By Jordana Rothman and Chris Schonberger

Cocktail pioneer Dale DeGroff is fond of saying that people visit the bartender, not the bar. In that spirit, we present the men and women who make our favorite cocktail joints shine.

The talent: Frank Cisneros

Where to find him: Fridays and Saturdays at Dram (177 South 4th St between Driggs Ave and Roebling St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-486-3726, drambar.com); off and on at the Drink (228 Manhattan Ave between Grand and Maujer Sts, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-782-8463, thedrinkbrooklyn.com)

Why you’ll dig him: Stroll into Dram or the Drink, and you’ll notice a few things missing: No velvet rope. No reserved tables. No $16 drinks. As a key conspirator in the creation of both paradigm-shifting spots, Cisneros has a lot to do with that. Despite his reverence for classic tipples, the pragmatic barkeep knows that stuffy exclusivity doesn’t always help to get the party started—an instinct forged while experimenting with beakers and infusions at the divey Bushwick Country Club. He went on to solidify his skills working with Damon Boelte at Prime Meats, but now he’s found his calling: bringing great cocktails to the masses.

He says: “If you want to do bartender’s choice, that’s cool, but keep it reasonable. Don’t say, ‘I want something sweet but savory but spicy but sour…with vodka and chocolate and tuna!’ No one is that good.” 

We had the pleasure of having Frank Cisneros visit us here at New York Bartending School for a seminar On Bols Genever. He is not only a Brand Ambassador for Lucas Bols Spirits but also Mixologist/Bartender at Dram and The Drink. We had a great time and I’d highly suggest visiting him at either of the bars he works at. Find out more info below on each bar. Cheers.

Dram

This airy Williamsburg bar is New York’s first truly progressive cocktail joint—a casual mixology haven with stools to spare for drinkers of all persuasions. The lighthearted but exquisitely executed menu changes according to the whims of Dram’s precocious barkeeps. The Mighty Tux is a botanical balancing act, with crisp gin, bittersweet maraschino liqueur, and both dry and sweet vermouth lending body and depth. There are classics, too—like a beautifully integrated Sazerac—but you can also take your boozing cues from the neighborhood dudes draining $4 Porkslap ales or sipping from a smart collection of international wines. It’s this egalitarian tack that will keep the place packed—whether or not its patrons appreciate Italian bitters and Kold-Draft ice cubes.

New York City has officially established itself as a cradle of enlightened tippling, with nerd-baiting bars popping up faster than flyaways in a handlebar mustache. But this egalitarian drinkery has bested them all, earning your votes over haute cocktail dens (Weather Up Tribeca) and tropical boîtes (Lani Kai, Painkiller). Credit owner Thomas Chadwick and barkeeps like Frank Cisneros, whose meticulous hands turn out flawless drinks: classics, such as a sublimely balanced Hemingway daiquiri, and vivid original cocktails that toe the tiki line as gracefully as they deploy Italian bitters and eaux-de-vie. Huddled in a deep window seat, you marveled at colossal swizzles; at glacial ice cubes softening your rye old-fashioned’s exquisite sting. And yet for all its finesse, Dram is still a damn fun place to hang out—it has an earnest x-factor that, more than any behind-the-bar wizardry, truly makes the place crackle. 177 South 4th St between Driggs Ave and Roebling St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-486-3726, drambar.com)

Williamsburg has long been a stronghold of the old-timey fad—witness the 19th-century-style saloons crowding the neighborhood’s noisy avenues. So it’s unexpected that the area is the site of a watershed moment in the most durable arm of the retro trend: the speakeasy. The opening of Dram signals a paradigm shift in the world of thoughtful boozing: Here we have New York’s first truly progressive cocktail joint—a casual mixology haven with stools to spare for drinkers of all persuasions. It’s instantly apparent that there are no clandestine conceits at Dram: Giant windows lined with deep benches open onto the street, and while the music can be heard from a block away, it’s reggae and indie rock spilling onto the sidewalk—not ragtime. And then there’s the list of summery cocktails that changes according to the whims of Dram’s precocious barkeeps. (Full disclosure: This reviewer was recognized at the bar during our final visit.) Lighthearted but exquisitely executed, the menu is an antidote to the seriousness that defines the haute cocktail scene. Rust-colored with Angostura, the tiki-leaning Behind God’s Back gets its warm, nutty flavor from aged rum, cane syrup, pineapple, cinnamon and milky house-made orgeat (a syrup made with almonds and orange flower-water). The Mighty Tux is a botanical balancing act, with crisp gin, bittersweet maraschino liqueur, bitters, and both dry and sweet vermouth lending body and depth. There are classics, too—a beautifully integrated Sazerac; a bitter Negroni bobbing with a giant spiral of orange zest. The cocktail geeks swishing jenever at the bar share real estate with neighborhood dudes draining $4 Porkslap ales and couples sipping from a smart collection of international wines (one of Dram’s barkeeps, Frank Cisneros, is also a sommelier). It’s this egalitarian tack that will keep the place packed, whether or not its patrons appreciate Italian bitters and Kold-Draft ice cubes. And though the bar currently offers no food, its proximity to fried chicken joint Pies ’n’ Thighs makes it an easy place to while away an evening, hopping back and forth across South 4th Street. While some cocktail aesthetes may still be clinging to speakeasy culture, for the rest of us, accessible Dram is a giant step forward. 

Dram voted “Best New Cocktail Bar”

 The Drink

This maritime tavern trains its focus on the communal pleasures of punch. Frank Cisneros (Dram) is behind the nightly punch-by-the-glass specials as well as large-format bowls for groups, including the Crusade—a fruity marriage of Old Monk Indian rum, citric rooibos Earl Grey tea from South Africa and a boatload of spices. Tea-stained navigational charts on the ceiling and nautical bric-a-brac rachet up the seafaring spirit, but the prices are a draw for landlubbers as well. Even the most basic well drinks ($6) deploy quality spirits such as Rhum Barbancourt, while five wooden taps dispense pedigreed suds—like Maine’s Geary’s Pale Ale—for just $4.

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Cocktail pioneer Dale DeGroff is fond of saying that people visit the bartender, not the bar. In that spirit, we present the men and women who make our favorite cocktail joints shine.

The talent: Kenta Goto of Pegu Club- Graduate of New York Bartending School

Where to find him: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at Pegu Club (77 W Houston St between West Broadway and Wooster St) 212-473-7348 http://www.peguclub.com

Why you’ll dig him: In an industry full of inflated egos, Goto’s understated style doesn’t court attention, but his fluidity (on view at Pegu Club, where he’s been a fixture for nearly five years) is definitely deserving. Born in Tokyo, he’s a thoughtful ambassador for the Japanese cocktail tradition, drawing on its strengths (craftsmanship, hospitality) while fully embracing NYC’s boundary-pushing spirit. He’s contributed some inspired East-meets-West creations to the Pegu menu over the years—including a surprising blend of Calpis (a Japanese lactic drink), fresh cantaloupe juice and gin—and even his signature shake is a hypnotizing international hybrid.

He says: “In Tokyo, you use creativity to stay inside the box and try to make the perfect gin martini, or the perfect sidecar. Here you can use creativity to take classics and add modern twists to them.”

Pegu Club

The drinking climate has changed in the three years since Audrey Saunders (Bemelmans Bar) brought Pegu Club, the dead-serious mixology den, to Soho. Now there’s competition in the form of equally dedicated cocktail havens such as Death & Company, PDT and Clover Club that just keep opening. Though Pegu may no longer be cutting-edge, it’s still the gold standard for some of the city’s finest, most thoughtful elixirs. With its imperial East Asian ornamentation, stylish-yet-warm modern furnishings and mannerly approach to tippling (leave your shot-and-a-beer tendencies at the door), it’s where New Yorkers go to pretend they’re in a Kipling story, but with better drinks. The name is an obscure reference to a late-19th-century British officers’ club in Burma—snooty, sure, but prototypical of the colonial aesthetic that many of the city’s post-Pegu comers have been trying to emulate. Here, the theme ultimately works because of Saunders’s high-pedigree barkeeping skills. Nearly all the drinks are worthy of praise. The eponymous amber-tinted house cocktail—resurrected from the original club—goes down sweet, sour and smooth all at once, thanks to a balanced blend of gin, bitters, fresh lime juice and orange curaçao. Other delicacies are the Old Cuban, a faintly sour sparkling mojito made with aged rum and champagne, and the Earl Grey MarTEAni, a tipsy take on afternoon tea, with Earl Grey–infused gin and lemon juice frothed with raw egg white. The drinks are costly, and certain touches—every table comes with droppers of simple syrup, bitters and lemon and lime juices, encouraging cocktail customization—appear to attempt to justify the expense. It’s a worthy gimmick; for the sweet-disinclined, a few drops of citrus can take a drink from pleasant to perfect. And in keeping up with other top-shelf bars, last year Pegu brought on chef Phillip Kirschen-Clark (Jimmy’s No. 43) to devise a short, seasonal small-plates menu. In a pinch, the basil-heavy summer rolls ($12) and bright peekytoe crab rolls ($16) do the trick.

The Old Cuban (left) and Pegu Club cocktails

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41-19 30th Ave
Astoria, NY 11103
Neighborhood: Astoria

(718) 943-6899

New York Bartending School has worked with Black Bird’s Bar the last two years. The head bartender Anthony is a graduate of New York Bartending School and was hired after practicing there a few nights. Come bartend every Tuesday night at 7pm!

blackbirdsbar.com

6 Stone St
(between Whitehall St & Broad)
New York, NY 10004
Neighborhood: Financial District

(212) 425-1700

New York Bartending School is proud to announce our newest training bar Murphy’s Tavern. The Owner Brian Murphy attended New York Bartending School and was so impressed he decided to use our graduates for his Saturday night shift.

Come bartend every Saturday night at 7pm!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Murphys-Tavern-NYC/149734511728777

In order to better understand the world of spirits and the craft of bartending, I enrolled myself in The New York Bartending School. I figured I may as well learn from the best and New York Bartending School is well known as the top bartending school for those seeking to become a professional. With a great reputation for placing their students in some of the most successful bars and restaurants, I was diving into the deep end of the pool.

Arriving at New York Bartending School as a student was interesting as their headquarters is equipped with three bars. The room that I trained in over a two-week period had two bars facing each other with a highly ranked industry professional, Robert Yonskie, guiding his flock to a heightened understanding of the art of mixology. The only real difference between the classroom at New York Bartending School and a real bar is that the bottles were filled with colored liquid instead of the heady libations of which we are all so fond.

Owner Bryan Evans, a veteran with over 30 years of experience in the hospitality business, set out to ‘Raise the Bar’ and by what I experienced during the course of my training, he has done just that. With a comprehensive curriculum and a highly effective job placement program which includes a full-time job placement director, this is real life training and a very high level of career support. As if that’s not enough, New York Bartending School is affiliated with four working bars, so that after completion of the program, students can get additional ‘real life’ experience to give that extra bit of confidence.

New York Bartending School is the only Bartending School in New York that is an affiliated member of the Professional Bartending Schools of America. Now with three locations in Manhattan, Long Island and Fort Lauderdale, they are training the future bartenders to an extremely high standard. This, by no means is a fluff program. Students walking out the door have a very real education and are extremely well prepared for what can be a fun and lucrative profession.

http://www.metropolitanreport.com

http://dailyfoodandwine.com

 I have worked many nights that were hosted by celebrity promoters from shows such as VH1’s Daisy of Love, MTV’s Is She Really Going Out with Him? And VH1’s A Double Shot at Love.  One story that I always tell is that I was scouted out while behind the bar and offered a spot on the show Flavor of Love by cast member Trends from VH1′s I Love New York, I kindly declined at the last minute!  

I have an impressive resume when it comes to club bartending.  I really could not have done any of this without going to the New York Bartending School. Some of the places that I have worked at are The Town Tavern (now known as Three Sheets Saloon), La Linea Lounge, Whistlin’ Dixie’s Texas Tavern, Level Nightclub, NOX Nightclub, Foxy’s Gentleman’s Club, Bogart’s, El Morocco, Tropicana Nightclub, Oceans 8 Bar and Club Remix. This summer I have plans to work at a Premiere Waterfront Restaurant in the Jersey Shore. 

We caught up with Angelica for a quick Q&A:

NYBS: How long have you been bartending?

I’ve been Bartending six years now. I started right after finishing the bartending course at New York Bartending School. I got a job at local club and I’ve loved bartending ever since!

 NYBS: What is your favorite thing about bartending? 

I love the feeling I get when I’m serving a huge crowd and the DJ starts pumping club beats. You feel the base of the music and the rhythm of the crowd; it’s such an adrenaline rush. 

NYBS: If you could serve anyone (living or dead) who would it be and why? 

Marilyn Monroe or Tommy Lee. Marilyn Monroe is just so glamorous and Tommy Lee seems like the type of rock star you’d like to hang out with and do some shots.

NYBS: What is your drink of choice?

 Tequila. Always.

NYBS: What is your best piece of advice for any new bartending graduates? 

Don’t be nervous when you start going out on interviews. You have what it takes to bartend you just need to believe in yourself, the New York Bartending School definitely prepares and assists you in getting a job.

NYBS: Do you have any parting words of wisdom?

Don’t spend it all in one place!