Trend Alert: Guest Bartending

Nolita's 1534 introduces a guest bartending series next week.

Guest bartending is nothing new, especially given the jetset lifestyle of today’s mixologists, but lately, NYC cocktail bars seem to be taking the “have shaker, will travel” concept up a notch. Last year’s opening of Forty Four at the Royalton featured an ongoing series of guest appearances from the Cocktail Collective, the bartenders who consulted on its cocktail menu. Visits from Eric Alperin of LA’s Varnish, Misty Kalkofen of Boston’s Drink, or John Lermayer from Miami’s The Florida Room translated into flash crowds at Forty Four, in attendance for the touring drink-slingers’ star performances. More recently, Fatty Johnson’s, part of NYC’s current pop-up restaurant craze, has featured a different mixologist or brand ambassador every night (from Eben Freeman to Dave Wondrich), with their own exclusive cocktail menus. Check out Fatty Johnson’s Tumblr highlighting the guest bartenders’ demo videos and cocktail menus.

And next week, Nolita bar 1534 introduces “Roustabouts,” a weekly guest bartending series on Wednesdays from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Wednesdays. Here’s the upcoming line-up:

• 2/23: Dushan Zaric, Employees Only, Macao Trading Co. & Aisha Sharpe, Contemporary Cocktails
• 3/2: Dominic Venegas, Smuggler’s Cove & Willy Shine, Contemporary Cocktails
• 3/9: Misty Kalkofen, Drink Boston & Leo DeGroff, AKA Wine Geek
• 3/15: Phil Pepperdine, St-Germain & Daniel Undhammar, Zu Vodka