Crafting Cocktails with a Culinary Twist at Clemente Bar | Forbes - video Dailymotion

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Nestled within the iconic Eleven Madison Park, Clemente Bar emerges as a vibrant extension of the renowned three Michelin star restaurant. Under the guidance of Beverage Director Sebastian Tollius, the bar offers a unique blend of accessibility and sophistication, focusing on craft cocktails that are as innovative as they are delightful. The bar's ethos revolves around sustainability, with a commitment to reusing ingredients from the kitchen and supporting producers they believe in. This dedication to sustainability is matched by a culinary approach to mixology, where complex flavors are built through techniques like fermentation and clarification, resulting in cocktails that are both simple in appearance and rich in taste.  Clemente Bar is not just about the drinks; it's an experience that intertwines art and hospitality. The space, adorned with whimsical and playful art by Francesco Clemente, sets the stage for a memorable visit. The cocktail menu, meticulously crafted over months of research and development, features a diverse range of drinks, including non-alcoholic options, categorized into sections like carbonated, clarified, bold, fresh, and low ABV. Each cocktail is a testament to the bar's innovative spirit, offering a nostalgic yet contemporary twist on classic flavors. At Clemente Bar, the goal is to create an inviting atmosphere where guests can enjoy exceptional cocktails and genuine connections, making it a shiny new gem in New York City's vibrant bar scene.  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

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00:0011 Madison Park has always had an incredible beverage program.

00:04We've been a three Michelin star restaurant that is focused on the entirety of the experience

00:09and the cocktails were always something that were super important to us.

00:12We're working with the kitchen, we're working with the farms, we're working with anything

00:15that we can take from the kitchen and reuse to work more sustainably.

00:18We take our jobs very seriously but not ourselves too seriously and that's kind of the beautiful

00:22balance that we have here at EMP.

00:25My name is Sebastian Tullius, the beverage director here at 11 Madison Park and beverage

00:29director at Clemente Bar.

00:32We have an incredible spirits list and people come and enjoy wine and cocktails but if you

00:36really dig deep into the spirits list you'll find many gems.

00:45It's an incredible platform to showcase producers and spirits from all around the world that

00:49we really believe in.

00:51I think our purchasing power is also our voice in the same way that we're supporting producers

00:55and products that we truly believe in by being able to showcase them on our list.

01:01My journey at 11 Madison Park has been incredibly rewarding because it's been educational the

01:05whole way throughout.

01:06Working with the chefs in the kitchen, working with the ingredients that we have access to

01:09has really allowed us to take more of a culinary approach in our cocktails where we can ferment

01:14something or we're really talking about building complexity with flavors that could be from

01:19making our own misos or clarifying our amazakis and these are things that we've really incorporated

01:25into our beverage program throughout the years and something that we're going to be

01:28featuring heavily at Clemente Bar as well.

01:34We want to create cocktails that we're excited about, that our industry is excited about,

01:38the city gets excited about.

01:40I think Clemente Bar will really allow us that opportunity to push that agenda much

01:44more as well.

01:46Creating something that's within 11 Madison Park, we wanted to create an extension of

01:49EMP.

01:50Yes, more accessible, a little more casual but at the same time we want to focus on craft

01:54cocktails.

01:55We're really focusing on the overall cocktail experience from bar bites to cocktails and

02:00being within this beautiful space that's painted by Francesco Clemente, it's going to be a

02:04truly special gem within New York City.

02:07Art's always been super important here at 11 Madison Park.

02:10We've worked with incredible artists all throughout our own space down here.

02:14Francesco Clemente's art is whimsical and playful and that's the vibe that we're going

02:18upstairs for the bar.

02:19For the cocktail program we wanted to draw inspiration from many different avenues.

02:25Looking at classics is always an amazing way to start but we've come so far from just riffs

02:30on classic at this point and we wanted to create original cocktails that really are

02:34inspired by flavors of nostalgia but also create cocktails that are slightly simple

02:40in their appearance and I think that's where we really differentiate the cocktail menu

02:44upstairs is that they read simple but the process that goes on behind them to create

02:49these complex cocktails is really all the work that we do behind the scenes to create

02:54these beautiful drinks.

02:59We started working on this menu almost eight months ago.

03:02Richie Millwater, my bar manager and I, we've been working on this for quite a long time

03:07and it's been really exciting to dive deep into R&D with him.

03:11We've created this great relationship of being able to work together and understanding ourselves

03:15that we're able to bounce back ideas from each other and I think that's where we really

03:19found the magic of creating this list.

03:22The R&D process for us was extremely exciting since we were trying new techniques, creating

03:27cocktails or a cocktail menu that's well-balanced in all styles of drinks, all spirit types

03:33including non-alcoholic cocktails too so the process for us has been really fun, super

03:38excited to showcase this opening menu and we're starting around 15 cocktails and we're

03:43looking to expand that selection as we're growing as well.

03:47We've actually classified the list between different sections, carbonated, clarified,

03:52bold, fresh, low ABV, so we're really trying to think outside of the box, you know, I mean

03:56when we're explaining the cocktails at Clemente Bar, they're only listed as foreign ingredients

04:00and I think that's the exciting part where you read foreign ingredients but when you

04:03actually taste the cocktail, you have so much more going on than just that.

04:07We really think about what we want to achieve before we even start picking up any bottles.

04:13I think having a plan of what direction we're going with the cocktail is more important

04:18than just start to pour ingredients into a tin or a mixing glass.

04:22The relationships that we build with farmers or purveyors or suppliers, you know, that

04:28all really affects the way that we look at the menu and how we approach the cocktail

04:32list too.

04:36For a lot of the menu, we were inspired by a lot of nostalgic things and this was definitely

04:40one of those cocktails that came to mind.

04:42This cocktail is called Apples to Oranges, we wanted to make a cocktail that's a little

04:45bit reminiscent of a orange cream scone.

04:47We're playing with those spice characteristics from the tequila but also using that coconut

04:52washed calvados that adds that apple and that orchard flavor to all of those other citrus

04:56flavors that play well with the cocktail as well.

04:58It's a light and refreshing agave crusher for sure.

05:03For me, a cocktail is about having a good time, you know, and it's like you can have

05:07the best drinks, the best bar food but if we're not engaging with the guests, if we're

05:10not making genuine connections, I think that's for me a loss and we want our guests to have

05:15a great time and that all comes through the staff that we hire, the way that we approach

05:19the table, the way that we create these connections with them as well.

05:22It's all about hospitality in the end of the day.

05:24Ensuring that we're really creating this memorable experience for the guests and creating this

05:29space that people want to come back to.

05:32This has been a project that we've been very excited about for over a year at this point

05:35so to be at the finish line right now is really exciting.

Crafting Cocktails with a Culinary Twist at Clemente Bar | Forbes

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