When you venture into the lower bar area of Tailor, past the Tolkien-inspired entrance and down the metal stairs, you’ll find yourself facing Eben Freeman, the bartender responsible for smoked Coke, bubblegum cordial and brioche-infused cachaça. Some call him the Tesla of alcoholic concoctions. Others say he’s the Reed Richards of mixology. We hope he makes an alcoholic Pop Tart.
So, what's the story behind Tailor's Absinthe Gummi Bears?
Our former co-chef was a big fan of Gummi bears and used to eat them in the kitchen all the time. Then chef Sam Mason figured out how to make a starch mold of a Gummi bear so we could put Sambuca inside. I was like, 'If you really want to pervert the idea—cause it's a perverted idea that you're putting alcohol in a child's candy—you should put a supposedly hallucinogenic alcohol into it.' So we put absinthe and a little coloring in there, and it just happens to be a brilliant collision of ideas. It's meant to be funny.
If I were your former co-chef I would have been eating Pop Tarts in the kitchen. Perfect. Along the same lines of candy-ish booze, how do you make the bubble gum cordial for your Bazooka cocktail?
So for you it would be an 'Alcoholic Pop Tart', which would be pretty easy. You just have to make the filling alcoholic—put the alcohol inside the pastry and whatever that creamy filling is. Since it's all encased, it doesn't matter if it melts or the alcohol oozes.
It's actually bubble gum vodka, but I write "cordial" on the menu because I don't want anyone to think it's a new Absolut flavor or anything. To make it, I take Double Bubble and soak it in Absolut vodka overnight.
What’s the worst cocktail you’ve ever had?
Anything that’s watered-down. I was recently in New Orleans at this restaurant, Herbsaint, where they had a drink called the "Lebanon, Kentucky," which is where Maker’s Mark is made. There was Maker’s in it, plus some kind of soda and pine nuts. I was like, “Pine nuts, fantastic!” And I’m thinking, How the hell are pine nuts gonna work in this drink? But I’m usually more forgiving of an interesting bad cocktail than a classic bad cocktail. So I went for it, and when it came out it literally tasted like watered-down Kool-Aid. And there were pine nuts in it, which I couldn’t get through my straw.
Walk me through the difference between a bartender and a mixologist.
Okay. To be a bartender you have to be able to work behind a bar, which includes making drinks and possibly serving food, keeping the place clean, maintaining a straight till and knowing about the products you’re serving. You have to be able to multi-task while you have conversations and interactions with people, which a good bartender makes seem really easy. With a mixologist, though, it’s about technology. There are tons of beverage directors, people who work for spirits companies and even amateurs who are putting flavors together to create drinks. That’s a mixologist.
Any special new drinks coming up for the fall?
I'm bringing back the Crumble, which has brown butter rum, Falernum (a clove cordial) and pear cider. It's a big fan favorite. I'm also working on something with brioche cachaça, raisin soda and cinnamon.
Brioche cachaça?
I toast the crusts of brioche until they're quite hard, then put them into the cachaça to infuse overnight and then strain out.
Sounds delicious. Ever sustain any injuries from all your cocktail experimentation?
I'm starting to get carpal tunnel from all the infusing, but no, I haven't fallen down any wells searching for rare herbs.
Additional reporting by Edith Zimmerman
Photo by Sam Horine
