Episode 075 - Cocktail Menu Development

This time around, we had the pleasure of speaking with Hakim Hamid, who’s the beverage director of a really excellent speakeasy-style cocktail bar called “Nocturne” here in DC. We spoke about a new, globe-trotting menu he’s recently developed, really taking our time to explore that process. So whether you’re contemplating creating a menu for an event you’re hosting at your home, or if you’re just curious to peer behind the curtain and develop a better understanding about what it takes to develop a spectacular menu, this episode is for you.

Some of the topics we cover in this really fun conversation include:

• How to think about the difference between bartenders, mixologists, and beverage directors, and how Hakim’s curiosity and insatiable imagination propelled him into the role of “Beverage Director” at Nocturne.
• The roles that bar design, vision, and leadership all play in the execution and ultimate success or failure of a cocktail menu.
• How Hakim started this menu with a single, crucial cocktail that then led him around the world and even permeated his dreams as the menu took shape.
• The relationship between food and drinks on a cocktail menu and how to go about pairing them with balance and delight.
• How to think about guests as renewable resources, capitalizing on relationships, rather than volume and high profit margins.
• Which member of the Expendables to grab a drink with in London
• And much, much more.