Gin, rum, some wine, vodka and tons of whiskey.
That’s what longtime cocktail-slinger Johnny Ciani (he hates the word mixology) stores in his drink-making lair. And when he shares his whiskey collection — better known as the “hey, let’s sip on something crazy” stash — guests know he really, really likes them.
“Those are the babies over there,” Ciani says, referring to the whiskies.
At-home bartenders should treat their drinks like cooks creating a dish, he says. The secret to a perfect cocktail comes down to balance. To accompany his library of liquors, Ciani keeps items like anise pods and clove, along with Luxardo cherries from Mazzaro’s on hand.
Load up with sweet and sour ingredients, but don’t forget about bitters, which Ciani calls the “salt and pepper.” Angostura is the most com- monly used variety; find more at feebrothers.com.
A foodie as much as a cocktail nut, Ciani’s been involved in the region’s food and drink scene for a while. Though he’s guest bartending (or gypsy bartending, as folks in the industry call it) at downtown St. Pete’s buzzing Station House, he’s managed a range of establishments like the now-defunct St. Pete Social and The Bricks in Ybor City. He’s also a founder of the roving Illumineati supper club.
“It’s cool to get behind somebody else’s bar and learn some of their cocktails,” Ciani says. “At the same time, their guests get to experience some things they’re maybe not used to seeing.”
Bartending competitions have helped him hone his cocktail-making chops. But he really got into making drinks in 2003 while throwing Tampa Bay Lightning playoff parties for his then- employer Lone Star Steakhouse. The restaurant chain hired him fresh outta high school, thanks in part to a tiny fib.
“I was 18 years old. I lied and said I’d bartended before,” Ciani says. “I don’t know how they didn’t put two and two together. It was so bad.”
Ciani says bar books are at-home bartending essentials. He keeps Greg Seider’s Alchemy in a Glass and the 68-year-old Bartender’s Guide by Trader Vic near his bitters.
He recommends storing up on dry herbs and spices for use in syrups, tinctures and shrubs. Fresh fruits and veggies are good, too. (Consider beet and carrot juices, he says.) But again, think balance.
“It goes back to making a good plate of food,” he says. “You don’t want something too salty, or too sweet, or too citrusy, so everything’s gotta be harmonic.”
While he doesn’t suggest purchasing ingredients like 24-karat gold flakes or nitrogen, don’t be afraid to experiment. “It’s your bar,” Ciani says. “Nobody’s there judging you, and you know what you like.”
To DIY. According to Ciani, a basic cocktail-making toolbox should consist of a bar spoon, muddler, double strainer (“So you can get all the bits out if you shake with mint or somethin’”), hand juicer, fruit peeler, hawthorne strainer (“When you’re shaking a martini really hard or a cocktail really hard, you don’t want that ice sludge, so this’ll help catch all that”), julep strainer, shaker tins and jiggers.
Single cube or multiple? “Depends on the cocktail. Some call for more. A lot of people when they build their Old Fashioned they build it in the glass. I’ll drink it both ways. For me, when I’m at home, I stir in glass, pour over a large cube. If you’re sipping on a whiskey, depending on your preference, I think that a large cube is always best because it works with the drink instead of against it. The melt factor is so much slower.”
Shake or stir? “If you have a certain amount of citrus in there, you wanna shake. If not, you definitely wanna stir. Shaking and stirring do three things, too. Obviously it gets the drink cold, it mixes the ingredients, but at the same time it also dilutes. In your recipe, it calls for water, unless you’re serving it up and neat. You wouldn’t do that with multiple ingredients. That shake or that stir, which is why sometimes you’ll see [bartenders] stir, take a straw and go, ‘Ah,’ and keep stirring because you don’t have enough water in there, or it hasn’t been mixed enough. [Stirring] plays more of a key than trying to look pretty.”
And glassware? “A lot of whiskey cocktails you’ll see up, and the coupe has been revived. You didn’t see the coupe for a long time, and now you’re seeing that a lot, obviously because of Prohibition-style cocktails. If it’s got citrus, a lot of times I’ll serve it up. But I’m weird like that. And every drink calls for something different. If it’s got like a lot of sugars and different rums, it’s a tiki cocktail, I’ll serve it up in a stem. I try to stay away from the martini glass right now because I think it got such a bad rep over the last 15, 20 years from Blue Martinis and things like that. They really killed the martini, you know?”
His favorite cocktail to craft. “Anything whiskey-based, really. I have a massive passion for whiskey.”
What he drinks. “When I’m at home, I’m making a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned. It’s quick, it’s easy. It’s not labor intensive. After making cocktails all weekend, you just want something like one, two, three, which is what a basic cocktail is anyway.”
WHAT OTHER LOCALS DRINK
Pelagia Trattoria executive chef Brett Gardiner: “Bourbon lately. I’ve been a vodka drinker for a few years.” He recently made a twist on a bourbon sour with ginger beer, muddled oranges and lemon.
Clementine Café owners Misty and Brian Sommers: “Hands down, Rusty Nail. That’s what [Brian] will order anytime,” Misty says. “I’m a little more fluid. Right now, I’m Dark ‘n’ Stormy. I like ginger beer. I like good rum.”
Bricks bartender Scooby Olivier: “I generally drink rye whiskey, bourbon or Boulevardiers. [Boulevardiers] happen to be my go-to cocktails.” And he made this editor a damn good one, too.
Ciani’s recipe for an easy-to-make classic.
Bee’s Knees
Makes 1
Ingredients
2 ounces gin
3/4 ounce honey syrup (equal parts honey and water)
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
Directions
Combine all the ingredients in a shaker and fill with ice. Shake, and then double strain the rocks out. Serve up and garnish with a lemon peel.
