EMBURY COCKTAILS

Spirited Pride: Alex Day

Photo: Katie Hoss

For the fifth and final installment in my Spirited Pride series of conversations with talented LGBTQ champs in the craft cocktail world, I spoke with someone who has to be on the hardest working men in show business, Alex Day of Proprietors LLC. I'll let Alex explain for himself what this powerhouse team does.

JR: How are you doing?

AD: Doing good, little busy these days.

JR: You, or everyone now?

AD: Maybe for everyone, let's go there

JR: I think there generally is an air of over-busy-ness in culture right now.

Tell me what you're workin on and why you're so busy

AD: Well, our companies kind of interesting in that it does a lot of different things. The overarching thing is overseeing the properties we own and operate, and in Los Angeles that's Honeycut, The Normandie Club,  The Walker Inn, and in New York there’s Death & Co. and Nitecap [Ed. note--Nitecap is about to open at its new location at 151 Rivington].

A good part of my day is taken up with trying to assist our management teams on anything they are working on – head bartenders working on new menus, integrating new technologies into their work, coordination on design stuff for equipment or new menus, trying to wrangle our operation into some semblance of order, PR conversations, all that kind of stuff. All the mechanisms to get a business to run, and to keep it on track.

And then we have a number of consulting projects, some more well known than others. For instance we're working with Chef Alain Ducasse on Skyfall and RIVEA in Las Vegas and we've collaborating with them for a little over a year, and that's been amazing and a very visual collaboration.

And a new project that's just opened on the top of the US Bank Tower Building, 71 Above, where my colleague Devon Tarby is training the staff right now, opening any day now.

Then we have other projects that aren’t very well known, mostly me designing bars for people, so doing a lot if infrastructure designs, laying out the equipment, and essentially trying to get more bars our there that are designed by a bartender and not a kitchen consultant who has no idea what a bar is these days.

JR: Wow, that is a lot.

AD: Oh! And we're writing another book-so there's that too

JR: Another Death & Co book?

AD: It is not..it's a more generalized book, it's with the same publisher...that's about all I can say about it right now.

JR: So what kind of advice or counsel would you be giving to a younger version of yourself, or someone looking to get into the industry in a big way.

AD: I think it's important to note that there's a certain amount of ADHD both in myself and my business partners, which goes a long ways in explaining why we do a lot of what we do

The biggest challenge over the past many years has been trying to navigate our desire to do more with being able to fulfil our obligations. We’ve committed to a ton and are responsible to a lot of people. It’s hard to keep up and we do to varying degrees of success.

So it has certainly been a very big struggle, trying to balance being present for our existing properties while pursuing some of these new opportunities, and that's the thing, there are always new opportunities, and we're in the incredibly privileged position where we have new opportunities come our way. If I were answering this question five years ago I would be saying we were doing a terrible job, constantly scraping after obligations and trying to react as opposed to being proactive to challenges that arise.

I would say within the past year we've found some ways of dividing some of the responsibilities within our organization and empowering people on the local venue level to make decisions because we trust them, and because we're hiring better than we ever did in the past. Or at least that’s our ambition. More work in progress.

And then on more of a personal level, we had to define what balance was for each of us. It was a big step for me to say a couple years ago that while I love being on a plane going off to some exotic place on a project there is a big part of me that crave some personal stability and really stating that for myself and for my business partners really allowed a chance to step back and say, this is what I can do, and this is what I'm willing to do for my profession, and I'm not going to sacrifice my health or happiness for anything. Dipping into my mid-thirties and having that sort of wisdom moment was more important me for anything else.

It's great to be ambitious, but that life/work balance is even more important. I think there's thing that are specific to this industry that are tricky in terms of that balance One of them is the outward appearance of business, like this conversation you and I are having, or Facebook. And the difference between that and actually being good at what you do. And I struggle with that myself

So, there's something to be said for having an inner conversation and saying, what am I truly capable of, and what am I telling people I'm capable of, cause those are two very different things.

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.

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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.

Pride Bonus Cocktail from Joshua Anthony Campbell: Kinky Reggae

 

When  I chatted with Joshua Anthony Campbell for my Spirited Pride series in collaboration with Campari America, a drink he mentioned in passing sort of stuck in my mind for a few days, and I circled back with him to get the recipe. This one seems has summer afternoon party written all over it.  Josh took a non-alcoholic drink that was on the menu at an old workplace in Rochester, Java's Cafe, which was their lemonade with iced tea, and Fee Brothers Raspberry Syrup. For this revamped version Josh made his own raspberry syrup, went with straight lemon juice and Earl Grey Tea, and beefed it up with vodka and Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum. I'd always been wary of use W & N for cocktails, but I've been swayed recently. The banana notes, the high ester quality and the just overall kick to the stuff is a nice touch to a drink like this. Not the use of "touch". Much more than an ounce of the stuff in a drink means you're going to a very different party.

KINKY REGGAE

1.5 oz vodka

.5 oz Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum

.75 Earl GreyTea

.75 lemon

1 raspberry syrup

RASPBERRY SYRUP

1 quart white sugar

1 quart hot water

12 oz fresh raspberries

Shake, dump into a zombie glass. Garnish with 2 skewered raspberries on an extended cocktail umbrella (think of an umbrella that's been caught in the wind) and a mint sprig.

 

Muddle raspberries in sugar, add hot water (do not add additional heat!) and stir until sugar is dissolved. Let sit until cool then strain, bottle and date. Best if used within a week.

Spirited Pride: Porchlight's Mimi Burnham

Continuing along with my Spirited Pride Series in collaboration with Campari America, I sat down with spitfire Mimi Burnham. Mimi's has been bartending around Long Island, Queens and New York City since the 1980s and has seen the evolution (and decline) of nightclub culture and the rise of craft cocktails. She was part of the opening team at Porchlight in far, far West Chelsea, the only bar from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group. The aptly named bar is probably the Westernmost cocktail spot in Manhattan, a block from the river at West 26^th street, a notoriously underserved area for those in search of a proper drink, and Porchlight has been that much-desired haven.

As we chatted in the back area of Porchlight we realized we'd both spent many late nights there in the late 80s and early 90s in its incarnation as Tunnel Club.

JR: I remember seeing Nina Hagen down in the VIP Lounge in the late, late 80s.

MB: Yeah, I used to hang out with her there!

JR: Let's start with your history of bartending in New York.

MB: I started at the North Shore Yacht Club in Sea Clff, and bartended around Long Island bars for years, including at the gay bar Chameleon Club. In New York City I bartended at Danceteria at the roof bar [for the unititated, Danceteria was the early 80s club where Madonna is seen dancing to “Into The Groove' in “Desperately Seeking Susan”. I was at Palladium in the Michael Todd Room [the star-heavy VIP lounge] for about 3 months. That was fun—don't remember too much of it. Edelweiss, too. At that age, you bounce around, that's part of the experience. It was kind of rare to see a young bartender stay in the same spot, and it's still important. You're on a fast track when you're starting out and you don't know your groove yet, and each place, even if they have a similar program, you've got different people and you're gonna learn different things at each place. And sometimes it's not even apparent right away. But it forges you into the bartender you will become. There's going to be different people that influnce your style and in the end you're a collective of all the these different bartenders who have influenced your life

Later on I was at Pappazio Restaurant in Bayside, Queens, in 2012 & 2013, where we won a lot of the “Best of Queens” awards over that time--”Best Bartender, Best Happy Hour, Best Martini, Best Mojito”.

JR: How did you transition from nightclubs and more party-type bars to the more craft cocktail world?

MB: When I moved over to restaurants after years of late night bartending, I went first to Italian restaurants, because they seemed to be on the same page of exploring flavors and more complex drinks. Then I picked up a copy of Dale DeGroff's “The Craft of the Cocktail” and that really opened things up for me. I joined the USBG: NYC and that was a great investment for me, opened up so many doors and opportunities. I found out about spirits master classes offered by the brands there, and really dove into those and I highly recommend those for bartenders just getting started, they are great educational opportunities. And I still attend them. Occasionally it will be about a category rather than one specific brand, and those are my favorites. But even if it's brand specific there are going to be 3 or 4 expressions you get into, with a tastings, lectures, and sometimes a test—which really keeps you on your toes. . I think of it as: if I'm a painter and I'm going to use my paints, don't I need to know what they are made of, and what goes into them? So when I start making a cocktail I'm often thinking of all the elements that go into the spirits in it and how it will affect the cocktail.

I joined the USBG for a lot of reasons but one big one was to connect and network with like-minded people, and I've met so many people who've influenced me, and who've become allies, and friends, and it's good to see each other once a month, and just hang out with all these like-minded geeks. They just raised the membership fee, which they haven't done in years, so it's $125, which is tax deductible, you easily make it the back on the master classes, and you get that money back time and time again. I mean, the value you get is far beyond that fee.

Also, getting people to be on your side and be advocates and allies for you is incredibly helpful. Pam Wiznitzer, President of our USBG: New York Chapter has been a real champion of mine over the years and it's been fantastic to count on her as such a good friend and mentor.

JR: Tell me about what you guys do at Porchlight.

MB: It's funny because a lot of people see Danny Meyer's name and they come in expecting a restaurant, and we are a bar first, with fantastic bar style food. We're a collective of different styles of bartending and as a team we are really collaborative. We just launched the summer menu and we all had a hand in it. There's one drink where all 8 of us worked on it and there's a component of each of us in there, it's neat when that happens. We're very imaginative with our cocktails but not fussy or precious—we call it “crafted cocktails without pretension.” Approachable cocktails.

A huge part of what we do is the hospitality we offer. When someone comes into the bar, you make eye contact with them right away, you say hi, good to see you, good to see you again, even if I can't get to you right away I'll let you know I know you're there—hold one finger up.....(laughs) If you see one finger up you know it's gonna be five, but I'll make sure you get a glass of water in the meantime! That's important. You can be so good at making cocktails but if you miss that human component you're shortchanging the customer, it's not going to be the same experience.

JR: I've got a friend who's turn me onto rose spritzers, and I've been crushing those this summer, with a good rose you still get the complexity and minerality coming through the sparkling water, but you're at such a low proof that you can go all afternoon and totally maintain. And I know spritzes and low ABV drinks are really coming up—are you seeing that at Porchlight?

MB: Absolutely, a lot of the thirtysomethings and below seem to have gotten the memo about going easy and being able to maintain throughout an evening. When this cocktail rennaissance came along it was so focused on stronger stirred cocktails but you can't really drink those all night and keep it together. I think that message has gotten across to the younger drinkers and I'm seeing a lot of them ordering drinks like our “Take It Easy”. I really like to have you sit at my bar and have a good time and leave in good shape and I pay close attention to that, so I'm happy to see these kinds of drinks really catching on.

JR: Have you felt homophobia or discrimination in the bar world?

MB: For a woman to enter the craft cocktail world is very difficult, it just is. Look, If there's one job opening and there's a hundred applicants it's probably gonna be the man who gets it, that's just the way it is. It's a hurdle, but you can't let it get you down, when one door closes, two doors open, I really believe that, I'm an optimist. But it's getting better, there's some support now, Girls with Bols has been really great, Speed Rack helps with visibility, these both are helping give women the ability to be confident in the industry. They are definitely pushing the women forward.

JR: How about homophobia.

MB: Sure, sometimes, you get a little sense of something. But it's changed a lot. Actually there's story that comes to mind—and I don't know if this is homophobia or sexism or what to call it. I was when I was working at the tranny* bar Edelweiss in the early 90s in the deserted far west 40s. I was working out a lot then and was really jacked, and I worked there for a few months until someone kind of figured out that I was an actual woman—I wasn't trying to deceive anyone, and I'd worked at gay men's bars plenty of times, so I thought that it was just that kind of deal. But apparently it wasn't and I got sent on my way. Fun bar, though.

*Editor's note: The term "tranny" seems to have been designated as offensive or un-PC recently--just ask Kelly Osbourne-but that's what this bar was referred to as at that time, including by it's staff and guests, so we're gonna go with it.

 

TAKE IT EASY

1.5 oz Pinot Grigio (Porchlight uses Channing Daughters)

1 oz Aperol

1 oz Cocchi Americano

4 dashes Teapot Bitters

Garnish: Orange twist, expelled and included.

Glassware: Rocks.

Wednesday's Cocktail, Spirited Pride Edition: Joshua Anthony Campbell & The Black Rose

Joshua Anthony Campbell at Leyenda. Special thanks to Ivy Mix for styling and coaching support for Josh's first cocktail shoot.

At 25 Joshua Anthony Campbell is the youngest person on our line up of LGBTQ cocktail and spirit pros for the second annual Spirited Pride series in partnership with Campari America. When I sat down to chat with Joshua over Americanos at Dante on a sunny afternoon in early June, he was fresh off the boat from Buffalo by a matter of a couple weeks, and he'd already landed barback shifts at Leyenda and was hosting at Pouring Ribbons. We spoke about his start in the business, his love of rum cocktails, and the value of being focused and bold when going after opportunities.

JAC: I started out in Rochester at a restaurant called Revelry, and the same group owns Buffalo Proper in Buffalo, which is what brought me to Buffalo.

JR: What's the cocktail & food scene like in Buffalo?

JAC: It is very adventurous, it's a city that loves to drink, the cost of living is so low that people can afford to go out and drink every day, they have 4:00 am closing time, it's an amazing party city.

JR: So what's the average craft cocktail run you there?

JAC: Average is about ten bucks.

JR: Yeah, so that's a big difference from, say, here in NYC.

JAC: Prices are going up a little more with the evolution of craft cocktails there, and more expensive ingredients and more time consuming to produce, but capping out around twelve bucks.

JAC: Yes, it's great, a little bit goes and long way and it just takes up it a notch.

JR: So how did you come to move down to New York City?

JAC: Well, obviously the city is a hub for all things food and cocktail, it's at such a high level. I'm from the city originally so I'd be come down frequently to see family and friends, and make it a point to go to the great cocktail spots. So the things I was doing upstate were definitely insprired by people here like Ivy Mix, or Natasha David, all these great minds, and I've always been inspired by their individual styles and creativity. So moving down here to be more exposed to this level of creativity was always a draw, but considerations like cost of living made me think long and hard about it. But I had some personal changes, a relationship I was in ended, and I felt like I needed to make some decisions for myself. And I also realized, I'm at an age where I can afford to make a few mistakes. And I'm a bit of a gambler. So I'm rolled the die! I'm just really here to learn from these heroes that I look up to.

More after the jump, including the recipe for Josh's Black Rose...

Friday Night Cocktail Spirited Pride Edition: Alex Negranza & The Italian Greyhound

When I was approached by Campari America to help produce their second annual Sprited Pride series highlighting LGBTQ bartenders and players in the drinks game, I was pleased as punch to jump on board. My thinking was that it was a great idea to celebrate these individuals who inhabit a particular spot on the cultural ven diagram where the the cocktail community and the LGBTQ community overlap. And I think of encouragement and celebration as always being good things. But I didn't think of this as imperative or urgent or even necessary, per se. I've always found the cocktail culture to be refreshingly un-homophobic, which is probably subconsciously one of the reasons I gravitated to this world. So I inhabit not only this accepting culture, but in my itinerant vagabond's existence I spend time primarily in New York City, Key West, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon --themselves bubbles of inclusiveness. I've been lulled into complacency, a bit, about acceptance and the need for visibility.

But the events of this past Sunday have been a brutal reminder of how the rest of the world isn't so enlightened and accepting as the happy little privilged bubble I find myself in so much of the time. And the imperative to assert ourselves, to be unafraid and in fact be joyous and celebratory and and engaged with one another is ever more crucial, and fostering community and visibility is essential. And cocktails and bars are a big part of fostering connections and community.  So it's with renewed vigor that we continue our Spirited Pride celebration here at Embury Cocktails for the rest of June, which is Pride month. And we'll be shining a spotlight on these talented and passionate folk with just a little more intensity and urgency.

And we're beginning with this kicky video fro m Number One Negroni Fan Alex Negranza of Houston's Anvil Bar & Refuge. Alex presents one of the first cocktails he discovered (when he may or may not have been technically underage), the Italian Greyhound, which is elegant in its simplicity, wonderfully refreshing, and is a surprisingly complex summer sipper. I've photographed the cocktail in front of some books from the collection of Hanns Ebensten and Brian Kenny, a couple who were together for 41 years and who lived across the street from my family in Key West and who became friends with all of us.  They were sophisticated gentlemen of the world who met in Hyde Park in 1961, with the then classic coded pick up line, “Do you enjoy art?” The pickup turned into an amazing partnership that lasted the rest of their lives. Imagine if they had been afraid to talk to approach one another. Let's keep being more visible, and open to connection, even in the face of darkness. As the mighty RuPaul says, “Love is the first step.”

Alex Negranza serves up The Italian Greyhound from Embury Cocktails on Vimeo.

Spirited Pride Players: Alex Negranza of Anvil Bar & Refuge

Editor's note: I'm working with Campari America to interview and feature some very cool, very talented LGBTQ players in the cocktail and spirits world in celebration of Pride Month.  JR

 Bartender Alex Negranza has a fairly outsized passion for Negronis--his Instagram handle and nickname is A_Negroni, and he spearheads Negroni Week in Houston where he works at Anvil Bar & Refuge. He's also the Global Brand Ambassador for Scrappy's Bitters. The guy doesn't seem to need to sleep. I spoke with Alex via Skype as a late afternoon storm system moved into Houston. Alex sipped an Americano as we chatted, while back in Long Island City I had a nice lean rye & soda. Alex took me through his journey from barista to bartender and broke down his obsession with negronis, his go-to airport bar order, and a recent tattoo of one of his favorite drinks.

Photo: Sam Landrum

JR: So you're ramping up for Negroni Week?

AN: Yes, I've actually just been on the phone with our distributor and our local Campari rep and working on a really cool shirt design we're doing just for the Houston market as well as some limited edition screen prints. I've been working with a local artist/designer Matthew Tabor on commissioning a piece of art. It’ll be a hand pulled, screen printed homage to the Negroni- each of the 25 will be hand signed and numbered by the artist, they’re gorgeous. We've got the launch party coming up, and the Houston United States Bartender's Guild  June meeting is being hosted by Campari here at Anvil, so we've got a lot going on.

JR: So you're like the ringleader for Negroni Week there?
AN: Ringleader, cat herder, whatever you want to call it!

JR: It's funny, I always say about emailing for recipes or quotes from bartenders is like herding cats—drunk cats. Speaking of: what are you drinking

AN: An Americano. The Americano has been my go-to drink recently—as I've been visiting all these venues gearing up for Negroni Week, it’s a little easier to have a lower ABV Americano—can't always have a Negroni at each stop, this kind of limits my actual alcohol intake. And it's an appropriate cocktail—since it kind of started off the Negroni.

JR: I was on an epic travel bender last year, and I made a point of ordering Americanos as the first drink every time I got to a new town. And it's interesting the subtle variations you'll see from bar to bar, around the world.

AN: Did you have more people saying that they don't have coffee?

JR: It's about 30% of the time, if you don't specify “cocktail” you get a coffee.

Photo: Sam Landrum

JR: So where did you start your career in hospitality?

AN: I worked at a bunch of specialty coffee bars around Seattle.

JR: Isn't that compulsory in Seattle, doing a stint in a coffee shop?

AN: Exactly! It's actually what got me up to Seattle in the first place, and it definitely set me on a course for the bar world—I started working in bars while on a sabbatical from coffee industry and the sabbatical continues about six years later.