Thirsty? You’re in luck. In Paste’s drinking-and-traveling series, City in a Glass, we mix up a city’s signature swills and slide them down the bar to readers. Grab a stool. This round, in Phoenix, is on us.
When many people picture the desert, they think of a dry, barren landscape where cacti cling to the dirt and tumbleweeds blow across the highways. This limited perception is what makes Phoenix, Arizona, located within the Sonoran Desert, so striking: Here, life thrives. Citrus trees bear neon-colored fruit in nearly every front yard. “People don’t think of Arizona as being an agricultural state for the most part, but we have 330 days of sun,” says local barman Micah Olson. “You see quite a bit of herbs and berries and citrus in our drinks compared to a lot of other places.”
Until very recently, however, these kinds of cocktails—made with fresh juices and syrups and quality spirits—were hard to find outside of the luxury resorts that dot this part of Arizona. Local bar owner Joshua James says that because these massive resorts (stocked with spas, golf courses and gourmet restaurants) are a draw for affluent clientele from all over the country and world, they were some of the first places to be pressured into taking cocktails to the next level. “People were coming in from Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, places where cocktails were in the forefront before they were a thing in Phoenix,” James says. “These guests expected to get the same craft and style that they do in their own cities.” And because the resorts have practically unlimited budgets, their bartending jobs were incredibly lucrative. “For the longest time the resorts were the gatekeepers of good cocktails,” says local bar owner Ross Simon.
But in the past few years that fine restaurant and bar culture has been seeping out into the rest of the city, fueled by a revitalization of downtown and a broader interest in craft spirits. Cocktails made with Latin American spirits such as mezcal and pisco do well here (Arizona does, after all, share a border with Mexico), as do drinks made with citrus juices, which help cut through the heat. “Phoenix is no longer the land of just strip malls and chain restaurants,” Simon says. “When you talk about cocktail bars, you think New York and San Francisco. Now people, fortunately, are talking about getting a great cocktail in Phoenix.” On this city drinks tour, we’re going to introduce you to three great Phoenix takes on classic cocktails, show you where to find them and even how to replicate them at home.
1. Julep Noir
Where to order: Okra Cookhouse & Cocktails
Photo courtesy of Okra
At Okra Cookhouse & Cocktails, a Southern restaurant uptown, classic cocktails from the Deep South shine. One whole section of the menu is dedicated to juleps, a category of drink that is a favorite in Kentucky. “I don’t know why, but you don’t really see juleps on menus,” says co-owner and head bartender Micah Olson. “Everybody knows what a julep is, but few people have had one other than a really bad one on Derby Day. I wanted to give it a little life.”
While the most well known julep is of the mint variety—bourbon, powdered sugar, water and mint—juleps can be customized in unlimited ways. Olson’s Julep Noir is inspired by one of his favorite daiquiri recipes, the daiquiri noir, which is made with rum, simple syrup, lime juice, mint and Drambuie liqueur. Olson incorporates those ingredients in a different way for his julep, mixing rum with brown sugar, lime juice, mint, amaro and Arizona-made aromatic bitters. “This is a great introduction to the julep without diving headfirst into the boozy classic,” he says. “The pineapple rum brings a little different element and when interacting with the orange amaro, it creates a really refreshing flavor profile.”
Julep Noir
1½ oz. Plantation Stiggins’ fancy pineapple rum
½ oz. Meletti Amaro
½ oz. lime juice
½ oz. brown sugar
10 mint leaves
3 dashes AZ Bitters Lab Mi Casa bitters, for garnish
Photo by Shelby Moore-
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