Trevin Hutchins, the Bar Director at Aphotic in San Francisco, recently won the 2024 Exceptional Cocktails Award

Trevin Hutchins, the Bar Director at Aphotic in San Francisco, recently won the 2024 Exceptional Cocktails Award

He describes bartending as a “subculture” where cocktails serve as a “thread that ties a global community together,” emphasizing the importance of collaboration in his career.

At Aphotic, Hutchins and his team developed a flavor library of 27 single botanical spirits, which form the backbone of their cocktail menu. A notable creation is the Bespoke Classic cocktail, which reimagines familiar drinks using house-distilled spirits. For example, a Manhattan might be transformed by blending bold rye whiskey with a plum blossom distillate, resulting in a drink that is both familiar to their guests but uniquely exclusive to Aphotic.

Hutchins emphasizes the importance of ingredient sourcing in creating new spirits and cocktails. Collaborating with local partners, Aphotic sources organic botanicals and foraged ingredients, starting the process with maceration in neutral grain spirit. The goal is to develop a spirit that is “rich in flavor and true to the fresh botanical taste and smell,” often requiring several revisions to perfect. Their approach to cocktails is grounded in classic foundations, allowing for the layering of complex, unique flavors.

The drinks program at Aphotic is designed to complement Chef Peter Hemsley’s seafood-forward tasting menu, highlighting the crossover between the culinary and cocktail worlds.

Botanicals like juniper, traditionally used in cooking, play a key role in their signature cocktails, such as the Aphotic Martini, which features gin infused with juniper and seaweed.

“The tie is strong between the two worlds. Botanicals have long been used in the cooking or curing process of seafood. Juniper, the main botanical of gin, is commonly used to cure salmon for lox, and seaweed has many culinary applications. Both happen to be the main botanicals of our gin for our signature cocktail, the Aphotic Martini. There is a lot of crossover between the cocktail and the culinary worlds, especially with what we do.”

Aphotic also caters to the growing demand for non-alcoholic pairings with the same level of care and creativity as their spirited offerings. Hutchins notes that creating these beverages is more challenging, as every ingredient is developed from scratch, resulting in a longer R&D process.

For aspiring bartenders, Hutchins advises, “Never stop learning. Start with the classics: Sour, Daisy, Collins, Smash, Old Fashioned, Martini, etc. They are the mother cocktails that created the blueprint for everything that has come after. Once you have a mastery of these, you can start to break the rules.”