What do you like to drink after a shift? “Quenching simplicity is key. Of course, a crisp dry pilsner is always fantastic. Navy-strength gin Gimlets. Clairin & Tonic.”
What is the all-time best dive bar jukebox song? “The Ballad of El Goodo” by Big Star.
What drink should be banished and why? “The Fifty-Fifty Martini (especially with ‘new American gin’).”
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Name the first good drink you ever drank and where you had it. “Almost 15 years ago, I made myself a Bijou and realized the depth a cocktail could have. Despite under-stirring it, likely inserting a twist, and knowing nothing of its origins or brethren, it stuck with me as an elevated attempt at drinking and instigated a lifelong affair with that sacred elixir of the monks, Chartreuse.”
What book on cocktails or spirits is your go-to resource? “The Savoy Cocktail Book will always be my favorite cannon of recipes. Charles H. Baker is the Christ and Kazuo Uyeda is the Holy Ghost.”
What’s your favorite bottle of booze that costs less than $25? “Montreuil Selection Calvados.”
What’s your favorite bottle of booze that costs more than $100? “Rochelt Wachau Apricot Eau de Vie.”
What’s your favorite cocktail and food pairing? “I am quite sure there is only one, and it requires little more than gin and oysters.”
What’s your favorite shot-and-a-beer combination? “Apricot Eau-de-Vie and Gose.”
What is the one tool that you always make sure to pack when you’re traveling for business? “Yukiwa Baron Cobbler Shakers.”
William Elliott is the bar director of James Beard Award-winning Brooklyn bar Maison Premiere. He is also the bar director of Sauvage in Greenpoint and the Golden Hour in the garden of The High Line Hotel.
Interview has been condensed and edited.
