Spirit of Travel with Bar Manager Casey Carr and Dewar’s Whisky

Our content series, The Spirit of Travel with Dewar’s Scotch Whisky follows the essence of adventure and discovery into the craft of bartending.

Created with the finest ingredients and a rich heritage that spans centuries, Dewar’s embodies the spirit of exploration and inspires wanderlust and curiosity. Bartenders are an adventurous bunch, and traveling can profoundly influence their cocktails by shaping creativity, technique, and worldview, while enriching their craft and personal journey.

Casey Carr, Bar Manager at Heartwood in San Francisco belongs to a team of industry vets who are highly acclaimed behind many well-respected bars and restaurants. We ask Casey his bartending career and how his riff on the classic Penicillin cocktail excites a spirit of adventure.

Tell us about your journey into bartending and what inspired you to pursue this career?

Originally, bartending was Just an admired next step to achieve, as I was a growing server within restaurants.

My first job was as a coffee barista, & as a barista the work flow that began when you knew the recipes & your equipment was really captivating for me. You could get multiple different orders at once & find yourself multitasking in almost trance like state accomplishing each drink with ease until the rush died out.

Plus you get to see the joy (most times…) that each drink brought to every guest. Naturally as a young server, you would witness a similar experiences between a bartender & bar guest, so I aimed to learn.

What really shifted the casual job to a career for me was when I worked in my first real fine dining restaurant. I came from the corporate background & didn’t realize how culturally rooted food & drink history could be. I began learning the bar in this space, being introduced to the world of true cocktail for the first time. Then Later through much training like bar smarts & other technique-oriented programs… the restaurant went through some management changes as they do & I had my first shot of placing drinks on the menu. I had a goal of one. Then one became a few.

Later on, I got the opportunity to help open an Chef Owner Italian restaurant developing a cocktail program & the rest was history. Ultimately, I really do love cocktails & the way individuals choose to express themselves through their creativity, inspiration, or flavor within their drinks. To me cocktail creation become as beautifully artistic as music, dance, painting or any other type of art expression.

Talk to us about a recent accomplishment?

I would say opening Heartwood SF has been my most recent accomplishment.

Heartwood Cocktail Bar has been open for just a little over a year at this point and it’s been quite a journey of opening. We are in the Financial District which is the last neighborhood that has found its full revitalization since covid. Luckily we have found ourselves growing into a really steady thriving bar within this small amount of time.

Naturally any bar manager wants their cocktail creations to be loved & the pinpoint for everyone to come into their bar. But for me, the biggest honor I’ve experienced so far is our strong amazing team & regulars we have built within the space.

From a bartender’s perspective, how do you think Dewar’s 12-Year-Old complements different types of occasions or customer preferences?

I absolutely think the Dewars 12yr complements a large demographic of many occasions. Usually in the public scotch is the celebratory option to enjoy. You see it pulled off the shelf for Weddings, family celebrations, the new promotion someone got, the drink of choice many choose to celebrate with.

Whiskey drinkers of course find themselves looking for their go to options & Dewars has had a long history of being a lot of people’s choice for “daily drink”. I’ve arguably poured Dewars often at every bar I’ve worked for.

I believe Dewars 12yr can satisfy the classic Whisky drinker, but also has the structure & flavor the entertain Bourbon & rye drinkers as well.

What advice would you give someone new to whisky on how to best enjoy Dewar’s 12-Year-Old?

If you’re an experienced whiskey drinker, pour yourself a glass neat with a soda back. Taste the spirit for what it is. Sip on your soda & watch how much more flavor starts expanding after the 3rd & 4th Taste.

If you’re new to it. Try it as an old fashioned. Dewars 12yr has a great way of maintaining its character while giving you new flavors as your keep sipping.

Do you see the role of scotch evolving in the bartending community?

What I can say, is how often I am seeing bartenders finding scotch as a very complimentary ingredient to variety of different cocktails. I find myself using scotches like Dewars 12yr within tropical sour variations. I’ve even seen scotch used as a split base for to give somebody for cocktails to the main spirit in a tiki drink. Ultimately as peoples understanding of scotch grows creatives will find ways to bring out its bright fruitiness as well as unique expressions of cooking spices and nuts.

Are there any trends in bartending that you think pair particularly well with Dewar’s 12-Year-Old?

As odd as it might seem, I really love Dewars 12yr in Espresso Martini’s & Palomas. Espresso Martinis seem to still be having their day and I love how people are learning that spirits like scotch can make a more flavorful drink rather than their favorite vodka.

Describe your cocktail that you’ve created using Dewar’s 12-Year-Old and the inspiration behind it?

The Double Down—Dewars 12yr, Kumquat-Calamansi Cordial, Lemon, Ginger, Honey, and AmareBo. This cocktail I’ve created with Dewars 12yr is a mildly tropical riff of a penicillin. I wanted to really bring about flavors that come from the double barrel aging process & the structure that comes with its blending. To me Dewars 12yr has great body and ranges a large distance of flavors of toasted almonds, vanilla, honey to a matured juicy apple or pear.

So as a riff on the classic penicillin – Scotch, lemon, ginger, honey – I wanted to bring out its fruiOness through Kumquats & Calamansi. Calamansi oPen reminds me of Kumquats but as a different tropical expression – so mixing the two was a natural pairing for me. Next, I used classic bar ingredients like BenedicOne & AmareBo to be the source of “Almond & Honey”. Finally adding some Ginger and Lemon to the cocktail to finalize the drink. Garnished with a lemon peel and Lemon Thyme to serve.

We like to serve this drink at the bar on a king Cube in our Footed Goblet Glass.

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