August 28, 2023 • 36 mins
Scent and flavor can take you back to a place you love -- or off to a place you've never been. As the Master Mixologist of the Wynn Las Vegas Resort, Mariena Mercer-Boarini designs drinks of all kinds meant to take you on a journey. In this sponsored interview, Anney and Lauren chat with her about how she collaborates with some 34 venues across the resort to help its designers and chefs tell stories through drinks.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeart Radio. I'm
Annie Reese and.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm more in Vocal Bam and today we have another
interview for you from Las Vegas and the Wind Resort.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, hopefully you've heard the last one
we did about Masa and how good of a time
we have there. But we got a couple of interviews
and we got more that we're going to do later.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, So this one is with Marina mercer Berini, the
winds Resort mixologist. And right, so if you did not
catch our last one, the Wind Resort in Las Vegas
invited us to come fly out and stay with them
and eat and drink everything, or at least as much
as we could over like less than twenty four hour period,
(00:53):
and then interview some of the humans responsible for different
aspects of their food and beverage programs. And they invited
us out to do this because hey, they're excited about them.
But be they teamed up with this company called Blue
Wire to build a podcast studio in the Wind Resort
and it is very fancy and has way more video
cameras that I'm used to podcasting with, and yeah, and
(01:16):
was a lovely experience. It really was.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Everyone was so kind, everyone was so forgiving. I was
chuckling to myself the other day about, uh, when you
first let some explotives fly, shall we say? They were laughing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, I seem real small and unassuming and like and
like real like on the up and up, like I guess,
I don't know. I don't know how I look. I
feel like a gremlin inside my own head all the time.
But yeah, so sometimes when when the spicy ones come out, uh,
people get a good laugh out about it.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
It was very funny and also they were looking out.
I think I talked about this in the last one
that it's actually more relevant to this interview because we
got really lovely cocktails.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Oh yeah for this, Yeah, Marina brought brought us a
couple of beverages that were so good.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
They were so good and they were beautiful and they
mastered your dress. Yeah, cocidentally, coincidentally, and we have pictures
of them on Instagram if you want to check them out.
But I got like some of the glitter which we're
going to talk about, on my face and they were.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
They were like hold hold yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
The team was so nut. They were like, we don't
want you to be embarrassed. I was like, it's too late.
I've embarrassed myself already, but I appreciate it, Like.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
That's my secret. I'm always embarrassed like that generally.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Because we aren't used to having the video component, which
I'm actually going to keep in mind the next time
we go, because I feel like I looked like I
rolled out of bed. But first perhaps I guess I
had probably, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
We had a busy morning, yes, but helpful information for
next time, for sure. I feel like in general, I'm
going to have a much better grip on everything. Okay,
but but right, So the Wind sponsored this trip out there,
but it was a genuine pleasure to get to go
(03:29):
to these restaurants and bars that are so so carefully
thought out and experiential, and to try all of these cool,
weird things that they're doing, and then to talk to
some of these human people who were also cool and weird.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, it was really fascinating to me to hear about
how they collaborated, Like when you're part of this kind
of huge thing which you want to have different experiences
but that all work, uh yeah, And to be able
to be responsible for drinks for like all of these
(04:06):
properties and for tailoring them and working with the chefs
and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It's just.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Really interesting in it kind of made me tired to.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Tell you about it. But yeah, yeah, because because Marina
is right as the resort mixologist, she's responsible for designing
basically every drink in every bar and restaurant throughout the
entire resort, which is a lot of those. Like everything
more complex than like a coffee or like a cola
(04:38):
or like a gin and tonic is her domain.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Mm hmmm, it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yes, it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And we would kind of mention. People would ask us
why we were there, and then they'd get a kick
out of oh, you're doing the Blue Wire Studio, like
they knew it, And then we would say what we
were doing. They would know these names, yeah, people who
worked there. Yeah, they be like, oh, yeah, we worked
together to make this or this it's good.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah. Oh and and yeah. And throughout throughout our time
there also, you know, we we we tried to hit
up a little bit of everything and and it was
all so it genuinely was so lovely, like like those
some of those cocktails that we had were really just
so good at bringing you to like a place of celebration.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, and it was cool too that you could see
the different themes, some more obvious than others at different places.
Like we went to one that was like is it
Spy themed or James Bond.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Theme something like that.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, maybe maybe, but I gotta I got a James
but I was on the James Bond page, I think.
But so there was that. And then I went to
like the last day, I went to like a beachside
bar and I got this like amazing light chi oh yeah, yeah,
oh my god. But yeah, just like these so like
(06:15):
if I go here, you get this experience. You go here,
it's this. So there's a lot for us to sample.
And we did sample.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
We did, yes, yes, but right, and it's and it
is so cool. They have so many options and that
Marina really does focus in on making amazing non alcoholic
beverages as well as alcoholic ones, because that's an important
thing to have.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yes, absolutely, and as she says in here, she doesn't
really drink. It's really fascinating.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah. Oh but but okay, all right, we're going to
get into the interview in just a minute, but first
we are going to take a quick break for word
from our sponsors and we're back. Thank you sponsor.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Let us get into the interview.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
We'd like to start these things off with like a nice,
simple HI. Who are you? Hi?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I am Marina mercer Barini. I am the master Mixologist
of Wind Resorts North America. So I designed cocktails at
Win Las Vegas. I think it's thirty four venues that
I'm designing for right now, so that is encompassing obviously
alcoholic drinks, zero proof beverages. I'm working with some coffees, teas, smoothies.
(07:38):
Basically if you can drink it, I probably made it.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Thirty thirty four venues. That is completely wild. How How
do you? How do you even begin to start?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I love what I do. I think the first question
I always get is what is a normal day for you?
And I'm like, I don't know, I've never had one.
Definitely by design. Yeah, I'm always looking for, you know, checks,
challenges and creating and just doing something new and exciting.
And there's no shortage here obviously. So the first step
is always identifying the venue that I'm creating for and
(08:10):
then really falling in love with that concept and what
exactly does that mean? It's what kind of cuisine is
a chef making Our chief creative officer, Todd Avery Lenihan,
he's just this like magician of design and all of
these beautiful design stories he's putting in rooms. So I
really fall in love with the concept. And from there
it's just creating cocktails at further tell that story and
(08:32):
that are just incredibly beautiful and delicious.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, you've brought You've brought for us these very gorgeous
and coincidentally extremely matching cocktails. You could you tell us
about what's in front of us right now?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Absolutely. I learned early on in my career to never
come to a party empty hand it, so I definitely
wanted you to have something to enjoy. This cocktail is
called Monaco. Monico is a cocktail served at aft cocktail deck.
The menu there is hired by a luxury yacht. It
looks like this beautiful luxury yacht. And so when I
was designing, I was speaking with our design officer and
(09:08):
it was basically like, how do I tell the story
of a luxury yacht? And was through glamorous destinations and locales.
So every single cocktail is named after a destination and
then all of the ingredients kind of tell the story.
I definitely wanted this to be something so beautiful and
photogenic that maybe you would be on a yacht in Monaco.
This has a the outside the blue dust there. It's
(09:31):
actually a product I've created outside of the wind. It's
called electric dust. Previous in my career, I created a
cocktail in Las Vegas. It was not on any menu
and it is the most popular specialty cocktail in all
of Las Vegas by sales. It's over I think it's
like fifteen million dollars in sales now. The garnish for
that is called a buzz button. I heard that you
(09:53):
guys are very into science.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Is also I love that.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
A buzz button is a natural alkaloid that speeds up
your salivary glands in turn you into a super taster.
So as you eat this little flower, your tongue starts
tingling and you start tasting different nuances and flavors. It's
incredibly experiential. Oh wow, Yes, a lot of fun. So
during the pandemic last I guess it kind of closed
down and I thought I had a lot of creative energy,
and so I started playing with that flower and saw
(10:18):
that no one was working with it besides fresh, so
I created a process, I filed the patent, wrote a patent,
filed a patent on it to make it shelf stable
and obviously the blue beautiful with the iridescent. So this
cocktail does come with instructions. What you want to do
is you want to lick the side of your glass. Okay,
all right, you'll get a little blue on your tongue,
and as your tongue starts tingling, go ahead and sip
that cocktail again. The cocktail is a lemon and basil
(10:42):
vodka with a touch of elderflower. I can see it's
already settled again, and then I'm wild. I have a
French elderflower locure citrus champagne. Because you need the bubbly
on the yacht. Butterfly pea blossom, which is this really
beautiful thaie flower has a low pH balance, so it's
blue in color, and as soon as you put it
(11:03):
with anything acidic like lemon, it turns from that purple
to kind of like a pinkish color as well. So
it's again beautiful science at its finest, but just a
really sessionable cocktail to drink out at aft cocktail deck.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Oh absolutely, that is that is an entire experience, and
before you served it to us, you had a spritz
of Aromatics to add on top.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yes, so I do have a line of edible perfumes
around the resort. You have millions of little factory receptors
and thousands of taste buds. You taste predominant with your nose,
So I started experimenting with putting these beautiful aromas on
top of cocktails and it really enabled you to taste
in layers and create this experience. I also love working
with Aroma's ural factory bulb is the closest jaunt to memory,
(11:49):
and that accesses nostalgia as well. So I think we
can all kind of remember, I don't know, the popcorn
on your first date that you smell and you smell
and again, and it takes you that happy place. So
I love to kind of reach that happy place with people.
This for me was when I was talking to our designer.
He was telling me about yachts, and I started kind
of thinking of all my happiest like coastal memories and
(12:11):
always like they were kind of like walks outside around
like sundown. And there is a certain plan especially on
the West Coast called night Blooming Jasmine that only opens
around you know, five or six in the evening, and
it's this beautiful, fragrant aroma that's kind of en dormant
all day and then like comes up to party. Yeah yeah,
and it's just such a beautiful aroma. So my idea
was to kind of put that on top of the
(12:32):
cocktail so as you bring it up to your face,
it's kind of wafting and you know, creating those memories
and accessing those happy.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Ones as well.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, you talk a lot about about storytelling and using
all of the senses because right like like you, it's
not just taste and smell, it's sort of everything. Could
you go into a little bit about how like like
like when you're designing a drink, could you like walk
us through the process.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Absolutely. So it's usually again finding that the menu I'm
creating for, and then I'll fully immerse myself into the culture.
Let's say wing Lay, it's our Mitchellin starred Chinese restaurant.
I'm here at the Wynn and the chef is just
beautiful cuisine. So it was studying Chinese culture, Chinese ingredients,
(13:21):
and then the naming process is always a lot of fun.
So it was Chinese mythology, philosophy, art, anything that I
could really make the whole experience of your authentic. So
when you're reading this menu, you're onles. It's almost like
this great lesson and it's just very evocative of Chinese culture,
so really beautiful. So it's a lot of studying and
(13:42):
then I actually create all my cocktails on paper and
draw them out and kind of build layer by layer
and flavor, and then from there it's kind of like
the building process, the pairing with food. But I really
believe anything in life can be art. The way that
you speak, the way that you walk, conduct yourself. I
saw that stuff, right, It's such a personal expression. So
(14:03):
with cocktails it's the same. I'm always kind of like
off daydreaming writing things down, and it's just kind of
daydreaming in liquid form.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Oh I love that, And it's so cool that you're
doing a bunch of non alcoholic cocktails. We love seeing
this surge in non alcoholic beverages because, of course, there
are any number of reasons why people either don't drink
at all or who would want to take a break.
I mean, you know, like this is a place of excess,
but also you know, maybe like watch yourself, right, So
(14:33):
could you talk about how you balance or maybe like
rebalance the ingredients that you work with when you're making
something without any liquor.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Absolutely, I think something that people are always fascinating to
find out about me is I actually don't drink. I
do taste my cocktails as I create sure them, but
I'm always looking for a balance in life too, So
I love to be able to provide, like you said,
someone maybe it's just taken a pause, but I found
being someone that doesn't can say alcohol, when I would
go out, it was always like this huge glass of
(15:04):
like juice or right, things like that, like.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
We can give you a soda water, crianberry juice. Here
you go, right.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, So I really wanted to create that same experience
and that storytelling that you would have with a cocktail,
even if you're not imvibing. And I still think things
need to be incredibly balanced and interesting and still have
the story. So it's just kind of retasting ingredients and
working through finding the flavor champions, making sure that they're
(15:30):
not too sweet. But I also like to design things,
you know, that's more bitter, maybe more fruit forward and
really kind of I say, it's almost like fantasy football league.
Not everyone should be a quarterback. You're not going to win, right,
So just designing menus that are just really well around it.
And that extends to the non alcoholics as well.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, and when Las Vegas has a drink Well program
that you're helping them out with, and like, you know,
we don't want to get too deep into any potential
nutritional benefits because nutrition is so complicated. But uh, but
of course, like a lot of classic cocktail ingredients from
like bitters to lime juice, we're in there originally for
(16:08):
potential medicinal benefits and kind of a lot of what
cocktail making is is balancing around those flavors. So so
you're introducing new things like like like mushroom tinctures into
a bunch of cocktails here, how do you balance for
a mushroom?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Some of the mushrooms, they all have different flavors, incredibly nuanced.
Some can almost taste a little bit like crabs, some
are more like I have this really beautiful kind of
the sea summer, a little bit more earthiness, and it's
really fun to play with the different types, and I
completely agree about nutrition is so personal and so nuanced.
(16:48):
But for me, I'm always looking for balance for mind, bodies,
soul and just exploring that. I think you know, as
you start to age and you live in Las Vegas,
you know you always want to look your best, fill
your best kind of thing, and I'm just incredibly curious.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, you you've talked about a couple of the ingredients
that you've designed, the electric dust and the edible perfumes. Uh,
are there there's a there's a sham fane foam.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Yes, yes, it's one of my inventions. Yeah. I love
a good portmanteau. So it is a champagne foam. It's basically,
I'm taking rose wine egg white, which is most aspumas
or foams, and a rose strawberry rose syrup and putting
(17:39):
it in a foaming canister that you've probably seen at
bars or in the culinary world. But instead of charging
it with nitrous oxide, which is what you would do
for most foams, is I charge it, I carbonate it
with the CEO two, which actually does the same effect.
It rapidly whips it, but it carbonates it as well,
so it emulates champagne. Therefore that's the champagne. But it's
(18:00):
this really just really fun good. I love a surprise, right,
I love all Easter eggs and surprises and creating those experiences.
And it's this delicious, like delightful mouth feel that you're
it's a creamy right, but you're like, I'm drinking champagne.
It has that same affrevescence and.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh wow, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, it's something that's completely unique for our program. Even
when I was buying the products from the distributor, he's like, no,
these things don't go together. I'm like, oh, but you're
like new, which is where I you know that it
was something truly unique. But I always like to be
on the cutting edge and doing something new and always
just innovating and creating. And when you have over thirty
venues here on property to create for, it's important that
(18:39):
we're always doing something new and leading the chart.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah. Yeah, oh that that sounds so fun because right,
like the creaminess of a foam, but but carbonation is
actually like a very small pain reaction in your mouth.
It's going like, well, what's happening? So I like a
foam that hurts you, just a little of it, And.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Then with the like and the tingling.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
There you go, Oh, that's wonderful, cauld I ask this.
This wasn't in our like in our list of questions,
but could I ask how you got into into cocktails
and furthermore, like into the into the creation process of
inventing new ingredients.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
So I was born and raised in Las Vegas. Both
my parents were born here, so second generation, and I
wasn't really allowed to go to the to the Las
Vegas strip very often. So of course the first thing
I wanted to do when I our dayteen was to
come and get a job on the last Regis strip
and studying chemistry. A job was created for me. I
(19:37):
was a hostess at a steakhouse. It's mostly before you're
twenty one what you can do, and a job was
created for me called Tequila Goddess because it was Las Vegas.
I was just a really curious kid. I was always
asking all these questions of some Bevers directors that we're
creating this whole program, so like, okay, no, this isn't
what you were thinking, but we created We just think
(19:58):
it's going to be perfect for you. So I did
what any eighteen year old or sorry, twenty one at
the time, turning twenty one a kid would do. As
I went home and asked my mom. I was like, hey,
can I go be a tequila goddess? And she said
no way. And then I did what any twenty one
year old kid would do, and I was like, sign
me up. So I spent right after my twenty first birthday,
I actually got to go on a plane to the
town of Tequila and live and work in different distilleries.
(20:20):
And this was to date myself about seventeen years ago,
so we really started like no one was working in
tequila or you know, many spirits at that time, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Sure, Yeah, that was before the revival of the craft
cocktail bent.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Bit lately, and Patron was like this nascent, kind of
burgeoning kind of spirit in the United States leading the
charge there. So it was just a really great opportunity
to really delve into the knowledge side and become very
passionate about it. And I came home and I found
that I was I was a little sit I was shy,
and I'd wear this costume and those kind of parts
of the job that I didn't necessarily love. But I
(20:54):
found that when I was incredibly passionate and could tell
people about this, the beauty of tequila, being the spirit
of Mexico, and in so many ways that people kind
of forgot what I was wearing, or what I look
like or anything like that. And I've actually kept in
touch with many people from my very first job as
tequila goddess because I've been so passionate about it, and
(21:16):
from there, I just always loved to create and make
art and started doing with cocktails. We started winning a
lot of competitions and I've won a global competition in Morocco.
I competed against I think fourteen other countries in the
Souks of Morocco. They actually kind of like set us free.
We had to go and barter for all of our ingredients,
(21:37):
come back to the read we were staying at, and
tell a story through cocktails. And so I ended up
winning a global title, which was really exciting. But people
just kind of started paying more attention to that. And
then I opened a resort about twelve years ago in
Las Vegas and I've been here at Win Las Vegas
for a little bit over two years now.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Wow, we do have some more of this interview for you,
but first we're going to get into one more quick
break for word from our sponsor.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And we're back.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Thank you sponsor. Let's get back into the interview.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I don't know how much time we have. I like
want to pick your brain about tequila because because it
is such a such a terrific uh liquor and I
and I feel like it has been severely underrated in
the States. I feel like it's just not or or
classically has not been as appreciated as uh, certainly gin
and then the vodka thing that happened for the entirety
(22:42):
of the mid century. Uh. But but tequila can be
just as just as complex as a whiskey.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
And uh, you are so so so do you? Do
you still have those you said that you still have
some of those relationships. Are you bringing anything in that
you that you think is just really We.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Certainly have a wonderful list at list of tequilas and
mezcals at Kasaplaia at the Win. Also, we're very fortunate
to have our signature barrel program, so we will, you know,
go to different distilleries and buy an entire barrel that's
just for our guest. We have a herod or a
double oak Triposato that is incredibly special. I love to
(23:24):
create you know, interesting cocktails, you know, margaritas and above
and beyond with that, uh, mezcal is kind of the
next big boom that people are really into. And that's
a lot of fun because there's even more complexity, there's
different varieties of agave. It's not as strictly regulated, and
there's just almost like a lot of almost like mysticism
(23:46):
in some of the really mom pop distilleries and just
a lot of love that goes into those products. And
so it's very special.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Oh, that's amazing. We've we've talked about so many things,
uh that you are clearly so passionate about. Is there like,
do you have a favorite thing that you're working with
right now or something like coming up in the future
that you're like about to crack the coat on.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
There's no shortage of amazing, amazing projects.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Here at the Wynn.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
We're doing min Kim chef Min Kim from the Zumi
is doing his test kitchen, so he's having a pop
up and he's just such a rock star, such an
amazing impressive chef, and he has such an amazing career
where he's he's really worked all over the world. So
he's really going to show off some of those chops
(24:37):
and in some of his cuisine, and it's not as
traditional Japanese is what he's done. It's a very playful concept.
So I did the cocktails for that, super playful, whimsical,
really fun, using all kinds of different Asian ingredients go
Chu Chang paste like paint on the side of a margarita,
with Kimchie salt, and just some really complex, fun flavored sinner,
(25:00):
incredibly unique for cocktails. The photo shoots we were doing
was like on Nintendos, and you know, just a lot
of like pop culture and really just like avant guard
and fun, and that's exciting for me. I saw chef
Sarah Thompson from Kasa playa. We're doing some really fun
stuff over there. I heard talking about Wheatlacoche I just
(25:20):
reached out to like a month ago. I was like,
you got you got a guy anything wet onch So
some really fun projects over there with reopening of the lounge.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah, yeah, we were there for dinner last night and
we One of the cocktails that Annie and I immediately
gravitated to was the Marigold because we just did an
episode about marigolds a few weeks back, and uh, and
one of the things that we were talking about was
that amazing scent that you get from the flower that's
so much a part of the Day of the Dead
and and the offenda's there and uh, uh could you
(25:51):
talk to us a little bit about how that cocktail
in particular came into creation.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Absolutely so at Kasaplia and there's some beautiful marigolds hanging
from the ceiling and it's such a big part of
the decor there. There's also this beautiful marri gold dessert.
It's just so beautiful. So during I was designing some
cocktails during right before a Day of the Dead, and
started studying everything you're talking about now, and it just
(26:16):
it was such like such a hyper personal, meaningful thing.
And so I was like, how do I put this
in a cocktail and pay homage and love to this
culture and express that. So it's a marigold infused loo
cure with a little bit of sage because the miragold
aroma has that like incredible It's like it looks so
delicate and beautiful and then it has like comes with
(26:38):
like right, guys, it was like this almost like sage
kind of aroma, so just both string up or the
aroma to it. It smoked in a decanter with a
little bit of strawberry aroma, so when you open it
again entices you. And I thought about like what would
be on my ol frienda, which is probably like a
really morbid thing to think about. Oh no, I love strawberry,
(27:00):
So that's why I picked a strawberry aroma to be like,
but into that and just that it's again they say
you eat with your eyes, right, you certainly drink with
your eyes, and especially in this time where we're wanting
to document share photos with our friends of cocktail, so
it was also like making it very photogenic and beautiful
(27:20):
and creating experience for a guest that maybe wouldn't have
that somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah. Oh, I've been hogging the mic again this entire time.
Like half the questions are from Annie. I promise, I
just don't want her speak. Annie, do you have anything
else for us?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I do, And the answer might be super short or
super long. So I'm interested. First of all, like, thank
you for the cocktail. It's amazing, And doing an interview
with like Tingling is an experience and it's wonderful. We
talk a lot about patents on the show. Oh and
we've never actually, I don't think we've ever talked to
(28:00):
someone who did it. We're not about like the process,
like how hard is it to get a patent?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
So we're still patent pending. It's actually really difficult. Have
not gotten it yet. And it was a passion project
between my husband and myself. He is a professor of
graphic design. So when I started creating these products during
the pandemic, he started creating the package and the package
actually looks exactly like your dress, and you know, taking
(28:29):
doing our photography and our website and we started we
knew that our product was one hundred percent unique and
how did we capture that? And so that's how we
started getting into the patent process. And we just were
writing it together and it was not easy. My husband
and I never fight, but maybe we were like nearing
some heated moments, a little tense.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, right, because it seems like they make it like
a little bit eldritch sort of on purpose to get.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Into there's just navigating the website and all of that.
It's yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Oh heck well, best best of luck. I really hope.
I really hope it comes through because this is a
I've never I've never seen and tasted anything like this
before it and it is so experiential and that's how
that's how we again have tried like a perhaps embarrassing
number of cocktails, uh for only having been here for
twenty four hours. But but but all of them, all
(29:28):
of them have been so lovely, drink responsibly friends. But
but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Uh yeah, I mean I think unless there's any other
things you're excited about.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, is there anything that we didn't ask you? Is
there anything that you that you want to talk about?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
So over the lounge is one of our lounges. We
actually are up for a Tails of the Cocktail Best
Hotel Bar, which is kind of like the James Beard
for for cocktail nerds like me sort of A. Yeah,
it's super exciting and that's just an incredible concept. So
I hope that you can make it there tonight.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Again.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I talk a lot about our chief creative officer, Toddy
Avery Lenihan, but he is just so brilliant with his design,
so he's always my first call. A lot of times
I don't get to see the physical space while I'm
designing menus, so it's just kind of all through what
he's his story and what he's telling me and everything
he was telling me. I just wrote one word, really big,
and it was just iconic because his design sounded iconic,
(30:29):
and it was like, how does one put iconic into
a cocktail? Like how does it become iconic? So I
started just scribbling words and I thought, how does a
person become iconic? And I started writing Madonna share and
everyone had just one name, and I thought, oh, that's
really interesting. That's you know, you're truly iconic if you
can go by just your first name. So all of
(30:51):
the cocktails are oblique references to iconic figures and fashion
and film and even mythology. And then it is over
look aparteves and lounge so apertefs is almost it's very European.
It's you know, having cocktails before dinner, and it's just
I guess in America we maybe have like happy hour.
(31:13):
It's not happy hour, right, No, no, no, that's not
the it's not like threebud lives. Let's go like, no,
that's not the concept.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
The concept is like getting your getting your your your
stomach and like your your senses ready to have a lovely.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Meal, absolutely, and a lot of it is about connection.
So it's having low alcohol cocktails before to you stimulate
your appetite through these beautiful usually Italian liqueurs. You're talking
and sometimes it's you know, two hours before you go
to dinner, you've spent in these. So the Sprits cocktail
is kind of the darling of the apartef movement, so
(31:48):
that one in particular is named Aurora. And it's also
really fun because guests will always try to like figure
out who who the cocktail is referencing. But Aurora is
the Roman of sunrise, and it's in this the same
goblet kind of, and it's a play on an apparall
sprits so it looks like this beautiful sunrise with fire
(32:10):
and they're called fire sticks, these beautiful fireworks almost like
flower shooting out of the cocktail. And it's really fun.
But every one of the cocktails is finished with an
edible perfume, and each one is a different inspired by
a different glamorous locale, and so putting all of them
finishing sense like encapsulating these places in an aroma. Like
(32:31):
let's say I have one called Milan and it's I thought, like,
what is fashion week smell like? What does a supermodel
smell like? And I started thinking probably like fancy hair
products and lotions and perfumes, you know, so vanilla rose
and jasmine. I'm like, but maybe there's like a cheeky
cigarette here or there before or after. So it's finished
(32:52):
with a little bit of mezcal for just a little
bit of smoke in it. So everything is like building
up these different like building blocks of aromas for these perfume,
but it really kind of transports you to this glamorous
location with these glamorous figures, so that that menu is
a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
That is I and the idea that you're doing all
of this like intricate creative work, and you're doing it
at the kind of scale. I don't think that I understood.
This is my first time in Vegas ever, and I've
so I've been here like less than twenty four hours
and I'm completely sensorily overwhelmed all the time. And part
of what I didn't understand was the exact volume that
(33:31):
you guys are dealing with. How do you do how
do you like? How many do you have? The numbers
in your head off the top of your head, like
like what kind of volume you guys do and how
you handle that.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
So I'm really glad you brought that up. Probably the
crown jewel of the beverage program for me personally is
our Bembridge production kitchen, very much like a commissary kitchen
of sorts, the commercial kitchen kind of what we do.
It's i'most like the heart and the brain of the program.
We do a lot of our cocktail batching, but we
also produce a lot of our ingredients, our syrups, our tinctures,
(34:05):
some of our garnishes. Everything that just makes our programs
so special really comes out of that place and very unique,
right because it's everything is made in house. And when
I was running the numbers, they're staggering. It's sixty thousand
gallons of products come out of there a year. That
was last year. We're probably going to be far more
this year. And so we have full full time employees
(34:27):
working in their daily you know, our order today was
over four hundred gallons that they're producing in there. So
the numbers are staggering but also exciting, and it really
is what makes our programs so special.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Cool. I'm like all right, I don't understand those numbers
at all. That doesn't make any sense to me anymore.
Thank you so much for being here. This has been
such a wonderful conversation, and thank you for bringing such
a I'm gonna I'm gonna get off camera so and
then drink a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
Yes, thank you for having me. It was my pleasure
and just super fun. So anytime you let me know.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Yeah, yeah, And like we offered to to chef you know,
come out to Atlanta. We've got a burgeting cocktail scene
out there too, and some people are doing some really
lovely things.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Oh very cool. I'll take you up on that.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, And that brings us to the end of this interview.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
There will be more, uh, there will be more oh yes,
oh yes, yeah, we've got We've got one more to
share with you in another month or so, and then
we're plotting another trip out there to interview more people.
Wa ha ha.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Like how you make it sound diabolical. I guess it's fair.
But once again, listeners, if you have any recommendations, our
time is limited, I will say that, but if you
have any recommendations, it's more than twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
But less than forty eight, so it's.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
A it's a lot to package.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, but we would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yes, absolutely we would. You can email us at hello
at saverpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at saver pod and we do hope to
hear from you. Save is production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that let's
(36:27):
work at things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeart Radio. I'm
Annie Reese and.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm more in Vocal Bam and today we have another
interview for you from Las Vegas and the Wind Resort.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, hopefully you've heard the last one
we did about Masa and how good of a time
we have there. But we got a couple of interviews
and we got more that we're going to do later.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, So this one is with Marina mercer Berini, the
winds Resort mixologist. And right, so if you did not
catch our last one, the Wind Resort in Las Vegas
invited us to come fly out and stay with them
and eat and drink everything, or at least as much
as we could over like less than twenty four hour period,
(00:53):
and then interview some of the humans responsible for different
aspects of their food and beverage programs. And they invited
us out to do this because hey, they're excited about them.
But be they teamed up with this company called Blue
Wire to build a podcast studio in the Wind Resort
and it is very fancy and has way more video
cameras that I'm used to podcasting with, and yeah, and
(01:16):
was a lovely experience. It really was.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Everyone was so kind, everyone was so forgiving. I was
chuckling to myself the other day about, uh, when you
first let some explotives fly, shall we say? They were laughing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, I seem real small and unassuming and like and
like real like on the up and up, like I guess,
I don't know. I don't know how I look. I
feel like a gremlin inside my own head all the time.
But yeah, so sometimes when when the spicy ones come out, uh,
people get a good laugh out about it.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
It was very funny and also they were looking out.
I think I talked about this in the last one
that it's actually more relevant to this interview because we
got really lovely cocktails.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Oh yeah for this, Yeah, Marina brought brought us a
couple of beverages that were so good.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
They were so good and they were beautiful and they
mastered your dress. Yeah, cocidentally, coincidentally, and we have pictures
of them on Instagram if you want to check them out.
But I got like some of the glitter which we're
going to talk about, on my face and they were.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
They were like hold hold yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
The team was so nut. They were like, we don't
want you to be embarrassed. I was like, it's too late.
I've embarrassed myself already, but I appreciate it, Like.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
That's my secret. I'm always embarrassed like that generally.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Because we aren't used to having the video component, which
I'm actually going to keep in mind the next time
we go, because I feel like I looked like I
rolled out of bed. But first perhaps I guess I
had probably, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
We had a busy morning, yes, but helpful information for
next time, for sure. I feel like in general, I'm
going to have a much better grip on everything. Okay,
but but right, So the Wind sponsored this trip out there,
but it was a genuine pleasure to get to go
(03:29):
to these restaurants and bars that are so so carefully
thought out and experiential, and to try all of these cool,
weird things that they're doing, and then to talk to
some of these human people who were also cool and weird.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, it was really fascinating to me to hear about
how they collaborated, Like when you're part of this kind
of huge thing which you want to have different experiences
but that all work, uh yeah, And to be able
to be responsible for drinks for like all of these
(04:06):
properties and for tailoring them and working with the chefs
and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It's just.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Really interesting in it kind of made me tired to.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Tell you about it. But yeah, yeah, because because Marina
is right as the resort mixologist, she's responsible for designing
basically every drink in every bar and restaurant throughout the
entire resort, which is a lot of those. Like everything
more complex than like a coffee or like a cola
(04:38):
or like a gin and tonic is her domain.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Mm hmmm, it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yes, it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And we would kind of mention. People would ask us
why we were there, and then they'd get a kick
out of oh, you're doing the Blue Wire Studio, like
they knew it, And then we would say what we
were doing. They would know these names, yeah, people who
worked there. Yeah, they be like, oh, yeah, we worked
together to make this or this it's good.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah. Oh and and yeah. And throughout throughout our time
there also, you know, we we we tried to hit
up a little bit of everything and and it was
all so it genuinely was so lovely, like like those
some of those cocktails that we had were really just
so good at bringing you to like a place of celebration.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, and it was cool too that you could see
the different themes, some more obvious than others at different places.
Like we went to one that was like is it
Spy themed or James Bond.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Theme something like that.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, maybe maybe, but I gotta I got a James
but I was on the James Bond page, I think.
But so there was that. And then I went to
like the last day, I went to like a beachside
bar and I got this like amazing light chi oh yeah, yeah,
oh my god. But yeah, just like these so like
(06:15):
if I go here, you get this experience. You go here,
it's this. So there's a lot for us to sample.
And we did sample.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
We did, yes, yes, but right, and it's and it
is so cool. They have so many options and that
Marina really does focus in on making amazing non alcoholic
beverages as well as alcoholic ones, because that's an important
thing to have.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yes, absolutely, and as she says in here, she doesn't
really drink. It's really fascinating.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah. Oh but but okay, all right, we're going to
get into the interview in just a minute, but first
we are going to take a quick break for word
from our sponsors and we're back. Thank you sponsor.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Let us get into the interview.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
We'd like to start these things off with like a nice,
simple HI. Who are you? Hi?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I am Marina mercer Barini. I am the master Mixologist
of Wind Resorts North America. So I designed cocktails at
Win Las Vegas. I think it's thirty four venues that
I'm designing for right now, so that is encompassing obviously
alcoholic drinks, zero proof beverages. I'm working with some coffees, teas, smoothies.
(07:38):
Basically if you can drink it, I probably made it.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Thirty thirty four venues. That is completely wild. How How
do you? How do you even begin to start?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I love what I do. I think the first question
I always get is what is a normal day for you?
And I'm like, I don't know, I've never had one.
Definitely by design. Yeah, I'm always looking for, you know, checks,
challenges and creating and just doing something new and exciting.
And there's no shortage here obviously. So the first step
is always identifying the venue that I'm creating for and
(08:10):
then really falling in love with that concept and what
exactly does that mean? It's what kind of cuisine is
a chef making Our chief creative officer, Todd Avery Lenihan,
he's just this like magician of design and all of
these beautiful design stories he's putting in rooms. So I
really fall in love with the concept. And from there
it's just creating cocktails at further tell that story and
(08:32):
that are just incredibly beautiful and delicious.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, you've brought You've brought for us these very gorgeous
and coincidentally extremely matching cocktails. You could you tell us
about what's in front of us right now?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Absolutely. I learned early on in my career to never
come to a party empty hand it, so I definitely
wanted you to have something to enjoy. This cocktail is
called Monaco. Monico is a cocktail served at aft cocktail deck.
The menu there is hired by a luxury yacht. It
looks like this beautiful luxury yacht. And so when I
was designing, I was speaking with our design officer and
(09:08):
it was basically like, how do I tell the story
of a luxury yacht? And was through glamorous destinations and locales.
So every single cocktail is named after a destination and
then all of the ingredients kind of tell the story.
I definitely wanted this to be something so beautiful and
photogenic that maybe you would be on a yacht in Monaco.
This has a the outside the blue dust there. It's
(09:31):
actually a product I've created outside of the wind. It's
called electric dust. Previous in my career, I created a
cocktail in Las Vegas. It was not on any menu
and it is the most popular specialty cocktail in all
of Las Vegas by sales. It's over I think it's
like fifteen million dollars in sales now. The garnish for
that is called a buzz button. I heard that you
(09:53):
guys are very into science.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Is also I love that.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
A buzz button is a natural alkaloid that speeds up
your salivary glands in turn you into a super taster.
So as you eat this little flower, your tongue starts
tingling and you start tasting different nuances and flavors. It's
incredibly experiential. Oh wow, Yes, a lot of fun. So
during the pandemic last I guess it kind of closed
down and I thought I had a lot of creative energy,
and so I started playing with that flower and saw
(10:18):
that no one was working with it besides fresh, so
I created a process, I filed the patent, wrote a patent,
filed a patent on it to make it shelf stable
and obviously the blue beautiful with the iridescent. So this
cocktail does come with instructions. What you want to do
is you want to lick the side of your glass. Okay,
all right, you'll get a little blue on your tongue,
and as your tongue starts tingling, go ahead and sip
that cocktail again. The cocktail is a lemon and basil
(10:42):
vodka with a touch of elderflower. I can see it's
already settled again, and then I'm wild. I have a
French elderflower locure citrus champagne. Because you need the bubbly
on the yacht. Butterfly pea blossom, which is this really
beautiful thaie flower has a low pH balance, so it's
blue in color, and as soon as you put it
(11:03):
with anything acidic like lemon, it turns from that purple
to kind of like a pinkish color as well. So
it's again beautiful science at its finest, but just a
really sessionable cocktail to drink out at aft cocktail deck.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Oh absolutely, that is that is an entire experience, and
before you served it to us, you had a spritz
of Aromatics to add on top.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yes, so I do have a line of edible perfumes
around the resort. You have millions of little factory receptors
and thousands of taste buds. You taste predominant with your nose,
So I started experimenting with putting these beautiful aromas on
top of cocktails and it really enabled you to taste
in layers and create this experience. I also love working
with Aroma's ural factory bulb is the closest jaunt to memory,
(11:49):
and that accesses nostalgia as well. So I think we
can all kind of remember, I don't know, the popcorn
on your first date that you smell and you smell
and again, and it takes you that happy place. So
I love to kind of reach that happy place with people.
This for me was when I was talking to our designer.
He was telling me about yachts, and I started kind
of thinking of all my happiest like coastal memories and
(12:11):
always like they were kind of like walks outside around
like sundown. And there is a certain plan especially on
the West Coast called night Blooming Jasmine that only opens
around you know, five or six in the evening, and
it's this beautiful, fragrant aroma that's kind of en dormant
all day and then like comes up to party. Yeah yeah,
and it's just such a beautiful aroma. So my idea
was to kind of put that on top of the
(12:32):
cocktail so as you bring it up to your face,
it's kind of wafting and you know, creating those memories
and accessing those happy.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Ones as well.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, you talk a lot about about storytelling and using
all of the senses because right like like you, it's
not just taste and smell, it's sort of everything. Could
you go into a little bit about how like like
like when you're designing a drink, could you like walk
us through the process.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Absolutely. So it's usually again finding that the menu I'm
creating for, and then I'll fully immerse myself into the culture.
Let's say wing Lay, it's our Mitchellin starred Chinese restaurant.
I'm here at the Wynn and the chef is just
beautiful cuisine. So it was studying Chinese culture, Chinese ingredients,
(13:21):
and then the naming process is always a lot of fun.
So it was Chinese mythology, philosophy, art, anything that I
could really make the whole experience of your authentic. So
when you're reading this menu, you're onles. It's almost like
this great lesson and it's just very evocative of Chinese culture,
so really beautiful. So it's a lot of studying and
(13:42):
then I actually create all my cocktails on paper and
draw them out and kind of build layer by layer
and flavor, and then from there it's kind of like
the building process, the pairing with food. But I really
believe anything in life can be art. The way that
you speak, the way that you walk, conduct yourself. I
saw that stuff, right, It's such a personal expression. So
(14:03):
with cocktails it's the same. I'm always kind of like
off daydreaming writing things down, and it's just kind of
daydreaming in liquid form.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Oh I love that, And it's so cool that you're
doing a bunch of non alcoholic cocktails. We love seeing
this surge in non alcoholic beverages because, of course, there
are any number of reasons why people either don't drink
at all or who would want to take a break.
I mean, you know, like this is a place of excess,
but also you know, maybe like watch yourself, right, So
(14:33):
could you talk about how you balance or maybe like
rebalance the ingredients that you work with when you're making
something without any liquor.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Absolutely, I think something that people are always fascinating to
find out about me is I actually don't drink. I
do taste my cocktails as I create sure them, but
I'm always looking for a balance in life too, So
I love to be able to provide, like you said,
someone maybe it's just taken a pause, but I found
being someone that doesn't can say alcohol, when I would
go out, it was always like this huge glass of
(15:04):
like juice or right, things like that, like.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
We can give you a soda water, crianberry juice. Here
you go, right.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, So I really wanted to create that same experience
and that storytelling that you would have with a cocktail,
even if you're not imvibing. And I still think things
need to be incredibly balanced and interesting and still have
the story. So it's just kind of retasting ingredients and
working through finding the flavor champions, making sure that they're
(15:30):
not too sweet. But I also like to design things,
you know, that's more bitter, maybe more fruit forward and
really kind of I say, it's almost like fantasy football league.
Not everyone should be a quarterback. You're not going to win, right,
So just designing menus that are just really well around it.
And that extends to the non alcoholics as well.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, and when Las Vegas has a drink Well program
that you're helping them out with, and like, you know,
we don't want to get too deep into any potential
nutritional benefits because nutrition is so complicated. But uh, but
of course, like a lot of classic cocktail ingredients from
like bitters to lime juice, we're in there originally for
(16:08):
potential medicinal benefits and kind of a lot of what
cocktail making is is balancing around those flavors. So so
you're introducing new things like like like mushroom tinctures into
a bunch of cocktails here, how do you balance for
a mushroom?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Some of the mushrooms, they all have different flavors, incredibly nuanced.
Some can almost taste a little bit like crabs, some
are more like I have this really beautiful kind of
the sea summer, a little bit more earthiness, and it's
really fun to play with the different types, and I
completely agree about nutrition is so personal and so nuanced.
(16:48):
But for me, I'm always looking for balance for mind, bodies,
soul and just exploring that. I think you know, as
you start to age and you live in Las Vegas,
you know you always want to look your best, fill
your best kind of thing, and I'm just incredibly curious.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, you you've talked about a couple of the ingredients
that you've designed, the electric dust and the edible perfumes. Uh,
are there there's a there's a sham fane foam.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Yes, yes, it's one of my inventions. Yeah. I love
a good portmanteau. So it is a champagne foam. It's basically,
I'm taking rose wine egg white, which is most aspumas
or foams, and a rose strawberry rose syrup and putting
(17:39):
it in a foaming canister that you've probably seen at
bars or in the culinary world. But instead of charging
it with nitrous oxide, which is what you would do
for most foams, is I charge it, I carbonate it
with the CEO two, which actually does the same effect.
It rapidly whips it, but it carbonates it as well,
so it emulates champagne. Therefore that's the champagne. But it's
(18:00):
this really just really fun good. I love a surprise, right,
I love all Easter eggs and surprises and creating those experiences.
And it's this delicious, like delightful mouth feel that you're
it's a creamy right, but you're like, I'm drinking champagne.
It has that same affrevescence and.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh wow, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, it's something that's completely unique for our program. Even
when I was buying the products from the distributor, he's like, no,
these things don't go together. I'm like, oh, but you're
like new, which is where I you know that it
was something truly unique. But I always like to be
on the cutting edge and doing something new and always
just innovating and creating. And when you have over thirty
venues here on property to create for, it's important that
(18:39):
we're always doing something new and leading the chart.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah. Yeah, oh that that sounds so fun because right,
like the creaminess of a foam, but but carbonation is
actually like a very small pain reaction in your mouth.
It's going like, well, what's happening? So I like a
foam that hurts you, just a little of it, And.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Then with the like and the tingling.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
There you go, Oh, that's wonderful, cauld I ask this.
This wasn't in our like in our list of questions,
but could I ask how you got into into cocktails
and furthermore, like into the into the creation process of
inventing new ingredients.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
So I was born and raised in Las Vegas. Both
my parents were born here, so second generation, and I
wasn't really allowed to go to the to the Las
Vegas strip very often. So of course the first thing
I wanted to do when I our dayteen was to
come and get a job on the last Regis strip
and studying chemistry. A job was created for me. I
(19:37):
was a hostess at a steakhouse. It's mostly before you're
twenty one what you can do, and a job was
created for me called Tequila Goddess because it was Las Vegas.
I was just a really curious kid. I was always
asking all these questions of some Bevers directors that we're
creating this whole program, so like, okay, no, this isn't
what you were thinking, but we created We just think
(19:58):
it's going to be perfect for you. So I did
what any eighteen year old or sorry, twenty one at
the time, turning twenty one a kid would do. As
I went home and asked my mom. I was like, hey,
can I go be a tequila goddess? And she said
no way. And then I did what any twenty one
year old kid would do, and I was like, sign
me up. So I spent right after my twenty first birthday,
I actually got to go on a plane to the
town of Tequila and live and work in different distilleries.
(20:20):
And this was to date myself about seventeen years ago,
so we really started like no one was working in
tequila or you know, many spirits at that time, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Sure, Yeah, that was before the revival of the craft
cocktail bent.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Bit lately, and Patron was like this nascent, kind of
burgeoning kind of spirit in the United States leading the
charge there. So it was just a really great opportunity
to really delve into the knowledge side and become very
passionate about it. And I came home and I found
that I was I was a little sit I was shy,
and I'd wear this costume and those kind of parts
of the job that I didn't necessarily love. But I
(20:54):
found that when I was incredibly passionate and could tell
people about this, the beauty of tequila, being the spirit
of Mexico, and in so many ways that people kind
of forgot what I was wearing, or what I look
like or anything like that. And I've actually kept in
touch with many people from my very first job as
tequila goddess because I've been so passionate about it, and
(21:16):
from there, I just always loved to create and make
art and started doing with cocktails. We started winning a
lot of competitions and I've won a global competition in Morocco.
I competed against I think fourteen other countries in the
Souks of Morocco. They actually kind of like set us free.
We had to go and barter for all of our ingredients,
(21:37):
come back to the read we were staying at, and
tell a story through cocktails. And so I ended up
winning a global title, which was really exciting. But people
just kind of started paying more attention to that. And
then I opened a resort about twelve years ago in
Las Vegas and I've been here at Win Las Vegas
for a little bit over two years now.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Wow, we do have some more of this interview for you,
but first we're going to get into one more quick
break for word from our sponsor.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And we're back.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Thank you sponsor. Let's get back into the interview.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I don't know how much time we have. I like
want to pick your brain about tequila because because it
is such a such a terrific uh liquor and I
and I feel like it has been severely underrated in
the States. I feel like it's just not or or
classically has not been as appreciated as uh, certainly gin
and then the vodka thing that happened for the entirety
(22:42):
of the mid century. Uh. But but tequila can be
just as just as complex as a whiskey.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
And uh, you are so so so do you? Do
you still have those you said that you still have
some of those relationships. Are you bringing anything in that
you that you think is just really We.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Certainly have a wonderful list at list of tequilas and
mezcals at Kasaplaia at the Win. Also, we're very fortunate
to have our signature barrel program, so we will, you know,
go to different distilleries and buy an entire barrel that's
just for our guest. We have a herod or a
double oak Triposato that is incredibly special. I love to
(23:24):
create you know, interesting cocktails, you know, margaritas and above
and beyond with that, uh, mezcal is kind of the
next big boom that people are really into. And that's
a lot of fun because there's even more complexity, there's
different varieties of agave. It's not as strictly regulated, and
there's just almost like a lot of almost like mysticism
(23:46):
in some of the really mom pop distilleries and just
a lot of love that goes into those products. And
so it's very special.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Oh, that's amazing. We've we've talked about so many things,
uh that you are clearly so passionate about. Is there like,
do you have a favorite thing that you're working with
right now or something like coming up in the future
that you're like about to crack the coat on.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
There's no shortage of amazing, amazing projects.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Here at the Wynn.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
We're doing min Kim chef Min Kim from the Zumi
is doing his test kitchen, so he's having a pop
up and he's just such a rock star, such an
amazing impressive chef, and he has such an amazing career
where he's he's really worked all over the world. So
he's really going to show off some of those chops
(24:37):
and in some of his cuisine, and it's not as
traditional Japanese is what he's done. It's a very playful concept.
So I did the cocktails for that, super playful, whimsical,
really fun, using all kinds of different Asian ingredients go
Chu Chang paste like paint on the side of a margarita,
with Kimchie salt, and just some really complex, fun flavored sinner,
(25:00):
incredibly unique for cocktails. The photo shoots we were doing
was like on Nintendos, and you know, just a lot
of like pop culture and really just like avant guard
and fun, and that's exciting for me. I saw chef
Sarah Thompson from Kasa playa. We're doing some really fun
stuff over there. I heard talking about Wheatlacoche I just
(25:20):
reached out to like a month ago. I was like,
you got you got a guy anything wet onch So
some really fun projects over there with reopening of the lounge.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah, yeah, we were there for dinner last night and
we One of the cocktails that Annie and I immediately
gravitated to was the Marigold because we just did an
episode about marigolds a few weeks back, and uh, and
one of the things that we were talking about was
that amazing scent that you get from the flower that's
so much a part of the Day of the Dead
and and the offenda's there and uh, uh could you
(25:51):
talk to us a little bit about how that cocktail
in particular came into creation.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Absolutely so at Kasaplia and there's some beautiful marigolds hanging
from the ceiling and it's such a big part of
the decor there. There's also this beautiful marri gold dessert.
It's just so beautiful. So during I was designing some
cocktails during right before a Day of the Dead, and
started studying everything you're talking about now, and it just
(26:16):
it was such like such a hyper personal, meaningful thing.
And so I was like, how do I put this
in a cocktail and pay homage and love to this
culture and express that. So it's a marigold infused loo
cure with a little bit of sage because the miragold
aroma has that like incredible It's like it looks so
delicate and beautiful and then it has like comes with
(26:38):
like right, guys, it was like this almost like sage
kind of aroma, so just both string up or the
aroma to it. It smoked in a decanter with a
little bit of strawberry aroma, so when you open it
again entices you. And I thought about like what would
be on my ol frienda, which is probably like a
really morbid thing to think about. Oh no, I love strawberry,
(27:00):
So that's why I picked a strawberry aroma to be like,
but into that and just that it's again they say
you eat with your eyes, right, you certainly drink with
your eyes, and especially in this time where we're wanting
to document share photos with our friends of cocktail, so
it was also like making it very photogenic and beautiful
(27:20):
and creating experience for a guest that maybe wouldn't have
that somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah. Oh, I've been hogging the mic again this entire time.
Like half the questions are from Annie. I promise, I
just don't want her speak. Annie, do you have anything
else for us?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I do, And the answer might be super short or
super long. So I'm interested. First of all, like, thank
you for the cocktail. It's amazing, And doing an interview
with like Tingling is an experience and it's wonderful. We
talk a lot about patents on the show. Oh and
we've never actually, I don't think we've ever talked to
(28:00):
someone who did it. We're not about like the process,
like how hard is it to get a patent?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
So we're still patent pending. It's actually really difficult. Have
not gotten it yet. And it was a passion project
between my husband and myself. He is a professor of
graphic design. So when I started creating these products during
the pandemic, he started creating the package and the package
actually looks exactly like your dress, and you know, taking
(28:29):
doing our photography and our website and we started we
knew that our product was one hundred percent unique and
how did we capture that? And so that's how we
started getting into the patent process. And we just were
writing it together and it was not easy. My husband
and I never fight, but maybe we were like nearing
some heated moments, a little tense.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, right, because it seems like they make it like
a little bit eldritch sort of on purpose to get.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Into there's just navigating the website and all of that.
It's yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Oh heck well, best best of luck. I really hope.
I really hope it comes through because this is a
I've never I've never seen and tasted anything like this
before it and it is so experiential and that's how
that's how we again have tried like a perhaps embarrassing
number of cocktails, uh for only having been here for
twenty four hours. But but but all of them, all
(29:28):
of them have been so lovely, drink responsibly friends. But
but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Uh yeah, I mean I think unless there's any other
things you're excited about.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, is there anything that we didn't ask you? Is
there anything that you that you want to talk about?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
So over the lounge is one of our lounges. We
actually are up for a Tails of the Cocktail Best
Hotel Bar, which is kind of like the James Beard
for for cocktail nerds like me sort of A. Yeah,
it's super exciting and that's just an incredible concept. So
I hope that you can make it there tonight.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Again.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I talk a lot about our chief creative officer, Toddy
Avery Lenihan, but he is just so brilliant with his design,
so he's always my first call. A lot of times
I don't get to see the physical space while I'm
designing menus, so it's just kind of all through what
he's his story and what he's telling me and everything
he was telling me. I just wrote one word, really big,
and it was just iconic because his design sounded iconic,
(30:29):
and it was like, how does one put iconic into
a cocktail? Like how does it become iconic? So I
started just scribbling words and I thought, how does a
person become iconic? And I started writing Madonna share and
everyone had just one name, and I thought, oh, that's
really interesting. That's you know, you're truly iconic if you
can go by just your first name. So all of
(30:51):
the cocktails are oblique references to iconic figures and fashion
and film and even mythology. And then it is over
look aparteves and lounge so apertefs is almost it's very European.
It's you know, having cocktails before dinner, and it's just
I guess in America we maybe have like happy hour.
(31:13):
It's not happy hour, right, No, no, no, that's not
the it's not like threebud lives. Let's go like, no,
that's not the concept.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
The concept is like getting your getting your your your
stomach and like your your senses ready to have a lovely.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Meal, absolutely, and a lot of it is about connection.
So it's having low alcohol cocktails before to you stimulate
your appetite through these beautiful usually Italian liqueurs. You're talking
and sometimes it's you know, two hours before you go
to dinner, you've spent in these. So the Sprits cocktail
is kind of the darling of the apartef movement, so
(31:48):
that one in particular is named Aurora. And it's also
really fun because guests will always try to like figure
out who who the cocktail is referencing. But Aurora is
the Roman of sunrise, and it's in this the same
goblet kind of, and it's a play on an apparall
sprits so it looks like this beautiful sunrise with fire
(32:10):
and they're called fire sticks, these beautiful fireworks almost like
flower shooting out of the cocktail. And it's really fun.
But every one of the cocktails is finished with an
edible perfume, and each one is a different inspired by
a different glamorous locale, and so putting all of them
finishing sense like encapsulating these places in an aroma. Like
(32:31):
let's say I have one called Milan and it's I thought, like,
what is fashion week smell like? What does a supermodel
smell like? And I started thinking probably like fancy hair
products and lotions and perfumes, you know, so vanilla rose
and jasmine. I'm like, but maybe there's like a cheeky
cigarette here or there before or after. So it's finished
(32:52):
with a little bit of mezcal for just a little
bit of smoke in it. So everything is like building
up these different like building blocks of aromas for these perfume,
but it really kind of transports you to this glamorous
location with these glamorous figures, so that that menu is
a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
That is I and the idea that you're doing all
of this like intricate creative work, and you're doing it
at the kind of scale. I don't think that I understood.
This is my first time in Vegas ever, and I've
so I've been here like less than twenty four hours
and I'm completely sensorily overwhelmed all the time. And part
of what I didn't understand was the exact volume that
(33:31):
you guys are dealing with. How do you do how
do you like? How many do you have? The numbers
in your head off the top of your head, like
like what kind of volume you guys do and how
you handle that.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
So I'm really glad you brought that up. Probably the
crown jewel of the beverage program for me personally is
our Bembridge production kitchen, very much like a commissary kitchen
of sorts, the commercial kitchen kind of what we do.
It's i'most like the heart and the brain of the program.
We do a lot of our cocktail batching, but we
also produce a lot of our ingredients, our syrups, our tinctures,
(34:05):
some of our garnishes. Everything that just makes our programs
so special really comes out of that place and very unique,
right because it's everything is made in house. And when
I was running the numbers, they're staggering. It's sixty thousand
gallons of products come out of there a year. That
was last year. We're probably going to be far more
this year. And so we have full full time employees
(34:27):
working in their daily you know, our order today was
over four hundred gallons that they're producing in there. So
the numbers are staggering but also exciting, and it really
is what makes our programs so special.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Cool. I'm like all right, I don't understand those numbers
at all. That doesn't make any sense to me anymore.
Thank you so much for being here. This has been
such a wonderful conversation, and thank you for bringing such
a I'm gonna I'm gonna get off camera so and
then drink a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
Yes, thank you for having me. It was my pleasure
and just super fun. So anytime you let me know.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Yeah, yeah, And like we offered to to chef you know,
come out to Atlanta. We've got a burgeting cocktail scene
out there too, and some people are doing some really
lovely things.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Oh very cool. I'll take you up on that.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, And that brings us to the end of this interview.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
There will be more, uh, there will be more oh yes,
oh yes, yeah, we've got We've got one more to
share with you in another month or so, and then
we're plotting another trip out there to interview more people.
Wa ha ha.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Like how you make it sound diabolical. I guess it's fair.
But once again, listeners, if you have any recommendations, our
time is limited, I will say that, but if you
have any recommendations, it's more than twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
But less than forty eight, so it's.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
A it's a lot to package.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, but we would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yes, absolutely we would. You can email us at hello
at saverpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at saver pod and we do hope to
hear from you. Save is production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that let's
(36:27):
work at things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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