Episode 162

Spirits of Latin America with Ivy Mix

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Spirits of Latin America with Ivy Mix

Episode 162

What’s shakin, cocktail fans?

Welcome to Episode 162 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast! I’m your host, Modern Bar Cart CEO, Eric Kozlik.

Thanks for joining us for another interview episode, where we track down the best and brightest minds in the spirits and cocktail world so that we can share their secrets with you. This time around, we’re heading south of the border with philanthropist, bar owner, and author Ivy Mix. She’s the co-founder of Speed Rack – which is an incredible series of charitable bartending competitions that feature amazing women behind the bar and raise money for breast cancer research – and she also owns and runs Leyenda, a cocktail bar in Brooklyn featuring Latin spirits and flavors.

And as if that wasn’t already enough to keep her busy, Ivy’s new book, Spirits of Latin America is one of the most exciting new books to hit the shelves this year. She’s here to tell us exactly why we should be so excited about the agave, cane, and grape distillates that dominate Central and South American cocktail culture.

In this flavorful conversation with Ivy Mix, author of Spirits of Latin America, some of the topics we discuss include:

Ivy’s background in the bar world, including her philanthropic work as a co-founder of Speed Rack.
How Spirits of Latin America is tied intimately to Leyenda – a pan-Latin bar that Ivy designed in partnership with Julie Reiner of Clover Club.
Why this book is as much a travelogue as it is a cocktail book. Yes – there are recipes, and yes – there is information on different spirits. But the soul of this book is also rooted in people and place. We dig into all this at great length.
An interesting perspective shift in the form of a case study on the Havana, Cuba bartending scene, where bartenders tend to have more advanced degrees than their clients.
We also dig really deep into Ivy’s cocktail workshopping practices at Leyenda – which generated a number of cocktails in her book. It’s almost impossible to summarize, except to say that she incorporates spreadsheets, improv, mad libs, and formal art crits. It sounds insane, but it’s completely interesting and compelling.
To cap it all off, we talk about bar hacks for getting esoteric booze in the quarantine era, the romance of split base cocktails, the problem with everyone wanting to be a National Geographic photographer, what to drink with Ruth Bader Ginsburg
And much, much more

This conversation, if anything, reveals why so many people in the hospitality world look up to Ivy Mix as a person who brings quality to the table in every possible way.

Yes – we need to ignore the fact that in an imaginary bartender wrestling league she has the perfect name for a cage match contender. And yes – we also need to find some way to sublimate our insane jealousy of her travels throughout the agave, cane, and grape regions of Latin America. But if you pick up her book, you just might find the solution in one of her many innovative and painstakingly polished cocktails.

Featured Cocktail: The Pancho Perico

This episode’s featured cocktail is the Pancho Perico, designed by Leyenda bartender Shannon Ponche and featured in the “Cane” section of Ivy’s book. To make it, you’ll need:

1 ¼ oz of Agricole Rum (which is a style made from cane juice, rather than molasses)
¾ oz of Bourbon
½ oz of Manzanilla Sherry (Ivy recommends a brand called La Guita…which is delicious)
1 ¼ oz of Poblano Pepper syrup (which we’ll cover in a moment)
½ oz Pineapple juice
¾ oz Lime juice

Combine all these ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, give it a good, hearty shake, then strain into a Collins glass over crushed or pebble ice, garnish with a lime wheel, and enjoy.

To make that Poblano pepper syrup, Ivy recommends de-stemming 8 poblano peppers (but leaving in the seeds for a bit of spice), then juicing those until you have about 2 cups of pepper juice. Add that to a blender with 1 cup of agave syrup, blend until integrated, then bottle and refrigerate.

What we love about the Pancho Perico cocktail is its expert balance of multiple sweeteners and acids. You’ve got sweet notes from the rum, bourbon, and poblano syrup, acid from the Manzanilla sherry and the lime juice, and then the ½ oz of pineapple juice that straddles the line between sweet and tangy.

Personally, we’re a green drink podcast, especially when it’s summertime. So if you’re looking for a gorgeous highball that will blow away your guests this Labor Day weekend, we recommend grabbing the ingredients for the Pancho Perico. It’s not the simplest drink, but in the words of everyone’s favorite amphibian role model: it’s not easy being green.

Show Notes

Ivy Mix has dominated the bartending industry for 16 years and has perused the cocktail scene since 2009. Using the popularity of agave spirits as a gateway, Ivy and her boss-turned-partner, Julie Reiner, opened Leyenda in 2015. This pan-Latin inspired bar functions as an avenue for Ivy to introduce people to the complex and amazing spirits of Central and South America.

After being defined as a successful woman in a male-dominated industry, Ivy wanted to move beyond gender definitions of her career to say yes, but I am also so much more than that. Through Speed Rack and Leyenda, Ivy fully immersed herself into every facet of mixology. Spirits of Latin America is Ivy’s newest project that takes an in-depth look into the drinking culture and history of Latin America. This book diverges from the typical tequila, gin, or vodka, shining a light onto grape-based spirits such as pisco, singani, and yaguara cachaça. As Ivy says, “there’s no book like it.”

Lightning Round

Favorite Cocktail

A Negroni. I love it because it’s one of the hardest drinks to mess up, but also one of the hardest drinks to perfect. I can get it in a dive bar and a fancy cocktail bar, and I will probably be pretty happy with both.

Cocktail with Anyone, Past or Present

I would have a martini with Ruth Bader Ginsburg; 50/50 with a lemon twist and an olive. We would go to The Carlyle in Midtown. RBG would either be drinking a martini with me or a scotch neat.

Controversial View You Hold in the Spirits/Cocktail Space

I don’t like a dimly lit bar.

This episode was produced by Edie Frederick, with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed, Spirited insights courtesy of Ivy Mix and her new book, Spirits of Latin America. This has been a Modern Bar Cart production, copyright 2020.

Spirits of Latin America with Ivy Mix

Featured Cocktail: The Pancho Perico

Show Notes

Lightning Round

Favorite Cocktail

Cocktail with Anyone, Past or Present

Controversial View You Hold in the Spirits/Cocktail Space

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