When you have a cocktail craving you could rate a gin and tonic , or you could order a cocktail that pair gin with fresh herbs , other hard liquor , and fruit . Charlotte is dwelling house to some incredible libation artists who can readily wield these alternative or anything in between .
From bars to hotel and brewery to restaurants , the bartenders and mixologist in Charlotte are get better every year . While there are numerous worthy competitor for our first Bartender of the Year award , Colleen Hughes stands out from the pack . She handle not one , not two , not three , butfourcocktail programs for four distinctively different restaurants , two of which opened this yr .
Hughes is the barkeeper atCrepe Cellar Kitchen & Pub , and customizes the cocktail programs there as well as atGrowlers Pourhouse , Sea Level NC , and the presently - to - openHaberdish . Each cocktail bill of fare must reflect the various concepts of each eatery .
Colleen Hughes|Courtesy of Crepe Cellar
“ She ’s a cocktail curator , ” said Jeff Tonidandel , co - owner of all four restaurants . “ She adds to the vision of our restaurants and empathize what we are sample to do . ”
A chance encounter creates a career
Hughes has exploit in the food and beverage industry for 15 years , help everything from coffee tree to beer and wine . But Hughes would n’t get into the craft cocktail view until a luck order of magnitude at an Atlanta barroom four and a one-half days ago set her on a new career itinerary .
“ I run to my first craft cocktail saloon in Atlanta and it was the first clock time I had ever tasted swallow that were complex and beautiful or knew that mixology was a matter , ” said Hughes . “ Before that [ misstep ] I was drinking over - sweetened vodka cocktails or whisky gingers . My melodic theme of a fancy cocktail was a flavored martini , which is chilling to believe about now . That experience opened my eyes and I was hooked . ”
When she came back to Charlotte , Hughes and boyfriend James Murphy ( who ’s presently the bar manager atAbari Game Bar ) started purchasing cocktail books and doing their good to figure out how to make trade cocktail .
Crepe Cellar Kitchen and Pub
“ I had never seen Old Tom Gin before , and so many of the liqueur were so unfamiliar but we keep working on them . The big transition of how to create [ and ] balance cocktail with fresh juice … and easy I started create my own recipe , ” she enunciate .
Developing cocktail culture, one drink at a time
Hughes began working with Tonidandel six age ago when he first opened restaurant / bar Growlers Pourhouse , which focuses on slyness beer and was one of the first establishment in Charlotte to offer cocktail on draft . While Tonidandel was the first soul in Charlotte to be acertified cicerone , Hughes center on quality craft cocktails . She commence with beer cocktails and then created more elysian libation .
“ At that time , there were no cocktail bar to really go to in Charlotte . So like a few other craft barkeep in this city , it was very much self - pedagogy and learning through experimentation , ” Hughes say of her experience becoming a cocktail connoisseur . “ I have always enjoy manipulate and coming up with recipe in my home and craft cocktail creating was just another file name extension of that . ”
Tonidandel added that Hughes dispute herself and her co-worker . “ She has demand the reigns of our programs with her passion about quality cocktails , her love of learning her trade , and her forward - thinking . ”
Oyster Shooter|Sea Level NC
This forward - thought carried over when Tonidandel opened Crepe Cellar and task Hughes with produce the cocktail bill of fare . At Crepe Cellar , one ofthe good escort spots in Charlotte , Hughes was able to create more complicated cocktails . Hughes wrote her first cocktail list at Crepe Cellar around 2012 - 2013 . While she key those former drink as unproblematic , Edgar Guest still bespeak them today .
“ She does a great line with seasonality of ingredients and is incredibly attentive , ” said Tonidandel . “ She does her enquiry and preparation , and this give up our customers to have a singular experience every time they arrive in . ”
Hughes consider that “ the sky ’s the limit ” if Charlotte cover craft cocktails the way it has sweep up craft beer .
Pushing the limits
sooner this twelvemonth , Sea Level NC open in Uptown , marking the return of a seafood eating house to Center City . Oysters are a handsome part of the menu , and Hughes designed cocktail focused around bringing out the flavors of the oyster . Oysters paired with whisky ? You got it . How about an huitre taw ? Hughes has that too . She even created an huitre taw with Champagne and caviar . Hughes is never afraid to recreate with pairings .
Hughes is presently customizing a cocktail menu that will compliment the Southern - inspired food at Haberdish – a shortly - to - open , pre - Prohibition - focused eatery with a chemist’s / apothecary flavor . Be on the lookout for spherical icing cube encasing citrous fruit and edible flowers in their center ; with these cubes , Hughes direct to make your swallow pretty and interesting . to boot , her deep-fried chicken and bourbon coupling will alter the way you see fried food .
“ Over the next few years I want to keep refining my skills and to encourage and elevate the natural endowment that works within our eatery group , ” said Hughes . “ I desire guest to feel like , no matter who is at our bars making their drinks , that the drinks are get going to be awing . We have the best bartenders and for me , I hope I never stop study . ”
Colleen Hughes strive to advertise the limit of cocktail culture , while still keep in judgement that cocktail should be delicious . Her drink are packed with flavor , guardianship , and attention – she has also made ice cubes interesting , for shout out loud . It is because of all of this and more that we lift a ( well - ice ) methamphetamine hydrochloride to the 2016 Charlotte Bartender of the Year .
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