Meet the Mixologist: Trenton Austin

Trenton Austin is beverage director at 7th House cocktail bar in Atlanta.

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

My first beverage job was at Ristorante Divino, in Columbia, SC. This is where I met my mentor, Jessica Williams. She inspired me to really take this seriously, and instilled a lot of the core beliefs I carry with me about the craft of hospitality.

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

Gin, always has been. There are a lot of different elements and flavors to gin that make it incredibly versatile when it comes to cocktails. It’s like an octopus, in a way, with each arm being a different element or flavor of the gin.

How do you develop recipes for your Zodiac Cocktail Program?

I start by researching the individual zodiac sign. Not just the character traits, but the mythology and the constellation itself. This gives us a great “why” to each cocktail.

After that we look at the end goal of the cocktail and work backwards. What do we want the cocktail to represent? What do we want the cocktail to remind the guest of? How do we get there? This really helps us not focus on individual spirits, but building and layering flavors. 

We look to classic/modern classics as the “template” of the cocktail. Then inject the research of the zodiac sign into them.

How do you approach drink menus that pair with the dishes at 7th House?

Chef Chris McCord’s focus on local suppliers and seasonality is a huge help and makes pairing cocktails quite easy with our menu. Our menus don’t revolve around each other, yet pair well together. It’s like parallel lines in a way. They may not overlap, but they are moving in the same direction.

We discuss changes to menus together and bounce ideas off each other weekly. There is a lot of Chris’s influence in our cocktail menus, which makes pairing it with the food almost seamless. 

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

The Silver Lining, representing the Cancer sign, is one that has been around almost since the beginning. I don’t use a lot of vodka on my menus; so when I do I like them to be a little unexpected. We infuse vodka with mango and Thai chili, make a syrup out of ice wine, combine those with mango and lemon juice, then clarify it with ginger milk. It’s served over a large cube with a coconut foam over top.

The outcome is a perfectly clear drink with a “rain cloud” over top. The unassuming look of the cocktail itself makes it really fun to watch guests’ faces as they experience all the flavors and hard work that goes into what looks like water.

Casper & Pollux, representing Gemini, may be my current favorite. We turned to a Vesper to represent the twins, as well as using my most and least favorite spirit (gin vs. vodka). We infuse the gin with apricot, wash the vodka with duck fat, and infuse Cocchi Bianco with burrata cheese, top the cocktail with a saffron and lemon oil.

Summer Camp is our Leo cocktail. The goal was two fold: create a dessert-style cocktail that was still a cocktail; also to create a s’mores-centered cocktail that wasn’t cheesy. We turned to the Black Manhattan for this cocktail.

We use a split base of 100-proof bourbon and rye whiskey that we infuse with marshmallow and milk chocolate; Italian amaro that we infuse with bruleed banana and graham cracker; blend those together with chocolate and tobacco bitters; then top with a marshmallow foam that we torch before presenting to the guests.

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

The Negroni. It was the cocktail that opened the doors for me and is still my favorite to this day. It is the reason we have the Infinite Negroni as one of our house staples.

We combined all of our gins into a dispenser; then when someone orders an Infinite Negroni they select a gin to add to the batch. We add an ounce of that gin to the top of the batch, then pull an ounce from the bottom. Our “house” gin will always be changing and evolving, much like we do; and the guest who orders one will infinitely be part of our experience.

Would you share the recipe for one of the most popular cocktails at 7th House, or one of your favorite drink recipes?

Here’s one for the Carried Away, our take on a Vieux Carre.

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