Richmond is doing its best to become a cocktail town and there are a number of folks we have to thank for it.
Richmond is doing its best to become a cocktail town and there are a number of folks we have to thank for it. Rather than expose ourselves as the high-functioning alcoholics that we are, we thought we’d go straight to the tap for advice from RVA’s most spirited and successful slingers of booze. Take a look at the list below, consider some of these alternatives, and enjoy your new years!
Madison Pere
My Noodle & Bar
Every day except Mondays!
NYE Cocktail:
Sugar Mama!! Baby-bay-ba!! Mehkong Rum, strawberry jam, fresh lemon juice, local honey syrup, basil, mint, & rimmed with sugar, salt, & Thai chili powder!
How did you get into the craft? Did you have a mentor?
I first started in the back of house; cooked at Can-Can for 6 years. I learned so much about flavor profiles & the steps to making the perfect dish (with all the senses involved) that when I decided after cooking at a few other amazing restaurants (Edos, Dinamo, etc.) that it would be easier for me to apply cooking to mixology. Seeing as how I want to be well rounded in all positions of the industry, I did just that. My first mentors were Eric Fortin at Graffiato who taught me classic cocktails and the basics. Then I was put under Jason Lough’s wing, where he taught me how to really create an audience with your technique & to love being good at it. Jason also taught me balance in cocktails and to always be thinking of better ways to make the recipes.
What would we catch you drinking at the bar?
My favorite drink by far is the Wimbledon that used to be on the menu at Can-Can. At My Noodle you can catch me sippin’ on the Dr. England (Larceny bourbon, Laird’s apple brandy, black pepper raspberry syrup, &rhubarb bitters) most other places you can see me drinking a simple gin & tonic.
What’s the craziest/weirdest drink you have ever had?
Either a smoked sidecar from Coda (which was filled with hickory smoke, literally) or The Soi Cowboy from Sabai (which was a delicious cocktail served in a bag with fish sauce & chartreuse)
When you are looking for a drink, where and who do you go see?
Really?! Too many people I go to see for certain drinks, but Justin Ayotte can make some damn delicious concoctions. Jon Wasil (Can-Can) is a very underrated amazing well balanced mixologist who should be more in the lime light!
Brandon Peck
The Roosevelt
Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
How did you get into the craft? Did you have a mentor?
I kind of started dabbling into cocktail stuff when I was behind the bar at Ipanema Café. Kendra brought in a couple books for me to flip through and take some inspiration from, most notably Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh. It wasn’t until I started working at the Roosevelt under T Leggett that I started to understand things a little better and began to hone my craft.
Is Richmond is becoming a cocktail town?
I guess so? Food and drink are the classic duo, and people are starting to trust the bars that do a good job to have balanced cocktails. It’s a luxury, like craft beer and great wine, and I think a lot of people are again discovering how nice it can be to enjoy artfully crafted drinks of all kinds with their meals.
With New Years coming up, do you have a NYE Cocktail?
I’ll be working when the clock strikes twelve, so I doubt I’ll be partaking until much later. I think I’ll probably ring in the new year with a Beefeater martini.
What would we catch you drinking at the bar?
I’m pretty easy to please. Put a hoppy beer, a martini, daiquiri or negroni in my hand and I’ll be plenty happy.
What’s the craziest/weirdest drink you have ever had?
I had pretty cool drink at Portland Cocktail Week during a class on inventive drinks and garnishes. Ricky Gomez prepared a rum and coffee cocktail, served in a small cup, positioned inside a larger cup with dry ice lapsang souchong tea and coffee beans. After serving the class they came around with a tea pot and poured water over the beans, which activated the dry ice and the aroma from the tea was instantly right in your face. It was really cool.
When you are looking for a drink, where and who do you go see?
I usually stick to Metzger to see Kjell and Pete, Saison to visit Sarah, Justin and Max, or Heritage to see Mattias and Tim. RIP Portrait House.
Sean Paul Rapoza
Belle & James
Thursdays and Saturdays
How did you get into the craft? Did you have a mentor?
Working behind the bar for years at the Tobacco Company made me appreciate a finely crafted cocktail.
Is Richmond is becoming a cocktail town?
It already is.
With New Years coming up, do you have a NYE Cocktail?
Champagne! If you must, vodka is always festive. I would serve an upside-down vodka Gibson with a spoonful of onion brine.
What would we catch you drinking at the bar?
Fernet Branca
What’s the craziest/weirdest drink you have ever had?
Elisir novosalus. It tastes like chewing on aspirin and it never ends.
When you are looking for a drink, where and who do you go see?
I’ll hit up Mattias at Heritage for a killer old fashioned.
Bong Hyun An
Balliceaux
Thursday and Friday
Kuba Kuba in the Fan during the week.
How did you get into the craft? Did you have a mentor?
I got a couple bar backing shifts a month or so after Balliceaux opened up. I was at VCU at the time and was working pretty low paying kitchen jobs so it helped pay the bills and I slowly picked up it up. Fast forward a bit, I was promoted and I haven’t looked back since.
Sean Rapoza is definitely a mentor as well as one of my best friends. I attribute the majority of what I’ve learned and my interest in the service industry in general to his guidance. We also worked together for years so you tend to pick up mannerisms when you are behind a busy bar with someone for years.
Is Richmond is becoming a cocktail town?
I think I started working behind a bar right when craft cocktails were becoming a big thing. It’s definitely blown up over the years from a couple cocktail bars to almost every restaurant offering a specialty cocktail menu.
With New Years coming up, do you have a NYE Cocktail?
I am actually off this New Year’s Eve to spend time with my girlfriend and puppy dog, Bowie, however Scott Sliauzis and the amazing crew at balliceaux will have you covered. But me personally this year? I see myself with carry out from Lemon Indian Cuisine on Broad street for dinner and a friends house for PBRs, Fernet, and maybe a nice bottle of champagne to cap the night off.
What would we catch you drinking at the bar?
It depends on the situation. Date night I start off with a nice negroni or house specialty cocktail before dinner and for dinner a nice glass or two of red. Wines have definitely been my new go to.
What’s the craziest/weirdest drink you have ever had?
Probably Louis xiii with my dad and some of his buddies at a guys’ poker night. I was astonished to even see a bottle and much more seeing my dad’s buddies adding a splash of Coke to it. I drank mine with a little ice as did my dad. We’re not hooligans.
When you are looking for a drink, where and who do you go see?
To be honest with you, there are only a few people I trust with my cocktails. I am very knit picky with my drinks. T over at the Roosevelt, Mattius at Heritage, and of course my brother from another mother Sean at Belle & James.
Jason K. Lough
Sabai, I’m there everyday except Sunday’s and Monday’s but we’re always open.
How did you get into the craft? Did you have a mentor?
I got my first bar gig by accident. When I got out of the military I used my GI Bill to go to culinary school and was working at this super cool seventy five seat restaurant in Norfolk called Crackers and for some reason I just clicked with their long time bar manager Steve Scott. He was(is) an absolutely crazy motherfucker who saw something in me and with in a year I was working along side of him at the bar. He taught me everything about how to set a vibe, how to make a party happen, how to entertain, talk to people, how not to take things personally, how to handle my booze, all the tricks of the trade and everything that comes along with it. I owe everything to him for changing my course.
A few years later I was hired to train under Katie Nelson at Rappahannock. At the time I was broke, just had my second child, and my marriage was dissolving in front of my face. I couldn’t find a reliable bartending gig and was over the Richmond bar scene, so throwing myself into what she had to teach me saved my life. She gave me a second chance. I owe my love to the craft of cocktails to her. I can’t imagine where I’d be without all the people that have picked me up and helped me reach my potential. It’s crazy.
Is Richmond is becoming a cocktail town?
RVA is more and more a cocktail town everyday. Just a couple years ago there would have been no way for me to have opened Sabai to such a great success. Plus, watching every other bartender in town jumping on the craft cocktail movement bandwagon shows where it’s going around here. I really think that Richmond has its own craft cocktail identity and I just hope it continues to represent who we are as a city and not representing what everyone is reading in booze magazines and cocktail blog posts.
With New Years coming up, do you have a NYE Cocktail?
A New Years cocktail should be something ballin’. I really like a nice Appleton 21 year 50/50 Carpano Antica Manhattan with good ol’ Angostura and a lemon twist. It’s rich, pretty, easy. Like the perfect woman. That’s a definite ball dropper.
What would we catch you drinking at the bar?
Normally what I drink depends on the mood but I can always go for a funky over proof rum or an Islay scotch neat but it depends on the setting. A can of beer and McKenna usually satisfies the tiger in me.
What’s the craziest/weirdest drink you have ever had?
The craziest drink I’ve ever had? I dunno. I’ve experimented with pretty much the strangest combos and eventually the novelty becomes normal. Right now I like Saint James Rum, Oloroso sherry, and soda with a twist of lemon. I guess that could be crazy for some. It’s just yummy to me.
When you are looking for a drink, where and who do you go see?
When I’m looking for a drink I have a few people that never steer me wrong. Paul Kirk at Rappahannock is the shit. He’s young and hungry. Everything he makes me is legit. I also love David Thomas from Green Leaf pool Room and Justin Ayote from Saison and Marc Price from Banditos. All are different styles but they are so good at bartending! It makes me happy to watch them work!
