Bartender Interview: Abigail Gullo
While in New Orleans, I had to pleasure to drop in on Abigail Gullo and have a couple of drinks. She's such a kind and fun bartender with immense talent and knowledge. Have a look at her interview below and make sure you go see her at Sobou.
Where are you from and what brought you to New Orleans? My Childhood was slightly nomadic up and down the EastCoast. Buffalo, Atlanta, Long Island,Hudson Valley, Virginia, even Dublin, Ireland for a spell. But when I left school I moved to NYC and spent most of my life there. New York before 9/11 was a vibrant city made up of passionate communities with strong traditions. I see the same in New Orleans, so naturally I always felt at home here. The history of hospitality and fine dining with classic cocktails cemented the move once I decided to become a bartender 5 years ago.
What do you love most about New Orleans? I love most a sense of celebration in every moment of life. And this region is wholly unique and has its own traditions that are fiercely protected..good cocktails being one of them! Life can be challenging, but living in New Orleans you celebrate every moment of a life well lived. Look at our funerals! We even celebrate beyond!
What are you looking forward to most in 2014? My birthday always falls during Tales of the Cocktail, so I feel like 10,000 of my closest friends from around the world help me celebrate.
How did you get involved at SoBou and what was the process like for becoming the bar Chef? I had been coming to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail for many years, first as an enthusiast and then as a professional bartender. Every year I would go early and stay a little later, falling in love with the city of New Orleans. I happen to be working in Brooklyn at a New Orleans vibe restaurant (Fort Defiance) and my boss St John Frizell encouraged me to go for the Bar Chef ad I saw on Craigslist. St John lived in New Orleans for many years and knew my style of bartending would flourish in here in a way that New York City just didn’t seem to appreciate. Learning the art of hospitality from the Commander’s Palace family just seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. I remember my first interview with Ti Martin. I was so nervous and was on my way to a Boardwalk Empire themed gala. Dressed as a flapper with all my tattoos showing I thought, “Well, this is me so I hope they like it” Thank goodness they did!!
Walk me through the process for coming up with and executing the Charbonneau Way. Us bartending nerds often covet hard to find ingredients, such as vermouths or bitters or even rums only found in other countries. Such was the case with Suze, a bitter gentian apéritif that you always asked a friend visiting france to bring back for you. I loved the bright bitter flavor and decided to use it in a drink that celebrated my mom’s side of the family and our French Canadian heritage. My mom and my grandpa traced our roots all the way back to the first Charbonneau to leave France in the 17th century, so it had to have a little Suze in it. Rye whiskey, natch being my favorite spirit and the favorite grain of those Canadians. Maple syrup because that is what my family made from the maple trees on our mountain up in the Catskills. Our sugar house, where we make the maple syrup, is on a road called Charbonneau Way. So many Charbonneaus built their log cabins on this road they changed the name of the road! Fresh thyme because that grows all along our valley floor. And Absinthe rinse to pay homage to where I am now as a “Tardy Cajun”, as my friend from Lafayette calls me. The lemon juice just ties it all together (can’t completely forget my Sicilian side, I guess). This drink has been on many menus. It is surprisingly approachable for the novice drinker, but sufficiently complex for a more nerdy cocktailian. The greatest compliment I ever got about the Charbonneau Way was from Chris Thile of the Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek. He is a cocktail enthusiast and friends with the guys from Milk & Honey. He called the Charbonneau Way my Penicillin. That means a lot to me.
Are you involved with any other bar programs or collaborations? I like to guest bartend and have been back to New York to do some special events at The Beagle and Fort Defiance, but I have totally focused on SoBou since we opened two years ago. Plus...nobody has asked.
Are you traveling anywhere this year that you’d like to share? I try to take a work educational trip every year. In the past it has been to distilleries in Ireland, Oaxaca, Kentucky and Scotland. This year I am traveling to Spain to learn more about Sherry.
What time do you usually wake up in the morning? I am usually up by 9:30. I like to go to the gym and get a little normal life in before I head to the bar. I know that sounds early for a bartender, but I was a teacher for 15 years and that is very late. It was a huge perk in my new career that I could sleep past 7am.
You see yourself as a Bar Chef. How would you define that and what separates that title from a Bartender or Mixologist? A bartender has great social skills and anticipates the needs of both his guests and his bar. He is speedy, efficient, jovial and is truly gifted in the art of hospitality. A Mixologist is proud of her cocktail history and family tree. She is knowledgeable in hundreds of classic cocktails and has the ability to create new ones based on the request of a guest. She spends hours prepping a well-curated bar and creates homemade ingredients to enhance the guest’s cocktail experience. A Bar Chef is both these things combined with the added element of working a a restaurant where the food is as important as the cocktails, and vice versa. A Bar Chef must pair the cocktails well with the food and work with the kitchen to create seasonal fresh cocktails. And while a Chef is now expected to come out and interact with the guests, (some of them even have open kitchens) a Bar Chef is always on display and expected to interact with the guests like both a Bartender and a Mixologist. I say I am the Ginger Rogers of the Restaurant. I do everything they do, but backwards and in heels.
What was your introduction to cocktails? I am the oldest of three children. But right in the middle of a whopping 42 grandchildren. I am used to taking care of the 2nd platoon of grandkids, as my beloved Grandfather Vincent called them. To get my Gramps attention was a challenge to say the least so at the age of 9, when I found out his favorite cocktail was a Manhattan, I set to becoming his own personal bartender. I would save the placemats from Diners that had awesome pictures of exotic classic drinks like the Pink Lady, the Rob Roy and the Mai Tai. When I turned of legal drinking age, I was disappointed to find out that bars didn’t really make these drinks anymore, and the ingredients were hard to find. That put my bartending career to rest…for the moment. I continued to play the amateur bartender at home and where ever I went. When I lived in Dublin for 1999-2001, I had cocktail salons in my apartment introducing all my Irish friends to Manhattans, Martini’s and Cosmos. I had my mother ship me whiskey soaked cherries from the States as even maraschino cherries were hard to find there. My travels throughout Europe did however introduce me to a wider range of spirits than we had in the USA. I found more bitters, Cuban Rum and so much Scotch just a Penny flight away on Ryan Air!
Where do you draw your inspiration from? Any mentors along the way When I returned to NYC in 2001, I found a cocktail revolution happening and started haunting the bars of Julie Reiner and Audrey Saunders. The mustaches and vests were fine, but I actively sought out female bartenders to talk about hospitality and cocktails. Seeing Erin Williams behind the bar at Pegu and Katie over at Taylor was very exciting. But how to break into this club? I entered a few cocktail contests and did well, however, it was clear that I needed more time behind an actual bar. My palette was well developed and I could create a good cocktail, but I needed to be in the heat of it and learn the other aspects of working in hospitality and I needed to actually be better versed in the classics. Back to my roots! I started picking up shifts on the weekend at my then boyfriend’s restaurant, first as a brunch server and then moving behind the bar. I started Trivia nights and entertained non-cocktail drinking Brooklynites in dive bars. I worked at the Heidelberg on the Upper East Side and learned how to properly pour a German beer while looking cute in a dirndl. I joined the USBG, kept up going to press events and posting on my cocktail blog, RyeGirl. I would pick up a few shifts here and there, but was always starting from the bottom and never was going towards the cocktail program I wanted to be at. I also saw younger, cuter bartenders getting better shifts and making more money. I had 24 year old managers throw me shade and tell my bosses I had a bad attitude when I tried to improve conditions behind the bar. It was so demoralizing at times, but it also made me strive to be better, smile through it and prove my worth as a bartender with mad skills.
Finally, someone took a chance on me. Clif Travers was bar managing a new spot in Williamsburg with cocktails by the Tippling Brothers. Clif took me under his wing and taught me our to set of a craft cocktail bar. The bar was impeccable. His advice and guidance was invaluable. I got an opportunity at Fort Defiance. I started, once again, at the bottom and worked brutal grueling brunch shifts. In such a small cocktail bar, the chances of moving beyond brunch seemed slim, even as I started winning national USBG contests at Tales of the Cocktail! My break came at the expense of someone else’s literal break…my poor friend Scott was run over by a car on his way to work. I filled in on some of his evening shifts and finally got a chance to shine and show my stuff. Working in Red Hook was a joy, but after a few years, I had a thirst to learn more. St John was House of Pegu, in the cocktail family tree. I had an opportunity for another branch when I got to work with Dan and Matt at The Beagle. Once again, given one slow shift a week, I worked to prove my worth and soaked up like a sponge the new style, House of Sasha.
What is one of your favorite cocktails made by someone else? St John Frizell makes a killer Vieux Carre. He serves it up with a twist. The way I like it.
What is one of your favorite cocktails made by you? Besides the Charbonneau Way, I am quite fond of the Micheal Collins and the Charlie Hustle. Those drinks have two of my favorite spirits, scotch and Irish whiskey, and mix them with unexpected results, refreshing light cocktails. If i have a cocktail tell, like a poker tell, it is that I use alternate sweeteners like homemade syrups, agave, honey, maple, steens, etc.. And I use fresh herbs. Rosemary, Thyme and lavender being my favorites.
Where are some of your favorite places for cocktails? Fort Defiance, Attaboy and the Dead Rabbit in NYC. French 75, Cane & Table and Bacchanal in New Orleans.
What is the most difficult cocktail ingredient to pronounce? For me and my speech impediment, Angostura. That is why I just call it Ango.
If given $100 and asked to buy all spirits/ingredients needed for a cocktail of your choosing, what would you purchase? A 8 or 9 year old Willett Rye, Carpano, Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Bitters and Luxardo Cherries. I’ll take Manhattan, sir.