drinkable reno-tahoe
SHAKE IT UP
Meet a few creative concoctionists.
WRITTEN BY HEIDI BETHEL
PHOTOS BY CHRIS HOLLOMAN
Whether on the summer shores of Lake Tahoe or the streets of Virginia City, our community hosts a variety of creative mixologists offering their take on old-time libations as well as new, innovative cocktails. Here’s your chance to meet some of the best bartenders in the area and find out just how they make some infamously delicious drinks. Also, you’ll find their cocktail recipes here and at Ediblerenotahoe.com.
Mark Nadreau
The Good Ol’ Boy
Nadreau spent his childhood in Wisconsin. His uncle gave him his first job tending bar in Florida. Nadreau later moved to South Lake Tahoe, where he served on the maiden voyage of the Tahoe Queen, the lake’s only authentic Mississippi paddlewheeler. In 1986, Nadreau was hired as a bartender at Café at Adele’s in Carson City.
“I started bartending at the ripe old age of 19,” Nadreau says. “It was the legal drinking age way back when, and it provided me an education that I’ve relied on my whole career. I’ve been here for over 26 years. I’ve stuck with it because if I’m going to be in the business, I want to work at the best. I’m blessed that they’ll still have me.”
While he’s seen many trends come and go, Nadreau swears by a few of the classics to which he’s been known to add his own special twist.
“One of my favorites is the traditional mojito … There’s nothing like the combination of rum, lime juice, and mint leaves,” he says. “And, you can’t beat a good martini. I’ve really embraced the ‘alternatinis’ and the clever things you can mix up in a shaker. I like to surprise people and keep them coming back for more.”
Mojito
(courtesy of Mark Nadreau, bartender at Café at Adele’s. Serves 1)
4 ounces rum
½ ounce lime juice
12 fresh mint leaves
3 ounces sweet-and-sour mix
2 ounces lemon-lime soda
In a shaker, add rum, lime juice, and mint; muddle together. Add ice and sweet-and-sour mix. Shake and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Add lemon-lime soda while pouring shaken mixture into glass.
Stonehouse Martini
(courtesy of Mark Nadreau, bartender at Café at Adele’s. Serves 1)
3 ounces Absolut ruby red grapefruit vodka
½ ounce Cointreau
Splash of peach schnapps
Splash of grapefruit juice
Mix all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass.
Mocha Martini
(courtesy of Mark Nadreau, bartender at Café at Adele’s. Serves 1)
3 ounces espresso vodka
1 ounce Marie Brizard Chocolat Royal Liqueur
Drop cream
Mix all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass.
Nicole Barker
The Innovator
When she was just 15 years old, Nicole Barker joined the food and beverage service industry. Little did she know that, a decade later, she’d revolutionize the bar scene in Northern Nevada. After spending some time in the kitchen, running cocktails as a waitress and learning the trade in Sacramento, Barker found herself launching the new Cin Cin Bar & Lounge at Eldorado Hotel Casino in Reno.
“We opened the doors five years ago with an artisan concept,” Barker explains. “I developed a mentality where everything is fresh from scratch. If you order an apple martini, it comes with real apples. There’s no set menu. Everything is based on timing and season.”
This award-winning mixologist was the founding member of the Reno chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild. You may have seen her compete in several competitions, including the recent Don Q Rum Launch National Mixology Challenge, where she won the Reno match and went on to place in the top five in The Manhattan Cocktail Classic in New York City.
“The whole time I was competing, people were surprised that I was from Reno,” Barker says. “This is why I love this town. It’s given me so many unexpected opportunities.
“It’s not just bartending, it’s not just competitions; it’s a network, a family that has changed my life forever.”
Door of Prophecies
(courtesy of Nicole Barker, bartender at Cin Cin. Serves 1)
1½ ounces Death’s Door Gin
½ ounce Yellow Chartreuse
½ ounce lemon juice
¾ ounce simple syrup
¾ ounce grapefruit juice
1 snap pea, muddled
Mix all ingredients together in a mixing glass with ice, shake, and strain into a tall glass over fresh ice. Garnish with snap pea.
Penny Lane
(courtesy of Nicole Barker, bartender at Cin Cin. Serves 1)
3 slices cucumber
3 green grapes, halved
2 slices lemon
½ ounce honey syrup
½ ounce St.-Germain elderflower liqueur
4 ounces prosecco
Fill a wine glass with ice, add all ingredients, and stir. Garnish with mint sprig.
Chivalry
(courtesy of Nicole Barker, bartender at Cin Cin. Serves 1)
1½ ounces Plymouth Gin
½ ounce lime juice
½ ounce honey syrup
3 slices cucumber, muddled
¾ ounce honeydew juice
½ ounce soda water
Add gin, lime, honey syrup, and cucumber in a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain into a tall glass over fresh ice. Top with honeydew juice and soda water. Garnish with cucumber spear.
Jake Spero
The Wordsmith
Hear ye, hear ye! Allow us to introduce Sir Jake Spero, bartender extraordinaire who also hath much talent with the written word …
But seriously, this man is a double threat. He can pour a mean cocktail and write about it, too. After he earned his bachelor’s degree in English literature, he made the trek west from New York in search of bigger mountains. In 2002, he moved to Lake Tahoe, and now you can find him at PlumpJack Café in Squaw Valley mixing specialties ranging from Bloody Marys to pisco cocktails.
“Wait a second, what is a pisco?” you ask. According to the Discover Pisco website, it is “a distilled spirit ‘aguardiente’ (which means ‘fire water’) made from grapes and is currently the enduring national drink of Peru and Chile.” Spero makes annual trips to Peru with his wife, a native Peruvian, and spends plenty of time talking to bartenders there about their trade. He predicts that pisco will debut on the bar scene across the U.S. this summer.
“I consider myself something of a pisco expert,” Spero explains. “I travel to Peru every year and have been studying the production of the spirit, along with observing the mixology scene in Lima. I’ve been pouring a lot of pisco at PlumpJack … pisco sours, chilcanos, and more.”
For details about pisco and other concoctions, visit Spero’s blog at www.Takeanicesip.com.
Chilcano
(courtesy of Jake Spero, bartender at PlumpJack Café. Serves 1)
2 ounces pisco
½ ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
4 ounces ginger ale
Dash bitters
Fill a tall glass with ice. Add pisco and lime juice, fill with ginger ale, and add bitters. Garnish with a lime wheel.
Smokey Dog Martini
(courtesy of Jake Spero, bartender at PlumpJack Café. Serves 1)
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce fresh-squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice
1 ounce simple syrup
In a mixing glass, add vodka, grapefruit juice, and simple syrup. Add ice, shake, and strain into a martini glass rimmed with smoked sea salt.
Southern Bloody Mary
(courtesy of Jake Spero, bartender at PlumpJack Café. Serves 1)
1½ ounces Tito’s Handmade Vodka
Dash each: Green Tabasco, Red Tabasco, Pickapeppa sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and molasses
Pinch each onion powder and garlic powder
½ ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon steak demi sauce (reduced juice from a cooked steak)
4 ounces tomato juice
Splash of Guinness Draught
In a mixing glass, add vodka, all sauces and spices, lime juice, and steak demi sauce. Add ice and tomato juice, shake, and strain into an ice-filled pint glass. Top with a splash of Guinness Draught. Garnish with olives, a lime wheel, and pickled okra.
Sue Pursel
The Dog Lover
You might say that Sue Pursel, owner and resident bartender at Virginia City’s Red Dog Saloon, has let her bar go to the dogs. With signature drinks such as the Barking-dog-arita and Liquid Stray Dog, Pursel strives to incorporate the canine theme into all that she does. She even brings her friendly 100-pound Rottweiler, Ruby the Red Dog, to work every day.
“She’s the most photographed dog in this town,” Pursel says. “And, she fits right in with what we do.”
Four years ago, Pursel purchased the Red Dog Saloon, where she taught herself the art of bartending.
“Starting a new business, you’re working your tail off, trying to do a little of everything. I was drawn to bartending and the interaction with customers,” she says.
When it comes to her favorite drinks to serve, Pursel refers to the rich Comstock roots embodying the area.
“We don’t do a lot of foo-foo drinks, and I can’t remember the last time I broke out the blender,” she says. “I pour a lot of whiskey and have embraced the unique history and spunkiness of the area. No matter who comes in, we make sure they have a howling-good time.”
Barking-dog-arita
(courtesy of Sue Pursel, bartender/owner of Red Dog Saloon. Serves 1)
1 ounce Patrón Silver Tequila
1 ounce Patrón Citronge
1 ounce orange juice
1 ounce sweet-and-sour mix
Add all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain into salt-rimmed glass. Garnish with lime.
Frozen Mudslide Pudding Shots
(courtesy of Sue Pursel, bartender/owner of Red Dog Saloon. Makes 12 to 18 servings)
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 cup milk
3 ounces Irish Cream liqueur
3 ounces Kahlua coffee liqueur
8 ounces Cool Whip
Combine pudding mix and milk. Whisk until blended. Mix in liqueurs. Fold in Cool Whip and mix thoroughly. Transfer mixture into a gallon-sized Ziploc® bag, snip off corner, and pipe into individual cups. Cover and freeze until set.
Liquid Stray Dog
(courtesy of Sue Pursel, bartender/owner of Red Dog Saloon. Serves 1)
2 ounces orange juice
2 ounces lemon-lime soda
Splash grenadine
½ ounce Southern Comfort
½ ounce Amaretto
Pour lemon-lime soda, orange juice, and grenadine into a highball glass. Pour Southern Comfort and Amaretto into shot glass. Drop the shot into the soda mixture and shoot it!
Boyd Allen
The Jet-setting Cookster
When Boyd Allen enrolled in a New York culinary school, he never imagined he’d use his skills from the kitchen to invent creative concoctions behind The Zephyr Bar & Lounge — newly renamed The Z Bar — in Reno. In the late 1980s, Allen was working at a high-end restaurant in The Big Apple, where it just wasn’t clicking for him. Then, he got a taste for bartending and has been hooked ever since.
“When I started applying my craft, I found that cocktails are a lot like food. It’s all about the balance,” he says.
Allen began his journey as a traveling bartender.
“I spent summers in New England and winters in Miami. I’ve always been excited about the possibility of finding new, local drink ideas and changing the perception of the cocktail wherever I go.”
This is exactly what Allen is doing in Reno. He’s recently revamped the menu at The Z Bar to include ingredients from local farms and the Great Basin Community Food Co-op in Reno.
“We take a 100 percent culinary approach to all of the cocktails at the bar. We make butters and reductions from scratch, use a variety of homemade syrups made from non-refined sugars, and celebrate the base spirit by complementing it with the purity of local produce,” he explains.
Tomato and Basil Cocktail
(courtesy of Boyd Allen, bartender at The Z Bar. Serves 1)
1 cherry tomato, muddled
2 medium basil leaves, muddled
Pinch pink sea salt
1½ ounces vodka
¾ ounce Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
1½ ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice
¾ ounce simple syrup
In a mixing glass, combine all ingredients with ice, shake, then strain into coupe glass. Garnish with a basil leaf.
Dubz Sapphire
(courtesy of Boyd Allen, bartender at The Z Bar. Serves 1)
1½ ounces Sapphire Gin
½ ounce St.-Germain elderflower liqueur
½ ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 ounces fresh-squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice
¼ ounce Velvet Falernum Liqueur
In a mixing glass, combine all ingredients with ice, shake, then strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with grapefruit rind.
Mexican Harvest
(courtesy of Boyd Allen, bartender at The Z Bar. Serves 1)
1 ounce pumpkin butter (see recipe below)
1½ ounces Cazadores Repo Tequila
1½ ounces fresh-squeezed lime juice
½ ounce Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur
In a mixing glass, combine all ingredients with ice. Shake hard until butter is broken down and creamy. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with lime zest.
Pumpkin Butter (for Mexican Harvest recipe)
1 small pumpkin, cut into thick slices
Pinch sea salt and coarse black pepper
2 apples, juiced
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1½ cups turbinado sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Rub pumpkin slices with salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees F for 35 minutes, until soft. Combine all other ingredients in a saucepan and cook on low until syrup is formed. Slowly stir in pumpkin and mix until smooth. Spoon into a container, cover, and chill for one hour.
Raspberry Cucumber Cooler
(courtesy of Boyd Allen, bartender at The Z Bar. Serves 1)
4 fresh raspberries, muddled
2 tablespoons fresh cucumber, muddled
Sprig of baby mint, muddled
2 ounces vodka
1½ ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice
½ ounce Demerara simple syrup (see recipe below)
In a mixing glass, muddle the raspberries, cucumber, and baby mint. Add the other ingredients, shake, then strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with three raspberries and three sliced cucumbers with sprig of mint.
For Demarara simple syrup:
Bring 1 cup water to a boil. Add 1 cup Demerara sugar into the boiling water, stirring constantly. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the pan from heat. Allow to cool completely and thicken.
While earning her bachelor’s degree in journalism, Heidi Bethel was known to make a mean margarita while she bartended at a few local hot spots. To this day, she still mixes fun drink recipes during summer gatherings, and she cannot wait to try a few from the area’s favorite mixologists.
Visit these creative concoctionists at:
Café at Adele’s
1112 N. Carson St., Carson City, http://www.adelesrestaurantandlounge.com
Cin Cin Bar & Lounge at Eldorado Hotel Casino
345 N. Virginia St., Reno, http://www.eldoradoreno.com/reno-bars/cin-cin/
PlumpJack Café
1920 Squaw Valley Road, Squaw Valley, http://www.plumpjacksquawvalleyinn.com/dine/lake-tahoe-dining
Red Dog Saloon
76 N. C St., Virginia City, http://www.reddogvc.com
The Z Bar
1074 S. Virginia St., Reno, http://www.thezephyrbar.com
