Bartender Interview: Kirk Gibson
I had the opportunity to meet Kirk a couple of weeks back at the Death & Co Book Tour visit. He was focused and polite, making drinks for the huge Monday crowd. In our conversation, he mentioned how he got into bartending, his travels and his involvement with Proof Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup that a few of The Pinewood people collaborated on. Check out the interview below!
You’re from Georgia originally. Have you lived elsewhere and what brought you back to Atlanta? I grew up in Snellville and moved to Decatur for college. I loved it so much that I ended up staying. Decatur is a blast - you have Farm Burger, Taqueria, Leon’s, Brick Store, Victory, Paper Plane, Kimball House, Iberian Pig, and Cakes and Ale all blocks away from one another. Plus so many more restaurants that are amazing. It’s hard to explain, these places feel like restaurant heavyweights, or like they should be so intimidating, but it always feels so small and friendly. Plus my friends and family are all throughout Georgia so it’d be hard to leave.
What do you love most about Atlanta? Well everything I just mentioned would apply here. So I’ll answer what my current Atlanta love is: Jarrett Stieber’s pop-up, Eat Me Speak Me, at Gato Café in Candler Park. Holy shit [ed. Can I say that? Because I mean that.]
Not only do you bartend, but you also teach. Tell us more about what inspired that. Is that what took you to Miami recently? I’ve been involved in competitive debate for 10+ years and debated in high school and college. I love arguments, argument structure, research, and plus I’m really competitive. It seemed natural to teach it after I graduated and I love coaching almost as much as I enjoyed competing. So, yes, I get to travel the country for debate tournaments and I was in Miami for that reason, enjoying the beach during part of the ice/freezing rain/whatever it was! What are you looking forward to most in 2015? I think I’m going to finally visit New York City in October. There are so many great bars that I want to go to. The Death & Co. takeover at the Pinewood a week ago gave me the motivation to finally plan a trip.
Otherwise I’m genuinely extremely excited about Proof. The reception has been awesome and I’m super eager to keep working and hopefully get Proof into more stores soon!
What is Proof and how did the idea come about? Proof is a line of cocktail syrups that make Old Fashioneds...
(For the complete information on this topic, refer to our post on Proof Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrups)
Describe your bartending path that led to The Pinewood? Weirdly enough, I got my start thanks to a friend of mine who had come to parties I threw as an undergrad. His dad owned a nightclub and they needed some extra help over one summer so he gave them my name. It didn’t take me long to realize that I didn’t really enjoy nightclub bartending, and The Pinewood had just opened up down the street from me. I kept pestering them to give me a job as a barback. After about a year barbacking I started to get regular bartending shifts and for the last 2 years I’ve been bartending weekly at The Pinewood.
What was your introduction to cocktails? My college roommate and I tried to make fancy cocktails as undergraduates. They still consisted of pretty cheap liquor, but we got in the habit of doing everything else fresh (citrus juice, mint, other fruit, etc.). That was the start of it – once I realized that fresh was easy and tasted better than cheap beer, I was hooked.
As for my first fancy cocktails – they were at Leon’s in Decatur after a really grueling debate tournament I was working. I remember that it was a cognac and spiced pear drink served in a flute with some kind of sparkling wine. It blew my mind.
What is one of your favorite cocktails made by someone else? I have so many favorites that it’s hard to say. Lately, and this is very similar to the answer below about my favorite places for cocktails, I had the Nilsson’s Daiquiri at Kimball House (Rum, lime leaf, coconut, absinthe). Not many ingredients but oh man it was delicious.
Another one I had was a drink by Jeff Banks at The Luminary called The Underwood. It was Jefferson’s Bourbon, smoked sugar, tobacco tincture, and peach bitters. It was a part of a House of Cards themed menu and that drink was also really great.
What is one of your favorite cocktails made by you? I actually don’t think I’m great coming up with new drinks. I usually leave that to my coworker Matt Welch. That said, I was really proud of a cocktail I did for my friend’s wedding. It contained Blanco Tequila, Blanco Mezcal, Strega, Lemon, Simple, Cucumber, and several dashes of really spicy bitters on top. I thought it looked really nice in the glass and all the flavors worked really well together. I can’t wait until cucumbers are back in season so I can start making it again.
Where are some of your favorite places for cocktails (local or not)? My favorite place for cocktails is Kimball House. The folks over there treat you so well and produce consistently amazing cocktails. I’m working my way through their absinthe menu right now, but generally I look for any excuse to go.
I also love visiting Jeff Banks at The Luminary (Graft before that). He does a lot of drinks with fresh, often herbal, sodas. They’re always well balanced and I haven’t had a bad drink from him yet.
As for out of Atlanta, I had an absolutely incredible experience at Billy Sunday in Chicago last year. They have an extensive list of amari and the bartender made me a very simple, stirred rum drink with El Dorado Rum, Petrus Boonekamp L’Amaro from the 1980’s (don’t worry - I also didn’t/still don’t know what it is), and Angostura Bitters. It was the perfect drink at the time and I can’t wait to go back.
What is the most difficult cocktail ingredient to pronounce? If someone could tell me whether Nolet Gin is “No-LAY” or “No-LET” I’d be appreciative. I’ve also heard different pronunciations of Cynar. And while I’m at it, I don’t know if the “g” in Dolin Genepy is a soft or a hard g.
If given $100 and asked to buy all spirits/ingredients needed for a cocktail of your choosing, what would you purchase? Well I’m a little biased because I think grabbing a bottle of Elmer T Lee bourbon ($30) and a bottle of Proof Traditional ($20) would make an incredible Old Fashioned.
Other than that – one of my favorite classic cocktails is a Bijou. It’s equal parts gin, green chartreuse, and sweet vermouth, with a dash or two of orange bitters. I’d grab Citadelle Gin ($20), Green Chatreuse ($50), a 375mL bottle of Dolin Rouge ($12), and a bottle of Regan’s Orange Bitters ($7).