building out a liquor collection for your home bar can be a bit daunting—particularly from a
financial perspective. (A bottle of good Japanese whisky will cost you about the same as a pair of Common
Projects sneakers.) Never fear, though—there are plenty of solid options on the low end of the price
spectrum. Just ask your trusty bartenders, who have to keep an eye on the bottom line—and keep their
customers happy, no matter their budget.
For the sake of your bar cart and your bank acount, we asked five bartenders across the country told about
their favorite bottles in the under-$30 price range (with a few very worthy exceptions). Because you deserve
a high-quality beverage without breaking the bank—and you’re better than a bottle of Smirnoff.
The new rum on the block
Haven’t heard of Guatemalan rum? You will soon. Shel Bourdon of Two Roads Hospitality in New York
nods to this white rum with a “slightly grassy” tone as her pick, noting that it’s “brand new to the US market
from Guatemala courtesy of our friends at the House Spirits distillery in Portland, Oregon.” The most
important part: it “makes the most refreshing daiquiri.”
Casa Magdalena Ron Blanco, $22 at Wine Country
The agave boys
Jerram Rojo, The Capri, Marfa, Texas says the Capri has “an affinity for agave spirits,” and cites Marfa’s
proximity to Mexico for giving him access to “a plethora of fairly priced, beautiful spirits.” He recs Del Maguey
Vida Mezcal, and, more specifically, that you drink it neat. For tequila, he goes for Espolón Reposado: “It’s
perfect for a shot, Margarita, or Ranch Water, which is popular in our area.” (Ranch Water is a popular
West Texas cocktail made with tequila, lime, and Topo Chico.)
Del Maguey Vida Mezcal, $34 at Astor Wines
Espolon Reposado, $25 at Astor Wines
The cheap bottle that feels ultra fancy
For a good example of “a house offering its most accessible blend,” Nicolas Torres of Lazy Bear in San
Francisco says to look for brandy: “It’s really easy to find a good brandy around 20 bucks.” He likes Lustau
Spanish Brandy, and notes that many French brandies can be inexpensive yet tasty.
Lustau Spanish Brandy, $24 at Astor Wines
The best whiskey for a beer and a shot
Want a whiskey to sip neat? Go for Rittenhouse 100. “It’s under $30 and drinks like a $50 bottle,” explains
Brock Schulte of The Monarch in Kansas City. “Hands down my favorite bargain whiskey.” Schulte loves it
in an Old Pal, but notes “my favorite way to enjoy it is neat with a yard beer back.”
Rittenhouse 100, $25 at Astor Wines
The best cheap whiskey for an Old Fashioned
“I’ll always have a nice, rent-controlled space in my heart for Old Overholt,” says Stephanie Wheeler of The
Bar at Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco. Often cited as the oldest whiskey in America, Wheeler appreciates
its distinct flavor profile and notes that “It makes a really feisty Manhattan.”
Old Overholt Rye, $22 at Astor Wines
November 7, 2017
Circulation: 11,500,000
The 10 Hottest New Restaurants in Kansas City
Liz Cook
Today, Eater returns to Kansas City to focus on 10 newish restaurants and bars that are garnering some
serious buzz. And for the first time, Liz Cook, restaurant critic for Kansas City’s The Pitch, has kindly shared
her picks for the hottest openings from the past 12 months.
On the list: an ambitious restaurant pulling triple duty with a tasting room, a la carte menu, and live music
(Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room); house-made pasta inside a historic hotel (Tavernonna); and a
Southern-style meat and three (EJ’s Urban Eatery).
Without further ado, and in geographic order, the Eater Heatmap to Kansas City.
The Monarch Bar
The Monarch’s luxe interior seems made for the Country Club Plaza and its designer-label shoppers, who
can wind down here with a cocktail like the Carriage Club, which earns its decadent edge from fresh berry
Sauternes syrup and mascarpone. Bar manager Brock Schulte has built out a robust, book-length cocktail
menu with handsome illustrations and a drink for every taste. Count on meticulous, high-end touches, like
the crisp white marble bar, an all-black private parlor, and the showpiece chandelier dripping with over
1,000 acrylic butterflies.
December 27, 2017
Circulation: 50,600,000
How to Drink & Cook Like a Celebrity
Noah Rothbaum
From Moby and Tom Colicchio to Nathan Myhrvold, this year we interviewed a range of celebrities about
their own cooking and drinking rules and philosophies. No two of the answers were the same and the stories
often revealed a very personal side of these stars that is rarely seen and gave insight into their everyday
routines.
Read on for a selection of some of my favorite Drinking and Cooking Rules answers from 2017.
Some chefs are strict about measuring ingredients, others not so much. Which camp do you fall into? “No,
no, no. I’m not a chef that measures. In fact, when I was young I most likely would have been diagnosed
with ADD or ADHD and I couldn’t follow recipes. They would freak me out. And when I got Jacques Pépin’s
La Technique it completely changed my life. I was 15, 16 years old when I got it. Because he stressed this
idea where you just focus on technique and don’t worry about recipes. We hardly use recipes in my kitchen.
I just teach technique.”-Tom Colicchio
Do you watch any food TV shows today? “Not really. I do occasionally watch Rick Bayless or somebody on
PBS. I watch Anthony Bourdain on CNN because he’s a good friend, but honestly, I don’t watch too much
food TV. So many of them are reality shows with a lot of yelling that I don’t like so much anyway.”-Jacques
Pépin
Can you share the single most important piece of advice you have for someone looking to throw a
memorable party? “Great people, great music, and a lot of alcohol. Try to never run out of food, and never
run out of alcohol. People make a lot of fuss out of entertaining but I think the buildup is worse than it really
is. It doesn’t even matter what your stuff looks like. The devil’s in the details: You can literally just pour
Coca-Cola in a glass but add a lime wedge. You can order delivery and serve it on the nice china.”-Molly
Sims
Currently, what’s in your liquor cabinet? “I’m looking at it right now. It’s quite mental how much whisky there
is. There’s Talisker and Highland Park and Glenlivet and Laphroaig. And then we’ve got one from the
Scottish Malts Society, which is Sangria on the Terrace 986, whatever that means. All the whiskies made
by the Malt Society have got these most incredible names. We always have vodka. We always have Myers’s
Rum in case we want a Dark ‘n Stormy. Oooh, there’s a Glenmorangie. We always have pisco. We always
have tequila. That’s basically our basics, we don’t really go much fancier than that.”-Shirley Manson
How important is it to you to eat with your family? “We try as much as possible. I’ll say this to my grave, if
we could just please get more people to the dinner table, families, friends, politicians…But if we could
actually sit down and take the time to eat dinner and break bread literally with people, a lot of these problems
we have in this world would go away.”-Ming Tsai
Out of all the cakes you’ve made in your career, which one are you most proud of? “I’m a huge nerd. I love
sci-fi. We got to make a life-size, working R2-D2 cake for [Star Wars creator] George Lucas and present it
to him. For me, that was pretty special. To be able to say thank you to him with some of my best work, it
really felt great. It was so cool, and he loved it.”-Duff Goldman
Do you ever drink hard alcohol? “I used to do a shot of bourbon before a show because it kind of opened
me up, but I used to get too drunk. I remember there was one performance I did with Nicki Minaj on the
American Music Awards, and I remember sitting down at the piano about to do the show, and I realized
how drunk I was, and I started freaking out inside.”-Skylar Grey
Apron or no apron? “You know what? I actually wear an apron. Chefs always wore a uniform but now we
just see chefs in their t-shirts with a cool apron on. I miss the days of wearing a uniform. At heart, I’m a line
cook. I kind of miss the chef coat because when I put that on then I’m on. But I have to say, when I’m at
home and I’m cooking I do like having an apron on. I do. It just feels right. When you’re done and you sit
down at the table you take your apron off.”-Amanda Freitag
Does Jerry have any Seinfeldian food tics in real life? Like a love of big salads, black-and-white cookies,
and marble rye? “That was a television show and he lives in real life.”-Jessica Seinfeld
What music do you listen to when you’re cooking? “We have a rule at Little Pine—and I’ve asked Ravi to
have the same rule at Ladybird—which is please don’t play any of my music. I’m narcissistic enough without
having my restaurant play my own music! Maybe this is sad middle-aged bachelor music but, when I’m at
home, I listen to a lot of classical music, and old folk-rock—Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell. Something about
folk-rock in L.A. just seems to make sense. You listen to [Joni Mitchell’s album] Ladies of the Canyon in
L.A., and it just makes sense.”-Moby
How is designing a stadium that seats tens of thousands like designing a bar that seats at most a
couple hundred? “It has to do with the premium experience. In any modern stadium, there are different
spaces. Some are concourses that hold 25,000 people; some are private clubs and other spaces for VIPs
that are much smaller than that. One of the things we spend a lot of time thinking about is what makes
spaces special and different from one another. The stadium needs to have a significant draw for all the
people in the city. We were able to take a premium design and experience and translate it to this bar. It’s
not like a stadium bar; it’s more like a West End bar in London. Our experiences going to those types of
bars, frankly, helped us bring this together into a complete design.”-David Manica
Do you hang out with Adam Levine and the other The Voice judges after a day of shooting? “Man, we are
together ALL DAY when we are filming The Voice! I don’t want to hang out with those people when I’m
done! No, I’m kidding. We definitely hang out here and there; it just depends on everyone’s schedule, but
whenever we do, we have a lot of fun together.”-Blake Shelton
How big is your spice rack at home? “Here’s the thing, I weened it out a lot because you need to replace
your spices every six months. My spice cupboard is pretty serious. Spices and herbs are what I rely on day
in and day out to make simple preparations that feel really celebratory and indulgent without having to
change the process too much. One of my favorite spice blends, I literally stole from a spice nut mix that
found in England that used rosemary and thyme and brown sugar and cumin and nigella seeds. It’s sick
and twisted. It’s so good. That little hit of brown sugar in with all the spice is pretty nice.”-Daphne Oz
When you’re at home in L.A., do you cook a lot? “I do. I garden. I have an herb garden and right now I’m
growing three different kinds of lettuce and arugula and some hot peppers and some tomatoes. [I have]
kumquat trees, avocado trees, Meyer lemon trees and orange trees. It’s a small garden but it’s what I have
time to grow.”-Darby Stanchfield
How can someone serve great drinks for a party without spending the whole night behind the bar? “You
have to pick a drink that works well in large batches. If you have to do something like shake an egg white
each time, that’s not realistic. With a larger group, you’ve gotta go with pitcher cocktails. That’s gotta be
pre-mixed. But with a smaller group, individual drinks are possible. One of the things I love about
entertaining a small group is you can have a conversation in the kitchen while you’re cooking or making
drinks.”-Ali Larter
You’re from an Italian family and your books include a lot of Italian recipes; is it your favorite type of food to
eat and cook? “When it comes to eating, I really love Italian-American and classic Americana, big-time.
Lasagna, a Reuben; that’s my jam. I’m also a closet vegetarian part-time. When I was growing up, my father
did a ton of stuff with veggies that really influenced me. For cooking, I’m all about the Frenchies. French
food may not be chic right now, but it’s timeless and it always comes back into style. Team Frenchie!”-Alex
Guarnaschelli
What do you like to drink? “I am a whiskey drinker. My all-time favorite used to be Black Maple Hill Bourbon,
but now they’ve changed it and it’s no longer the same. I enjoy bourbons, but I don’t drink rye. I’m also not
really a Scotch drinker—I don’t think I’m sophisticated or cool enough for it. I have a lot because people
give it to me as gifts, but I don’t like the smoky flavor. If I’m just at a sporting event or out at a bar, I’ll drink
Crown Royal and ginger ale.”-Brian Baumgartner
Why do you think oversized dishes are so popular? “There’s sort of a spectacle and an awe factor. But I
also think food as conquest is interesting to people. One thing we try to emphasize is that these are
supposed to be shared. It’s a great way to bring people together around food. A lot of times, it’s also a
cheaper way to get a big group of people something to eat! What we’re really trying to highlight with the
show is how much these bring people together and become a tourist attraction and something to do. It’s
like a quest: People decide to get together and knock down a giant dish. Everybody watches the show and
goes, ‘I want to see that in person!’”-Josh Denny
You were one of the first people to be called a “celebrity chef,” but today the title is nearly ubiquitous. How
do you feel about the concept of chefs as celebrities? “If you believe Anthony Bourdain, I was the first
celebrity chef, but that’s just because I’m the oldest! Like the food revolution, that’s all worked very well,
and now you have big food celebrities, much bigger than I am. But the problem is that now chefs think that
in order to be a success, they work a few years and then get a show on TV. You have to spend some time
learning how to do it, and it’s more than a year or two. They get distracted by the thought of becoming
famous.”-Jeremiah Tower
Do you have a favorite drink to make? “A Martini. The Martini is one of my absolute favorite cocktails, and
I think it often doesn’t get diluted enough. It should be this silky, delicious cocktail. The secret to a perfect
Martini is don’t be afraid to overdilute it. You have to get it to that very, very perfect point of just-before-
overdilution. I pay close attention to the ratio of ingredients and how long I stir. My preferred ratio for a
Martini is 50/50: I think equal parts Beefeater Gin and dry vermouth is perfection.”-Mony Bunni
When you’re on the road with your First Take colleagues, Max Kellerman and Stephen A. Smith, do you
guys have favorite bars or restaurants you like to visit? “Honestly, I wish I could say that we did. There’s
literally no time for it. We’re just trying to get a meal in. You’re just trying to find time to eat. For the three of
us, it’s a lot of room service.”-Molly Qerim
Do you have any cake-decorating tips for home bakers? “I think that there are some materials out there
that people don’t know about. Modeling chocolate completely changed my life. You can order it online, but
you can also make your own: You just melt down chocolate and add corn syrup, but you have to use a very
specific ratio. Try working with modeling chocolate to make little sculptures—cupcake toppers and the like.
It’s kind of like Play-Doh; it’s easy to mold, and to blend separate pieces together. From there, you can start
testing out different materials like fondant to see what works for you. It’s difficult, but you’ll get better.”-
Natalie Sideserf
Given your extensive career in television, would you ever produce a spirits or wine show? “I’ve been dying
to do that. I’ve been pitching Food Network on a spirits show for ten years. When you start talking about
the punt of the bottle and various terminology that’s connected, they think it scares the viewer. I don’t think
so. I would love to be the first guy to have a spirits show on Food Network. It’s time. There’s no question
it’s time.”-Marc Summers
What does your home kitchen look like? “A bit like the lab kitchen. To be honest, I don’t think there’s any
equipment in there that would be in a ‘normal’ home kitchen! I have a Thirode stove from France, two combi
ovens, two French deck ovens for making bread, a huge cold-smoker, a sous-vide vacuum packer and a
bunch of sous vide machines.”-Nathan Myhrvold
What’s the hardest part of soul food to master? “I think it’s the long simmer. I am from Nashville, so I feel
like I grew up with this food. I think the hardest thing for me is to try to convey this to somebody else who
isn’t from the south or even out west. I think the misnomer is that all soul food comes from the south. It
doesn’t. We have New Orleans, which is its own thing, but you also have up north, you have out west. You
have different types of soul food.”-Carla Hall
There were some tough episodes of What Not to Wear, your old show, when you and your co-host Stacy
London had a drink to unwind. Was the alcohol real? “That was real alcohol. I think we were drinking
bourbon during those [scenes]. It was usually the last shot of the day and we had a couple sips of bourbon
before heading home.”-Clinton Kelly
What’s your signature drink? “My favorite drink is the one somebody is buying for me. That’s really the
truth.”-Guy Fieri
January 29, 2018
Circulation: 17,300,000
Bartenders Tell Us Where To Escape The Winter Doldrums
Christopher Osburn
So far, this has been a pretty miserable winter and every day the weather seems to reach new levels of
awfulness. Much of the country is suffering through record low temperatures and lets not forget the recent
“Bomb Cyclone.” From Florida to Maine, the east coast is beginning to resemble Siberia more than January
in the US of A. It’s the perfect time to take that vacation you’ve been putting off.
Sure, “go travel” is our solution for everything, but we do advocate for giving old man winter the proverbial
middle finger. To help you decide where to travel, we’ve enlisted some of our favorite bartenders. From
trips to Croatia to Hawaii to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, they’re here to help you escape this
dark and dreary winter.
Mexico City
Kyle Davidson , beverage director at Elske in Chicago
“Mexico City — amazing vibe, people, food, mezcal, architecture, even if its not beach-y its just feels both
exciting and rejuvenating.”
Islamorada
Chris Williams, bartender and manager at The Meatball Shop in New York City
“Islamorada. It’s an island in the Keys just about halfway between Miami and Key West. I love it because it
is close enough to each of those places to get into trouble if you feel like it, but it is still a small town with
small town streets, cool little cafes that have been serving the same cortadito for 50 years, and fantastic,
laid back fishing culture. Nothing warms me up like bellying up barefoot to a bar 20 feet from the beach and
chatting about whatever with a local for a couple hours without being surrounded by pumping neon and bar
hopping spring breakers.”
Sonoma
Nate Redner, beverage director at Booth One in Chicago
“Sonoma! I love going out to the coast to get some oysters in Tomales Bay.”
Kauai
Steven Tuttle, beverage director at Kettner Exchange in San Diego
“Kauai. It’s my favorite place in the world. Wake up every morning to coffee (maybe a little rum in it), walk
along the water, golf, swim, dive, jump off cliffs, enjoy the tiny shops in town, BBQ, drink beers, relax. It’s
such a beautiful place with so much to enjoy.”
India
Michael Isted, beverage director at Pure Grey Consulting in New York City
“India for sure for its diversity, complexity, spices, flavors, warmth, humor, generosity. I’m particularly happy
in the South of India.”
Costa Rica
Christina Russo, lead bartender at The BoardRoom in Los Angeles
“Seeing as I’m in Los Angeles I don’t really need to escape too much in the weather department. I would
probably opt for a total change of scene and get away to Costa Rica. A tropical get away would be the
perfect way to escape the gloomy, urban Los Angeles winter. Flights are pretty inexpensive as are the costs
once you’re there. Hello mojitos on the beach in Tamarindo!”
San Diego
Raul Ayala, bar manager at Dirty Habit in San Francisco
“One of my favorite destinations for the winter season is San Diego. The weather is perfection to me. It’s
always sunny and I can get my fix of top-notch seafood – the options are unlimited there. San Diego also
has some of the best breweries in the country, too.”
Croatia
Miguel Aranda, bar mixologist at Bl Burger Bar in New York City
“I absolutely love Croatia. That is my top destination for 2018. Amazing weather, great food, and a lot of
bar potential.”
Los Angeles
Brock Schulte, bar director at The Monarch Cocktail Bar & Lounge in Kansas City
“I very much enjoy LA — great bar scene, sandy beaches and warm weather. I haven’t been back in
a few years would love to get back soon.”
Punta Cana
Darnell Holguin, bartender at Bathtub Gin in New York City
“Punta Cana has been developing their gastronomical culture. Taking a break in Dominican Republic
always makes me happy.”
Maui
Mike Ryan, director of bars at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
“Maui! Honestly, I do love the winter and I love snow and cold weather. But when the cold has soaked into
my bones long enough I love getting to Hawaii for a few days to decompress and chill. There’s so much to
do there—snorkeling, hiking, surfing, mountain biking, road biking, swimming, paragliding, etc etc.”
Martinique
Christy Pope, bartender at Midnight Rambler in Dallas
“I am not a cold weather fan, so I love steeping into the sunshine in the winter months and the island of
Martinique is an excellent destination and happens to have one of my favorite distilleries to tour… the Rhum
JM distillery is perfection, as is the Rhum!
September 29, 2017
Circulation: 2,200,000
11 SCOTCH COCKTAILS TO DRINK IN BARS NOW
Virginia Miller
Scotch has a reputation as a serious drinker’s drink. But it’s also versatile and can be—dare we say it?—
playful. Bartenders nationwide are making the case for scotch cocktail possibilities, whether going classic
and spirituous or highlighting it with strawberry, tea and even yogurt. From Kansas City, Mo., to Charleston,
S.C., we visited top bars and restaurants to share the 11 scotch whisky cocktails worth drinking now.
Can't make it to any of the bars serving these great scotch drinks? Try making the From Jura to Java from
this list at home.
FROM JURA TO JAVA (THE MONARCH COCKTAIL BAR & LOUNGE, KANSAS CITY, MO.)
The Monarch Cocktail Bar & Lounge feels plucked straight out of London—but with a Midwest welcome.
Pull up to the white Italian marble bar for bar director Brock Schulte’s inspired cocktails, which include the
From Jura to Java, a drink that showcases Jura Superstition scotch with Foursquare 2004 single-blended
rum, Batavia-arrack, Lazzaroni amaro and The Bitter Truth chocolate bitters. The drink is rich and smoky
yet delicate and sophisticated, with notes coffee, chocolate, wood and subtle funk, garnished with a black
garlic financier.
September 7, 2017
Circulation: 1,300,000
THE MONARCH BAR
This chic Plaza Area emporium’s lengthy illustrated drink menu showcases handcrafted libations,
premium spirits and wine alongside shareables like charcuterie, chocolate truffles and a lavish caviar
service. Two snazzy barrooms – the Parlour, cloaked in heavy slate grey drapery, and the Monarch, all
glossy marble and white leather – plus a spacious terrace lined with greenery create a high-end
ambiance.
November 22, 2017
Circulation: 25,619
Elevating the Hospitality Experience
Stef Schwalb
Cocktails and creative bites take flight at The Monarch Cocktail Bar & Lounge in Kansas City, Mo.
Pairing food and wine is a subject that gets plenty of culinary coverage, but pairing food and cocktails
doesn’t always get the recognition and attention it deserves. With the complex mix of flavors that truly
innovative cocktails require, it takes a delicate touch – and some serious talent – to create a perfection
combination for the palate.
At The Monarch Cocktail Bar & Lounge in Kansas City, the partnership between Bar Manager Brock Schulte
and Chef Theresia Ota features a uniquely crafted cocktail list and a small plates menu that showcase the
reign of creativity and hospitality in every detail. Inspired by the migratory patterns and flight paths of
indigenous Monarch butterflies from around the globe, cocktails at The Monarch echo the regional flight
paths from which the spirits, modifiers and ingredients of each drink derive.
The menu also depicts the type of glassware for service, as well as the coordinates (longitude and latitude)
of the migratory location from which it is conceived. Working with such range of flavors and ingredients
requires dexterity. Chef Ota and Schulte are partners throughout the creative process to guarantee that the
food and drink complement one another.
“Between the vast ranges of the food and cocktail menu (and even the beer and wine menus), it's
completely plausible to encounter some extremely contrasting flavors,” reveals Chef Ota. “Fortunately, all
of our bartenders and servers are well-versed in each of our cocktails and food menus. We taste everything
to ensure balance in flavor, quality and consistency.”
Greater Experiences
What’s also consistent is the host of ingredients and spices that inspire both Chef Ota and Schulte – some
of which might be surprising to their local clientele. “Brock and I both like to nudge Kansas City to experience
more obscure flavor profiles. Inherently, the path of the Monarch butterfly crisscrosses so many countries
that we have free reign to combine just about any ingredient we want – including cupcakes on cocktails!”
Chef Ota enthuses. “We are also blessed to have an extremely knowledgeable staff that helps us push the
envelope and find new connections that cross cultures and other boundaries.”
To keep making those connections and experiment with global influences, Chef Ota explained that menus
at The Monarch rotate (in a variety of ways) on a seasonal basis. “Even the cocktails and food that are not
'changing' must be at the very least sourced differently from season to season,” she explains. “Most of the
favorites are getting seasonal adjustments. The lobster summer roll filling will go from watermelon and
cucumber to Asian pear and pickled butternut squash (for fall), and Brock is currently working on a
persimmon cocktail.”
Paired to Perfection
As far as some of Chef Ota’s favorite pairings, she turns to The Monarch’s signature drink specialty, the
Negroni, which is created (along with other stirred classics) tableside for guests by the bartending team via
a custom bar cart. Inspired by the West London-style of bespoke drinks, this service is the first of its kind
brought to Kansas City. “For food and cocktail pairings, you can't ever go wrong with a Negroni – we offer
six variations – and the Negroni-cured lox. Our favorite Negroni to pair with the lox is the Vecchio Amico,”
notes Chef Ota. “It means ‘old pal’ in Italian, and it is a riff on an Old Pal cocktail, which is itself a play on a
Negroni. It’s made with Rittenhouse Rye, Braulio, Montenarro Barolo Chinato and Yzaquirre Blanco.”
These cocktails also come complete with signature ice cubes that feature a
stamp of the bar’s logo. One of Chef Ota’s other favorite food and drink
combinations, and certainly one of the most unique pairings she has helped
create, is luxurious in both ingredients and flavor. “For food and wine pairings,
we all love the Vintage Veuve Clicquot 2008 and Osetra Caviar with Smoked
Brioche, Truffled Egg Salad and Elderflower Crème Fraîche,” she says.
Innovative Space
In addition to the cocktails and the food, the space of The Monarch Bar is
beautifully innovative as well. Designed by world-renowned architect David
Manica of Manica Architecture (the Lead Design Architect for Chase Center,
the new home of the NBA Warriors in San Francisco as well as the new NFL
stadium for the Raiders in Las Vegas), the idea for The Monarch Bar was based
on Manica’s global travels and his love of cocktails.
Manica decided to bring all the inspiration he found home to Kansas City and open his own cocktail lounge
with some unique twists. The venue includes the chic, al fresco Monarch Terrace with outdoor seating for
up to 60. The Main Bar features a center bar, approachable from all sides and sculpted from fine Italian
stone, decorated with 1000 sculpted monarch butterflies taking flight from a one-of-a-kind art installation
overhead. It has room for 24 seats with two dedicated bartenders. With no back bar, there is nothing to
obstruct the perfect sight lines of the room, which allows for eye contact from all vantage points for all
guests.
The bartenders work from an ingenious under-bar, engineered for high performance and service with every
ingredient within reach. There are an additional 50 seats on intimate banquettes that encircle the room with
a fireplace on one wall, flanked by two lounge spaces. The Parlour Room lies behind closed doors – it’s an
inner bar open by invitation-only. Reservations are required for this private experience, featuring the rarest
spirits and fine wines. Find additional details about The Monarch Bar, as well as current menus for both
food and beverages at www.themonarchbar.com.
September 21, 2017
Circulation: 210,000
How to “Season” Cocktails with Spirits and Liqueurs
Kara Newman
simple glass rinse is nothing new. Coating the inside of a glass with a bit of absinthe is among the oldest
tricks in the bartending book (just look to classics like the Sazerac, Vieux Carré and the Corpse Reviver
No. 2). But there’s a reason this technique has stuck: it’s easy to do, yet adds incredible complexity to a
cocktail, affecting both how a drink smells and tastes.
Today, bartenders continue to experiment with rinses, among other techniques, to apply layers of aroma,
flavor and texture, often in innovative ways. Some use atomizers to add a dramatic puff of fragrance; others
are working with floats and seats—small amounts of spirits layered atop or below a drink to add visual
interest and flavor. And while this of course works with spirituous cocktails, bartenders also are adding
drops and dashes to low ABV ones, too.
Here, a primer on seasoning with spirits and four techniques to try.
As a Rinse
Coating the interior of the glass with a particularly aromatic spirit before the drink is poured in means extra
fragrance even before the glass is lifted for a sip. (Plus, it adds a little extra flavor, and proof, to the finished
cocktail.) While absinthe is usually the go-to rinsing agent, at San Antonio’s Juniper Tar, caraway-accented
kümmel adds extra aroma to a vodka-based variation on the classic Tuxedo, dubbed the French Tuxedo,
eventually melding into the drink and creating the effect of a spiced gin, hold the juniper.
As a Mist
Another classic technique, perhaps most famously used to mist trace amounts of vermouth into an
otherwise super-dry Martini, involves decanting spirits into an atomizer to gently spray over the top of a
finished drink. Compared to a float (see below), this adds less spirit, flavor and texture; it’s really about
adding fragrance (so very aromatic spirits—think, smoky Scotch, mezcal and even aromatic liqueurs like
Chartreuse—all work well here). Among the easiest applications might be adding a simple spray of absinthe
to a Campari- and orange-driven Garibaldi. “It changes the nose,” explains Brock Schulte, who also
incorporates an absinthe mist into his gin-spiked aperitivo cocktail, the Risorgimento d’Italia, at Kansas
City’s The Monarch Bar.
As a Float
Adding a thin layer of spirit on top of a drink adds a visible, dramatic blanket, which in turn adds a shock of
flavor at first sip, then slowly incorporates into the drink as it sits. Among the modern classics, this technique
is notably used in the Penicillin, with its float of smoky Scotch (or in some variations, mezcal), transforming
the otherwise mild-mannered drink into a peaty powerhouse. But there are a variety of spirits that can work
well in this application; Pete Maben, bar manager at Buckman Public House in Portland, OR, for example,
uses a float of blackstrap rum on top of his mezcal-based Cotopasi for both flavor and visual impact. “You
get the sweet molasses of the blackstrap up front,” he explains, “and it works into the smoky-sweet-floral
mezcal drink.”
As a Seat
The opposite of a float, which sits on top of a drink, is a seat, which by design nestles at the bottom of a
glass. “It’s like an easy Pousse Café,” Buckman’s Maben explains. “Most Pousse Cafés can be bad, but I
love the look of them and how they change [as you drink].” That’s why he created the fall-ready Easy on
the Leather, with a seat of bright red Cappelletti. The first sips offer nutty spice, which Maben likens to “a
breakfast pastry cinnamon bar.” But the motion of tilting the glass to sip mixes the Cappelletti in, adding a
pleasingly bitter note. Plus, he says, “it looks really cool.”
Keep in mind that, as with any layered drink, both the float and the seat rely on knowing the density, weight
and/or viscosity of the spirits you’re working with; a weightier liqueur will sink to the bottom, making it ideal
for a seat, while a lighter, straight spirit will be easier to layer on top. As a useful reference guide, Maben
recommends Dave Arnold’s Liquid Intelligence, which considers the weights of various spirits and liqueurs.
Circulation: 80,998
WWW.CHEERSONLINE.COM / OCTOBER 2017
THE BEVERAGE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANTS AND BARS
+
Brandy
and Cognac
PTRIIMMEE Cordials
and liqueurs
Beverage
trend
outlook
Fruit beer
reviews
Ryan Valentine is leading the beverage
strategy for Cameron Mitchell
Restaurants, parent company of
the Ocean Prime steak/seafood chain
PHOTO CREDIT: GUSTAV HOLLAND
CoRrdeciaeptioByJackRobertiello
22 • October 2017 Top, Boston cocktail bar The Hawthorne, where
some discerning guests will look at the liqueur
bottles on offer and ask questions about what’s
in them.
Left, The Monarch Cocktail Bar and Lounge
opened this past August in Kansas City with
an ambitious beverage program, including a
Negroni cart.
Directly above, The Iron Lion, with J. Wray silver
rum, Chateau Arton Peche liqueur, Dolin Blanc
vermouth, passion fruit-honey syrup and Boul-
der Blues and hibiscus petals sun tea, is one of
the Monarch’s Terrace on draft.
www.cheersonline.com
T end i th liqueu categor indicat change i America taste
Cordials and liqueurs have long been a preferences are changing from fruity, tart and sweet, to more
staple on the backbar. But there’s been herbal, whiskey-based and bitterly complex.
a shift from the super-sweet, brightly
colored concoctions to more natural The liqueur category stalwarts have also been challenged
and even savory formulations. by a number of factors. One is the emergence of newer
cordials and amaros. There’s also the preference for higher-
end ingredients with more natural flavors, and the growth of
house-made syrups and infusions.
Take the emergence of the bitter Italian amaros. Brands The four-unit Urban Farmer modern steakhouse chain,
such as Campari, Aperol and others have always been included operated by Denver-based Sage Restaurant Group, does rely
in the cordial category, as they are in many cases nearly as frequently on liqueurs. But the shift to more herbal types is
sweet as more fruit-driven liqueurs. prominent, says Josue Moreno, a senior restaurant manager
But until 10 years ago, amaros were mainly found in Italian who also heads up the beverage program at Urban Farmer in
restaurants, in classic cocktails like the Negroni or as the Portland, OR.
bartender’s favorite shot (namely Fernet Branca), consumed Like many bars attached to restaurants with seasonal
mostly by hardcore fans. influences, Urban Farmer outlets also
Amaros may not yet command an are opting for locally made cordials and
enormous volume, but they are part PHOTO CREDIT: EMILY HAGAN liqueurs to bolster their farm-to-table
of the confluence of trends affecting credentials. But the classics still rule.
consumption of cordials and liqueurs. “I love to use Chartreuse, both yellow
The catch-all cordials and liqueurs and green,” says Moreno. “It’s one of
category includes fruits, creams, the oldest spirits around, and there is so
schnapps, sours and amaros, as well as much going on from the first sip through
flavored whiskies. Consumption was the mid-palate to the finish, that it mixes
flat in 2016, according to data from The really well with a number of other spirits
Beverage Information & Insights Group’s in building cocktails.”.
2017 Liquor Handbook. CLASSIC AND CRAFT BRANDS
Most growth down to the cinnamon-
flavored whiskey Fireball and other Jared Sadoian, assistant bar director at
flavored whiskies and moonshines Boston’s award-winning The Hawthorne,
including Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam, Evan agrees. He points out that older classics
Williams, Ole Smoky, Junior Johnson such as Benedictine, maraschino and
and Wild Turkey. curaçao are essential ingredients among
In fact, the entire category’s growth the 35 or so liqueurs the Hawthorne
from 2011 can be ascribed mostly uses frequently.
to Fireball, which has overtaken In fact, he notes, when The Hawthorne
Jagermeister as the best-selling cordial. opened in late 2011, the beverage team
Fireball went from 350,000 cases in 2011 The Plantation Cafe Swizzle cock- made a conscious decision to use well-
tail at The Hawthorne in Boston,
to 4.58 million last year, an increase that with Plantation rum, coffee cordial made brands of cordials rather than
outstripped the category’s entire growth and coconut cream. creating house syrups for sweetening
over that same period. and flavoring cocktails.
The top-three domestic brands— “We were more interested in seeking
DeKuyper, Southern Comfort and out commercially made products that
Hiram Walker—accounted for about 4.5 million cases in 2011; have a story and are made in a way we believe in, that could
last year that number was down to less than 3.9 million. Among provide more consistency and flavor than something we could
imports, the three leaders in 2011 (Jagermeister, Baileys and make in-house,” Sadoian says.
Kahlua) accounted for about 4.8 million cases; that fell to The folks at the Hawthorne sought out specific and often
around 3.8 million in 2016. pricier brands that offer flavor profiles close to the original
source. “As more and more people are focusing on how to
NOT TOO SWEET differentiate their cocktails from another or how to introduce
Many classics, especially orange-based liqueurs, still do well novel flavors, there are more companies trying to provide
as cocktail consumption soars. But the American palate and those flavors for them,” Sadoian says. He mentions a number
www.cheersonline.com October 2017 • 23
CoRrdeciaeptio
of French suppliers, such as Combier, Mathilde and Giffard, lot of options, and our customers notice our drinks are different,
that produce liqueurs that differ in flavor, sweetness and price with flavors that are more complex.”
from more colorful and sugary flavors widely sold at retail.
“Sometimes the major brands can be too sweet,” Sadoian notes, He also points out the novelty factor: Cocktail consumers
“although when we need a good sweet component—as long as today want to learn more about the obscure brands they
we write our recipes properly—we can balance that out.” discover. And that gives bartenders an opportunity to engage
them in conversation about the cocktails and the ingredients.
GOING GLOBAL
The Monarch Cocktail Bar and Lounge opened in August in Syrups are important at the Monarch, as well, primarily
Kansas City with an ambitious beverage program. The bar when trying to develop an otherwise unavailable flavor. The
wanted to incorporate the full range of flavor possibilities, bar boasts a number of unique, house-made syrups.from fresh
from classic to modern, bitter to sweet, with international berry Sauterne to black garlic yogurt,
representation.
But cordials with more complex flavors aren’t easily
“The entire point of the list was to be globally inspired, with replicated. That’s why Monarch frequently uses liqueurs such
liqueurs and cordials from every country in all sorts of styles and as maraschino, marasca cherry cordial, Chartreuse, Campari
types, including cordials and amaros,” says general manager and Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao. The bar offers more than 20
Mark Church. Smaller, classic European brands such as the liqueurs, priced from $4 to $40 per oz., and more than 30 amari
gentian liqueur Suze, the wine-based aperitif Cappelletti and ($4 to $18 an oz.).
others are part of the “bitter is the new cordial” trend, he says.
The Monarch’s Terrace offers three iced cocktails on draft
“Our clientele's palates are getting more diverse, and they’re that are also available in a large format that serves four people.
wanting more complexity in drinks and ingredients, and that’s The De La Cruz cocktail, made with J. Wray silver rum,
where these liqueurs come in,” Church says. “It’s great to have a Chateau Arton Peche liqueur, Dolin Blanc vermouth, passion
fruit-honey syrup and Boulder Blues and hibiscus petals sun
Denver’s tea, is one. It’s priced at $14 or $45 for a large format.
Spuntino Does
DIY Liqueurs REINVENTING THE CLASSICS
The bartenders at Monarch also have been working on
Italian restaurant Spuntino in Denver started a tweaking well-established ingredients. For instance, they make
house-made digestif program in spring 2014. “The an apple-infused Aperol.
first thing that we started making in-house years
ago was limoncello, which is still going strong,” Another spin is the bar’s applewood-smoked Grand Marnier,
says owner Elliot Strathmann. “I barrel-age all of which adds sweet smoke to the Cognac backbone of the classic
our limoncello, solera style,” he notes. French liqueur. It’s used in The Monarch Terrace’s Wanderlust
Julep cocktail, along with Chateau Arton Fine Blanche
The variations currently on the menu at Spuntino Armagnac, Appleton Estate Signature Blend rum, Cinzano
include a Meyer limoncello; a basilcello infused 1757 and Cascara-scented J. Rieger & Co. Caffé Amaro liqueur.
with varieties of basil it grows; an espresso liqueur
using a favorite local roaster; a fennel liqueur “We’re a Kansas City cocktail bar, and everybody knows
infused with seeds, fronds, and liquorice leaves we in Kansas City love our barbeque and smoke,” Church says.
and flowers he grows; and liquore allo zafferano,
an Abruzzese-style saffron liqueur. But the Monarch’s broadest usage of sweeter products
comes with its Negroni cart. “We realized having a simple one-
“One of the reasons why I got into making these to-one-to-one cocktail with equal parts bitter, strong and sweet
was drinking house-made genziana in restaurants gave us a lot of room to move around,” says Church.
in Abruzzo,” Strathmann says. “The current batch,
which is still in barrel, uses only Colorado wild- In some cases, resulting Negroni variants ultimately include
foraged gentian root.” Strathmann has also made up to 10 ingredients. For instance, the El Pilli is an agave-based
yuzucello and a house-grown herb garden liqueur variant, made with three mezcals, a blend of Cardamaro,
used in Collins-style cocktails last fall. —JR Cynar and Ancho Reyes chile liqueur, with prickly pear, ginger
liqueur and molé bitters.
24 • October 2017
To make these drinks tableside, the staff prepares the strong,
sweet or bitter mixtures that include three or four ingredients
well in advance to be stored in decanters on the cart. This
enables servers to discuss the drink while they stir, pour and
talk with customers. “It gives us a pretty big canvas to work
on,” Church says.
VERSATILITY RULES
Finding cordials and liqueurs that can work in many
drinks is key, says Simon Vazquez, general manager of
Wild Standard in Denver. “I would say versatility is key
www.cheersonline.com
Cocktails at Wild Standard
in Denver include Say Your
Pisco (left), with Waqar pisco,
Pimms #1, Pamplemousse
grapefruit liqueur and lemon
juice, and Monks in the Mosh
Pit, with Laws “secale” rye
whiskey, house Monk’s Mix,
Angostura and Peychaud’s
bitters and an absinthe rinse.
The Monarch’s De La Cruz cocktail ($13), with
Carpano Antica Bianco, graham-cracker-in-
fused Barbadillo amontillado sherry, Barbadil-
lo cream sherry and yellow chartreuse.
right now, which is why we carry so many flavors,” Vazquez The Mayflower at
notes. “With the ever-expanding world of spirits, and the The Hawthorne,
availability of great ingredients, you want something tailored made with Beefeat-
to your specific need.” er gin, cranberry
cordial, cinnamon
Cocktails such as the Corpse Reviver #2 and the Last syrup and fresh
Word, which call for four ingredient at equal parts, are a great lemon juice.
framework for many recipes and a good way to integrate
liqueurs into drinks, Vazquez says. “We carry more than 90 and Meletti—replacing half the sweet vermouth.
different liqueurs and fortified wines, which gives us a lot of The Townsend also relies on syrups quite a bit, with as
different flavor profiles to play with.”
many as 12 in use at any time. When it comes to cordials,
MIXING IT UP bartenders favor newer producers at the higher-end, such as
Bartenders at Wild Standard are lately drawing inspiration the broad range of classic liqueurs including creme de cassis,
from Tiki culture. This has opened the door to a technique creme de cacao and creme de menthe from Novato, CA-based
similar to what the Monarch is doing with the Negroni cart: Tempus Fugit Spirits.
creating house mixes.
But the basics are always in demand. “Nothing can replace
For instance, Wild Standard’s Tropics Mix, combines a Campari or a Benedictine or a Cointreau,” Jagger says. “If you
creme de cassis, velvet falernum, Pimm’s Cup Number One, want to make these classic cocktails, they are a necessity.”
gentiane liqueur and Giffard banana liqueur. The Monk’s Mix
green Chartreuse, yellow Chartreuse, Boomsma Cloosterbitter Do consumers care about natural flavors and ingredients in
liqueur and Benedictine liqueurs? For the most part, no, says Sadoian at The Hawthorne.
“We’ll use a one-quarter or one-half ounce, and that really “Many probably can’t tell the difference between an
drives the complexity of the drink—allowing you to get all those artificial banana or butterscotch schnapps and the things made
flavors together in small quantities,” Vazquez says. “You might from real flavors,” he notes. "But we are seeing a lot of folks
say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” who are a little more discerning coming into the Hawthorne
or [sister restaurant] Eastern Standard, who see the bottles and
Wild Standard also uses a combination of banana and coffee ask questions.”
liqueurs in the cocktail There’s Always Money in the Banana,
a crushed-ice, Swizzle-type drink made with rums and juices. And for many upscale restaurants with seasonally changing
“The two together create a flavor combination that would be food programs, higher-end cordials offer a chance to capture the
hard to replicate with anything else,” Vazquez says. flavors that may be in season but not available in a certain region.
Other liqueur cocktails include Monks in the Mosh Pit, In Boston, “We go for long periods of the year without
with Laws “secale” rye whiskey, Monk’s Mix, Angostura and fresh, local berries,” Sadoian says. “These liqueurs let us have a
Peychaud’s bitters and an absinthe rinse, and Say Your Pisco snapshot of the fruit at its absolute ripest or from a place known
with Waqar pisco, Pimms #1, Pamplemousse grapefruit liqueur for producing fantastic fruit, and that helps make for much
and lemon juice. better cocktails.”
At The Townsend cocktail bar in Philadelphia, tweaking Jack Robertiello is a wine and spirits writer and judge based in
classic drinks has made room for more use of sweeter spirits, says Brooklyn, NY.
bar manager Jeff Jagger. The Townsend serves a Manhattan
variation made with two of the lighter amaros—Amaro Nonino October 2017 • 25
www.cheersonline.com
November 8, 2017
Circulation: 79,118
Cordial Trends in 2017 Point Towards Changing Tastes
Jack Robertiello
Cordials and liqueurs have long been a staple on the backbar. But there’s been a shift from the super-
sweet, brightly colored concoctions to more natural and even savory formulations.
Take the emergence of the bitter Italian amaros. Brands such as Campari, Aperol and others have always
been included in the cordial category, as they are in many cases nearly as sweet as more fruit-driven
liqueurs.
But until 10 years ago, amaros were mainly found in Italian restaurants, in classic cocktails like the Negroni
or as the bartender’s favorite shot (namely Fernet Branca), consumed mostly by hardcore fans.
Amaros may not yet command an enormous volume, but they are part of the
confluence of trends affecting consumption of cordials and liqueurs.
The catch-all cordials and liqueurs category includes fruits, creams, schnapps, sours
and amaros, as well as flavored whiskies. Consumption was flat in 2016, according
to data from The Beverage Information & Insights Group’s 2017 Liquor Handbook.
Most growth down to the cinnamon-flavored whiskey Fireball and other flavored
whiskies and moonshines including Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam, Evan Williams, Ole
Smoky, Junior Johnson and Wild Turkey.
In fact, the entire category’s growth from 2011 can be ascribed mostly to Fireball,
which has overtaken Jagermeister as the best-selling cordial. Fireball went from
350,000 cases in 2011 to 4.58 million last year, an increase that outstripped the
category’s entire growth over that same period.
The top-three domestic brands—DeKuyper, Southern Comfort and Hiram Walker—
accounted for about 4.5 million cases in 2011; last year that number was down to less
than 3.9 million. Among imports, the three leaders in 2011 (Jagermeister, Baileys and
Kahlua) accounted for about 4.8 million cases; that fell to around 3.8 million in 2016.
Not Too Sweet
Many classics, especially orange-based liqueurs, still do well as cocktail consumption soars. But the
American palate and preferences are changing from fruity, tart and sweet, to more herbal, whiskey-based
and bitterly complex.
The liqueur category stalwarts have also been challenged by a number of factors. One is the emergence
of newer cordials and amaros. There’s also the preference for higher-end ingredients with more natural
flavors, and the growth of house-made syrups and infusions.
The four-unit Urban Farmer modern steakhouse chain, operated by Denver-based Sage Restaurant Group,
does rely frequently on liqueurs. But the shift to more herbal types is prominent, says Josue Moreno, a
senior restaurant manager who also heads up the beverage program at Urban Farmer in Portland, OR.
Like many bars attached to restaurants with seasonal influences, Urban Farmer outlets also are opting for
locally made cordials and liqueurs to bolster their farm-to-table credentials. But the classics still rule.
“I love to use Chartreuse, both yellow and green,” says Moreno. “It’s one of the oldest spirits around, and
there is so much going on from the first sip through the mid-palate to the finish, that it mixes really well with
a number of other spirits in building cocktails.”
Classic and Craft Brands
Jared Sadoian, assistant bar director at Boston’s award-winning The Hawthorne, agrees. He points out that
older classics such as Benedictine, maraschino and curaçao are essential ingredients among the 35 or so
liqueurs the Hawthorne uses frequently.
In fact, he notes, when The Hawthorne opened in late 2011, the beverage team made a conscious decision
to use well-made brands of cordials rather than creating house syrups for sweetening and flavoring
cocktails.
“We were more interested in seeking out commercially made products that have a story and are made in a
way we believe in, that could provide more consistency and flavor than something we could make in-house,”
Sadoian says.
The folks at the Hawthorne sought out specific and often pricier brands that offer flavor profiles close to the
original source. “As more and more people are focusing on how to differentiate their cocktails from another
or how to introduce novel flavors, there are more companies trying to provide those flavors for them,”
Sadoian says. He mentions a number of French suppliers, such as
Combier, Mathilde and Giffard, that produce liqueurs that differ in
flavor, sweetness and price from more colorful and sugary flavors
widely sold at retail. “Sometimes the major brands can be too sweet,”
Sadoian notes, “although when we need a good sweet component—
as long as we write our recipes properly—we can balance that out.”
Going Global
The Monarch Cocktail Bar and Lounge opened in August in Kansas
City with an ambitious beverage program. The bar wanted to
incorporate the full range of flavor possibilities, from classic to
modern, bitter to sweet, with international representation.
“The entire point of the list was to be globally inspired, with liqueurs
and cordials from every country in all sorts of styles and types,
including cordials and amaros,” says general manager Mark Church.
Smaller, classic European brands such as the gentian liqueur Suze,
the wine-based aperitif Cappelletti and others are part of the “bitter is
the new cordial” trend, he says.
“Our clientele’s palates are getting more diverse, and they’re wanting more complexity in drinks and
ingredients, and that’s where these liqueurs come in,” Church says. “It’s great to have a lot of options, and
our customers notice our drinks are different, with flavors that are more complex.”
He also points out the novelty factor: Cocktail consumers today want to learn more about the obscure
brands they discover. And that gives bartenders an opportunity to engage them in conversation about the
cocktails and the ingredients.
Syrups are important at the Monarch, as well, primarily when trying to develop an otherwise unavailable
flavor. The bar boasts a number of unique, house-made syrups.from fresh berry Sauterne to black garlic
yogurt,
But cordials with more complex flavors aren’t easily replicated. That’s why Monarch frequently uses liqueurs
such as maraschino, marasca cherry cordial, Chartreuse, Campari and Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao. The
bar offers more than 20 liqueurs, priced from $4 to $40 per oz., and more than 30 amari ($4 to $18 an oz.).
The Monarch’s Terrace offers three iced cocktails on draft that are also available in a large format that
serves four people. The De La Cruz cocktail, made with J. Wray silver rum, Chateau Arton Peche liqueur,
Dolin Blanc vermouth, passion fruit-honey syrup and Boulder Blues and hibiscus petals sun tea, is one. It’s
priced at $14 or $45 for a large format.
Reinventing the Classics
The bartenders at Monarch also have been working on tweaking well-established ingredients. For instance,
they make an apple-infused Aperol.
Another spin is the bar’s applewood-smoked Grand Marnier, which adds sweet smoke to the Cognac
backbone of the classic French liqueur. It’s used in The Monarch Terrace’s Wanderlust Julep cocktail, along
with Chateau Arton Fine Blanche Armagnac, Appleton Estate Signature Blend rum, Cinzano 1757 and
Cascara-scented J. Rieger & Co. Caffé Amaro liqueur.
“We’re a Kansas City cocktail bar, and everybody knows we in Kansas City love our barbeque and smoke,”
Church says.
But the Monarch’s broadest usage of sweeter products comes with its Negroni cart. “We realized having a
simple one-to-one-to-one cocktail with equal parts bitter, strong and sweet gave us a lot of room to move
around,” says Church.
In some cases, resulting Negroni variants ultimately include up to 10 ingredients. For instance, the El Pilli
is an agave-based variant, made with three mezcals, a blend of Cardamaro, Cynar and Ancho Reyes chile
liqueur, with prickly pear, ginger liqueur and molé bitters.
To make these drinks tableside, the staff prepares the strong, sweet or bitter mixtures that include three or
four ingredients well in advance to be stored in decanters on the cart. This enables servers to discuss the
drink while they stir, pour and talk with customers. “It gives us a pretty big canvas to work on,” Church says.
Versatility Rules
Finding cordials and liqueurs that can work in many drinks is key, says Simon Vazquez, general manager
of Wild Standard in Denver. “I would say versatility is key right now, which is why we carry so many flavors,”
Vazquez notes. “With the ever-expanding world of spirits, and the availability of great ingredients, you want
something tailored to your specific need.”
Cocktails such as the Corpse Reviver #2 and the Last Word, which call for four ingredient at equal parts,
are a great framework for many recipes and a good way to integrate liqueurs into drinks, Vazquez says.
“We carry more than 90 different liqueurs and fortified wines, which gives us a lot of different flavor profiles
to play with.”
Mixing It Up
Bartenders at Wild Standard are lately drawing inspiration from Tiki culture. This has opened the door to a
technique similar to what the Monarch is doing with the Negroni cart: creating house mixes.
For instance, Wild Standard’s Tropics Mix, combines creme de cassis, velvet falernum, Pimm’s Cup
Number One, gentiane liqueur and Giffard banana liqueur. The Monk’s Mix green Chartreuse, yellow
Chartreuse, Boomsma Cloosterbitter liqueur and Benedictine
“We’ll use a one-quarter or one-half ounce, and that really drives the complexity of the drink—allowing you
to get all those flavors together in small quantities,” Vazquez says. “You might say the whole is greater than
the sum of the parts.”
Wild Standard also uses a combination of banana and coffee liqueurs in the cocktail There’s Always Money
in the Banana, a crushed-ice, Swizzle-type drink made with rums and juices. “The two together create a
flavor combination that would be hard to replicate with anything else,” Vazquez says.
Other liqueur cocktails include Monks in the Mosh Pit (pictured
atop, left), with Laws “secale” rye whiskey, Monk’s Mix,
Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters and an absinthe rinse, and
Say Your Pisco with Waqar pisco, Pimms #1, Pamplemousse
grapefruit liqueur and lemon juice.
At The Townsend cocktail bar in Philadelphia, tweaking classic
drinks has made room for more use of sweeter spirits, says bar
manager Jeff Jagger. The Townsend serves a Manhattan
variation made with two of the lighter amaros—Amaro Nonino
and Meletti—replacing half the sweet vermouth.
The Townsend also relies on syrups quite a bit, with as many as
12 in use at any time. When it comes to cordials, bartenders favor
newer producers at the higher-end, such as the broad range of
classic liqueurs including creme de cassis, creme de cacao and creme de menthe from Novato, CA-based
Tempus Fugit Spirits.
But the basics are always in demand. “Nothing can replace a Campari or a Benedictine or a Cointreau,”
Jagger says. “If you want to make these classic cocktails, they are a necessity.”
Do consumers care about natural flavors and ingredients in liqueurs? For the most part, no, says Sadoian
at The Hawthorne.
“Many probably can’t tell the difference between an artificial banana or butterscotch schnapps and the
things made from real flavors,” he notes. “But we are seeing a lot of folks who are a little more discerning
coming into the Hawthorne or [sister restaurant] Eastern Standard, who see the bottles and ask questions.”
And for many upscale restaurants with seasonally changing food programs, higher-end cordials offer a
chance to capture the flavors that may be in season but not available in a certain region.
In Boston, “We go for long periods of the year without fresh, local berries,” Sadoian says. “These liqueurs
let us have a snapshot of the fruit at its absolute ripest or from a place known for producing fantastic fruit,
and that helps make for much better cocktails.”
August 21, 2017
Circulation: 1,500,000
The Monarch Bar
A social setting for the cocktail curious and drinks connoisseur. We practice the art of hospitality and refined
service. Creativity and precision reign in every detail from drinks to small plates. The Monarch Cocktail Bar
& Lounge is located in Kansas City’s historic Country Club Plaza area
July 25, 2017
Circulation: 33,100,000
Why World-Famous Architect David Manica Is Building a Bar in Kansas City
Jason Horn
How did you become a stadium architect? “Growing up, I was either gonna be a musician and play
trumpet, or be an architect. In late high school, I made the decision to be an architect and went to
University of Kansas for architecture school. I’m from Kansas City, and a lot of big sports architecture
firms are based here. I wanted to work in a big firm, and so chances were good it would be a sports-
focused one.”
What are some of the notable stadiums you’ve worked on? “At my former firm [Populous, then called
HOK Sport Venue and Event], I was the lead designer for O2 Arena and the new Wembley Stadium in
London, as well as Beijing National Stadium [which made its debut for the 2008 Summer Olympics]. In
2007, I decided to start my own firm, Manica Architecture, and today we have offices in London,
Shanghai and Kansas City. Right now, we’re working on the Chase Center—the new home for the
Golden State Warriors in San Francisco—and the new Las Vegas stadium for the NFL’s Raiders when
they move there in 2020. We’re also building the new VTB Arena Park in Moscow and four different
stadium projects in China.”
What made you decide to open a cocktail bar in Kansas City? “I was born and raised here. I always
thought I’d leave, but I fell in love with the city and what I do. I love that I get to live here. It’s a beautiful
place. I’ve spent a lot of time in London, Moscow, other cities that have great cocktail scenes, and then I’d
come home to Kansas City and not be able to find the same kind of thing. We want The Monarch to be
unlike anything we’d ever seen before, even in London. My goal isn’t to be just one of the best bars in
Kansas City but one of the top bars in the world.”
The Monarch is set to open this August. Tell us about the bar’s design. “There are three main spaces in
the bar. First is the outdoor patio, which is an amazing patio with a glass canopy over it and built-in
banquette seating. In a lot of ways, the patio was inspired by some of my experiences in Moscow—in the
summer, they have the most amazing patio experiences there because it’s so cold most of the time. (And
in summer, the days are really long.)
Next, the main room is all white with a big white bar in the center. The hallmark of the design is the bar, a
big marble bar in the center with no back bar. We made it as narrow as possible—if you’re sitting on one
side of the bar you can flirt with a girl on the other side. There’s also a chandelier designed in cooperation
with the Kansas City Art Institute that’s made up of 1500 sculpted butterflies. And there’s a hand-painted
triptych of monarch butterflies along the wall next to the bar that was inspired by enormous baroque
paintings. It’s 27 feet long—we wanted to have an installation of art that was the size of the entire wall!
The third space is the Parlour. That’s our private room, our VIP room. You have to be invited or be a
member to get in. It’s very, very exclusive. We carved a door out of two feet of concrete in the back to
create a private, exclusive atmosphere with a private entrance for celebrities.”
What about the drinks? “Cocktails come first. We’ve designed a very special cocktail list: There’ll be
drinks here that you can’t get anywhere else. Of course, we’ll have an incredible selection of premium
liquors. There will be small and specialized wine and beer lists, but it’s primarily a cocktail bar. And there’ll
be some small plates—you need to eat while you drink a little bit! The whole vibe will be unlike anything
else and be really special.”
Why is the bar called The Monarch? What’s the connection to butterflies? “Monarch has some
historic significance in Kansas City. There was a famous printing company based here with that name.
There are lots of places in the city with monarch in their names, but they mostly use crowns and images
of royalty. We wanted to go in a different direction, so we used the butterfly. It just felt like the name it was
supposed to be.”
How is designing a stadium that seats tens of thousands like designing a bar that seats at most a
couple hundred? “It has to do with the premium experience. In any modern stadium, there are different
spaces. Some are concourses that hold 25,000 people; some are private clubs and other spaces for VIPs
that are much smaller than that. One of the things we spend a lot of time thinking about is what makes
spaces special and different from one another. The stadium needs to have a significant draw for all the
people in the city. We were able to take a premium design and experience and translate it to this bar. It’s
not like a stadium bar; it’s more like a West End bar in London. Our experiences going to those types of
bars, frankly, helped us bring this together into a complete design.”
What do most bars get wrong in terms of design and architecture? “Putting the bar up against the
wall. I’m just so tired of that. It’s the way it’s always been done, and so people don’t rethink that, and it’s
disappointing. It doesn’t create the kind of social atmosphere I wanted to have for The Monarch. We
oriented everything toward the center instead of the wall. In most bars, you put your back to the middle of
the room and face the wall/bartender. We put the bar in the center and had uncompromised sightlines:
Anywhere in the room, you can see anybody else in the room.
Some bars do push the bar out into the center of the room, but the problem is they often get the
proportions wrong. The bar is too big and you can’t see the people on the other side—you feel like you’re
sitting alone. There’s a brand-new, very expensive bar here in Kansas City with a big bar down the middle
that cuts the space in half. It’s like two different bars, and it’s very disappointing.”
Do you think a building’s design can help bad food and drinks taste better, or good food and
drinks taste worse? “I do believe that. I believe that the experience of the atmosphere of the space, the
hospitality of the individual serving you, really makes a difference. You can have an incredible drink
served by an incredible bartender in an incredible setting, and it’s much better than the same drink just
shoved across the bar at you in a dive.”
What’s your personal taste in drinks? “My go-to cocktail is a Negroni. I drink lots of those. My usual
recipe is equal parts Bombay Sapphire Gin, Campari and Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth, on a big ice
cube, with an orange twist for garnish. I enjoy Scotch, too. If I want to go light, vodka is really good—
especially high-quality vodka like they drink in Moscow.”
What are some of your favorite bars and restaurants around the world? “One of my very favorites,
which had a lot of inspiration on The Monarch, is Connaught Bar in London. One thing they do there is to
make Martinis on a cart right in front of you if you’re not sitting at the bar. We’ll have a Martini and Negroni
cart at The Monarch just like that. Some of my other favorite bars in London are The Gibson, Berners
Tavern, Oriole, and Artesian. Those are all high-end West End cocktail bars. Another bar I really like is
the bar at the Hotel de Russie in Rome. One of the things I notice about these places is that when you
watch a really good bartender who’s like an artist, it’s really amazing to watch them do what they do. They
way their hands kind of dance in front of you as they make this drink, it’s really kind of magical.”
August 11, 2017
Circulation: 80,000
Chefs on the move: Summer 2017
Bret Thorn
Theresia Ota is executive chef of The Monarch Cocktail Bar & Lounge in Kansas City, Mo. The Hawaii
native has worked in restaurants from coast to coast and most recently was chef de cuisine of Jax Fish
House & Oyster Bar, also in Kansas City.
October 16, 2017
Circulation: 730,000
An Amazing Amaro-Based Cocktail – Just in Time for National Liqueur Day!
Stef Schwalb
It’s time to get in the spirits. No, we’re not talking about Halloween (although that will be here soon enough).
Our taste buds are actually transfixed on National Liqueur Day (on Oct. 16) and how best to celebrate the
occasion.
To help us, we turned to Brock Schulte, Bar Manager at The Monarch in Kansas City, MO. This innovative
new cocktail bar and lounge features creative mixed drinks; cocktails on tap and bottled; and a custom bar
cart. Schulte shared some insights on one of their most enticing liqueur-based specialties – the Wanderlust
Julep, a refreshing “Julep meets Negroni” cocktail that’s a lightly smoked pick-me-up.
1) What inspired the creation of this cocktail?
It started with the Grand Marnier. Ryan Maybee (of The Rieger and Manifesto) introduced me to smoking
cocktails and liqueur about eight years ago. At that time, I tried some Applewood-smoked Grand Marnier
he had prepared. I was mesmerized by it and have always wanted to do something of my own. Since the
focus on The Monarch menu was the Negroni, I started trying to balance flavors around Grand Marnier with
that in mind. Coffee smoke and orange are natural pairings, so I infused J. Rieger & Co. Caffè Amaro with
Cascara to soften some of the gentian and to pair more naturally with the smoked orange. Then I thought
about how to serve it. With the spirit, sweetness and herb in place, my mind instantly went to Julep style.
We upped the proof a bit by using a split base with Fine Blanche Armagnac and Appleton Estate Signature
rum – the funk from the rum would go great with the Cascara. The last thing to do was to meld it all together.
Generally, we do this with some type of modifier – Cinzano 1757 worked great. In Negroni fashion – strong,
bitter, sweet – we combine some pretty interesting flavors and serve them in a Julep-style cocktail so a
guest who orders it has an idea what to expect.
2) What does the inclusion of the J. Rieger & Co. Caffè Amaro bring to the taste profile?
J. Rieger & Co. Caffè Amaro brings the addition of cold-brew coffee and an Amaro-style bitter liqueur that
helps to lengthen the finish of the cocktail and allows for layering of flavors such as coffee, smoked orange,
mint, gentian, and bitter chocolate.
3) How do liqueurs in general help you expand your creativity for creating cocktails?
Liqueurs are fantastic for changing the balance and profile of a cocktail. Great liqueurs have a way of
bringing together lots of flavor without being too sweet. We use a variety at The Monarch, especially when
we want to bring a hint of flavor from an ingredient that might not be in season in the Midwest.
4) What are some of your favorite liqueurs?
The Giffard and Leopold Brothers liqueur lines are great. Giffard Banane du Bresil and Leopold Michigan
Tart Cherry are also favorites of mine. I’ve always been a big fan Chartreuse, especially the V.E.P, which
we use in a Last Word variant. Ancho Reyes Verde was just introduced to the Kansas City area. I’ve been
waiting for it for quite some time to use in a cocktail, which will be unveiled with our fall menu update. Rhum
Clément Mahina Coco is featured in our Bonnybridge cocktail – I love the way it brings coconut to a cocktail
with very little sweetness. It’s a true, not fake, flavor.
WANDERLUST JULEP
Ingredients
• .25 oz. Chateau Arton Fine Blanche
• .25 oz. Appleton Estate Signature Blend
• .25 oz. Cinzano 1757
• .25 oz. Applewood-smoked Grand Marnier
• .25 oz. Cascara-scented J. Rieger & Co. Caffè Amaro
Instructions
1. How it’s created at the bar: Add 3 oz. of batched spirit on Nitro draft to a julep cup filled with crushed
2. ice. Garnish with a healthy amount of manicured mint, dust with powdered sugar, coffee grounds
Notes and a metal straw.
How to recreate at home: Build the cocktail by pouring each ingredient over crushed ice into a julep
tin. Give a small stir to meld the ingredients together being careful not to over-mix. Top with a
heaping mound of crushed ice. Garnish with a healthy amount of manicured mint, dusted with
powdered sugar, and coffee grounds, and sip through a straw (metal, if you have one).
Be sure there’s a heaping mound of crushed ice, as the alcohol will continually melt the ice as it sits.
December 20, 2017
Circulation: 320,000
5 REASONS TO VISIT KANSAS CITY
On Missouri's western edge, Kansas City (sometimes making you wonder which state you're in) includes
over 17 distinct neighborhoods, such as Country Club Plaza—widely known as the “Rodeo Drive of the
Midwest.” The amazing thing about Kansas City is that it’s quite trendy and industrial, but if you need to
take a breather from city life, rolling hills are just a short drive away.
1. THE ART
At Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, you'll find works by modern and contemporary artists
from around the world. Kansas City’s acclaimed, free contemporary art museum hosts exhibitions
and installations from emerging, mid-career and renowned established artists.
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