Meet the Mixologist: Bill Sabine

Bill Sabine is bar manager at the Nautilus Pier 4 in Boston.

What was your first job in the beverage or hospitality industry?

I got my start at Riverton Country Club in Palmyra, New Jersey. I enrolled in a local bartending school with job placement and landed an event bartending gig, then worked up to the clubhouse bar.

It was a great entry to the industry: fast-paced, covered the basics of drink building, with some really Old School bartenders to glean from. It was a masterclass in tending to the bar, everything from small talk with the guests, to the best way to clean brass, to fixing an ice machine right before a 300-person wedding was scheduled to arrive. 

What is your favorite spirit to work with at the moment?

It’s been a whiskey winter for me, which resulted in a really great barrel program. Aged rums had me hooked too, but with the nicer weather coming I’ve been thinking more about agave and juniper, and all the fresh produce that will be available soon. So we’re developing some of our spring cocktails now, maybe in hopes it’ll bring spring weather with it.

Tell us about The Barrel Series project you’ve been working on, in which you make your own barrel-aged liquor from local, fresh ingredients, found and filled by hand.

This started as a fun little side project to play with classic cocktails, and how they interact with the barrel. Right off the bat it was a hit, the night it went on the menu we sold half the barrel, the next night we kicked it.

Luckily, our reps had sent four barrels to play with and I had a second barrel that I already started, so we were good to go. The first was a Boothby Cocktail that I was planning on topping with bubbles, but after some time in the barrel, it was delicious on its own. So we decided to serve it From the Barrel, and that’s how it started.

You previously managed the bar at a brewery and distillery in Maine; has that experience changed how you design a beverage program today?

That was a lot of fun, with very few exceptions we only carried the spirits we made on premise. But that restriction made things interesting, when you can only use a limited number of spirits you can start to play with techniques (clarifying, washing, splitting the base), adjustment of the specs, or some out of the box flavor pairings to dial in the cocktail. Often this would lead to really fun riffs and unexpected originals.

What are some of the popular cocktails on the menu currently?

Tequila and vodka are always popular, so Tequila Mockingbird and Kermit the Frog. The first is a sweet and spicy combo of tequila, grapefruit and rosemary. The latter is a refreshing mix of vodka, pineapple, lime and house ginger soda. In addition to those we’ll be featuring other warm weather friends on the menu this summer, shining a spotlight on gin, rum and vermouth. 

What’s your own current go-to cocktail or beverage?

Dark and bitter are my usual go-tos, 50/50 whiskey and amaro, aged rum Negronis, etc., so our From the Barrel series is usually what I pour after work. When I’m looking for lower ABV, there’s a beer for every occasion.

Would you share the recipe for one of the most popular cocktails at Nautilus Pier 4, or one of your favorite drink recipes?

We have a lot of favorites on the menu, from Nantucket Nautilus originals to some Pier 4 creations that make their way back every year. But I’d have to say the one that deserves a mention is the ACK Nauti. A blend of tequila, lime and fresh-pressed cranberry juice.

This build is traditionally made with sweetened cranberry juice cocktail and cane syrup, and is called the Nautilus. So we borrowed it and gave it a sassy name (ACK being the airport code for Nantucket, and naughty being our vibe), plus our version leans on our culinary roots, and we press our own cranberry juice resulting in a cocktail that is really hard to find outside of The Nautilus.

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