![]() It's about the guests that are sitting at your table. When you're creating a beverage menu, it's not about you, your creativity, or how cool your drinks are. I try to develop different drinks, and different tastes, and different styles almost every day. I was like, “Oh, so you're not just making a recipe up.” He said, “There's always a formula, and if you plug in certain things this always make sense.” When I thought about it, I said, "Oh, so all those things you learned in science class, this can actually apply here?" I was like, “Okay, so why 1 ounce of lemon, and why 3/4 of this?” The answer was like, “Oh, well lemon's more tart than lime, so you need a little bit more sweetness to balance it out,” or, “This will cause more balance.” There was an actual meaning as to why certain amounts made sense. I didn't understand why certain measurements made sense and certain ones didn't. Kang: When I was learning how to make the drinks at Comme Ca with Sam Ross, I noticed that he gave a menu matrix of how certain drinks were broken down. “When you're creating a beverage menu, it's not about you, your creativity, or how cool your drinks are.” Green: How do you put together a new drink or cohesive menu? Everyone thinks now, "Anyone could be a bartender," but now people are realizing that it's not just a job anymore. You had to pass a two-year apprenticeship. Look at the history: becoming a bartender was not an easy job. I think a lot of people just think like, "Oh, you just put things together and it becomes a drink," and it really isn't. There's an actual science, and methodology, and reasoning as to why a good beverage program or drink works. Kang: I think I decided to stick with it because again not only was it fun, but there was more to it than just bartending. What factored into your decision to stick with it full time after going to college for something else? ![]() Green: Oftentimes people consider bartending as a temporary job, but it’s your career. And when I went to Comme Ça and Sam Ross mentored me. restaurants started closing, I moved to Las Vegas to open up The Cosmopolitan, and that’s where the mixology came in. It was more about fresh fruit, and making a drink more refreshing. I realized the bartending style in California was a lot different than it was on the east coast. Then, I left Philadelphia and moved to Los Angeles to work in more hotels. I went to all these wine tastings, and I was still completely bored out of my mind, but then I went to a Johnnie Walker tasting and I was like, "Liquor is way more fun." That's where it started. I was bored and my job was more fun than school. I thought I was going to be a filmmaker or a digital marketing person. I didn't know where I wanted to take the career I was in college at the time. I would go to the liquor store to find out what brands were vodka, gin, rum, and write them all down. You get behind the bar." I learned the little things, but I didn't know anything about it. My bar manager was like, “Hey, you're smart enough. One day one of the bartenders forgot to show up, and there were 300 people there for a wedding. I basically told the general manager that if he didn’t hire me then no one was going to give me the start to learn. There was an ad for a job in the newspaper and my sister and I both went to an interview. Juyoung Kang: I started in the food-and-beverage industry when I was 18 years old in Philadelphia. ![]() Juyoung Kang, the lead mixologist at Delmonico Steakhouse in Las Vegas, Nevada (Anthony Mair)
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