From this arched and glittering bar-within-a-bar, designed to resemble a cave of quartz, come cocktails inspired by the world’s famous deserts. Imagined by barkeep Max Berlin, Dreamtime is based on an Aboriginal origin story from the Great Australian Desert, depicted by drawings on the desert’s craggy red rocks. The menu describes this coral cocktail as “exotic and curative,” which rings true from the first savory, refreshing sip.
To concoct it, Berlin blends local Suncliffe gin (which makes use of foraged botanicals such as manzanita berry and juniper from Sedona) with Yuu Baal’s pechuga mezcal, a finished mezcal redistilled with fruits and nuts as well as chicken, turkey or rabbit breast, which is suspended above the mezcal in the still. The process gives the spirit a silky texture and touch of umami. Dreamtime also contains Australian ingredients such as tamarillo fruit (a tangy cross between a kiwi and a tomato), earthy manuka honey and a tart tea made from lemon myrtle shrub. Blood orange provides floral sweetness, while Amaro Dell’Erborista, a honey-based Italian liqueur, brings bitter complexity.
Although Berlin likens his creation to a Bee’s Knees or Penicillin, it’s far geekier than either, tasting smoky, earthy, tart, citrusy and menthol-like at once. As a final touch, the drink – served in a hand-blown glass snifter and fitted to a driftwood base – is garnished with crunchy house-made honeycomb candy (scented with eucalyptus) and sprinkled with “dream dust” (a house-made powder made from roots and flowers). Exotic doesn’t begin to describe it.
$20
The Cave at Quartz
341 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix
602-385-0299, quartzphx.com
