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A shot of attitude fuels this year’s new drinks at Red Moon
• by Andrea Hellmann • Photo by Josh Monken
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If you like to spend time in bars, this is the year to do it – at least according to Red Moon, which has put a unique twist on the Chinese Year of the Boar by proclaiming 2007 the Year of the Bar and adding visually appealing, conversation-inducing drinks to its menu.
Ryan Carbery, Red Moon’s new executive chef, calls the concept his “baby.” A young chef, Carbery knows the St. Louis nightlife scene, and he wanted make Red Moon’s bar a destination. So Carbery and head bartender Hans Zarins set about creating their ideal drink menu. “We wanted to combine Red Moon’s French and Asian influences,” Zarins said. “We were looking for something nontraditional.”
Like everything at Red Moon, presentation counts for a lot in the drinks Carbery and Zarins thought up. Instead of serving them in standard barware, the two found creative glasses that add personality to each drink. This is particularly noticeable with The Volcano, one of two new cocktails designed for sharing and by far The Year of the Bar’s most visual drink. “We wanted to encourage convening and interacting with people, which is a philosophy at Red Moon,” Carbery said.
The Volcano is served in a gigantic Bundt-like dish with a hollowed-out middle, which is filled with 151-proof rum and lit on fire. Zarins said some people like to blow out the fire and pour the 151 into the cocktail to make it even stronger. But with Cointreau, gin and brandy already adding plenty of kick to the pineapple and lime juices, the Volcano was strong enough for my boyfriend and me.
Continuing the emphasis on sharing, the Godzilla-Mekong Mai Tai is served in the biggest martini glass I have ever seen. A mixture of light and dark rum, orange, mango and lime floated with grenadine on the bottom, this drink is delicious, full of alcohol and fresh fruit flavors, the result of Carbery’s dedication to using fresh ingredients in the bar as much as he does in the kitchen. Mangos, pineapples and other fresh fruits are puréed for use in the cocktails, which, according to Carbery, creates “cleanliness on the palate.”
If you’re not in the mood for sharing, the menu offers single-serving concoctions, too. A mix of Malibu rum, Pearl Le Coco vodka and pineapple juice, the Blue Buddha has a very Hawaiian flavor; blue curaçao and a white porcelain Buddha cup keep the drink true to its name. The Geisha, the lightest of the bunch, seemed to tiptoe across my taste buds like, well, a geisha, teasing me with the flavors of strawberry and lychee fruit. Zarins tries to replicate these popular Asian flavors with a mixture of Strawberry Stoli, Cointreau, peach, lime, cranberry and club soda.
The drinks are served with a side of attitude, and I have to admit it worked for me: I was tickled, for example, that the straw in the Blue Buddha came straight out of Buddha’s belly. As Carbery said, “You can get a cosmo anywhere in St. Louis. I wanted these drinks to be fun, creative and entertaining. They are definitely not the ordinary.”
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