Bartender Submission - Javier Ramierz, Las Vegas

JAVIER BEGAN HIS JOURNEY in the Food & Beverage industry at a young age, growing up working in his family-owned restaurant. After this establishment closed, he continued to work in the field, with Dos Caminos in the Palazzo on the Las Vegas strip as his first casino bar job. He worked his way up and down the strip until becoming a bartender and quickly fell in love with the profession.

One person Ramirez credits as influential to his career is his close friend and fellow bartender, Eric Smith. He was the one that first gave him a chance behind the bar, introduced him to influential bartenders, and taught him how to be a cocktail creator.

Ramirez believes new bartenders should work their way up from barbacks and then figure out what type of bartender they’d like to be. “This industry is always changing, and the more you learn, the better,” adds Ramirez. “For the bartenders that start at home, I’ve noticed that it begins with one spirit, and little by little, more and more is learned about it, and most move onto different spirits from there.”

One of Ramirez’s favorite ingredients to work with right now is ginger. “I love ginger as it can be both overpowering and also have a soft backend note that lingers in cocktails,” shares Ramirez. He also adds that it can be so versatile in drinks as it comes in many different forms, such as syrup, candied, and powdered.

Ramirez doesn’t really have a specific method or process when creating new cocktails. Instead, he says he has a list on his phone of cocktail names with no cocktails and vice versa. “It’s all in the way you make it work,” says Ramirez. “The way it all works is different for everyone, which is what I love about this industry. You can have the same cocktail, made with so many variations, created by so many different people.”

Javier Ramirez

Oak & Ivy Las Vegas, Nevada

COMO LA FLOR

INGREDIENTS 2 oz. Illegal Mezcal 1 ¼ oz. Fresh cucumber-lime juice 1 oz. Marie Brizard Elderflower ¼ oz. jalapeno simple syrup (2:1) Edible flower (for garnish) PREPARATION Add ingredients to a mixing tin with ice. Shake, strain into a coupe. Garnish with an edible flower.