How a Phoenix bartender became top 10 'most inventive' in US — and the cocktail that proves it
Update: Bingham has been advanced in the competition and is now one of the top 10 finalists.
Aspen Bingham is the lead bartenderatGarden Bar, which is tucked away in a charming house on Sixth Street that's been converted into a unique cocktail bar with multiple rooms and a patio. Sheexudes confidence behind as she and her team prepare ingredients for some of the most creative drinks in the city.As she should.
Bingham is one of 24 semifinalists for for Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s Most Imaginative Bartender Competition presented by Bombay Sapphire gin.
The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s award highlights bartenders who used the pandemic as an opportunity to get creative outside the bar. Bartenders from the U.S. and Canada submitted a recipe and a 90-second video to describe their creative endeavors beyond the bar and the global cocktail organization narrowed the pool of applicants from 250 to 40. Then judges visited the applicants at their respective bars to try drinks inspired by the bartenders' extra curricular projects.
Of these, 24 have been selected to advance tothe semifinals, which take place in Denver on September 26 and 27. This year, Phoenix has two semifinalists representing the Valley — Bingham and Nicole Giampino, the bar manager at Platform 18.
In Denver, 10 bartenders will be selected tocompete in the 2023 finals in Miami, where one will ultimately be crowned the winner and take home $20,000 to use toward a business inspired by their project.
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Raising the bar for sustainably
The competition is about more than crafting a great drink. It is about making cocktails that tell a story or start a conversation, which is exactly what the Phoenix contestant Bingham has done with The Heat Island Effect.
Growing up in Flagstaff, sustainability was something that was taught public schools and when Binghammoved to Phoenix, she learned more through courses at Paradise Valley Community College. She went on to start a community garden at her college and later, she transferred to ASU where she is currently working on her bachelor’s degree in economic sustainability.
During the pandemic, Bingham became fascinated with the heat island effect in Phoenix. The heat island effect happens when metal and concrete absorb heat during the day and release it at night. Delving deeper, she learned that the heat island effect had economic, social, cultural and environmental consequences.
Economically, it raises medical costs associated with heat-related medical issues and deaths. Socially, it affects people in lower-income communities. Culturally, the information about the issue is only available in English, so it excludes other communities. And, environmentally, it increases air pollution.
She began to think about solutions.
“I thought, how do I express this in a drink?” said Bingham.
For the awards, Bingham combined seven years of bartending experience and a love of sustainability to create her concept and its representative drink.
“I tried to wrap my head around how to sustainably make cocktails,” said Bingham, “which is a lot more difficult than it seems. Although the concept has been around for a long time, there are not a lot of tools and resources, but mostly solo individuals experimenting.”
Crafting a more sustainable cocktail
For her cocktail, named The Heat Island Effect, Bingham chose plants that either are native to the Sonoran Desert or that can grow here, like wolfberries, sage and chiltepín peppers.
The base of the yellow beverage is Bombay Sapphire gin to which she adds desert flower cordial, honey syrup and a tincture of wolfberries and chiltepin that she pours into a chilled coupe glass, allowing for the maximum aromatic experience. On top floats a sage leaf cupping three drops of orange water.
She made the cordial using desert flowers from Herbology Shop, which the owner custom-made for her with a mix of drought-resistant and drought-tolerant flowers.
Next, she chose honey as a sweetener. “Arizona has a lot of it and it’s very important to the environment.”
The honey she selected was Bridle Path Beeyard’s Palo Verde honey. Cultivated by veterinarian Joc Rawls, this honey is a true taste of Phoenix, since bees only fly within a two-mile radius from the hive and Rawls lives in Uptown. His honey, restrained in its sweetness, has an almost a buttery flavor that deepens with time.
“I was trying to see how one cocktail or even one ingredient can change the world,” said Bingham. “Cocktails are universal. They can make talking about difficult issues more palatable.”
So far, the conversationsher drink has sparked at the Garden Bar have helped Bingham connect withpeople who share her interest in sustainability.
“Even if I don’t win, I’d like to use this season to educate people on the heat island effect and take it from a local to an international level. Next season it might be another drink and another concept.”
What will Bingham do next if she wins?
“I want to create a lab and start by collecting data and real tangible testimonials on composting in restaurants,” Bingham said. “How do you start from a design up or how to convert an already existing building? It’s a toolkit for business with different levels of involvement, eventually leading to a test kitchen that demonstrates sustainable restaurant and bar models.”
Details: Meet Bingham and try her drink at Garden Bar, 822 N. Sixth Ave., Phenix. 602-824-2385, gardenbarphx.com.
Reach the reporter at [email protected]. Follow @banooshahr on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Garden Bar and Platform 18 Phoenix bartenders are award semifinalists
