All through James Nowicki’s profession within the hospitality trade, every position contributed to his present stage of experience. Throughout highschool, he discovered the basics as a server and prepare dinner. Not lengthy after, he secured his first full-time bartending job in 2013 at The Rail Pub, Savannah, Georgia’s staple dive bar, the place he gained important information on what tending bar is.
Nowicki took that have to Alley Cat Lounge, the place he obtained an unparalleled training in basic cocktails. Then at The Alida Resort, he channeled his creativeness to create and stability cocktails. James took his craft to a different stage at The Bamboo Room at Sorry Charlie’s by including layers of complexity to his recipes. Now a well-rounded professional mixologist, Nowicki can detect new traits just like the again of his hand. On his radar? A produce-forward cocktail menu showcasing low-ABV aperitifs like vermouth, sherry, and amaro to vary the narrative and take the foot off the fuel so visitors can get pleasure from an evening out with out overdoing it. We requested James to inform us extra.
Inform us about Widespread Thread.
Widespread Thread is an creative, ingredient-driven restaurant that opened in a historic house in Savannah’s Thomas Sq. neighborhood in January 2021. We’ve shortly gained traction as a eating vacation spot for locals and guests, with accolades together with being named one of many Finest New Eating places in America by Bon Appétit in September of this 12 months.
What kind of expertise can visitors count on to have?
Widespread Thread is an overdue addition to Savannah’s higher-end meals and beverage scene. The constructing is an outdated home, and repair looks like visiting an outdated good friend’s house. Friends obtain a heat greeting and are proven to their seats by our host employees. The restaurant has 5 distinctive eating rooms and a comfy bar and lounge space.
What’s the beverage program like?
Our beverage menu is considerate, balanced, and approachable for probably the most open-minded imbibers. I’m all a couple of cocktail menu showcasing lower-ABV spirits like vermouth, fortified wine, and amaro.
Discuss to us about your new method to creating your beverage menu.
For the previous few years, there was a stronger push to create lower-ABV cocktails, zero-proof, and even cocktails made with issues aside from alcohol that provide a mildly altered state. Fortified wine, low-proof spirits, and a burgeoning trade of zero-proof spirits and distillates make it straightforward.
Inform us about mixing with Low ABV substances to create your cocktail expertise.
A great, balanced cocktail is a purposeful standalone sensory expertise. A great cocktail ought to make you need one other. The difficulty I’ve and so many different individuals have is one should cease ingesting and change to one thing else to stay composed and totally in charge of the night. Even probably the most completed drinkers can solely deal with just a few full energy Manhattans or basic Martinis earlier than issues get slightly wonky, so the treatment for that’s to create another that’s simply as good to eat. All these fantastic low-ABV choices enable visitors to get pleasure from a number of cocktails and keep in mind the tip of their meal.
Give bartenders some suggestions for making a Low-ABV cocktail menu.
Preserve it Chill: Preserve wine-based spirits within the fridge to remain recent for longer. This contains however is just not restricted to candy and dry vermouth, sherries, wine-based amaro, and so on.
Robust is Good: Use robust spirits to change and improve low-ABV cocktails as a substitute of offering the spine of the drink. Attain for spirits with quite a lot of character, like mezcal or Jamaican rum so as to add tons of nuance in only a small quantity.
Strive Swapping: Use low-ABV spirits as a substitute of high-proof ones or break up the bottom spirit measurement with a low-ABV spirit in a drink you’re already conversant in. The only and most scrumptious instance is the Martini. All that must be carried out to convey the proof down is to invert the gin to vermouth ratio (known as an inverted Martini, versus a basic Martini).
Preserve an Open Thoughts: Strive quite a lot of stuff. Aperol isn’t the one aperitif that needs to be spritzed with prosecco and soda water and glugged on the porch. This additionally means ingesting different individuals’s cocktails. The service trade capabilities greatest if you tackle the mentality a rising tide raises all ships.
