Goalen Kaitlyn - The Craft Cocktail Party: Delicious Drinks for Every Occasion

I HAD A FUN BUSINESS FOR A MINUTE in New York City in the 1990s: the Cocktail Safari, a culinary and cocktail walking tour of four different spotsat each we would taste three small cocktails matched with small bites. I nosed around bars and restaurants in different neighborhoods searching out innovative menus with small bites and cocktails. They were not so easy to find in the mid-1990s, but there are always creative people and I found them. I was visiting a small hotel bar called C3 Lounge on Washington Square Park when I encountered one of those creative people. Her name was Julie Reiner.

Julie had a quick smile, a snappy shaking style, and served some very tasty drinks. I cant remember if our safari got there in time to enjoy her creations, but I certainly did, and I made sure that anyone I spoke to from the industry and press did as well. It seems we all did too good of a job spreading the word, because when Julie ended up with a small notice in the New York Times, the chef decided that if anyone in that operation was going to get some press it should be him, and he thought Julie was going to open her own place and steal the clientele, so he had her fired.

The last thirty years have seen a sea change in the culinary world. Barriers dissolved as chefs viewed cuisine not as representative of different culinary cultures, but as fair game for crafting personal styles and creative growth. Techniques from one culture were applied to ingredients and recipes from another. Ethnic and regional cuisines expanded beyond their borders. Nouvelle, California, Fusion, and Locavore cuisines emerged, and diners were treated to a whole new world of flavor.

The flavor evolution did not stop with the kitchen, however. The first fourteen years of the new millennium have transformed the American cocktail. A willing public, in love with big flavor and ready to experiment, found the mundane offerings at the traditional bars unsatisfactory. Bartending as a respected profession had disappeared during the Depression years, and without skilled professionals, the drinks business post-Prohibition was dumbed down. Skills were replaced with shortcuts, like artificial mixers and artificially flavored spirits. Now that is all changed.

The new millennium set the stage for a nascent craft cocktail movement, and Julie was right there at the outset. Techniques and ingredients found only in the chefs domain became the techniques and ingredients of the new culinary cocktails. Julie spent those years developing and perfecting her special culinary approach to the bar, using fresh ingredients.

This is a special time for the bar industry worldwide, and there are a group of dedicated professionals who have moved the marker forward in this industry. Julie Reiner is one of those people.

Julie Reiner is the force behind two of the most iconic saloons in New York City: Flatiron Lounge, an oasis for discerning cocktailians in search of authentic craft cocktails in classic deco surroundings, opened in 2003. And Clover Club, on Smith Street in Brooklyn, pays homage to pre-Prohibition bar culture, a culture that has long been the benchmark for American bars around the world. Julie is also a partner in another beloved New York landmarkthe Pegu Clubwhich she opened in 2005 with Audrey Saunders.

Great bars reflect the passion, knowledge, and presence of the proprietor, and they dont happen overnight; they happen because someone shows up and runs the joint. Julie has the work ethic reminiscent of that bygone era. She shows up and she runs the joint!

Her detailing is fine: You wont find a capsized lemon or orange peel floating in one of her cocktails. Julies classic cocktails are authentic, and she is an artist with fresh fruitbased cocktails. Julies back bar workbench has much in common with a restaurant garde-manger station with herbs and veggies, berries and exotic fruits, spices and house flavored syrups.

Julie and Audrey Saunders, her partner at Pegu Club, have created a workshop for excellence in craft bartending unmatched in our industry. Her three bars have turned out craft bartenders at a remarkable rate, many of whom have gone on to establish some of the best craft bar programs in the country, such as Mayahuel, PDT, Sweetwater Social, Pouring Ribbons, Dram, Victor Tangos in Dallas, and many others around the country.

The Craft Cocktail Party opens this culinary side of the drinks world to the reader in clear and simple prose, along with easy-to-follow recipes. These recipes will please everyone from the cocktail geek to the casual drinker. Julie presents the material in cookbook fashion with step-by-step instructions.