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Would you say that you’ve had any cocktail and spirit mentors over the years?

To begin I was self-taught. I didn’t know anyone in D.C. who could teach me, so I learned a lot from books, and I hosted frequent speakeasy nights at my apartment, where I would invite a bunch of friends over, pick out a handful of cocktails to make, and basically just put a jar out for them to drop a little bit of cash into, to pay for the process. So I was very self educated to begin with, learning the classic cocktails. Then when I came to Portland, I had two mentors, Lance Mayhew, who’s now at Lincoln, and Neil Kopplin, who’s now at Beaker & Flask and making Imbue Vermouth. They were the first two who hired me.

What is it that you took away from them?

They were both the first craft bartenders I worked with. I learned a lot about spirits from them, from Neil especially, who showed me how to balance a cocktail, balance flavors. And then I’ve also been lucky to work with really great chefs. Jake Martin, Greg Denton, and now Justin See have all been very helpful, balancing flavor ideas off of them and getting techniques.

What would you like people to know you for as a bartender?

I like taking an interdisciplinary approach. I have a background as a barista, I’m really into beer, so I like making beer cocktails. I like working with ingredients that you don’t always find in other bars, and working with new techniques, and always trying to do new things.

What does a cocktail have to be if it goes on the menu here?

It has to keep my job interesting, so when I’m developing a new cocktail, I like to be featuring an ingredient that I haven’t used before, or a technique that I haven’t tried before, so that I’m always learning.

What’s your top selling cocktail here, and why do you think that’s the case?

The top selling cocktail is the Cleared For Departure. It might be the top selling because it’s the first one on the menu.

Is that like the first track on a CD?

Yeah. It’s a really interesting cocktail. It used one of our local gins, Aviation, and it has a big following here. It’s also a really cool drink. It’s a variation on an Aviation cocktail, so we make a clarified lime cordial. A normal Aviation is shaken. Ours is stirred. It’s crystal clear and gets brilliant color from Crème de Violette. It’s a very visually striking cocktail. I’ll make you one.

I think I’m more interested in your beer cocktail. I’m huge into beer too.

The beer cocktails are fun. I work with a group here called Brewing Up Cocktails, which is a local beer writer and another bar owner. It’s Ezra Johnson-Greenough, who writes a blog called The New School, and Yetta Vorobik, who owns a bar called The Hope and Vine. For two years, we’ve been putting on beer cocktail events, where we have an entire menu of beer cocktails, and we’ve done those everywhere from San Francisco to Vancouver, Canada.

Why not Los Angeles?

Maybe that’ll be next.

Grier’s Caip-beer-inha is a Caipirinha with a float of Ninkasi Total Domination IPA.

What kind of music do you like to listen to when you’re behind the bar?

My music tastes are shaped by being a barista, so I like music that chills people out while making their drinks. Iron & Wine, Shins, Beth Orton, very typical coffee shop music.

As far as writing goes, how does that fit into what you’re doing?

It’s been very difficult to keep up with writing with my two jobs, but it’s a great way to promote the bar and have my cocktails live beyond the bar. A lot of cocktails, you’ll put on the menu for a few months, then they’ll go away. If you put them on a blog, or they’re published somewhere, then they’re more likely to be created by other people, so they live beyond the bar.

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

I’m primarily a beer drinker, so I like to explore the local beer bars, especially the Horse Brass and The Hop and Vine.

If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, primarily to drink cocktails and spirits, what city would it be and how come?

I think I’d probably have to go to Tokyo, especially for the spirits in Japan. There are so many bars dedicated to single spirits. I read they have a bar dedicated just to Calvados. You can definitely tour the world of spirits in Japan right now. I think that would be fascinating.

The most recent bartender profile I posted was today, was Sam Ross from New York, and he said Tokyo too.

Oh yeah? Maybe we’ll have to go together.

Maybe so. So if you could only drink one more cocktail, what would be in the glass?

I think I’d have to go with a Rob Roy made with a really good single malt.

Any single malt in particular?

Not necessarily. I’d go to like to go out in style with a good Scotch drink.

Who would you let make it for you, if it couldn’t be you?

Probably Derek Brown in Washington, D.C. He’s a very meticulous, thoughtful bartender, and a great person to talk to.