What started as a gig managing the door at The Royale has now progressed to a position as one of the more historically accurate cocktail-makers in the city. He’s been a cab driver, a punk rocker, the owner of a record label and a runaway in Ireland. But what Royale bartender Robert Griffin has no experience in is bartending.
Now, this isn’t to say that he has no experience in mixing drinks (his midcentury modern cabinet’s bottle overflow extends into the pantry – and on top of the piano – and is used regularly) or that his professionalism is lacking (quite the opposite, with his patient smile and genuine consideration for his customers), but only that his perspective on the contents of a true cocktail differs uniquely from that of any seasoned barman or the overused “mixologist.”
Six months ago Griffin pitched the idea of a throwback cocktail night to Royale owner Steve Smith, and now the rest is history … cocktail history, that is.
Cocktail Museum Sundays have been taking place on, you guessed it, Sunday nights since that day, each week providing a historically accurate menu with complicated, rare and colorful drinks from the past for everyone from the car mechanic to the cosmopolitan. Using books published both pre- and post-Prohibition, Griffin composes an ornate, elaborate and often anecdotal list of anywhere from three to eight drinks that can take just as many minutes to muddle, shake and strain.
From fizzes to sours, juleps to toddies, flips to punches, Griffin tackles them all with natural ease and grace. So while the title of bartender may be applicable, a more accurate one could perhaps be “booze historian.”
Finally, a few quick facts about Griffin:
Favorite mixer – cognac
Favorite additive – bitters
Favorite liquor to mix – gin
Favorite garnish – fire
– S.C. Truckey
This article appears in Mar 1-31, 2010.