Listed among North America’s 50 Best Bars at #48, Phoenix’s Platform 18 is a cocktail adventure where imbibers are welcome aboard a Presidential Pullman-inspired train car for a 90-minute palate-pleasing, handcrafted sojourn.
Photos by Grace Stufkosky
Inspired libations include the clarified milk punch Always Quiet in the Graveyard with Hendrick’s Orbium and Plantation O.F.T.D. blended rum served in a lovely tea set with homemade cookie, alongside classic cocktails such as the Martinez, Old Pal, and Bramble.
As part of Century Grand, a warehouse space that houses three inspired cocktail concepts (Platform 18, UnderTow serving tiki-style drinks in an old-world ship, and Grey Hen RX a 19th Century New Orleans apothecary) via the Barter & Shake Cocktail Entertainment group, Platform 18 is a wholly memorable drinking destination, which is absolutely by design.
Founded with a commitment to push traditional boundaries and create unparalleled guest experiences through world-class cocktail programs, the powers that be at Barter & Shake, including Co-Founder and Director of Operations Rich Furnari and Executive VP of Operations Mat Snap, recently discussed what sets them apart among the bolstering Phoenix cocktail scene.
Please describe the Century Grand concept, is it three separate bars or one bar with three rooms?
Rich Furnari: Century Grand is a location with three concepts inside telling two separate stories, and those stories are roughly a century apart. Platform 18 specifically is a century ago to the day. So, we were doing that one hundred centennial prohibition when we opened Platform 18. UnderTow was running that same timeline one hundred years prior. We used to have a restaurant and that was Century Grand and then we moved UnderTow into the restaurant space.
Mat Snap: When Covid happened, as soon as we hit the off button, we realized we weren’t going to bring the restaurant back. So, we consolidated and focused on beverage.
There are a lot of resorts in the Phoenix / Scottsdale area known for fine dining. What was the cocktail scene like when you started?
Mat Snap: We started conceptualizing in 2014 and there really weren’t any cocktail bars; there were a lot of restaurants doing cocktail programs. Some did them very well. When we opened our first concept, we were starting a new trend focusing strictly on cocktails. The competition is amazing now. When we started there wasn’t a lot going on but now it’s not hard to find a good drink. Phoenix has really grown up as a cocktail city.
There are two UnderTow locations in Arizona. Are there plans to open another Platform 18 or other bar concepts?
Rich Furnari: I think we’re excited to say we’re in talks right now about potentially putting a Platform 18 and Grey Hen RX in Tucson.
Mat Snap: There’s a great revitalization effort in downtown Tucson. And a big beautiful basement came across our radar with enough space to do the train and the apothecary shop but make both of them a little bigger and spread out a little bit.
What do the bar concepts have in common and how do they differ?
Mat Snap: They differ greatly in the cocktail perspective and they each speak to a uniquely different category of cocktails. The story intertwines even though they’re one hundred years apart. We have characters that go in and out of both stories.
Rich Furnari: With UnderTow you’re getting an exotic tiki style tropical experience. With Grey Hen you’re getting a more approachable apothecary style vibe where this whiskey shop closed for prohibition and turned into a pharmacy and became craftier to sell their wares. And on the train, you have an elevated experience. When we’re doing menus, we let story inspire us but we also let tradition inspire us, and the characters inspire us and where we’ve evolved too.
When you’re creating a new menu, what do you look for in your original cocktails that can stand by classic drinks?
Mat Snap: A lot of classic cocktails were written in a time when we didn’t have the delicate or elegant nature of some of the spirits that are around today. Some of those recipes are off the beaten path. We tirelessly spend a lot of time and energy and attention to make sure a classic recipe can be brought into the present by modifying the actual spirits and modifying the ratios. Our craft driven cocktails lead the way over any of the classics at Platform 18 and it’s the opposite at UnderTow where a lot of people are very familiar with classic tiki cocktails.
What do you hope guests takes away from the Platform 18 experience?
Rich Furnari: Everything that we do, they’re meant to be memorably entertaining and exciting and thought provoking. We want to stimulate your imagination and all of your senses. It truly is escapism. If we have done our job right, you walk through the door a little bit unexpecting of what exactly you’re going to get and then the set and illusions that we’ve created begins to unfold in front of you and then you begin to get excited and you start to escape into our temporary alternate little reality here and you dive into some drinks with some friends and some good conversation and hopefully it becomes the talk of your night, of your week, and you can’t wait to bring somebody back and discover something new in the space.
Where do you see the Platform 18 menu going?
Rich Furnari: The introductory chapter was light and joyful and a brand-new introductory story. And then for us to go to a somewhat medium, melancholy trip might lead to a few new ideas and presentations but I think you’ll see a return to more spirit-forward and more brown spirit feel as far as the cocktail menu goes.
Platform 18 at Century Grand is located at 3626 E. Indian School Road in Phoenix, AZ.
Clover Club
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Nolet’s Gin
- 3/4 oz Egg white
- 3/4 oz Raspberry syrup
- 1/2 oz Lemon juice
- 1/2 oz Carpano Dry Vermouth
- 3 Raspberry
Preparation: Reverse dry shake. Double strain in coupe. Garnish with raspberry on a pick
The post All Aboard Platform 18 Phoenix’s Amazing Cocktail Adventure appeared first on Chilled Magazine.
Source: Mixology News
