Interview: bartender Ivy Mix (Clover Club + Speed Rack)

Bartender New York City

INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

How do you find balance in your life, considering those demands?

You know, I’m not really good at balance. Speed Rack just ended in May, and I spent the last year of my life traveling around like a crazy person, insane amounts, like waking up in the morning after I worked a shift until 3 a.m., waking up at 10:30 and having 65 e-mails on my phone from corporate offices that got there at 9 a.m. So I’m, right now, trying to figure out what balance even is. Usually, I’m just a person that likes to burn the candle at both ends. I’m most comfortable in that state, and oddly enough, the burn the candle at both ends is how I find balance. And I’m trying to find real balance, a relaxation balance. But I guess as far as trying to find it, being in my studio, I’m completely alone, I’m completely isolated, and I don’t have to deal with anyone. I also have an identical twin sister. I’m around people a lot. I know how to deal with stuff a lot that’s not just my own life, so when I’m in my studio, that’s balance for me. It’s just, by myself, seeing stuff that for better or worse, nobody’s ever going to see, and that’s it.

You said you developed your personal style at Fort Defiance. What does a cocktail have to be for you to serve it?

I work right now at a few different places. I work at Clover Club. You have to make sure your quarter-ounce is exactly a quarter-ounce, not two-thirds, not one-third, a quarter, right there. And it’s great, it’s just very meticulous, with jiggering and smooth and straight and beautiful. We have to go through critiquing sessions before a drink ever gets on a menu. It’s intense. I also work at a place in SoHo every now and again called Mother’s Ruin, which is really free and very, “We’re going to make it and put it out.” It’s very fast, very high volume. It’s a tiny little room, but you just get weeded. It’s insane in there. So I have two different ways of working, but the end product has to be the same. It’s beautiful aesthetically and it tastes good. That’s what it needs to be. It needs to taste pretty and look pretty. At the end of the day, I’m trying to find that balance of what that means, is the tricky thing. Maybe it’s my artistic background, but people need to pay attention to how their cocktails look. Put that, for the record. I think a cocktail needs to look pretty. You need to look at it, like all these Japanese bartenders, they pay attention to that. Their whole philosophy of the way you walk into a bar, the way you pour a bottle, the way you make things look, is so spot on. I wish people did that more in this country. Make the whole ambiance something. There are two many people who have their noses in their jiggers, all across this country. “Well, what do you think of the difference between these 18 styles of absinthe?” They can talk for hours, and I like that, but there’s this whole ambiance people should pay attention to, or make their drink look beautiful. If it tastes good, great. Our job is primarily to make things taste really good, but why not make that lemon twist look pretty, rather than having this upside down floating boat at the bottom of your glass? Why not twist it, make it look pretty, put it out? That’s why I’m excited about tonight, doing Tiki, making everything look pretty, so I bought some flowers. It will be good.

As far as naming cocktails, what’s your basic approach?

That’s one of the hardest things in the whole world. I have a twin sister who is a genius. She just looks at something and can thing of a cocktail name on the spot. She didn’t think of any of mine today. I actually think that mine are some of the best cocktail names that I’ve thought of yet. Half of them are renditions of stuff, but I’ve got one drink on the menu tonight called the Zombiance, which is genius. Zombiance is a great name for a drink, and I’m going to steal it again for other things.

From yourself?

Yeah, exactly, still it from myself. Usually, I get my cocktail names from my sister, because she’s really good at it. She just thinks them up. She’s not a bartender, she just happens to know how to think of names. I also could never name my art pieces, which may be the same thing. It’s just titling something. I have a list on my phone, on my Notes section of my iPhone, a thing called Cocktail Names, and sometimes someone will just say something and I’ll write it down immediately. I’ll use that name later on. I’ll make a drink and, “Is this a good drink for…Yeah, that’s good.” If I’m doing a drink that has a conceptual background, then I’ll usually do something based on that. If I’m using a drink that has sotol and bourbon – which would be weird – I’ll do some sort of reference of Chihuahua and Kentucky and try to do some sort of name based on that. I usually write them down, but lots of times the names just come from the drink I’m making. There’s a drink I’m doing tonight called the Hotel Atlantico, which is a rendition on the Hotel Nacional. It’s a riff on that but with Atlantico rum.

Who’s somebody you’ve never worked with behind the bar that you’d really like to work with?

That’s a good question. Well, Phil Ward, because I worked with him for a long time and never got to work behind his bar. One of these days I’d like to actually get behind a bar with Phil and be like, “What’s up?” We’re friends, so I’d like to go back there and be like, “Let’s do some shots, Phil. Let’s have a margarita.” Phil’s one. Lots of people are my friends, I’ve just never worked with them before. I’d love to work with Dushan [Zaric] at E.O. He’s one of these people – I’m very big about philosophy and the way you think about the job – his whole approach to working with the masses – Employees Only is an insane bar, insane volume, and he’s got a philosophy, go with the flow. He’s got a whole way of working I really respect. That’s something I’m now much more interested in, rather than how someone makes their Manhattan. I’m more interested in how they deal with the masses, how they do this job day-to-day and get through it. That, to me, is really interesting. So Dushan, Phil, and I’d also like to work with Jim Meehan. He’s a stellar individual that has a great philosophy on life. Obviously, these people all make delicious drinks.

Where and what do you like to drink when you’re not working?

That’s a good question. I am a Negroni drinking. I love Negronis. I order that drink the most, and then I just drink a lot of booze. I’d drink mezcal at any hour of the day. It’s what got me into this business, it’s what keeps me here. I love it. It’s like water of the gods. And I’m actually kind of an old woman, because honestly, I’m surrounded by cocktails so much, I usually don’t drink them. But if I go out to drink cocktails, that means I’m going to go to my friend’s cocktail bar and drink one of their drinks. It’s probably going to have tequila or mezcal in it, generally that’s what I’m attracted to on a menu. But I also said I’m an old woman, so I drink a lot of sherry. I drink a lot of vermouth. I drink a lot of fortified wines, in general. That’s pretty much all I drink when I go out. I’ll just drink a bottle of sherry in a night and be happy, or give me a bottle of Carpano Antica on the rocks and I’d be very happy with that.

If you could only drink one more cocktail, would it be a Negroni in your glass?

Oh, God, for the rest of time, one cocktail? It might be a Negroni, but the thing about Negronis is I’m particular about the way I make them. I’m particular about the ingredients. I think Cocchi de Torino or Carpano Antica, I like a very rich vermouth. I like Campari, obviously, in my Negroni. I like Gran Classico too, but my dream – I’d have to think about the gins. There are so many different options for what goes in a Negroni, but I would say that if I could only drink one more drink for the rest of time, I picture myself on a beach for the rest of time for reason, so I’m not sure a Negroni is a beach drink. I’m going to go with Negroni though, for the rest of time.

If you couldn’t make it, who would you let make it for you?

Who would I let make my Negronis until the end of time? That’s one of the greatest questions ever. I’d have to be stuck with them until the end of time, or I could just go to them whenever I want one…I would say Jon Santer. He’s one of my very, very good friends. I would definitely like to spend to spend the rest of time with him, and he makes a fucking great Negroni.

Address: 210 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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