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HOTELS Interview: How glassware makes a cocktail program

Napa Valley, California, is best known for producing world-renowned wines, but earlier this year Scott Beattie joined Meadowood Napa Valley in St. Helena with a mission to create distinctive custom cocktails for weddings and events at the property. As Meadowood’s beverage director, Beattie also leads spirits education and hands-on cocktail classes for private groups.

As part of a broader story about tabletop trends for bars, HOTELS asked Beattie about his tips for choosing and maintaining the best cocktail glassware, how today’s hottest cocktail trends are impacting barware overall and the advantages and challenges of focusing on cocktails in the heart of wine country.

HOTELS: Why did you choose to take a cocktail-focused job at a property in a wine-dominant region?

 Scott Beattie: I don’t think I ever made a conscious decision to be a bartender in wine country. It would be more accurate to say I was becoming a bartender who grew increasingly more passionate about using amazing ingredients in my cocktails. This newfound love for seasonal drinks culminated with my moving to Healdsburg (California) in 2005 to start the bar program at Cyrus. I had access to two weekly farmers markets and dozens of small farms in the immediate area. I found myself in produce paradise, and this became immediately apparent in my cocktail program at Cyrus.  

After spending the next six years designing several bar programs around the Bay Area and elsewhere in the U.S., I decided I wanted to settle down to one job. My longtime friend Patrick Davila had been working at Meadowood for almost 10 years as the director of wine and cuisine. Patrick felt he needed a full-time beverage director because of an increased interest in craft cocktails coming from couples planning their weddings at Meadowood and other groups planning private leisure and corporate events.    

I signed on to Meadowood in early 2014 with the understanding that people come here primarily to enjoy our exceptional cuisine alongside the wines of Napa Valley. However, many guests and members like to have a pre-dinner libation or two, and I’m responsible for making sure these are as equally delicious and memorable. 

HOTELS: It seems there is a decent amount of focus on wine glasses, but what about the importance of appropriate glassware for a given cocktail?

Beattie: Size is probably the most important consideration when it comes to cocktail glassware. Glasses shouldn’t be too small because no one appreciates the impression of being shorted. Likewise they shouldn’t be too big as this means you’re over-pouring, over-diluting or using very inexpensive ingredients — maybe doing all three! Buy “Goldilocks” glasses that have a nice weight to them.

The importance of proper glassware for cocktails can’t be overstated. Fine glassware is essential to any fine drink program. Breakage is always a big consideration; many people argue they are forced to buy cheaper glassware because glasses break so often, but certain steps can be taken to prevent out-of-control breakage. These include covering your back bar floor completely with rubber mats so glasses bounce — not break — if they’re dropped and making sure the correct racks are available for each type of glass, not to mention having plenty of these racks. It’s also important to implement proper training practices as far as buffing goes— this is when a lot of stemware is broken. You can never completely prevent glasses from breaking, but these steps have been extremely effective for me in hindering it.

“Size is probably the most important consideration when it comes to cocktail glassware. Buy ‘Goldilocks’ glasses that have a nice weight to them.” – Scott Beattie
“Size is probably the most important consideration when it comes to cocktail glassware. Buy ‘Goldilocks’ glasses that have a nice weight to them.” – Scott Beattie

HOTELS: What do you see as some of the biggest overall cocktail trends right now, and how are they impacting the glassware used?

Beattie: Batching is definitely a big trend right now (pre-mixing shelf-stable ingredients like spirits and vermouth, bitters, tinctures, etc. to save steps). Cocktail fans want a complex and delicious drink but don’t want to wait 10 minutes for it. Batching, barrel-aging and on-tap cocktail programs have made this possible in the last few years.

It also makes training very easy if you print the now-streamlined recipes for your drinks on waterproof labels on the batch bottles themselves. Because of these efficient and easy training practices, even super casual bars that do high volume can offer great cocktails. Logically this could translate to these drinks being served in understated and less expensive glassware for certain venues.  

HOTELS: What are your predictions for upcoming trends in glassware for cocktails?

Beattie: I personally like a brown spirits glass with more weight to it. In general, I’ve never been a big fan of small, tulip-shaped vessels for drinking brown spirits. Likewise, a slightly larger version of this type of glass for spirit-driven cocktails served over big ice cubes would be nice.  

I’d also like to see someone design a copper Moscow Mule cup that has a GPS locator in it so all of us in the bar business can start getting our stolen mugs back!

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