Jorge Centeno was jamming out to Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny when he dreamed up the eye-catching cocktail, he would create for Chilled’s visit later that day.
Grabbing a shell-shaped dish, the innovative bartender blended Cachaca (Brazilian rum), coconut water, honey, lime juice, pineapple and aloe syrup to create a drink honoring the track, “Después de la Playa,” – meaning “after the beach.”
While the presentation alone emits beach vibes, one whiff of the fruity, coconut aromas followed by a sip of the summery, Caipirinha-like cocktail transports me to the tropics.
“I woke up and thought, ‘What am I going to make today?’ then I was listening to the new Bad Bunny song, which is about what you do after the beach,” says Centeno, Chief Spirits Officer at Deer Path Inn in Lake Forest, Illinois. “So, I got pineapple and lime juice, which is refreshing, and aloe vera since people use it after the beach for sunburn. Every cocktail has a story like that.”
Creativity drives Centeno, who grew up in an arty town in central Mexico, where he worked in the vegetable trade and studied engineering, before moving to Chicago and entering hospitality. Through managing restaurants and bartending, he became enthralled with liquor and cocktail-making—his interest further heightened as he developed a passion for gardening.
“I learned about botany, flowers and herbs, so got really deep into the ingredients of cocktails,” he says. “If I see something I don’t know about, I’ll try it, research and learn about it. Now, when I taste something, I’ll go, ‘That might be good with this,’ and all the dots connect. I don’t force anything.”
Centeno’s loves for cocktails and gardening meshed perfectly when he joined Deer Path Inn, where he runs the beverage program for the English-inspired boutique inn’s bar, pub and restaurant. Just 30 minutes from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the cozy inn has hosted celebs, won awards for its dining and sits in a cute town fit for a Hallmark movie.
Nestled onto the shores of Lake Michigan, Lake Forest’s private beach, book store, cafes and restaurants make for a perfect weekend getaway, but it’s Centeno’s cocktail creations that had me eager to get back to the inn whenever I ventured out to play tourist.
Perhaps best known is the Frosted Flakes and Strawberry Old-Fashioned, a nostalgic idea he had after spotting mini cereal boxes in the inn’s kitchen. “I thought, ‘That’s cool packaging,’ so infused bourbon with the Frosted Flakes,” he says. “And, I’m always thinking about how to reuse things, so I reused the packaging to serve it in.”
Then there’s Le Rose, a romantic champagne and vodka concoction infused with rose syrup, rhubarb and edible glitter, which shimmers as it’s stirred. The rose-shaped glass is served in a wooden cage adorned with ivy and roses. “Somebody was getting engaged and they wanted something special,” Centeno explains. “Lake Forest has lots of ivy so I used that, then picked roses from my garden. I grow the rhubarb as well. You should have seen everyone’s reactions when I brought that one out. People loved it, so I started doing it for Valentine’s Day.”
Centeno salutes his love for gardening further in My Garden, which aims to showcase local ingredients and terroir. Reminiscent of a sweet, minty mojito, the drink features New Zealand’s Broken Shed vodka with bee balm petals, plantain weed and Swiss chard from his garden, along with honey harvested by the inn’s sushi chef Adam.
Centeno also makes seasonal and holiday specials like a Halloween drink which popped out of a Jack-in-the-Box he built, or the Christmas Cup, a spin on a Pimm’s Cup featuring festive ingredients like pomegranate, ginger and rosemary. “Come November, people go nuts for it!” says Centeno.
Using fresh and local ingredients is paramount to Centeno, who often turns to The Flavor Bible by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen A. Page when thinking up new drinks. Social media has meanwhile propelled his creativity, although going viral has never been his driving force.
“It does motivate me when I see a pretty cocktail because I think, ‘I could do better,’ or, ‘I can do my own take on this,’ but I generally do my own thing,” he says. “The cocktail scene is always changing—trends, flavors and taste buds change, so I always evolve with it and try to stay one step ahead, but I still want to follow my own beat and not copy somebody else. I don’t make cocktails in the hope of someone taking a picture. I do it because I have an idea and want to show people.”
“Through the smell and taste, I want people to experience something unique. Last night somebody told me she was here four years ago and said, ‘You made this beautiful drink that changed the way I see things.’ Or people have said, ‘You got us through the pandemic.’ That’s the most rewarding thing. When people come and say thank you.”
Those to-go pandemic cocktails, along with cocktail-making classes on the inn’s YouTube channel, were something Centeno came up with when Covid-19 hit. But with guests now back on-site, Centeno’s biggest challenge is maintaining production, especially since he prides himself in preparing everything from lime juice to garnishes fresh daily and ensuring every drink served at the inn meets expectations.
“I don’t want to post a picture that [entices] someone, then have them come to the restaurant and go, ‘That’s not what it looked like on social media,’” he says. “I’d rather not post it if I can’t sustain it.”
That’s why visitors will need to request the special drinks menu stashed behind the bar or handed to customers “when it feels right.” And for those who wish to learn how to create their own impressive drinks, Centeno also runs classes for guests of the inn, like “The Ginstitute.”
“I have 82 gins on the menu and I’ve tasted and researched all of them. Same thing with the whiskeys and tequilas,” he says. “Gin’s such a fun spirit, so I do a mixing class where we work with gin in ways people wouldn’t think of. In the last one, I made a dressing with gin and gin jello shots. I’ve made a gin Old Fashioned. People go, ‘How can you make an Old Fashioned with gin?’ but it’s a specific gin with a different flavor.”
“If people want whiskey or tequila classes, I can also do those,” he adds. “Wine, I’m a little less knowledgeable, but I can do all the spirits!”
The post The Making of Whimsical Cocktails with Illinois Bartender Jorge Centeno appeared first on Chilled Magazine.
Source: Mixology News
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