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What do you look for when you’re hiring somebody to work behind your bar?

Mostly their creative mind, the ability to think outside a box.

What’s the criteria for a cocktail that would go on the menu at Searsucker?

Searsucker’s interesting because it’s at 5th & Market in San Diego, so our average person isn’t up to trend to the rest of the cocktail community, so it has to be as accessible for somebody from Omaha and San Francisco. Being able to find a line between being happy and mass producing for 600 covers a night for people who don’t really care about what you’re doing. We make our own bitters, our own rosewater, our own grenadine, but nobody really cares. We don’t get a chance to explain what we’re doing because the restaurant’s separated from the bar. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter, as long as we’re happy with what we do.

How do you maintain motivation if that’s the case?

I have a lot of peers. In San Diego, the cocktail scene is really small, and we’re friends, but it’s also getting competitive. Personal satisfaction, I don’t disengage from it. With Searsucker, I knew going in it was going to be a Red Bull and vodka spot, and that people were going to order lemon drops and Cosmos, but I refused to put cranberry in the gun, and we still make lemon drops using fresh citrus.

What’s the most recent cocktail that you developed, and what was your inspiration?

The whole menu just changed…It’s cocktails they’re going to order regardless. With our Manhattan, it’s our twist on a Manhattan. It’s house made rose geranium water with chamomile bitters, High West silver and St. Germain, so it’s kind of a white Manhattan.

We have a rye old fashioned with local beer. It’s Bulleitt Rye with AleSmith nut brown. That’s going to be Luxardo cherries muddled with orange and housemade aromatic bitters. We play with beer cocktails a lot because we only carry San Diego beers at Searsucker. Since we opened, there’s usually a beer cocktail on there. A lot of people don’t drink brown spirits down here. It’s a lot of vodka, so we try to introduce them to brown spirits through the vessel of beer cocktails. Same thing with our other beer cocktail, which has Pisco in it.

Who are some bartenders who you really respect, who you haven’t worked with?

Scott Beattie. Other than the fact that he’s published, everything he does looks beautiful.

What’s a cocktail that you would recommend people make at home?

Southside, easy. I usually use Heyman’s [gin].

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

Honestly, just beer and wine. Usually after work we’ll go down to Prohibition.

What does the San Diego cocktail scene need to be great, if it isn’t already?

More conscious consumers.

How are you able to maintain a balance in your life?

I don’t.

If you could only fill your glass with one more cocktail, what would be in it, and how come?

Campari. I usually go fresh grapefruit, honey, gin.

Who would make it?

A topless woman.