Q&A

How does the Beijing cocktail scene and culture compare with that of New York?

It's my first time to the Chinese mainland. I've only been to two bars in Beijing, and I had a great time. They made me what I asked for right away. Delicious. I drink relatively simple as well at down time. I'm all about trying everything at work, but when I go out, I drink beer, and also stuff like sweet and sour drinks to avoid getting drunk.

Some Asian-inspired drinks seem to embrace traditional Chinese medicine ingredients like goji berries and ginseng. Do you think it's going too far to promote such cocktails as "healthy"?

To be honest, I don't fully buy that story. They might be healthy ingredients, but I don't promote these drinks as healthy. If you want to be healthy, don't drink alcohol. I'll put the healthy ingredient in if I like it, but I don't try to tell anybody it's good for them.

Not all original ideas for making a drink work out. What was your biggest failure while making a drink?

I think it's just experience. The best way to become a better bartender is to bartend. You can only read so many books, practicing, learning the ingredients and learning what does well together. I would take tasting notes making a drink. There's the dominant flavor, the body, complexity, dryness and the finish. Mixing ingredients is a three-dimensional thing. A lot of drinks have just front and back flavors but no mid-palate flavor. When I'm done creating a drink with the core flavor, I will also bring my cocktail to another principal bartender and discuss what we can do to make it so it's not flat but stands out.