William Shakespeare once wrote, “What’s in a name?” The same question can be asked as to what’s in a bartender.
For most patrons the role seems to be thrown around a bit. It could be your cousin Louie slinging Jameson shots at the local dive, the young female government contractor that does it on the weekends to make some extra cash, or the assembly line of anxious graduates from the Professional Bartending School in Arlington.
But there is something that differs the mindset of a bartender when behind the bar, indeed one skill very few can master which sets them above the rest. That ladies and gentleman, is the art of mixology.
Gina Chersevani is that kind of bartender. She doesn’t just make a drink but creates a cocktail masterpiece. Her combinations of cool flavors combined with a decadent display of garnishes make the head caterer at any five star hotel want to slap himself. Forget maraschino cherries and the lime slice, because Gina’s using saffron, lotus, and honey. What started for her simply making martinis in local bars turned into becoming a mixology staple for the nation’s capital. A knowledge of spirits led Gina through an illustrious career developing major beverage programs for a myriad of powerhouse DC restaurants, including 15 Ria, Poste Moderne Brasserie adjacent to the Hotel Monaco, Rasika, EatBar and Tallula. Perhaps the most challenging and rewarding endeavor has been where she calls home: renowned chef Peter Smith’s PS7 in Chinatown. Gina is not just planning a drink menu as the head of mixology for the restaurant. She works with Chef Smith to accompany her creations with the food on the menu, turning PS7 into one of the premier places to have a course designed to eat and drink together. She’s also taught a food and cocktail pairing course out of the restaurant consistently sharing her immense passion with the public. From cucumbers to figs and grapes to ginger, this savant of sip has earned accolades to match her accomplishments. Write-ups from the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Washingtonian Magazine are just the tip of the iceberg. Gina was recently crowned the “Top 10 Mixologists to Watch” from The Beverage Journal in 2008, and subsequently won Absolut Vodka’s “Best Martini” competition that same year. Just to round it out Gina put on the prestige once more by creating the official winning cocktail at The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s RAMMY awards (the Oscars of restaurateur triumphs in DC), in 2008 and 2009. If PS7 is the hometown then Gina has certainly given props: most recently the restaurant has been listed as one of the 2011 “Top 100 American Cocktail Bars” in Food & Wine Cocktails Magazine.
Owen Thomson is no exception. This bartender has risen from the humble beginnings of beer and shot establishments to become the head of mixology at world famous chef Jose Andres’s ThinkFoodGroup. If Andres is Don Corleone then Thomson is Michael, having diligently built beverages behind the chef’s whimsical molecular gastronomy palettes at Café Atlantico and minibar. And if bartending is fast paced then adapting to Andres’s vision is light speed, especially for Thomson who had to transition his chef’s bar menu around a new concept. Andres decided to close Café Atlantico in 2011 and create a pop up restaurant known as America Eats Tavern, his celebration of American food to accompany the National Archives exhibit "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam? The Government's Effect on the American Diet”. To work alongside such delicacy and adjustment alike takes hard work but Owen Thomson has exceeded expectations. Previously his tenure as operations director for Bourbon ushered in the unthinkable: presenting upscale cocktails in Adams Morgan, a mecca of dive bars. With all this experience on his plate the bartender’s expertise encouraged him to found the DC Craft Bartenders Guild, where he is acting president. The guild’s staple event Repeal Day, which applauds the repeal of prohibition in the United States, has consistently sold out from its popularity in exhibiting the most traditional displays of 1920’s cocktails and party attire. Thomson uses the guild alongside fellow mixologists (Gina included) to educate the public on how great a good drink can be, presenting craft bartending to the fullest, and ultimately allowing the best and brightest bartenders in the DC community to come together. For Thomson the key is fresh, whether it’s cutting fruit or creating syrup. His focus on the elements of mixology are time honored traditions, though when he executes a drink it is nothing but innovative.
Yours truly had a chance to interview these two alcohol aficionados for an inside look at the life of a mixologist. Enjoy!
What did you think of drinks or cocktails before you started making them?
Gina: I really hadn't given cocktails much thought. I just kind of imbibed to get a buzz when I first started drinking.
Owen: Before I started delving into old books about cocktails and making them myself I had never given much thought to cocktails. At the time I worked mostly at beer and shot bars and nobody I knew in D.C. was doing anything with cocktails. Once I had read a few books and tried making a few drinks I found my way out to PX where Todd Thrasher was doing some things that really sparked my interest and showed me there was a whole other side to bartending.
What inspired you to bartend in the first place?
Gina: Inspired to become a bartender, hmmm I don't know. My path was very different, and I think that I always knew I belonged in a restaurant even while I was in college. If I had to say someone, Julia Childs, if I have to say why I started well at that time drinks needed some attention and I definitely gave it mine.
Owen: As much as I'd love to give an inspiring story here I got into bartending because I liked cash and not having to go to work until 4 in the afternoon. I bartended my way through college and law school and then by the time I got to the end of all that school I realized that I really enjoyed standing behind the bar and helping people relax and have a good time.
What elements do you consider in making a good cocktail?
Gina: Balance, balance, balance...get the point.
Owen: The key is always balance. It's the first and last thing I think about when making or tasting a drink. You can put all the crazy ingredients in there you want but if you don't balance the flavors between sweet, sour, and savory it's all for nothing. The other thing I think about is limiting ingredients. Five is my magic number usually... there's got to be a really good reason to go over five ingredients in a cocktail. Often times I'll taste a drink where somebody rattles off 15 ingredients and I realize it would be better without most of them.
What's your favorite liquor to work with and why?
Gina: Whiskey...but its not fair I like quite a few different types of liquor.
Owen: Always depends on the day but I always seems to gravitate back towards Rye. I just love the citrus and peppery notes that it has along with all those great barrel flavors.
Talk garnishes. What is your favorite to work with and how does it effectively add to a drink?
Gina: My favorite is the most simple: atomized fruit. I love the oils from citrus peels and the effect on drinks.
Owen: When it comes to garnish I tend towards a simpler style. In most places the aromatic oils from a citrus peel is all you need to accent your cocktail.
I believe you have great involvement with the DC Craft Bartender's Guild? How has this organization boosted bartending in the nation's capital and how has it personally affected you as a mixologist?
Gina: I am one of the co-founders of the DC Craft Guild. I think that it has provided attention to those bartenders who strive for excellence and has created a platform for bartenders to be heard as well as seen. Personally the guild is my labor of love and I may complain from time to time but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Owen: When we founded the Guild back in 2008 we had one simple goal which was to bring focus to our city and what bartenders were doing here, and I think looking at it now DC has really grown into a much more elevated role in terms of its drinking establishments. For me it's great to have so many places trying to make better drinks and thinking about their bars and liquor selections. I love to see that DC has its own identity and community now.
Can you enlighten me on the mental approach you have to making a cocktail? What is your game plan?
Gina: I wish I had a game plan. Cocktail ideas strike me all different ways. A mood, flavor, book, or candle scent. It’s strange but there is no method to the madness.
Owen: I can remember getting yelled at in grade school because I would write down the right answers in math class but I couldn't show my work. I feel like a lot of the time drinks work that way for me. As well I'll see or taste something and all of a sudden there is just this idea for a fully formed drink and it usually works out just like I saw it in my head. Some days of course we have to pull together drinks on a schedule or specifically tailored to an event. That always makes it a little tougher as you have to try and direct that spontaneous idea.
Does your cultural background have an influence on your mixology or better yet what cultures, perhaps including your own, do you incorporate into your drink making?
Gina: Yes. As a native New Yorker and the daughter of a Northern Italian chef, I was born into the culinary field (although I admit, I could burn soup). Thanks to my early training in my father’s kitchen, I have been able to make ravioli like a pro as well as mozzarella, meatballs, sausage, and a mean marinara sauce. Understanding the beauty of fresh ingredients and how they lend to the best final product, I always favor fresh, often home-grown, produce in my concoctions, from peppery nasturtiums to the figs produced on PS 7’s own baby fig trees.
Owen: I'm born and bred here in DC (inside the actual city not the burbs). But I have the privilege of working with all the restaurants at ThinkFoodGroup so I get to work with Spanish, Mexican, Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Chinese and American. The nice thing about bartending today is applying old-fashioned bartending to ingredients and flavors that would have never intersected before.
It's well known Gina that you are the head of mixology planning at PS7, and Owen you at Café Atlantico and minibar. Can you talk about the strategy or vision you had in creating your respective restaurant's drink menu? What is the idea?
Gina: For me keeping it fresh...literally is one thing that I will not tolerate anything but excellence. There is a way to treat fresh ingredients such as juice that is pretty black and white, and it makes all the difference!
Owen: The bar is always the most flexible part of the restaurant. If we have the ingredients for a drink and we can make it then it’s our job to produce that drink for our guest. My big goal with the ThinkFoodGroup programs is that we know not only how to produce our carefully thought out menu items, but a whole host of classic drinks, and that our bartenders know how to properly make them. No matter what's on somebody's drink list I always judge them on how they make me a Manhattan or Old Fashioned and so we try to focus our training on that theory.
What is your opinion of Washington, DC as a drinker's city? Are the crowds here appreciative or well versed for mixology?
Gina: DC is getting better but have we ever been known for trendsetting? Even though a lot of trendsetters live in DC they have to go to places like New York to get seen and heard, before DC accepts anything.
Owen: I think in general the crowds here are really into both food and drink right now and they definitely support the local scene that we've built up over the past couple years. I think DC is a great drinkers city that is only getting better!
Can you highlight the major mixology trends we'll see in 2012?
Gina: Minimal menus.
Owen: I think the biggest piece this year will be bars really putting a focus on their ice programs and their non-alcoholic drink selections like house sodas.
What is something the general populous does not know about bartending or mixology at all?
Gina: That it takes a lot of work to be a mixologist that cares enough to craft a cocktail instead of just pouring a drink.
Owen: I think most people don't know the amount of time that we spend working on this stuff. Most people think that bartending is an easy gig and you sleep all day and drink all night. If I'm not working I'm reading about cocktails and spirits or playing with recipes. I literally don't do anything else!
Most people may regard the cocktail as one entity. But can you comment on how food pairing compliments a drink?
Gina: The drink pairing is really a great way to explore one's palette and the ability to layer flavor not like wine.
Owen: Cocktails can go where wine and beer can't in terms of pairing. With cocktails you can modify both the drink and the dish to really match up and play off of one another. With wine and beer all you can do is hope you picked the right one!
Who has inspired you as a mixologist?
Gina: Julia Childs and Charlotte Voisey.
Owen: There are so many big names but my biggest inspirations came from those first trips to PX and what Todd Thrasher and those guys were doing out there.
If you weren't behind the bar, what would you order?
Gina: Jameson and a beer.
Owen: Old Fashioned in the winter and margaritas in the summer.
The word bartender is thrown around. What does it mean for you?
Gina: Just another working title.
Owen: The essence of bartending is hospitality. It means you take full ownership of your bar and treat everyone who sits down at it like they are in your home.
If you could have anyone (living or dead) sit in front of you and order something, who would it be and what would you make them?
Gina: Julia Childs and Pegu club.
Owen: I'd love to serve Hemingway a Daquiri. My parents own a bookstore so this covers both my love of drink history and books.
Who are the heavyweights of mixology in the world, and how do you feel you measure up against their abilities?
Gina: No comment.
Owen: When I took the BAR exam in New York a few years back it was an amazing experience to learn from Steve Olson, Dale DeGroff, Dave Wondrich, Paul Pacult, Doug Frost and Andy Seymour. Those guys are really helping push our profession forward. In terms of great bartenders I think we're all only as good as the last drink we serve. There are so many great bartenders out there and I'm just proud to be amongst them.
If we're talking about representing the nation's capital, are you able to gauge how the USA stacks up against other countries in the cocktail industry?
Gina: Some cities have better and some have worse, but I think DC is just right.
Owen: I'm still waiting to get over to London and Tokyo to check out their bar scenes but going to Tales of the Cocktail every year in New Orleans I'd say the US stacks up pretty well to the rest of the world.
What do you feel is left to accomplish for you? What's next?
Gina: Everything...I don't think I have done anything yet!
Owen: There is always more to do and I think we always hope to have that next great idea but I'll be happy when everyone who steps behind a bar treats it as a profession and takes pride in what they are doing. Whatever I can do to push that agenda here in DC!
Are you able to put one recipe that my readers can try at home to exemplify the holiday season?
Gina's Recipe:
Here’s one we’re implementing in the new year.
“The Boiler Room”
Ingredients
1 oz Bulliet Bourbon
1 1/2oz of Marigold Tea
1 oz of fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz of honey syrup
3 oz Allagash White beer
Procedure
In a pint, combine, Bulliet Bourbon, Marigold tea, lemon juice, honey syrup, add ice to top, then fill with Allagash White beer. Then pour mixture into a cocktail shaker and back into the mixing glass. Garnish with a long lemon twist. Enjoy!
Owen's Recipe:
Attached is a recipe for our Apple Toddy at America Eats, which is exactly what I'd want at this time of year.
“Apple Toddy”
STORY
As David Wondrich wrote in Imbibe!, the apple toddy enjoyed immense popularity during the early 1800s, and continued in regular circulation until Prohibition, when it — along with so many other forms of the liquid arts — was mostly forgotten. This drink is probably one of the oldest cocktails imbibed in America and uses our oldest distilled spirit Applejack. The original recipe called for baking apples with butter and spices then taking half of one of those apples, hot water and alcohol and mixing until dissolved. We have retooled a recipe to replicate those flavors.
RECIPE
1 ½ oz. Buttered Applejack
5-6oz Hot House Cider
SUB RECIPES
Cider: 24 Apples juiced, 6 Cinnamon Sticks, 1 tbsp. Whole Allspice, 1 tsp. Whole Clove, ½ cup sugar, 1 ½ cup water
Buttered Applejack: Butter washed Applejack
Combine in sour glass and give brief stir.
There you have it. Two refreshing perspectives from two of Washington DC’s best drink makers: Gina Chersevani and Owen Thomson. For them cocktails are not just shots in a glass but a commodity with caliber, consistently serving a savored sophistication that never settles for the standard.
Certainly if 2012 is a year to make new resolutions then one should be to go out and appreciate a really good drink.
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