Top Colorado mixologist brings World Class to the patio
Nov. 8, 2016
Colorado’s Jason Snopkoski attended 2016’s World Class Nationals in Washington, DC, melding crowd-pleasing recipes with top-shelf mixology. We sat down with him after the Nationals to find out what inspired him and how his experiences in one of Denver’s hottest new bar concepts prepared him to compete at the national level.
Breakthru: You mentioned during the competition that customers at your bar wanted crowd-pleasing cocktails that you can put out at a high volume. What are they looking for in a drink?
Jason: Here in Denver, at Avanti Food & Beverage where I work, the majority of people just want something simple and delicious. We make tons of vodka tonics, Moscow mules and stuff like that, but some guests really want to see what you can put out, something new and different. They all have to be people-pleasing and considerate to the masses though, as opposed to trying to cater that one cocktail geek that might relish it.
Breakthru: How did that experience inform your choices at the competition?
Jason: At the end of the day, in the contest, you’re only allowed to use a specific list of products and a certain amount of ingredients outside the actual spirit. Instead of trying to be overly complex, I more or less went in the direction of the style of drink I make at my place in Denver. There, we focus on great drinks that we know a large variety of people are going to love no matter what type of drink they normally gravitate towards. It's great to see someone who says they hate gin end up drinking a gin cocktail!
Breakthru: Were there any surprising things you encountered or discoveries you made or lessons you learned at World Class that you’ve taken back to your day-to-day operations behind the bar?
Jason: Events can certainly produce stuff that you can use at your establishment. There’s a few cocktails that I’ve put up for the event that you can’t necessarily use in your workplace because they may be a little too complex to pull off. So you definitely have to tweak it and make it usable for masses and in large volume and so forth. You spend a lot of time picking out flavor profiles that are going to work together, and those combinations are something that’s always going to stick with you. You try not to get too attached to any one of your cocktails but you put so much love in them they’re kind of like your children. There was a Bulleit Rye cocktail with raspberry and rosemary that I ended up being a huge fan of as well as a Scotch and banana combination that was fun. Anytime I’m developing new cocktails I always look to my previous recipes. I keep a tabulation of everything I’ve done in contest that it can be looked back upon and applied to the workplace menu.
Breakthru: What has been popular with customers this year?
Jason: Guests say “I don’t like my cocktails sweet.” I think what they’re trying to say is they want something balanced. A lot of them misinterpret that and say I don’t want sugar in my drink, but a great drink relies on that touch of sugar to make it balanced. The guests that come into our establishment gravitate toward refreshing drinks that we like to call "patio pounders", not too sour, not too sweet, but just right. Usually you can drink a couple of those so long as that all important balance is there. We have an old fashioned riff on the menu which is extremely popular year round but especially so in the winter and right now we're running a Fall Apple Whiskey Sour made with Crown Apple that the guests have been loving.
Breakthru: Given that you are so busy at your bar, turning out those “patio pounders,” how do you stay inspired to create new cocktails and recipes?
Jason: Inspiration comes from everywhere for me. Whether it’s going to the local spice shop and discovering something new that hasn’t been on the shelf there, to the other bartenders that I work with who might get excited about something. A lot of times with the restaurants that I oversee, my teammates are wanting to push the envelope and get excited about things that we're then able to collaborate or vibe of off each other with. A lot of times we just need to take their great ideas and tweak them together to make them work for that particular establishment. So whatever they’re inspired by might be something that I start thinking about. Staying in touch with the industry and seeing what the latest trends are. Traveling. New products coming out. There’s so many different ways to get inspired for me anyway.
Breakthru: Is there some oddball ingredient or flavor or something that you’re really excited about right now?
Jason: Catering to the masses is kind of a fun opportunity, and I think is the direction our industry is going in as a whole. At both the restaurant I manage in Connecticut, Mezón/Mecha, and here in Denver we got frozen drink machines which people were loving during the warmer weather so that's definitely something I’m excited about, and hot drinks for the winter to take the chill off are coming soon.
Breakthru: Is there anything you want to add?
Jason: Keep doing what you’re doing. It helps drive us. If Breakthru and Diageo weren’t as passionate about what they’re doing, then we wouldn’t have the tools to work with that allow us to do our job. We definitely appreciate that. We consider Breakthru to be our partners, as opposed to just people selling us spirits. I work super closely with my reps out here. They’re kind of part of the extended family and I just want to thank them for that.