EMBURY COCKTAILS

Spirited Pride: Ryan Robles

Photo: Maren Caruso

When I was talking with the folks from Campari America about the scope of this Spirited Pride series of interviews with LGBTQ professionals in the cocktail and spirits world, I proposed expanding beyond bartenders to people working in other aspects of the industry. My friend Ryan Robles, a highly imaginative PR powerhouse who's based in San Francisco,  and who's worked on Negroni Week there for the past 4 years  immediately came to mind. I met Ryan Robles through our mutual friend Virginia Miller, who described his unbridled creativity around his PR projects to me: "Ryan always goes above and beyond, being both personal and creative with his PR. He's been known to hand deliver artful baskets, Campari-filled donuts from one of the top bakeries around (baked fresh that morning), and other beautiful, standout packages that represent a very personal side with his clients like Campari.” It's these creative flourishes that really make his PR and marketing initiatives stand out, and he runs his very Willy Wonka creative agency out of his delightfully eclectic house in Bernal Heights. His clients include Octavia, Frances, 1760, Loló, Onsen –- a new bathhouse concept launching in the Tenderloin this fall -- and a handful of other lifestyle brands. I thought I'd let Ryan take the wheel for his own intro—PR likes to handle its own spin, of course.

JR: So give me the elevator pitch: who's Ryan Robles?

RR: I'm Ryan Robles, I run a boutique creative agency out of San Francisco, focused on publicity, events, creative campaigns, social media and influencer marketing for lifestyle concepts, restaurants, bars, and spirit brands.

JR: So talk me about the journey that got you into the PR side of things.

RR: Well, in early 2000s I was throwing late night underground discos in San Francisco with my best friend Marcia Gagliardi (aka Tablehopper.com). These were much bigger ideas than typical club nights. We really tried to create conceptual nightlife environments with overarching themes with everything we did together. One night in The Tenderloin we rented the penthouse of an old apartment building that was almost derelict, and recreated the vibe of David Mancuso's legendary Loft parties from the 70s. We also threw a series of pool parties at the Phoenix Hotel called Feather – that were an homage to mid 70s disco bohemian Malibu culture, very LA disco. We also hosted a monthly disco brunch called Rehab which was insanely popular. We had hosts dressed as nurses that would check you in when you arrived and doctors pushing through medical carts filled with Tylenol, Tums, test tube shots and other recovery remedies. I really connected with the creative freedom I had when throwing these parties. I loved curated the soundtrack of the night and creating a lighting concept or installations. Back then I lived in a big warehouse in South of Market – which became my staging area and workshop for building out installations. When we threw these parties, we also did the PR for them as well. And back then San Francisco was more of a nightlife city-- everyone went out dancing, so there were a ton of event listing sites, and more outlets willing to cover crazy club nights or happenings. This is around the time I decided I wanted to become a publicist, even though I don't think I quite knew what a publicist did.

Back in the day...

Somehow I was able to convince a few up and coming designers to let me represent them, and my rate was so ridiculously low, looking back I don't even know how I did that. I had 2 designers hire me to set up media tours for them in NY which I somehow pulled off, and then I started getting hired to do local boutique launches, so I'd organize the parties, and press around each opening. I was so scrappy back then – I'd come in with photographers, DJs, set up the food that was served on vinyl. We literally had no budget for any of this, but somehow made it all work. I really connected with the creative freedom I had when throwing these parties. I loved curating the soundtrack of the night and creating a lighting concept or installations.

After a while I was ready for a change. I wanted to do something new, but didn’t know what that was. At the time I had a friend that had recently moved to Sydney, and suggested I move there – and pretty much on the spur of the moment I did. It was 2007.

Shortly after arriving I met a woman named Jackie Milliash. She was a well-known restaurateur with a wild and notorious local profile. She had owned a hot restaurant destination called Jackie's that was located on Bondi Beach. The restaurant had closed just before I arrived, and when I had met Jackie – she was in the process of opening her next restaurant, called Jackie's Café – which was located in Paddington. It was an unusual concept where you had this cozy restaurant concept with really lovely café-style food inside, but directly across from it, on the other side of the patio area, there was a long omakase-style sushi bar with some of the top sushi chefs in Sydney. Even with the little experience that I had in hospitality, I knew that this was very innovative at the time.

Jackie and I got along like a house on fire. She was a little crazy (which I loved), but had huge heart and was a lot of fun. She taught me so much about the restaurant industry. At one point, I was basically running Jackie's Café. Its where I learned the nuts and bolts of running a restaurant. I went through the process of opening this spot with her, so I knew how much food cost, how to price dishes, and how to be a host and server. I also helped her with a little bit of marketing and PR. I remember us getting a lot of press. It was the only place where you could go to get this traditional Australian lunch or get sushi in a totally chic setting. Working with Jackie is when I fell in love with the hospitality industry.

Ryan's home office in Bernal Heights.

When it was time to move back to San Francisco, I knew that I wanted to continue working in this industry, but really didn’t know how to go about doing that. I was a terrible server, and didn’t have a ton of experience, but knew that this is where I belonged. I loved how passionate people were in this industry, and how insane they could be at the same time. I wanted to be a part of the community.
After moving back to San Francisco, I was introduced to Christopher Losa, the owner of an incredible Italian restaurant in the Mission, called Bar Bambino. It was like this gorgeous oasis located in a dicey part of the neighborhood, and in the middle of all this urban mayhem. Christopher took a chance on me, and hired me to help develop an events program for the restaurant. It was a perfect fit for me at the time. My role eventually evolved into curating off-site events for the restaurant, where I got to exercise the creativity that I loved when I was throwing late night parties, but there was also this elevated food and wine component to them as well.

One of the events we did was for a new dance theatre that was being built just next to the restaurant, called the ODC Theater. We produced this stylish four-course dinner essentially in the middle of a construction zone. We created these big pendant light installations out of construction string lights, built tables, and brought in a working kitchen and chefs to create the dinner experience – which was so much fun. After that I started getting hired to do weddings, and other VIP-style events.

Soon after I was hired by a local agency to do publicity for restaurants. That is when I learned the actual process of  doing PR. I caught on quickly, but realized I wasn’t really an agency kind of guy. That’s when I decided to start my own business. Soon after, I met Campari America, and then started working on Negroni Week. It all pretty much snowballed from there.

.

Ryan's Bernal Heights home office.

PRO PR TIPS FOR BARTENDERS:

TALKING TO PRESS:

When talking to a journalist about your cocktail, bar or program – it’s important to have a easy-to-understand concept statement or elevator pitch that's concise to transmit. I like to work with clients on practicing the top three main talking points to communicate for each opportunity that we are creating or that comes our way. These are tailored to the story that is being written or they are being interviewed for. I always recommend that these three talking points are communicated first in any interview or discussion. This way, if you have a tendency to ramble or get side tracked talking about a specific cocktail or a story – you’ve already given the writer what they need up front. It’s all about being efficient with the information you are giving. I also think it’s important to read the last couple of stories the journalist who is interviewing your has written to understand their writing style, and what they are most likely to cover. This can save you some time with the info you are giving. you’ve given.

If the question is about your concept – your response should be able to be given in one sentence. If the question is about your cocktail style – this should be one sentence as well. Also, in this day and age and in most metropolitan cities, it’s usually a given that you are using seasonal and local ingredients, so find a way another way to describe what you are doing. I think it’s important to let the writer know your cocktails are being made with integrity, but don’t hang your hat on soley that. Find a way deeper way to describe what you are creating.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Also, if a writer or editor gets in touch with you about using one of your drinks in a story or featuring your bar in some way, prioritize that return email. Get back to them as soon as possible, and don't delay on getting them recipes of answering follow up questions—this can easily make the difference between making it into a story or not. Writers can be disorganized and can be fighting tight deadlines, too—helping them out by responding swiftly can make a big difference in this whole equation. And if you're consistently highly responsive to writers' and editors' queries and requests you will start to be on their shortlist of who o contact when they need something to flesh out a piece in a hurry. This can mean much more coverage for your and your bar in the long run.JR.

PHOTO READY: It's super important to have professional photos available if they are being asked about cocktails, as well as be responsive on email. Most of your opportunities will come through that way. 

INSTAGRAM:

This is a great tool to use as a portfolio of your work. My biggest piece of advice is be thoughtful about the images you are posting. Photos of cocktails or food in dim lighting don’t look appetizing or appealing. You want your image to stand out and represent you. Be distinctive. If you love to share what you are creating behind the bar, photograph it during the day with good natural lighting. You’ll get a lot more engagement. Also, research the best hashtags to use as well. This will increase the amount of views of your post.

Also, make sure your profile is not set to private. Again, think of your Instagram almost like a digital portfolio of you work. We’ve received quite a few media opportunities based solely on the content we are curating for our clients on Instagram. Lastly, make sure you are following all the top spirit writers and outlets in your market and nationally. It’s an easy way to get in front of editors that you may never have the opportunity to actually meet. 

 

A COUPLE COOL NEGRONI WEEK PROJECTS RYAN DEVELOPED

Jen Macias of the Portland design form Fine-Counsel and her boyfriend Alejandro de la Parra of Teardrop Lounge have been collaborating on a series of posters called Cocktail Propaganda. When Ryan found out about the posters he wound us using this Negroni focused one as part of his Negroni Week projects in San Francisco. And quite a rich  line-up of contributors to this poster--Julie Reiner of Clover Club and Leyenda, Scott Baird & Josh Harris of the Bon Vivants, Jeff Morgenthaler of Clyde Common and Pepe le Moko and Pamela Wiznitzer of Seamstress and USBG NY. (Posters are available through Bull in China.)

 

Ryan put together a special screening of La Dolce Vita at Alamo Drafthouse SF during Negroni Week.

Ryan in the kitchen at client restaurant, Octavia.

SAGE NEGRONI

 PHOTO: Wes Rowe

Ryan has shared the recipe for one of his recent favorite cocktails with us,  from Christopher Longoria, who's Bar Manager at Ryan's client restaurant, 1760, on San Francisco's Polk Street.

 SAGE NEGRONI

In a cocktail tin

ADD: .75oz  Sage infused Campari
3 sage leaves.

MUDDLE

ADD: 2oz dry gin
.5oz dry vermouth
1oz Carpano Antica Formula
2 dash orange bitters

Stir for 20seconds.

Strain through a Hawthrone strainer and sieve into a Nick and Nora cocktail glass.

Sage Infused Campari Solution

For 1 cup of Campari (or 226.8ml)
ADD: 15.1 grams of sage
Vacuum pack.  
Leave sealed for two days.

The Golden Cocktail Mile or: 12 Drinks Inspired by "The World's End" from Alastair Walker of The Everleigh

[Download full 11x17 GOLDENCOCKTAILMILE]When I met Alastair Walker at The Everleigh in the Fitzroy District of Melbourne this past November, I couldn't have predicted that a week later he'd have come up with 12 cocktails inspired by the 12 pubs in Edgar Wright's "The World's End". As I sat at the bar chatting with him the film came up--he recounted going with a friend who'd gotten tickets for "This Is The End"--somehow the two guys had been talking about the two different, similarly named films, something I'd speculated must have happened at some point. Apparently it wasn't the ideal set-up for enjoying Franco, Rogen & Baruchel when you were primed for Pegg, Frost & Freeman. That led us to talking about the Edgar Wrightini and the stunt shot "The World's End" we'd done with Jacob Briars. I sat at the bar, enjoying my first-ever Woolworth after the longest series of flights I'd ever endured,  I mentioned that  I thought there was still room to create homage drinks for "The World's End", 12 possibilities, in fact--the pubs, and the pub names, all totally sounded like drinks already. Alastair said he'd look over the list and after just a couple emails back and forth he'd come up with 12. All recipes are below and there's a rather nice 11x17 downloadable poster we've made: Download GOLDENCOCKTAILMILE. We were definitely inspired by Wright making available a downloadable poster of the Golden Mile map (2 sided!) for anyone who fancyed being Gary King for Halloween.

The pub names do indeed work remarkably well for cocktails. In some cases these are drinks Alastair was working on and  was kicking about for names already, some started with the pub name, and one or two are pre-existing cocktails that just work too well with the name not to be borrowed. A case in point is "The World's End" (A.K.A. Better Then A.K.A. Jayne Fonder) as its both fiery (to the palate) and blue which just fits the bill too perfectly. There are a number of cocktails utilizing ale, naturally. I think the thematic resonances of all the drinks are clear when you read through them. I'm sure Alastair would be more than happy to make any (or all) of them for you at The Everleigh, but if you're not lucky enough to be in Melbourne in the near future your friendly neighborhood bartender should be able to easily recreate them with these recipes. Properly outfittted of course, one could make them at home. And one hopes one is and one does.

We wanted throw a little spotlight on the artwork of the signs themselves in this project. One thing I hadn't known that came out of a little research was that Wright's brother Oscar was involved in their develoment and is a frequent collaborator. That was neat to discover both because brothers working together is obviously cool; then there's the fact that parents naming their kids "Edgar" and "Oscar" is quite rad.  There are meanings to both the pub names and the details in the artwork; forums on Wright's site go into some elaborate theorizing about the significance of the names and the signs. Like a chinese box the film just seems to have more and more layers as you revisit it and delve deeper. As far as who is responsible for the signs themselves, Marcus Rowland, the inspired production designer for the film explained, "Like all film making it's a collaborative venture, starting with Edgar then me, followed by ideas from Oscar and our graphics person Georgina Millett, & finally scenic painter Barnaby Gorton pulls it all together." 

Many thanks to Alastair Walker for the creativity, and Michael Madrusan of The Everleigh, for participating in this rather extravagant liquid homage. And a huge thank you to Greg Needham who put the poster together  with considerable inspiration and patience  And for anyone who may wonder why the tagline for the poster is " A Liquid Repast for The World's End", please refer to the clip below, which also serves as a neat summary of the 12 stops along the Golden Mile. Jason Rowan

THE FIRST POST

 1 1/2 oz. Gin 

1/2 oz. Suze

1 oz. Lime 

3/4 oz. Simple 

2 dashes of absinthe

Soda top 

Light shake, served tall over ice with a lime wedge garnish

THE OLD FAMILIAR

 1 1/2 oz. Aged Rum 

1/2 oz. Jamaican Rum

Brown sugar cube

Pinch of salt

2 dashes of angostura bitters

Served on the rocks, with a orange twist

(A.K.A The S.C.O.F. (Salted Caramel Old Fashioned))

 

THE FAMOUS COCK

1 oz. Gin 

1/2 oz. lemon

1/2 oz. simple 

Egg white 

Amber ale top 

 Dry shake, wet shake, served in a fizz glass with the beer top

(A.K.A. Andy Shandy)

THE CROSS HANDS

2 oz. Scotch 

1 oz. Cocchi Americano Rosa 

3 dashes of orange bitters

Stirred down and served in a coupe, lemon twist garnish

THE GOOD COMPANION

1 oz. Irish whiskey 

1 oz. Cognac 

Brown sugar cube

2 dashes of orange bitters

Served on the rocks, lemon twist

(A.K.A 4/3rds)

THE TRUSTY SERVANT

 2 oz. oz. Aged Rum 

1/2 oz. oz. Dry vermouth

1/2 oz. oz. Cynar 

Stirred down and served in a coupe, orange twist

(A.K.A The Right Hand Man)

THE TWO HEADED DOG

1 1/2 oz. Aged Rum

3/4 oz. White Cacao 

3/4 oz. Kola tonic 

3/4 oz. Cream 

Egg yolk

Dry shake, wet shake, served in a flip glass and garnished with nutmeg

 THE MERMAID 

 2 oz. Genever

3/4 oz. Lime

3/4 oz. Pomegranate molasses (cut with simple)

Cucumber 

Shaken, and served in a coupe, garnished with black pepper on top

(A.K.A The Intrepid Fox-We threw in this teaser poster to the mix because A. "Intrepid Fox" is just great and B. Can't ever hurt to have some Rosamund Pike in the mix.))

 

THE BEE HIVE

1 oz. Bourbon

3/4 oz. lemon

3/4 oz. Honey

Pale ale top

Light shake, served tall over ice, topped with the pale ale

(A.K.A The Beerhive)

 THE KING'S HEAD

 2 oz. Irish whiskey

3/4 oz. Lime

3/8 oz. Pomegranate molasses (cut with simple)

3/8 oz. Campari

Shaken, served in a coupe, garnished with a lime wedge 

(A.K.A Crazy Eyes)

THE HOLE IN THE WALL

2 oz. Scotch 

3/4 oz. Suze

1/4 oz. Grand Marnier 

Stirred down, served in a coupe, orange twist garnish. 

THE WORLD'S END

2 oz. Tequila 

1 oz. Lime 

3/8 oz. Curaçao

3/8 oz. Agave

3 Dashes of hot sauce (Cholula)

Light shake, served on the rocks, garnished with a lime wedge

(A.K.A Better than (Jayne Fonder))

THE WORLD'S END PUB SIGNS & THE GOLDEN COCKTAIL  MILE

Director: Edgar Wright Written by: Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg Production Designer: Marcus Rowland Concept Art: Oscar Wright Graphic Designer: Georgina Millett Scenic Painter: Barnaby Gorton    Cocktails: Alastair Walker, The Everleigh Golden Cocktail Mile Poster Design: Greg Needham Project Coordination: Embury Cocktails

 

"The World's End" Cocktail

  

MILD SPOILER ALERTS THROUGHOUT. Jacob Briars of Bacardi (when I texted him about his full title he responded "Global Trade Advocacy Director. Pretentious, moi?") has been cheekily serving blue drinks at cocktail competitions, trainings and special guest appearances around the world for the past several years. In the often solemn and occasionally pompous craft cocktail landscape Jacob's added this bit of silliness as a way to remind folks that cocktails are supposed to be fun, and to take a bit of the piss out of the arch seriousness we all occasionally fall victim to. There's a pivotal scene early on in "The World's End" where a seemingly normal, human character is revealed to be filled with blue liquid. It's a measure of how firm the association between Jacob Briars and blue liquid had become for me that when that rather shocking moment occurs he instantly came to mind as the guy to approach to work on the concept for a drink inspired by the film. That he works with the blue-bottled and tinted Bombay Sapphire was simply kismet. That Sapphire is Edgar Wright's gin call of choice ("mainly because I like to say it" he told me when I interviewed him about the copious drinking in the film for T Style) was icing on the cake.

Jacob and I quickly agreed that a riff on a corpse reviver just made sense, tinted blue with Bols Blue Curaçao, to be added to a pint. (Someday I'll count how many pints are consumed in the pub crawl that drives the plot, but at least for some characters it's around 12.) Here's Jacob's offering:

THE WORLD'S END

1/2 oz Bombay Sapphire Gin

1/2 oz Lillet

1/2 oz Bold Blue Curaçao

1/2 oz Strained lemon juice

Shake together, and fill a pipette or eye dropper with the mixture. Pour a crisp lager of wheat beer into a pint glass. Have a sip, then add the Reviver. Continue drinking, repeat until merry enough to forget any concerns about potential impending apocalypse.

Note: Simon Pegg's character is NOT the one revealed to be filled with blue liquid in the scene mentioned above. This is just the only photo I could get my hands on that showed the blue stuff. Also note: Pegg's kinetic, manic, endearing and surprisingly poignant performance should get him an Oscar nod, although it likely will be overlooked due to the Academy's aversion to awarding comedies and just its general lameness.

POSTSCRIPT: Have now tried the blue stuff a couple of times and when consumed as an accompinement to beer it's rather good--I'd pegged it as a bit of a stunt drink but the blue curaçao works rather nicely with the Lillet and the gin--bit of an eye opener when the party is lagging, too.

 

In droppers, the blue stuff can be smuggled into a cinema where it ought to be consumed starting with the first fight scene in the bathroom. 

Photo: Mark Hedden

Coming Friday: "The World's End" Cocktail from Jacob Briars

Work-in-progress with bubbles, blue curaçao and Bombay Sapphire. Pint to follow. Photo: Mark Hedden.

Deneuve, Delon, Crenna: "Trois Scotch"

In Jean-Pierre Melville's pulpy 1972 film policier, Richard Crenna plays the nightclub owner & master thief, Catherine Deneuve is his icy gun moll and Alain Delon is the detective who is pursuing a gang of thieves that turns out to be led be Crenna. Delon and Deneueve are having an affair, naturally. When Delon stops by Crenna's nightclub all three players go to the bar where he casually orders "Trois scotch", which seems to be scotch and water or possibly charged water,with just the merest hint of an ice cube or two, served in a tall, wide glass that's somewhere between a collins and a pint.  In this context, with the supercharged looks between the trio, the dancers in the smokey nightclub in the background, the lush Michel Colombier score and the faint clink of French ice,  "Trois scotch" plays here as one of the more glamorous orders in cinema.

Saxon + Parole's "Point Blank"; Cocktail Cabinet Program

Finally got to make good use of the photos I shot of the bottled cocktails at Saxon + Parole for my Men's Journal piece on the killer "Point Blank" cocktail at Saxon + Parole. Shot these back in May or June and they languished a bit until finding their rightful home. The rich visuas of these cocktails in the tall glass and wood cabinet behind the bar made it easy to photograph, and those photographs hard to edt.

POINT BLANK


1.5 oz. Chivas 12 Year



1 oz. Dolin Blanc Vermouth

1/4 oz. St. Germain



5 dashes Bitter Truth Lemon Bitters



 Stir to well chilled, strain into coupe, top with lemon twist.


Named after the ultra-stylish 1967 John Boorman gangster movie, I can personally attest to its wicked potency of this cocktail in addition to its irrestible flavor harmonics. Just don't have more than two, or it may trat you the way Lee Marvin treats Angie Dickinson in the film: brutally.

On the ligher side of the bottle cocktail news a S + P, the El Presidente was on offer when I was shooting. Below, the mini bottles that are sent to the recipient of a gift subscription to announce their prize. These little bottles are almost cooler than the big bottles with your name amblazoned on them.

You get the drink's backstory and recipe on your little mini bottle of happiness that arrives in the mail to tell you the good news. Brilliant stuff.

The cabinet is a rogues gallery of cocktail world figures.

..although all are welcome. This has got to be one of the sweetest holiday gifts you could give a New York City drinker this year. 

2012 Key West Literary Seminar Cocktails: The Neurogibson

I've spent the first couple weeks of this year working on cocktails for the many parties of the 30th annual Key West Literary Seminar. Team Embury and I made drinks in honor of several of the attending speakers including Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, China Miéville and William Gibson. The pickled scallions in the above photo were used as an onion sub in the Neurogibson, inspired by both Gibson's book "Neuromancer" and Jonathan DeLeon of Sorella's Flying V, where the idea for this recipe oringinated. We departed quite a bit from his original formulation but the principles remain similar--gin, picked green onions, an herbal liqueur and Sriracha Bitters. Jonathan went lean and mean for his Gibson riff, tapping Death's Door Gin & Cocchi Americano.

THE FLYING V

2.5 oz Death's Door gin
1/4 Cocchi Americano
Splash scallion pickling liquid
3 dashes Sriracha bitters
Pickled scallion (pickled with rice vinegar and aromatics, mostly ginger).

Rinse a large chilled glass with the Cocchi Americano. Over ice,
combine gin and pickling liquid. Stir well and strain into the chilled
glass. Finish with Sriracha bitters, garnish with the pickled
scallion, and serve!

Once I had the William Gibson/Gisbon name connection light bulb moment I instantly wanted to start with Jonathan's elegant creation and take it someplace a little more far flung, unexpected and audacious-- hopefully something like Gibson's bold work. Briney, piney Tanqueray, herby, swampy Yellow Chartreuese, a little lime juice, even less simple, the nub of a pickled scallion stalk and a dash of the pickling juice. The heavy ginger in the pickles is a nod to the Asian element in Gibson works and indeed in cyberpunk as a whole--I was thinking of Beat Takeshi in the Gibson film adaptation "Jonny Mnemonic", as well as the strong Chinese and Korean elements in the not-too-distant-future of other KWLS guest Gary Shteyngart's "Super Sad True Love Story." 

NEUROGIBSON

1 1/4 oz Tanqueray Gin

1/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse

1/2 oz lime juice

1/4 oz demarara simple syrup

1 bar spoon pickled scallion pickling juice

In a pint glass take 2 leaves of lemon balm (I pulled mine from my host and KWLS Board Member Nancy Klingener's garden, check out her blog here) and lightly tap, adding all elements and topping with plenty of ice, shaking vigorously and strain into a rocks glass ( we used stemless wine glasses), topping with a couple drops of Brooklyn Hemispherical Sriracha Bitters to add a little apocalyptic heat.

The resulting cocktail was pretty damn cool, but not one you'd drink all night unlike many that we made for other parties.These considerably more approachable ecipes to come this week. 

Edgar Wright Samples His Eponymous Cocktail.

We're having a good week here at Embury. First, my piece on the Small Bars of Sydney appears online on the NYT T Travel Blog, in which I was able to give some serious props to the fantastic bars and bartenders I got to know there in June, including my new favorite spot in the Southern Hemisphere, Eau de Vie. Then Edgar Wright name checks us in the below interview with Eric Alt for Maxim.com as he sips the cocktail we put together for him. To give credit where credit is due, our London emissary, Master Will Foster of Casita Bar (my favorite bar in the Northern Hempisphere), came up with the reposado, Patron XO and espresso cocktail, as an homage to the director's epic consumption of espresso on set.  And seeing Wright gleefully toss back mulitple Wrightinis at 11 a.m. as he prepares for a day of interviews is pretty terrific. J.R.

Scott Pilgrim vs. Will Foster

Back when Edgar Wright was still deep into production on the uncommonly charming and wildly entertaining "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" we commissioned a drink in the director's honor from Will Foster, Embury's man in Shoreditch. The resulting Edgar Wrightini payed homage to the man's intensive, almost Balzacian consumption of caffeine on set, using Patron XO, reposado and espresso (see recipe here), and it can be ordered at Foster's Casita Bar. A couple months back Nick De Semlyen from the U..K.'s go-to mag for smart fanboys and girls Empire got in touch with us, wanting to use the drink in their feature on the film and we were only to happy to facilitate. They asked Will to create additional cocktails in honor of auteurs as well, and he  came through with some killers--homages to Mssrs. Scorsese, Lynch, Mann & Nolan. Empire's graciously given us permission to post the entire feature, including cocktails, here on Embury, and my hope is that in reading through it folks will get a sense of how ambitious and epically cool the film is--or, as their US tagline reads: "an epic epic of epicness". For some reason the film hasn't had much success at the US box office; a little Michael Cera backlash could be to blame. But the film dusts off Cera's hapless, hoody wearing persona and re-invogorates it, reinvents it, even. And Wright's defined a new kind of screwball humor--he's a hipster Preston Sturgess here, although his kinetic directing style is anything but hipster-slacker-mumblecore laconic. I'll say it again: he's this generation's Sturgess. Even without all the awesome manga and gaming inspired effects and action sequences there's an incredibly witty film here.  Also: checking showtimes on Fandango in NYC turned up no local listings, but upon walking past the Union Square Regal Cinema yesterday afternoon the sign told the story, so it's still out there  And for Key Westers, my continual harrasment of the Tropic Cinema seems to have paid off--the film opens there this Friday, October 8th.

A file of the entire article is here: Download Empire Mag Wright Foster; we've also got it laid out page by page in the second part of this post (here). This should whet your appetite for the embarrasment of riches that the film offers. Below you'll see the final page of the piece where Will's recipes reside--fun to see him next to Cera, both wielding their weapons of choice. Cheers! J.R.

Charles Tanqueray's 200th and The Moore & Tonic

In honor of Charles Tanqueray's 200th birthday today, we thought we'd mention one of the better brand name checks in recent cinema, delivered by Julianne Moore as Charley in "A Single Man". When the quietly distraught (but impeccably attired) Colin Firth's George calls the elegant, boozy mess Charley  to ask what he should bring over for dinner, she asks him to pick up some gin. "Get Tanqueray--I love the green bottle." If this reference didn't come from a deal with Tanqueray it should have, and either way it's just great. Moore's melancholy single woman rightly pines for a pretty bottle, and Tanqueray's piney, classic gin-yness is exactly what you drink when you stay up all night and can barely wait to call your friends when they wake up, desperate for human contact.  True glamour! In honor of Moore we're renaming Tanqueray's own very precise G & T recipe, just for the day, and tailoring it ever so slightly to suit her character.

MOORE & TONIC

1.25 oz Tanqueray
4 oz tonic water
Fresh lime wedges
Highball glass
Stirrer
Ice

Squeeze the juice of a lime wedge into the bottom of a tapered high-ball glass.
Fill the glass two-thirds with ice, then add the 1.25 oz of Tanqueray. Stir well.
Run a wedge of lime around the rim of the glass so that the fresh smell and taste of citrus greets you as you sip.
Drop a fresh lime wedge into the glass.
Drink all night, wait until 7 a.m., start calling friends.

Both drunk and dishevelled as well as beautifully put together, Moore looks smashing in the film, and the dreamy, lost vulnerability she invests the character with puts this performance into the pantheon of great drunks of cinema.

Below, the scene everyone comments on, where Moore is applying her war paint, one eye at a time. And ordering up a fresh bottle of Tanqueray.

And making calls after a long night, martini shaker by the bed.

Moore's hairstyles for the film were designed by Alan D'Angerio, as accomplished a key hairstylist as there is--and someone whose body of work makes you question why the Academy doesn't have a Best Hair award. Seriously. The man did "Goodfellas", "Casino" (yes, he created Ginger's hairstyles),  "Shutter Island", "Rachel Getting Married", "Silence of the Lambs" and "Revolutionary Road" to name just a few. He's also designed Moore's hair for other films like "The Hours" and "Far From Heaven". If there were a category for Best Hair D'Angerio would be getting a Lifetime Achievement at this point, and should have received a Special Oscar for Moore's elaborate, many-tiered 'do in "A Single Man".

 

In honor of the great moment of much-needed release in the film where Moore puts Booker T & The M.G.s "Green Onions" on the hi-fi and she and Firth dance around in her living room, give the song a listen below. And make yourself a T & T in Moore's and Mr. Tanqueray's honor.

Green Onions - Booker T & the ...