Have you ever wonder how to revamp a cocktail program or how to go about reinventing a classic cocktail? Well, in today's episode, this is exactly what you will find out with my guest, the award-winning bar director, Beau Du Bois. You recently moved to the south of California as the new bar and spear with the creative director at Puesto in San Diego. He built is 16 years career in L.A. at the Corner Door and in Napa Valley at the three Michelin star restaurant, Meadowood.
What we covered in this episode
Looking back at Beau du Bois' career, I asked him if he would build his cocktails more from the top-down or bottom up? Meaning, would he come up with an overarching flavor / theme and build the details with specific ingredients or bring individual flavors one at a time?
What drew him to mixology?
What was the motivation for creating themed cocktail menus when Beau du Bois was at Corner Door in L.A.?
How is it different to create a drink menu at a 3 Michelin Star restaurant?
Beau du Bois recently joined Puesto in San Diego. Which “road” brought him to work this Mexican restaurant?
How would Beau du Bois describe San Diego cocktail scene in comparison to Los Angeles and Napa?
Listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about designing a cocktail program, discovering his creative process, and the cocktail trends for 2020.
Link to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast http://bit.ly/Beau_du_Bois
Submitted questions from podcast listeners
How to make an old fashioned at home?So for a twist on an Old Fashioned, I would say head to the decent liquor store in your town or down the street from your house and grab some apple brandy and grab a bottle of cognac. And let's just do one ounce of each. Let's get a little bit of apple cider and we're gonna use the cider instead of water to make this simple syrup. So just equal parts there. Then just a little bit of cherry and orange bitters in there. And you've got a Thanksgiving Day in a glass right there.How to Design a Successful Drink Menu?Take your time and you want to come at it the right way.First, you look at some of their the sales reports. Then, you look at Instagram and you start correlating the things that are already working, the flavors that are already working, the types and formats that are already working. This isn't about ripping the rug out from underneath the program. It's about just taking quarter turns on the things that are already doing so well and just elevating them ever so slightly so that you don't leave those guests in the dark just because they don't like Aloe Vera or Tamarin. It's about this quarter turning that recipe and turning the volume up a little. So the customers will be like, “I like the old one, but this one is getting better”. And this is the trust. The trust that you earn from guests so that maybe they will come back in a month or two months and try that crazy cocktail at the bottom of the menu.The other side of that is looking at things that really don't work, or haven't worked historically. And in offering something new that, again, listening to the neighborhood, you feel is going to be a success or is going to start to tell a story.How to reinvent a classic cocktail?In terms of reinventing the classic cocktail, let's just go for the low hanging fruit. Let's talk about old fashioned.An old fashioned is just a combination of a base spirit, bitters, and sugar.Obviously it was historically usually made with whiskey. And at a time, when bars were just beginning to have creative menus, people would come back and say, can I have the whiskey cocktail, the old fashioned way? That's when the name was born.When you look at those building blocks of that cocktail, whiskey, sugar, bitters, and any base spirit, there's a lot of room to play there.Let's take the bourbon out. Let's put in cognac. Or let's take the bourbon out or the rye out, and let's put in tequila or let's do a split of cognac and rye.
What we covered in this episode
Looking back at Beau du Bois' career, I asked him if he would build his cocktails more from the top-down or bottom up? Meaning, would he come up with an overarching flavor / theme and build the details with specific ingredients or bring individual flavors one at a time?
What drew him to mixology?
What was the motivation for creating themed cocktail menus when Beau du Bois was at Corner Door in L.A.?
How is it different to create a drink menu at a 3 Michelin Star restaurant?
Beau du Bois recently joined Puesto in San Diego. Which “road” brought him to work this Mexican restaurant?
How would Beau du Bois describe San Diego cocktail scene in comparison to Los Angeles and Napa?
Listen to the full podcast episode to learn more about designing a cocktail program, discovering his creative process, and the cocktail trends for 2020.
Link to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast http://bit.ly/Beau_du_Bois
Submitted questions from podcast listeners
How to make an old fashioned at home?So for a twist on an Old Fashioned, I would say head to the decent liquor store in your town or down the street from your house and grab some apple brandy and grab a bottle of cognac. And let's just do one ounce of each. Let's get a little bit of apple cider and we're gonna use the cider instead of water to make this simple syrup. So just equal parts there. Then just a little bit of cherry and orange bitters in there. And you've got a Thanksgiving Day in a glass right there.How to Design a Successful Drink Menu?Take your time and you want to come at it the right way.First, you look at some of their the sales reports. Then, you look at Instagram and you start correlating the things that are already working, the flavors that are already working, the types and formats that are already working. This isn't about ripping the rug out from underneath the program. It's about just taking quarter turns on the things that are already doing so well and just elevating them ever so slightly so that you don't leave those guests in the dark just because they don't like Aloe Vera or Tamarin. It's about this quarter turning that recipe and turning the volume up a little. So the customers will be like, “I like the old one, but this one is getting better”. And this is the trust. The trust that you earn from guests so that maybe they will come back in a month or two months and try that crazy cocktail at the bottom of the menu.The other side of that is looking at things that really don't work, or haven't worked historically. And in offering something new that, again, listening to the neighborhood, you feel is going to be a success or is going to start to tell a story.How to reinvent a classic cocktail?In terms of reinventing the classic cocktail, let's just go for the low hanging fruit. Let's talk about old fashioned.An old fashioned is just a combination of a base spirit, bitters, and sugar.Obviously it was historically usually made with whiskey. And at a time, when bars were just beginning to have creative menus, people would come back and say, can I have the whiskey cocktail, the old fashioned way? That's when the name was born.When you look at those building blocks of that cocktail, whiskey, sugar, bitters, and any base spirit, there's a lot of room to play there.Let's take the bourbon out. Let's put in cognac. Or let's take the bourbon out or the rye out, and let's put in tequila or let's do a split of cognac and rye.
Activity