“Being a former baker, I love my days in the lab,” says Tone Arasa, lead bartender and prep lead for True Laurel in San Francisco’s Mission District. Though they also enjoy the never-dull days on the floor engaging with guests, “When I can make the bartender’s life easy, that’s what makes me the happiest.”
Together with co-owner and bar director Nicolas Torres, Arasa sources and processes the Bay Area produce—foraged and farmed—that drives the cocktail bar’s renown. “My drink-making process is heavily inspired by the seasons,” she says. “When I’m creating, I work around what’s available locally.” In a drink called the Quincess Bride, California-grown quince stars in the base spirit as well as a housemade syrup and garnish.
This sense of place is crucial to Arasa, who’s from the Coastal Miwok tribe of Graton Rancheria. “Being Indigenous, I have a strong social and environmental duty to the land I inhabit,” they say.
True Laurel prioritizes environmental responsibility without compromising on creativity, and that ethos reflects Arasa’s own commitment to a no-waste philosophy and a reciprocal relationship with the land. They regularly forage native and local flora and support local agriculture, not to mention the communities connected to all of these practices. “Sustainability is not just a value—it’s a central ingredient in every drink I make and create.”
Arasa’s drinks prioritize local and seasonal ingredients from the Bay Area. In a drink called the Quincess Bride, California-grown quince stars in the base spirit as well as a housemade syrup and garnish.
The Quincess Bride
Daniel Bareswilt has spent 15 years working in hospitality in Tampa, Florida, including a decade at cocktail bars like CW’s Gin Joint and Azure. Now, at Alter Ego, a new nightclub with a bar program that punches above its weight, Bareswilt is crafting some of his best drinks yet.
On the menu, cocktails are named for popular tracks whose titles aptly fit the flavor profiles of the drinks in question. The Lemonade by Gucci Mane, for instance, which Bareswilt describes as “a clean, lean Collins,” can be made with either vodka or gin to complement the bar’s house citrus cordial. “It’s an exercise in minimalism, but also super delicious,” he says.
For a cocktail to make it on the menu at the high-volume venue, Bareswilt asks himself questions like, “Can we sustain making this drink quickly and consistently 50 times a night? Can we sustain the ingredients we’re sourcing well enough to put a drink in print?” For his program, the fewer bottle pick-ups the better.
This practicality has led Bareswilt to develop his own brand of crowd-pleasing understatement. And it’s gone a long way toward winning over an audience that doesn’t necessarily come for the drinks. According to Bareswilt, most of his guests are drawn to Alter Ego “because the bar is beautiful and the music is good.” But even if only a small percentage of guests are what Bareswilt describes as “cocktail connoisseurs,” he’s not deterred. “I absolutely stand by the integrity of our cocktails,” he says.
ICE CREAM PAINT JOB
This Neapolitan ice cream–inspired drink embodies Bareswilt’s penchant for crowd-pleasing cocktails. A mix of sherry, rum, coconut milk, strawberries and vanilla, “it’s desserty but not a sugar bomb,” he says. “It surprises people.”
Capucine Prager felt the pull of the hospitality industry while weighing whether to remain in her native France or move closer to family in New York. Working as a restaurant server in her hometown of Toulouse in 2019, she fell so in love with the staff camaraderie that she decided to remain in the industry rather than follow through on her original plan of going back to school. Something “just clicked” at that restaurant job, she says. “I couldn’t ignore how right it felt.”
In the six years since that job, Prager has learned to push the envelope with esoteric cocktail ingredients and original flavor combinations dialed in with precision and restraint. Her first bartending job was at L’Heure du Singe in Toulouse. From there, she honed her spirits knowledge at the now-closed Quarter Kitchen & Cocktail Lab in St. Barts, leading VIP tastings thanks to the extensive collection of rums and whiskeys. In New York, where she currently lives, she has worked at Manhatta, HiLot and Bar Belly. Along with her partner Ben Hopkins, she has also launched a consulting project, curating the cocktail menu at celebrity events like Eric André’s housewarming party.
When an opportunity at Bar Goto came along, Prager knew she had to take it. Prager says she’s inspired by the constraints of owner Kenta Goto’s intentionally pared-back approach. Her drinks, similarly, deliver complex, evocative flavors with just a few ingredients. Take her Golden Daylily, for instance, which combines whisky and oolong tea. Describing the inspiration behind the drink, Prager might as well be describing her entire approach. “This drink is inspired by the idea of calm confidence,” she says. “It’s a spirit-forward cocktail that doesn’t need to shout to be heard.”
La Pícara
Prager layers unexpected flavor pairings in her drinks. La Pícara, which takes inspiration from tacos in Mexico City, merges a pepper-infused tequila with floral shochu and nutty pandan syrup. “It’s savory, bold and a little mischievous—just like the street food that inspired it.”
Having built a sterling résumé 13 years deep, bartender and beverage director Lou Bernard has reached a point where he is able to center a key motivation: highlighting his culture through drinks. Now the beverage director at Latin American vegetarian hot spot Mita in Washington, D.C., Bernard, who is half Bolivian and half Venezuelan, calls on ingredients like the custardy lucuma fruit of Chile and Peru, the Peruvian ají amarillo chile and Mexican spiced elote to create singular cocktails.
Before landing at Mita, Bernard was working as the beverage director for Carla and Juan Sanchez’s buzzy Bolivian pop-up Casa Kantuta, also in Washington, D.C. Thanks to his program, it became recognized as the country’s first Bolivian cocktail bar.
When the Mita team approached him to work together, Bernard wanted to channel this same authenticity and representation into the program. There, he brings Latin American flavors to life with drinks like the Tomatito, which mixes mezcal and a tomatillo salsa verde, and the Amazon Forest, which is based around cachaça and aguardiente.
“For me, after bartending for 13 years, what’s pushing me is the culture behind what I can do,” Bernard says. “Being Latin American has shaped a lot of things for me and I want to represent that to the fullest—not one particular country, but all of Latin American culture.” This, he adds, means using ingredients and presenting flavors that wouldn’t typically be found outside of Latin American establishments. “This has driven me to be who I am now, so that’s how I’m going to shape my program.”
TOMATITO
Bernard’s cocktails spotlight Latin American flavors. In this savory drink, lemongrass mezcal meets housemade tomatillo salsa verde, pineapple and celery bitters.
Molly Gajdosik took a winding road through the service industry before landing as a bartender at Gigantic in Easthampton, Massachusetts. “I probably had every job you could probably have,” they recall, including working as a food runner and prep cook at a now-closed lesbian bar in New York, as a baker at Milk Bar and as a pizzaiolo in Montreal.
“Every experience I have keeps me curious and wanting to learn new things, whether it’s a new technique or new ingredient,” Gajdosik says. “I am always looking to experience things that will lend a view to what I’m creating, whether that’s traveling or going to a new restaurant.”
Gajdosik got into bartending by pouring craft beers at breweries like Counter Weight Brewing Co. in Cheshire, Connecticut. Then, when a job opened up at Gigantic, a bar that focuses on historic, classic cocktails alongside a small roster of thoughtful originals, Gajdosik leapt at it. “The first time I went was during Escape the Northeast, when they do the tiki bar takeover,” they say. “I immediately fell in love with it.” Making cocktails wound up being just the right fit for Gajdosik. “I like the flow of service as a bartender—it reminds me a lot of cooking,” they say.
If curiosity and experimentation are the keys to Gajdosik’s bartending style, rum and tropical drinks are at the heart. “But I don’t necessarily want to box myself in to that category,” they say. While many of their drinks take a page from the tropical playbook, the real through line is that they’re “approachable and full of flavor... I try not to take my drinks too seriously—I just have fun.”
UNDERBERG FRAPPÉ
Tropical drinks are Gajdosik’s specialty, but they started out with a passion for craft beer. This colada-like cocktail, starring the German digestif they’d frequently see at breweries, is “a subtle nod to the beer industry from which I came.”
At one of Los Angeles’ hottest new restaurants, Firstborn, bar director Kenzo Han is matching the hybrid cuisine of Chinese American chef Anthony Wang with a menu of genre-defying cocktails. “I was drawn to Wang’s shared emphasis on local, seasonal ingredients, and I apply that philosophy to my cocktails—technique-driven and ingredient-focused,” says Han.
Before Firstborn, Han tended bar at The Varnish, from the late Sasha Petraske, where they learned classic techniques and personalized hospitality. Prior to that, they gained invaluable education in the vast world of Chinese tea and helped launch the bar program at the teahouse Steep, Firstborn’s neighbor.
At Firstborn, Han puts their tea expertise—which extends to Japanese teas and tisanes, too—into practice across the cocktail menu: Deeply fermented green pu-erh tea stars in a Kingston Negroni riff; earthy sobacha flavors a bourbon fizz; toasty hojicha drives the nonalcoholic milk punch. They also work with local and seasonal ingredients and prioritize sourcing spirits from smaller distillers and producers.
Han’s Korean, Japanese and French American heritage has shaped their deep appreciation for the way traditions can intersect in the glass. On their menu, tequila and gin feature just as prominently as baijiu and shochu, demonstrating a versatility that defies easy labels. “While Firstborn’s menu is inspired by Asian flavors and ideology, it is not designed to be an ‘Asian-themed’ bar in a derivative way,” says Han. Instead, they aim to balance tradition and innovation in drinks that are as delicious as they are thought-provoking.
Fig & Raisins
“One of my recent focuses has been utilizing as many local, seasonal ingredients as possible,” says Han. For this highball, they infuse “rich and aromatic” fig leaves from northeastern Los Angeles into Cognac and garnish with a fig leaf stamped in the shape of a flower.
For Mak Kelly, bartending offered the chance to find community. “I had been living in Denver for years, but hadn’t felt like I had found my people here,” she recalls. “I was able to connect with a group of people who were artistic and queer, and welcoming and open.”
Kelly worked in visual merchandising before bartending. In 2023, they joined the team at Lady Jane and last year, became the bar manager. “It’s one of the most respected cocktail bars in the city, and I did not think I was going to get this job,” they say. After Kelly staged there, Stuart Weaver, partner and general manager of the bar, asked them what they felt they could bring to the team. “I was like, ‘I can tell’—Stuart is a gay man—‘that you want to curate a safe and welcoming queer space, but I feel like you need some fun, femme queer energy,’” they recall. Since getting the job, she’s gone on to deliver that energy through events like the recent queer bartender showcase Cocktails & Cvnt, which she created with fellow Denver bartender Sid Lewis. “It gave the community the opportunity to meet people from other bars and restaurants where they could feel safe in this very scary and unsure time.”
Kelly brings that same dynamism to her cocktails. “I’m really inspired by different cuisines and flavors from around the world. My drinks are nostalgia-based; I very rarely pull something out of thin air.” Take the Corsair Queen, a rum and rye Negroni inspired by an Indian summer stew. Kelly uses mango, mustard seeds, lentils, ghee and chiles to match the dish’s flavor profile. “Usually I am inspired by something really specific,” she says. “It becomes kind of like a science project to see how true to the original material I can be.”
FAKE APOLOGIES
“Much of my excitement in creating cocktails comes from exploring global cuisines and flavor pairings,” says Kelly. This cocktail pays tribute to Palestine and Lebanon. “Honoring these vibrant, inspiring nations became as essential to me as the taste of the drink itself.”
Becca Petersen tends to gravitate toward bars with a specific focus. “I’ve worked at an agave bar and a rum bar, then I managed a gin bar for so long,” she says.
While living in Bellingham, Washington, Petersen got her industry start working first as a server then behind the stick at several bars, including Black Sheep and The Temple Bar. In 2021, she moved to Chicago, a city she had always been intrigued by—“I had a crush on the idea of Chicago, the way some people feel about New York”—and she became head bartender at the James Beard–nominated queer bar Nobody’s Darling. From there, she bartended at the gin-focused Scofflaw, where she worked her way up to bar manager. Two years later, she headed to Daisies, a restaurant that explores Italian and Midwestern cuisines with a focus on sustainability; the restaurant is one of only 35 in the country with a Michelin Green Star.
Petersen’s drinks pull together the influences she has picked up over the years, but some of her favorite cocktails reflect her start. Her Water Sign cocktail, for example, is an ode to where she grew up in Northern California. Above all, for her, “it’s important that drinks taste good,” she says. “When you’re making a cocktail, it’s easy to add and add, but it’s important to stop and take things out so it doesn’t become muddled.”
As for her approach to hospitality, it extends to both sides of the bar. “As a member of the LGTBQ+ community myself,” she says, “it has always been important to me to nurture environments where fellow queer service industry professionals feel safe, supported and celebrated.”
WATER SIGN
“A lot of my drinks are conceptual in terms of being inspired by memories or feelings from my past,” says Petersen. This cocktail is an ode to Northern California, with California gin and Douglas fir liqueur to “evoke that foggy, driving-through-the-redwoods feel.”
Awards, distinctions and glowing press coverage are so often concentrated in the same places—New York, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Chicago. But as bar manager of Lita and La Otra, Ricardo Rodriguez has put Aberdeen Township, New Jersey, on the map.
As a child, Rodriguez grew up helping his mother cook, a passion that led him to restaurant work. But when toxic chef culture burnt him out, the kitchen’s loss was the bar’s gain. At Finka Table & Tap in Miami, Rodriguez quickly stood out by creating a drink menu that made the most of ingredients, and flavors, from the kitchen. After a strong showing at the Bacardí Legacy competition in 2016, Rodriguez went on to work at Broken Shaker in Miami before moving north to helm La Otra and Lita.
At Lita, Rodriguez designed a food-friendly cocktail menu meant to highlight the Portuguese- and Spanish-influenced fare with acidity and effervescence. As beverage director at La Otra, Lita’s companion bar next door, Rodriguez leans more into experimentation, with techniques like clarification and ingredients like achiote oil. There, the menu rotates, but there are permanent staples like the Tzatziki, with vodka, aquavit, cucumber, dill and yogurt.
But no matter how creative Rodriguez gets with his recipes, he prioritizes approachability, catering to a still-growing cocktail scene in New Jersey. Ultimately, it’s about guests having a good time. “There is nothing more rewarding than when guests leave smiling and thank you for a lovely evening,” he says. “Some of that has to do with the drinks, some has to do with the experience you curated for them.”
NUA HIGHBALL
Rodriguez employs modern techniques to use ingredients that would’ve otherwise gone to waste. Take, for example, this whiskey highball that bolsters banana liqueur with banana skin oleo saccharum, topped with soda made from spent coffee.
In just three years of bartending, Mel Tate has demonstrated a singular creativity and understanding of balance in his culinary-inspired cocktails. The New Orleans native learned to host, barback and bartend at The Chloe, where he was inspired by the deep ingredient knowledge and creativity of the bartenders around him. That influence grew by leaps and bounds when he landed at the coffee and cocktail venue Dovetail, in the French Quarter. For Tate, the bar became an encouraging setting to weave global references, stories and flavors into cocktails.
Tate’s Doo Wap (That Thing), currently on the Dovetail menu, draws on the flavors of a Mediterranean dessert with its combination of aquavit, gin, pistachio and tahini orgeat and lemon. He is intentional about layers in every drink, explaining, “There are so many sours out there that just end up tasting like lemonade with maybe one other ingredient. I like to use savoriness to bring in depth so the drink isn’t just a sweet thing, or a sour thing.” To bring heat, earthiness, spice and herbaceousness into the equation, Tate employs ingredients like jalapeño, fresh herbs, pandan and kümmel, a caraway- and cumin-infused liqueur. For greater control over these notes, he likes to make his own ingredients, each complex in and of themselves, like a roasted plantain oleo saccharum, a palo santo tincture or a shishito-infused tequila.
Tate is keen on introducing guests to new flavor profiles. But he’s careful to follow each guest’s lead, as he believes first and foremost in making sure everyone gets the drink they truly want—even if that means staying in their comfort zone with something familiar. “I’ll still make a Long Island Iced Tea all day, if that’s what makes them happy,” says Tate.
PORCH JAMMER
“What I look for in a Martini [is] less traditional and more playful,” says Tate. This wet Martini is built on agricole-style rum in addition to gin, and has a tropical twist by way of banana liqueur.
Get to know Mel
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
The Sidecar, because it just has the type of balance I like.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
You want to make the drink that people want. You want to be open and flexible, and not feel like you’re above making any cocktail. As long as you have the ingredients, you’ll have a happy guest; it works out.
What part of your job do you like most?
I really like engaging with people and making them happy. I want to meet them where they’re at. It goes back to making the drink they want. If they want something comforting, great. If they’re feeling more adventurous, I can take them on a journey. I just want them to have the experience they want; they’re the reason we’re here.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
The classic New Orleans Daiquiri. It’s a really simple cocktail, but all the ingredients you use really matter, because the shorter the list of ingredients, the more important the quality is.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago?
Respect the prep time, when you get the bar ready, so you can give 100 percent of your energy and attention to your guests.
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana Favorite classic cocktail: Trinidad Sour
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Balance
Years as a bartender:
3
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Get to know Ricardo
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
The Queen’s Park Swizzle. My background is Cuban, my mom is Cuban, the first bar I worked at was in a Cuban neighborhood. I was looking through The PDT Cocktail Book and found it; [it was] like an elevated Mojito but with no soda water, so it packs a little more of a punch. I tasted it and was amazed at how subtle changes could make big differences. It sparked my curiosity to try those experiments with other cocktails.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
You only learn so much at work and behind the bar. If you want to progress in the industry, it takes a lot of work at home, doing your own research and experimenting and really applying yourself. My first mentor said I’d learn more reading books and using my own time to expand my knowledge [than behind the bar].
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
My father’s background is Spanish and I’ve always liked fortified sherries and vermouth. The Bamboo is a cool low-ABV Martini I wish more people knew.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago?
Dialing back is important. In the beginning of my career, I was a maximalist and I tried to do too much; the ingredients in some of those drinks were getting overshadowed. You have to learn the fine balance between contrasting textures and flavors.
Hometown: Miami, Florida Favorite classic cocktail: Margarita
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Purposeful
Years as a bartender:
9
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Get to know Capucine
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
Slow down to speed up. When you’re new, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you have to move at lightning speed to prove yourself, but rushing usually means mistakes, and redoing a round isn’t faster. Taking a breath and dialing in helps everything fall into place, and honestly, it’s advice that I still remind myself of today.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
The Bijou. But also, people know the Corpse Reviver No. 2, but I feel like No. 1 doesn’t get nearly enough love. Cognac, Calvados, sweet vermouth, bitters. I feel like it’s absolutely worth rediscovering.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Dehydrated citrus. I know it’s popular, but I just don’t see the point. It adds waste, doesn’t look great, contributes nothing in terms of flavor or aroma. I’m a big believer in less is more when it comes to garnish.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago?
Boundaries aren’t optional. They’re essential. Five years ago, I thought saying “yes” to everything was the only way to prove myself. I took on too much and tolerated a lot I shouldn’t have, all in the name of being “nice” or “professional.”
Hometown: Toulouse, France Favorite classic cocktail: A very cold 2:1 gin Martini. Simple.
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
It’s technically three: Trial-and-error.
Years as a bartender:
6
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Get to know Becca
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
A mezcal Paper Plane piqued my interests on a lot of fronts. It was the first cool drink I actually liked. As a baby bartender, I could order it and signify I was in the know. Me and my friends, who were all getting into this bartending journey at the same time, had so many different variations. In that way, I learned a lot about amaro, too. My roommate and I have matching Amaro Nonino tattoos.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Cocktails that are more concerned with flashy techniques. I wish there would be more of an emphasis on asking, “Was that necessary? Does the end result taste balanced?” I love clarification, but a lot of people are taking a cocktail, clarifying it, and leaving it there rather than going the extra step to finish the cocktail. It’s the same thing with interesting garnishes or spherification—all of the trendy techniques.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago?
I wish I had known that nobody knows everything. It’s cool to ask about things you don’t know. When you’re first starting off, it’s so deeply embarrassing every time someone asks you something, and you don’t know what they’re talking about. Now, later in my career, it’s so much easier to be like, “Oh, awesome. What is that? What goes in that?” It comes with being a lot more confident in my knowledge base.
Hometown: Ukiah, California Favorite classic cocktail: The Daiquiri, [because of] the simplicity.
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
KISS—Keep it simple, stupid.
Years as a bartender:
5
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Get to know Mak
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
Stay humble and ask every question that comes to mind, no matter how stupid you think it is. Nothing kills inspiration faster than a lack of curiosity.
What part of your job do you like most?
The community. Hospitality is unlike any other industry I’ve ever worked in or been a part of. Everyone is committed to lifting each other up, learning from one another and inspiring each other. Even with all our competitions, everyone is passionate about creating a welcoming environment not just for our guests but for new members of the community as well.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
The Painkiller. There are a lot of unsung heroes in the tiki world that get drowned out by classics like the Jungle Bird or Mai Tai. People think of the Painkiller as a sweet sugar bomb, but I could not disagree more. I make sure I constantly have the ingredients for it in my house. It’s such an easy, light, refreshing, fun drink that deserves its moment in the sun.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Super vague descriptions. I hate when people just put an idea that evokes a feeling on a menu—I want to know what is in it.
Hometown: Melbourne, Florida Favorite classic cocktail: Rum Negroni or a Martini with a funky gin
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Overambitious
Years as a bartender:
3
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Get to know Kenzo
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
Sloe Gin Fizz. I was reading Cocktail Techniques by Kazuo Uyeda and I believe there was a classic Gin Fizz in it. I had just gotten into cocktails a little and it seemed so elegant. That night, Huy Pham, my bar director, took me to The Varnish in Downtown L.A. (RIP) and asked Miles Caballes to make me one. In typical Miles fashion, he asked if he could make me something slightly different, and that drink was a Sloe Gin Fizz. The texture and bold, complex berry flavors blew my mind at the time. It showed me both how delicious a cocktail could be, [and] also the hospitality magic of a bartender’s choice.
What part of your job do you like most?
I think my favorite part of bartending is simultaneously giving someone something that can be comforting but inspiring and delicious, all in one glass.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Cocktails in cans. Please don’t kill me.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
I’d say a Bee’s Knees, but it could really apply to any three-ingredient shaken cocktail, maybe minus the Daiquiri—Gimlet, Gold Rush, Business, etc. I think people forget how delicious a simple cocktail can be if executed well.
Hometown: San Francisco, California
Favorite classic cocktail: Martini—4:1, olive, and twist discard.
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Thoughtful
Years as a bartender:
2 1/2
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Get to know Molly
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
Erick Castro’s Iron Ranger. It’s a bourbon tiki drink. It’s bourbon, lemon, pineapple, falernum, simple syrup, Angostura. I was big into bourbon first; it took me a while to branch out to other spirits, but when I found rum, things really clicked for me.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
To continue to learn new things every day. My goal going into this job was to learn as much as I possibly could, and to absorb everything like a sponge. There’s something to be learned in every interaction.
What part of your job do you like most?
I like working through a stack of tickets and putting my head down and working. It’s a totally different mode that you have to get into, and you see all the preparation paying off in that moment. And I like executing the drinks—it’s fun.
Weirdest cocktail experiment you’ve ever attempted:
During the development of one of our Queer Night menus, I was playing around with 50/50 amaro combinations and I combined Meletti and Sfumato. When I first tried Meletti initially, I was like, “This reminds me of an old woman who wears a lot of perfume.” Then I combined it with Sfumato, and I was like, “This is an old woman who smokes cigarettes.” I called it Nonna Smokes. It’s still on the menu.
Hometown: New Haven, Connecticut Favorite classic cocktail: Daiquiri Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Curious
Years as a bartender:
1 1/2 bartending; 6 including breweries
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Get to know Lou
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
The Old-Fashioned. It’s all about simplicity, and how small details can transform into something big.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
Listen first. Also: Work the industry, don’t let the industry work you. It’s an amazing industry to be part of, but it has so many ups and downs. What part of your job do you like most?
Connecting with people and creating experiences. Making sure the customer remembers you—the experience they had with you, the conversation they had with you. Bartenders at any level meet so many people and things can come out of that. It’s all about building connections.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
The Ramos Gin Fizz. It’s a show-stopper with that texture. It shows everyone what goes into making it... but everybody has this mentality of, “All that work? I don’t want to shake for 10 minutes.” You don’t have to. It’s 2025. You can create new methods; you can innovate on the classic. You can do it without that 10-minute shake and still get a drink that turns out beautifully.
Hometown: Washington, D.C. Favorite classic cocktail: Last Word—the mezcal Last Word, not gin. Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Innovative
Years as a bartender:
13
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Get to know Daniel
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
Sazerac, at Tall Paul’s in Gainesville, Florida. Andy Amron made it for me. I didn’t know it was possible for something to smell and taste like that. I had to know why.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
I am often appreciative of the veteran bartenders that held a younger me accountable on the days I didn’t pull my weight. What part of your job do you like most?
I like work that’s physically demanding. I like to convert people into [trying] a spirit or cocktail they previously disliked. I like being part of a team that plays for each other. I like teaching new professionals a trade that provides well. I like hosting the function.
Weirdest drink request:
I used to work at a restaurant that sauced their pork shank dish with a cranberry chutney. I thought the chutney sounded interesting, so I tried it as the sweetener in a Whiskey Sour. I didn’t realize the chutney was full of garlic and onions. It was terrible. What’s the most underrated cocktail?
I’ve never had a guest send back a Corpse Reviver No. 2 in my entire career—knock on wood.
Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida Favorite classic cocktail: Piña Colada
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Scrumptious
Years as a bartender:
10; 15 in hospitality
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Miley Aryucharoen
LOS ANGELES, CAlifornia
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
Negroni. It was my mentor’s pick of cocktail that really pushed me to understand the importance of each unique ingredient and read every bottle I picked up.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
Keep your head up and engage with your guests. Don’t go into gremlin mode.
Weirdest drink request:
Once someone asked me to make a milk-clarified cocktail, dealer’s choice. They understood the technique behind that drink; I just thought it was an odd thing to ask in the middle of a shift. What’s the most underrated cocktail?
Bamboo
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago? I’ve only been tending bar for five years, but I wish I knew it’s OK to not know everything, and keep learning.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
“Baller” cocktails
Hometown: San Francisco Bay Area Favorite classic cocktail: Rye Manhattan Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Storytelling
Years as a bartender:
5 years
“Being a former baker, I love my days in the lab,” says Tone Arasa, lead bartender and prep lead for True Laurel in San Francisco’s Mission District. Though they also enjoy the never-dull days on the floor engaging with guests, “When I can make the bartender’s life easy, that’s what makes me the happiest.”
Together with co-owner and bar director Nicolas Torres, Arasa sources and processes the Bay Area produce—foraged and farmed—that drives the cocktail bar’s renown. “My drink-making process is heavily inspired by the seasons,” she says. “When I’m creating, I work around what’s available locally.” In a drink called the Quincess Bride, California-grown quince stars in the base spirit as well as a housemade syrup and garnish.
This sense of place is crucial to Arasa, who’s from the Coastal Miwok tribe of Graton Rancheria. “Being Indigenous, I have a strong social and environmental duty to the land I inhabit,” they say.
True Laurel prioritizes environmental responsibility without compromising on creativity, and that ethos reflects Arasa’s own commitment to a no-waste philosophy and a reciprocal relationship with the land. They regularly forage native and local flora and support local agriculture, not to mention the communities connected to all of these practices. “Sustainability is not just a value—it’s a central ingredient in every drink I make and create.”
Get to know Tone
The Quincess Bride
Arasa’s drinks prioritize local and seasonal ingredients from the Bay Area. In a drink called the Quincess Bride, California-grown quince stars in the base spirit as well as a housemade syrup and garnish.
Nicolette Shea Irvine
LOS ANGELES, CA
Matt Huntley
Chicago, Illinois
Nikki Irvine
Eugene, Oregon
Princess "PJ" Johnson
Washington, D.C.
SiddaLee Lewis
Denver, Colorado
Jakob McCabe-Johnston
Atlanta, Georgia
Laury Lopez Melon
New York, New york
Dominique Muñoz
San Diego, CAlifornia
Dillon Raaz
Seattle, WAshington
Sean Teague
Charlotte, North carolina
Get to know jakob
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A third-generation bartender after his father and maternal grandfather, Jakob McCabe-Johnston has hospitality in his blood. His parents own the restaurant and cocktail bar Nightingale, where his mother is a chef and his father bartends, and he got his start there as a host. “Life in this industry is all I’ve ever really known,” he says. “It’s a thing of heritage.”
When McCabe-Johnston turned 21, he shifted to bartending. He got a job at Kimball House in Atlanta and worked his way up to head bartender. Today, he and beverage director Miles Macquarrie offer a program that is based around local, seasonal produce, drawing on ingredients like herbs and edible flowers from the garden behind the restaurant. The team also preserves produce to use throughout the year. “We call our walk-in freezer our ‘flavor library,’” he says.
When creating cocktails, McCabe-Johnston taps that library thoughtfully. Take the Blueberry Bijou, a drink he created for Kimball House, for example, which retains the classic’s gin and green Chartreuse, then adds housemade blueberry cordial and vinegar. In place of the vermouth, he opts for wormwood extract and blueberry wine.
McCabe-Johnston’s personal philosophy is to “be deliberate and have fun,” in his words. “I think that this is a craft and it should be respected and taken seriously, but the moment that it stops being fun, it doesn’t really feel worthwhile any longer. Your guests can feel when you’re not having fun.”
GET TO KNOW JAKOB
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota Favorite classic cocktail: Biter.
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Deliberate
Years as a bartender:
8
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Sid Lewis says her career can be chalked up to serendipity. She “tripped and fell” into bartending, and, soon after, “stumbled” into founding the Denver-based industry event series Family Values.
But as haphazard as her trajectory might sound, one doesn’t reach Lewis’ level of culinary cocktail mastery without hard work. She may have landed her first bartending job by accident, when her then-girlfriend, a bar manager, taught her how to pour a beer and shake a drink. But “hustle isn’t something that can be taught,” she says. “You can’t really teach somebody to always be looking for the next task and ways to help.”
After eight years away in Boulder and San Francisco, where she worked at Beretta and Whitechapel, she returned to her native Denver, where she helped get the molecular cocktail bar Semiprecious off the ground before taking the reins at the punk dive Occidental. In town, she’s risen to the top of the award circuit and established herself as one of the region’s most fearless, experimental bartenders. She’s unafraid to use funky chemistry to translate ideas into drinks, like her cocktail By the Slice, which helped bring her team to victory in the Hustle, a local competition.
Lewis’ greatest hits are pretty high-concept, but her sleek San Francisco training keeps her in check. “My approach is minimal but still technique-driven,” she explains. “I fully believe if a garnish is there it should be edible, or it should be adding something. Fuck a dehydrated citrus all the way to the garbage can.”
GET TO KNOW SIDDALEE
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
Not a drink, a backbar. The first bar I worked at, Zolo, had a collection of more than 100 tequilas. Which seems ridiculous to me now—if you lived in Boulder in 2017, you’d understand why. No one was drinking tequila like that in Boulder at the time. No one appreciated what we had, not even the staff. But I think having such a wide selection of one thing showed my baby bartender-self that there was real depth to lean into and explore. I started working at Zolo for money, I left knowing that bartending was something I could do.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
“When you believe in something, it’s never a hard sell.” —Dave Kaplan, [co-founder of Death & Co.]
What part of your job do you like most?
Teaching and showing my staff they’re worth investing in, especially when they put in the work.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
A well-made Sazerac can’t be beat. Harder to find than I’d like. Don't put that lemon peel in my glass, I stg.
What’s your favorite bar? Cajun Mike’s Pub in NOLA
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
7+ ingredient, high-technique driven cocktails that just taste like a muddy Daiquiri. Certain ingredients are redundant. Bartenders eager to show off will confuse devastation with balance.
Hometown: Denver, Colorado Favorite classic cocktail: Adonis or a 50/50 Hanky Panky
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Understated
Years as a bartender:
8 or 9
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If Princess Johnson is having a good time at Washington, D.C.’s Allegory, it’s a safe bet the guests are, too. “On-point service is important, but we’re also a fun, upbeat, unpretentious place,” says the Maryland native. Located in the Eaton DC hotel, Allegory describes itself as “the first bar to blend art, literature, social good, craft cocktails, and hospitality.”
Its rotating, concept-driven art and menus are inspired by fictionalized accounts of real-life civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, the first Black child integrated into a Louisiana school. Bridges’s journey is depicted on a series of permanent Alice Through the Looking Glass-inspired murals on the bar’s walls. “Allegory is very much about storytelling, and our drinks reflect that,” says Johnson, who also incorporates her Trinidadian heritage into drinks by using ingredients like mauby bark, sorrel and soursop, often accompanied by whimsical garnishes such as edible glitter and flaming lime shells.
While Allegory gives Johnson the freedom to express herself, it was her first D.C. bartending job at the late Urbana, a lauded Dupont Circle Italian restaurant and bar, that exposed her to a “whole new world,” says Johnson. “I started working behind the bar at a restaurant in North Bethesda; I didn’t even know how to stir a drink when I started at Urbana, but I discovered I loved the creative aspects and science of craft bartending.”
Now, at Allegory, Johnson lets the murals serve as inspiration. “A painting of The White Rabbit led to a gin-based carrot cocktail with curry syrup,” she says. “I try to be very intentional and work through ideas in a stream-of-consciousness way. And, every guest is different; some want a deep dive into the storytelling and art, while others just want a crafty, Instagrammable cocktail in a dope room.”
GET TO KNOW PRINCESS
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
To put everything back where you found it, practice mise en place, and remember that you can only move so fast.
What part of your job do you like most?
The guests. And when those guests become regulars, and those regulars become friends.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
Sherry Cobbler
What’s your favorite bar?
The Royal in D.C.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Palo santo and any other sacred indigenous ingredients.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago?
To take time off for myself before work, at least an hour, and for special celebrations like family gatherings, graduations, etc.
Hometown: Rockville, Maryland
Favorite classic cocktail: Naked & Famous
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Culture
Years as a bartender:
15
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GET THE RECIPE
Espresso Martinez
“The aim of modern bartending was never to reinvent the wheel so much as it was to change the tires every now and again,” says Nikki Irvine. This recipe draws on two classics and was designed to “bridge the gap between the Espresso Martini die-hards and those who would turn up their nose at the mere suggestion of the drink.”
Nikki Irvine knows their limitations. Bartending in a small city—surrounded by few other visibly queer industry leaders—they are keenly aware of the access and opportunities they don’t have. But in many ways, it’s those limitations that have made them great at what they do, first as a bar manager at Marché, and now crafting cocktails at
The Paddock in Eugene, Oregon.
Irvine has experimented with “weird techniques and strange, high-concept molecular gastronomy,” they say. “But no one in town has a rotovap.” Irvine had to master the basics without the bells and whistles. “Crazy technique is awesome when applied correctly,” they say, “but the cocktails that have wowed me the most have been so simple and balanced.”
A childhood spent on their parents’ southern Oregon vineyard primed them for a life devoted to hospitality. At 17, they washed dishes in the vineyard tasting room; now, they credit their vintner’s instincts for their “discerning” approach to cocktails. “There’s so much richness [in spirits] that I wouldn’t have the context for had I not grown up being able to taste the wine that my family makes and be like, ‘Oh my god, this tastes like the soil and rocks and creek bed that I grew up next to.’” Now, Irvine’s bias for grape-based ingredients isn’t so subtle. They argue that wine is an underrated cocktail ingredient and gush about brandy.
By Irvine’s calculations, bartending in central Oregon can only take them so far (including to the Northwest Regional Speed Rack competition, which they won in 2025). Next year, they hope to move to New York—though Oregon will always be home. “One of the clearest ways I can give back is to bring connections back to the places that really need it,” Irvine says. “What do the accolades mean if you’re not using it to uplift others?”
GET TO KNOW NIKKI
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
Nick Cifuni, co-owner and bar manager at Yardy Rum Bar in Eugene, is one of my greatest mentors. There was a night that we were working together earlier in my career where he made what is, to this day, the most perfect Mai Tai I’ve ever had. He plainly said, “Try this,” and in doing so, I felt a world open up. From a straw taste, I understood the series of intentional choices it took to get to a drink so balanced… My Mai Tai moment led me to years of refining hundreds of drinks in my personal spec arsenal.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
Become ambidextrous! What’s the most underrated cocktail?
I’m a sucker for any sort of Cognac daisy, or any daisy with some sort of French brandy. The Champs Élysées is probably one of my favorite cocktails ever. It’s bright, tart, and herbal, but also has so much warmth, richness and complexity. Truly one of those Type O Negative cocktails in the sense that it can pair with just about anything.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
I get bummed out when I hear that a bar uses generative AI for any aspect of their menu design. Crafting a menu is an Odyssean feat, and I feel as though almost every skill as a bartender can be sharpened through a strong R&D program.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago? That there is no nobility in tolerating disrespect. Lashing out is easy; the real strength lies in the work it takes to become an emotionally safe person.
Hometown: Ashland, Oregon Favorite classic cocktail: The Martinez
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Discerning
Years as a bartender:
4 1/2
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As beverage manager at Three Dots and a Dash, Matt Huntley wants staff to feel like their voices are heard. He spends his extracurricular hours working on changes he wants to see in the industry, whether that’s mentoring new bartenders or hosting a book exchange.
That desire to help others has been a throughline of Huntley’s hospitality career. The North Carolina native bartended at the Peacock Lounge and the Prohibition Museum in Savannah, Georgia before moving to Utah in 2022, where he worked at Salt Lake City’s Post Office Place, a Japanese Peruvian bar, and as lead bartender at High West Distillery. While in these roles, he hosted pop-ups with charitable components, including an event that donated bar tools to up-and-coming bartenders. He also participated as a CAP during Tales of the Cocktail and met Tyler MacLellan, who is now the bar manager at some of Three Dots’ sister bars. In 2024, MacLellan reached out to Huntley about joining the Three Dots team.
Now in a managerial role, Huntley is in a position to help others grow. At the Bamboo Room, a higher-end bar within Three Dots, the team pitches in on menu development, which ensures that newer staff members’ “voices are heard on the menu,” he says. When Three Dots hosts pop-ups, Huntley turns it into an educational experience for his team. “We’re showing them how to support the bars that are coming in or how to scale up a cocktail for 300 guests,” he says.
Working at a variety of bars has helped Huntley develop his cocktail style, which is strongly savory. “I like merging weird flavor combinations,” he says. But he’s also honed a perspective that’s more expansive, using sustainable practices and putting guests’ interests first: “‘Is this for me or for the guests?’” Huntley asks. “I always want to prioritize what people want to see and taste.”
GET TO KNOW MATT
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
Tyler McClellan told me: “If you’re not replaceable, you’re not promotable.” That’s something I journal often to remind myself that the mentorship and information exchange is always relevant and something that I should practice in my day-to-day. If you’re the only person who knows how to do your job, then you’re going to be stuck in that position forever. So it’s great to show people what you’re doing, shed light, and that way you can at least have a day or two off.
What part of your job do you like most?
Three Dots is a very fun atmosphere to be in, especially with the style of management we have where everyone’s getting their hands dirty. It’s the only bar I’ve worked at where we have the volume, the prep capacity, as well as the retail side with the mugs and T-shirts and hats. It’s very fulfilling working in the day-to-day, helping out wherever the holes are. I’ll be running food. I’ll be batching cocktails and making prep ingredients. I’ll be behind the bar or at the retail store. It’s great to bounce around and keep your brain engaged. The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Technical terminology. I’m one of those people that’s like, “Just give me the Cliffs Notes.” Give me what the overarching flavors are in a simplified way, so I can accommodate all styles of attention spans and learning curves of guests as well as my own.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago? What I know now, especially being primarily outside of the bar, is that 10 percent of the job is drink-making and menu-making, but 90 percent of the workload is how well you treat your staff and yourself as well.
Hometown: Grifton, North Carolina
Favorite classic cocktail: The Adonis
our approach to cocktails in one word:
Savory
Years as a bartender:
6
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As a child in Bangkok, Miley Aryucharoen learned to eat with the seasons and utilize every part of the plant or animal. “It’s the only thing we know in Thailand,” she says. That sustainability mindset made her the perfect fit for a general manager at Tomat, the Los Angeles restaurant that emphasizes minimal waste, in-house production and hyperlocal sourcing whenever possible, starting with its 4,000-square-foot, on-site heirloom vegetable garden.
An accomplished home cook, Aryucharoen’s industry experience prior to Tomat was limited to front-of-house, notably at Bangkok’s Restaurant Gaa and Los Angeles’s Badmaash. But before Tomat’s 2024 opening, the beverage director position remained unfilled, and she stepped up in the interim. Despite her lack of experience, she displayed a remarkable aptitude for bartending, which dovetailed with her hospitality acumen.
Aryucharoen’s undergraduate background in bioscience has also been beneficial, as she makes nearly every cocktail component from scratch, including vinegars, cordials and ferments. The only thing she purchases are small-batch spirits; everything else is made from kitchen scraps. She makes liqueur from loquat seeds, infusions with banana peels, and zero-proof “whiskey” from house-milled Khorasan wheat, oak chips and spices. Any unutilized waste becomes compost.
“I’ve always been scrappy,” she says. “I arrived in the U.S. at 14, and if I was nostalgic for Thai dishes I couldn’t find here, I had to make them.” She likes the challenge. “Sourcing from the garden, farmers markets and small family farms means the resulting drinks turn out a bit different every time, but that’s part of the fun.”
GET TO KNOW MILEY
Hometown: Bangkok
Favorite classic cocktail: Dirty Martini
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Improvisation
Years as a bartender:
1 1/2
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Laury Lopez Melon just wants to keep learning. The bartender, who was born in Puerto Rico and spent formative years in Houston, has made education a cornerstone of her journey. After getting her start at a high-volume college bar in Ohio, she moved to New York with no job, no apartment and no plan. As a philosophy major, she did not want to take the traditional path of going into academia or law. Bartending in college really appealed to her, she says. “It was one of my first feelings of community.”
In New York, Lopez Melon was hired to bartend at a Vietnamese restaurant. But her education really began when she started working at Soso’s, where former beverage director Hugo Florez walked her through tasting bottles and discussing producers. When she was promoted to head bartender, she passed it on, teaching the team about spirits and classic cocktails.
After working with the classics, Lopez Melon was ready to start creating signature drinks. At Milady’s, she began honing her style, which draws on her upbringing in Puerto Rico. She made an Old-Fashioned with maitake syrup and pine that took her back to nature, and a Margarita with sofrito that smelled like her grandma’s kitchen. “My drinks are grounded in my experiences and my memories,” she says.
After Milady’s, Lopez Melon became bar lead at Bar Madonna, where she helped with schedules and inventory and sent staff an educational newsletter. When she saw that her favorite bar, Bar Snack, was hiring, she decided to make the jump. “That place does so much volume and it feels like such authentic craft,” she says. It’s a role that brings together all of her strengths, interests and experiences, and makes her feel at home.
GET TO KNOW LAURY
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
Hugo [Florez] would always tell me that you never want to be the best person in the room because you want to constantly be learning from the people around you and the moment that you have nothing else to learn, it’s time to move on. That shifted my mentality. It has a lot to do with vulnerability, which I had struggled with, and the confidence to ask for help and be yourself in spaces that haven’t been so representative of the sort of person that you are.
What part of your job do you like most?
I think it lives somewhere in the corny term “flow state.” It’s something in the feeling of really honing in this craft and repetition. There’s a video of Sasha Petraske that made the rounds this year—he says that for him, creativity was a burden and that the best thing he knew how to do was to do the same thing over and over and do it really well. That meant pulling the coldest glass, making sure everything was to temperature, making sure every drink came out the exact same way. I love that, but I think what that has merged with for me is this new-school mentality in hospitality that is vulnerable and expressive and that has room for different emotions and laughter and softness.
What’s your favorite bar?
Of the newer spaces, I really love Banshee. You can tell when someone has curated a space to what their personality is. It’s simple but well-done, which is sort of my whole shtick.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
A Ramos Gin Fizz. It’s a great drink and I appreciate people’s love for it. But I don’t want to make it and I don’t like that it’s become a litmus test.
Hometown: Isabela, Puerto Rico
Favorite classic cocktail: A Martini.
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Grounded.
Years as a bartender:
6
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Dominique Muñoz is an excavator. Not of relics in the desert—though with her degree in archaeology from UC San Diego, she probably could be—but as a bartender, having traded her dirt sieve for a Hawthorne strainer.
Muñoz first honed her craft at Lake Tahoe’s Edgewood resort, then Books & Records back in San Diego, before landing her current role as bar lead at Polite Provisions. For her, drinks are artifacts, menus are galleries. She likes to challenge herself to document the twists and turns of cultures within the frame of a rocks glass. That might look like the Skeleton Club, a cocktail she developed for a recent competition, which braids together San Diego’s punk history with local ingredients like passion fruit, which has grown throughout the city since the 1930s. She loves schooling tequila drinkers on the pre-Columbian fermented agave drinks that existed well before the Spanish arrived, and spending her days tasting small-batch tomato vermouths and pear brandies from family-run distilleries, delighting in the generations-old lore attached to each bottle.
Upon completing the Tales of the Cocktail apprenticeship program in 2024—and after competing in one too many “total sausage fest” competitions—Muñoz founded
Sirens and Spirits, a competition series for women and nonbinary bartenders designed to promote mentorship. Last year, through Sirens, she organized Cocktails Without Borders, which challenged participants to develop drink recipes that pulled from their heritage and the dishes they grew up eating. The city was seeing more frequent immigration enforcement crackdowns, and she wanted to make a statement. “At a time when that’s feeling kind of scary, especially in San Diego,” she says, “it’s a really special way to show people that their culture is beautiful.”
GET TO KNOW DOMINIQUE
What part of your job do you like most?
Creating community and watching talent grow or passion reignite in bartenders. Whether it’s at Polite Provisions or through Sirens and Spirits, I love creating spaces where people feel encouraged to step outside of their comfort zones, explore their creativity and put themselves out there.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
Sidewinder, it’s the perfect juice bomb.
What’s your favorite bar?
False Idol in San Diego. What’s the most underrated cocktail?
Bamboo
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago? That failing means you’re trying. Earlier in my career, I was so afraid of making mistakes or not being “ready” that I sometimes held myself back from opportunities that could have helped me grow. Over time, I’ve learned that failure is an essential part of becoming better. I’ve lost more cocktail competitions than I’ve won, but every single loss has given me something valuable, whether it was learning a new technique or making a new friend.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Overcomplicated cocktails where you can’t actually taste any of the ingredients being listed.
Hometown: Downey, California Favorite classic cocktail: Clover Club.
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Curatorial
Years as a bartender:
9 years, but 12 years in hospitality
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As the son of avid gardeners, Dillon Raaz was mesmerized by the kitchen from a young age. “We’d decide what to make for dinner based on what looked good that day,” says the Iowa City, Iowa native.
Raaz went on to study culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University’s Denver campus. While enrolled, however, he realized that front-of-house was a better fit for his innate Midwestern chattiness and charisma. “I really enjoy interacting with guests, and until culinary school, I didn’t know how high-level front-of-house operations could be,” he says. “Growing up in a small college town, I’d never experienced that.” Then, while employed as a server at Denver’s Mercantile, Raaz found himself captivated by the bar and its culinary-coded cocktails. “It was like a kitchen; bartenders were expected to bring their own knives and bar tools, and everything was made in-house,” he says. He worked his way up to being a bartender.
In late 2023, Raaz helped open Atoma in Seattle. As bar director, he creates drinks that lean on the kitchen for inspiration. Plum scraps are transformed into a brine that lends a fruity, funky edge to a pisco cocktail, while foraged candy cap mushrooms become bitters for a fig leaf-infused Old-Fashioned riff (“The leaves are hard to find, so I rode around the neighborhood on my e-bike, picking them”).
While Atoma’s beverages read as sophisticated, Raaz is adamant about approachability. “My view of service is that when it’s really dialed, everything else can be more relaxed,” he says. “If you have an attitude and you’re not having a good time, you’re taking away from the guest experience.”
GET TO KNOW DILLON
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
To go with my gut. Second opinions are great as a soundboard for ideas. But if you think a drink needs more of this or that, trust your instincts.
What part of your job do you like most?
Getting someone to try something they think they won't like and surprising them/opening their eyes to new things.
What’s your favorite bar?
El Soñador in Puerto Vallarta.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever?
I can’t think of anything. Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean no one does. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to order it.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago?
I’ve only been tending bar for five years, but I wish I knew it’s OK to not know everything, and keep learning.
Hometown: Iowa City, Iowa
Favorite classic cocktail: Paloma Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Fun
Years as a bartender:
11
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Sean Teague thought he wanted to brew beer. After earning a degree in fermentation sciences at Appalachian State University, he started brewing, but “I hated it really quickly,” he recalls. He missed the conversations he’d had while serving, which he had done since he was a teenager. In the spring of 2024, he began working at the now-closed Haymaker, in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he quickly shifted to the bar.
“I found my interest in the math and chemistry behind the liquid science of it all,”
he says.
Last spring, Teague visited Bar Contra in New York, which features high-tech cocktails from industry legend Dave Arnold. “I loved what they did there,” he says. “I was like, ‘Do you guys take stages?’” He proceeded to spend four days with the team, learning even more about the science he was interested in, such as how to build drinks based around percentages of alcohol, acid and sugar rather than classic drink ratios. This method helps him dial in flavor and better understand textures.
After his stage, Teague launched his pop-up, Symposia, which raises money for different charities. His drinks are rooted in local ingredients and sustainability, whether he’s infusing citrumelo peels into cachaça for a Caipirinha milk punch or using strawberry tops to make a shrub. “It’s extremely hard to do zero-waste,” he says. “But eventually I’d like to get somewhere close to that.”
Now bartending at the Mediterranean restaurant Rada, Teague is also working on distilling projects with Appalachian State and Sutler’s Spirit Co. to teach students about tapping into their own creativity and the importance of creating a consistent product. “North Carolina is a control state and it’s hard to get cool things,” he says. “But there’s a lot here that can be distilled. I want to seek out some of those weird things.”
GET TO KNOW SEAN
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GET THE RECIPE
Tomat takes a “nose-to-tail” approach with the ingredients it uses. In this case, it’s “seed-to-stalk.” The pastry team works with the flesh of loquats, while Miley Aryucharoen turns the seeds into a liqueur and the trims into an oleo saccharum for
this drink.
Endless Orchard
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This cocktail, made with Afro-Caribbean rum, soursop and ackee, was “created to showcase my West Indian roots,” says Princess “PJ” Johnson. The name is a nod to the year that Trinidad and Tobago gained independence, and the glitter channels the colors of Carnival season.
1962
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If you crossed a pizza with a Black Manhattan, you’d get this drink. Siddalee Lewis infuses rye with sundried tomato oil and Cocchi Americano with pepperoni spices (caraway, fennel, oregano) using a clever enfleurage technique.
By the Slice
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The Blueberry Bijou is a seasonal riff on the classic. Jakob McCabe-Johnston maintained the original’s gin and green Chartreuse but opted for wormwood extract and blueberry wine in place of the vermouth. He also adds a housemade cordial and vinegar for extra layers of flavor.
Blueberry Bijou
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Laury Lopez Melon created this tequila-based drink by drawing on nostalgic flavors from her childhood in Puerto Rico. It calls on Malta India, a nonalcoholic malt beverage that she says pairs naturally with espresso, plus coconut and tamarind.
Desayunito
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This tiki cocktail was inspired by San Diego’s punk scene. Skeleton Club “was a place where the punk community could be safe and express themselves,” says Dominique Muñoz. Keeping with the local theme, she uses a hazy IPA from Mujeres Brew House.
Skeleton Club
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“I have used my extensive travels as a way to expand my palate,” says Dillon Raaz. During a trip to Lima, Peru, Raaz says he “drank more Pisco Sours than I can remember.” This is an ode to that experience, filtered through a local Seattle lens.
Missing Miraflores
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Sean Teague calls on clarification, hydrocolloids, acid-adjusting and carbonation—hallmarks of his highly technical style—in this cocktail, while keeping it fun and playful. It’s inspired by the Baja Blast, after all.
Baco Tell
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
This one is not a classic and I’ve never had it, but my dad, whose name is Jasha, was bartending in the ’90s and would make up these drinks. He had the Walking Jasha, the Running Jasha, all these things he would name after himself. One drink he called the Flying Jasha. I have no idea what’s in it, but as a kid, I thought it was fascinating that he could just come up with these concoctions and name them whatever he wanted, and then serve them to people and they would come and ask for them.
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
When starting out at Kimball House, Miles [Macquarrie] told me, “execution over innovation.” When I started, I had the desire to make drinks that seemed out of the box. I think that’s important—that’s fun to do and creativity should be rewarded—but you have to learn the classics first. You have to learn how to properly balance a drink and how to do things in the correct manner before you can branch out. You have to learn the rules before you can break them.
What’s the weirdest cocktail experiment you’ve ever attempted?
When I got a Sodastream, the first thing I tried to do was put milk in it because I was curious about what would happen. And now I know things I didn't know then and why it didn’t work. But I was like, What if you made milk bubbly?
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
I understand the consideration of yield and cost and that running a program is difficult, but I hope Super Juice isn’t around for forever. I don’t think the lime needs to be reworked. I think fresh lime juice is as good as it’s going to get.
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Favorite classic cocktail: Margarita or Negroni.
Your approach to cocktails in one word:
Curious
Years as a bartender:
2
Best piece of advice you got when starting out:
Be open to being wrong.
What part of your job do you like most?
I work in a great place with great people who also enjoy their craft and creating an environment of education and sustainability and care. And that’s very important to the restaurant industry because it can be an unsustainable lifestyle.
What’s the most underrated cocktail?
The Army & Navy. Gin, orgeat, lemon, bitters. It’s just a crusher and I don't think enough people know what it is. I just did one at my Charleston pop-up with mandarin jam and Rangpur limes and Murrell’s Row gin, which is this really cool brand out of Georgia.
I was like, I have got to do this more often.
The one thing you wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Smoked Old-Fashioneds are overdone. Just smoke something in the drink or make it in a closed environment because why risk the experience of another guest trying to make one person happy?
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago? Slowing down is OK. I have ADHD and I feel like a lot of people in the industry also do. It’s okay to enjoy the moment because if you don’t have anything to look back on, what really was the point?
The drink that got you interested in bartending:
A clarified Cadillac Margarita with housemade Grand Marnier. At Tomat, we work primarily with fresh ingredients, so shelf life is always something we think about. Clarification became this really exciting way to preserve freshness, while also changing texture and presentation. Because there’s a lot of citrus in Grand Marnier, even when clarified, it oxidized quickly, so we transformed it into a foam to prevent that. That process completely pulled me in. Seeing familiar flavors evolve into something unexpected made me realize how creative bartending could be. That was the moment I started diving deeper into fermentation, clarification, infusions and all the techniques I use now.
What I love most about my job:
I love that I get to constantly experiment. Being in California gives me access to incredible produce and ingredients year-round, and I get to explore ways of preserving and transforming them. What’s the most underrated cocktail?
The Flip. They’re rich, textural, comforting and way more versatile than people realize.
One thing I wish would disappear from drink lists forever:
Long Island Iced Tea
What do you know now that you wish you’d known five years ago?
You can learn a completely new skill at any point in life, even without prior experience. And, in a male-dominated field, you can still carve out your own space when given an opportunity, with the right people in your corner.
Paloma
GET THE RECIPE
Matt Huntley’s cocktails lean savory and pull inspiration from cooking. His take on the spritz, created for a Japanese Peruvian cocktail bar, is built off of shochu that’s bolstered with barley malt syrup.
Barley a spritz