February 8, 2022 – Montrio’s new beverage director Daniel Watson brings a boatload of experience slinging drinks for some of London’s more celebrated restaurants.
He apprenticed with two veteran bartenders in the high-volume, high-class cocktail game at Tramshed, a restaurant owned by mover-and-shaker chef/restaurateur Mark Hix.
He learned management and how to scale up a bar program at Grind, a buzz-worthy Shoreditch coffeehouse by day, bar by night that became one of the more sizzling spots in the city.
He explored new flavors at Korean fusion restaurant Jinjuu in Soho, assimilating all sorts of flavors and spices—in fact, at Montrio his house Bloody Mary will include roasted garlic, black-pepper garlic and a spicy Korean gochujang sauce.
And some of the most lasting lessons came at renowned Hawksmoor Seven Dials, which regularly ranks among the best restaurant cocktail bars in the world.
“We had to make all of our own ingredients, with cutting-edge techniques,” Watson says. “But in the end, all of the drinks were delicious, and that’s really the point, isn’t it?”
One of the recipes at Seven Dials gets at what he’s talking about: For the “full fat” old-fashioned, they combine clarified butter and high-proof bourbon in a vacuum-sealed pack and sous vide it before freezing overnight and straining it.
“The higher proof holds onto the flavor,” he says, “and you get this rich, creamy bourbon.”
Say what? Say…wow.
The drinks he’s workshopping for Montrio—after a three-year stint overhauling the cocktails at Cantinetta Luca in Carmel—include a Cara Cara Collins with a house orange marmalade infused with cumin to go with gin, lemon juice and soda water.
He’s also developed a velvety clarified (or basically clear) colada with house pineapple concentrate, coconut milk syrup and all spice-infused rum and lime juice.
Another intriguing concoction would be The Fly by Night, with (again) housemade spiced coffee liqueur, fresh espresso and cardamom-infused vodka.
Edible Monterey Bay caught up with Watson as he scrambled to prep his bar program ahead of Montrio’s long-awaited reopening Feb. 17, with an overhauled interior and new star chef Sascha Lyon in the kitchen.
EMB: You and your bar team will create your own juices, infusions and liqueurs, and every cocktail “will have a homemade element,” as you said in a press release, adding, “I really like to create a drink that you can’t get anywhere else. It’s all part of the experience.” Please say more.
The way I work is I really, really enjoy inventing. Not just drinks, but having a little play around for established processes and tweaking them for different drinks, whether that’s making a shrub or a marmalade. At Montrio, I’ve been doing a lot of inventing. We’re gonna have some real super star beverages.
You started in hospitality young, at 13. [Watson is now 32.] What drew you to it, and what keeps you in it?
My mom volunteered me for a catering gig with a friend and loved the pace and excitement of it. Chef creations take a lot of time, prep and love. I think you can mirror that in a bar program. It has the same kind of joy involved, just shorter turnarounds. It’s exhilarating, and kind of addictive.
How would you characterize your collaboration with the kitchen at Montrio?
I mean, I love food. I’m a big eater. I love well-prepared food. If the chef really cares about what he or she is making, you can taste the love. I want the bar to almost be an extension of the kitchen. If they get product that’s going to be interesting, I want to use it. I like asking chefs how I can use different flavor combinations too.
Football, as the English call it, is a big part of your life. You’re an assistant soccer coach for Seaside High School, play in a local adult league and are getting ready to help with Coastal Roots Hospitality’s partnership with the new Monterey Bay Football Club.
We’ll be developing drinks for their stadium. I want to get to know them before I start putting their name on stuff. I’m really excited about that because I’m football-obsessed.
It’s such a privilege to coach the young lads at Seaside. We have some really talented players and they’re working really hard and we haven’t lost yet. It’s amazing to see the development in playing style but also see the development of character as well. They’re brilliant boys, it’s been an honor and a privilege to work with them. I’d love to help give them the success I know they deserve.
What perspective are you able to bring that a non-Englishman might not?
Whether it’s nationality or being in London during a very exciting time in the cocktail world, I was infused with the excitement of cocktails. It can be such a beautiful thing. A really good mixed drink can make an entire experience. What excites me is making cocktails with interesting profiles. I want it to be approachable. I want it to be delicious. I want the customer to enjoy what’s in front of them.
There are places where I look at the menu and even after 15 years I don’t know a lot of the products that go into some of the drinks. Bartenders know an awful lot about liqueurs and spirits, and sometimes they like to show off what they know, and put that before how the drink tastes. I don’t want to show off; I want people to order drinks again and again because they’re delicious.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
