[title subtitle=”WORDS Dwain Hebda
IMAGE Jade Graves Photography”][/title]
Before Paul Brandt was known as one of the most knowledgeable and innovative barkeeps in Fort Smith, he was working his way up the ladder of the bar business, a journey that started at the door.
“I just fell into it,” he says. “I needed a job and they needed somebody to check I.D.’s and help be a doorman, bouncer or whatever you needed to be. I started doing that in 2011 or 2012. Then I realized that if I knew how to make drinks, I could be more helpful.”
The staff showed him some basic booze-and-a-mixer concoctions. The drinks weren’t fancy, but they struck a chord with him.
“They showed me a lot, but they didn’t show me everything,” he says. “I needed to learn more, so I picked up books to start learning. One of them was The Craft of the Cocktail, the why’s and how’s to make real drinks. When to shake a drink, when to stir a drink, you know? The little things.
“I started experimenting and learning about craft cocktails and really learning the flavors and all the spirits; where they come from and what makes them different. It just snowballed from there.”
Paul’s time behind the bar has developed him into a cocktail craftsman. He says not unlike a chef, the best drinks are as much art as science.
“The perfect cocktail,” he says. “The first thing would be balance, between sweet and sour, between bold and nothing, between what is known as ‘hot,’ as far as alcohol percentage. If you have a drink that’s too hot, it’s got that big burn from the alcohol. There’s a time for a drink that has burn, but if there’s too much, you can’t taste anything else.
“If you can balance it, you can take anything and make something that people will go, ‘Wow! This is really good,’ even though it’s the type of thing that normally they would not drink. That’s the trick with it. It’s trying to find exactly what each person wants and try to build the drink to fit what they want it to be.”
Paul plies his trade at 906 Lounge, in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he’s known as the whiskey expert, but he says his love for spirits goes far beyond one category.
“I kind of jump all over,” he says. “I do know about whiskey, but I consider myself more of an aged spirits guy, whether that be rum, cognac, tequila, rye whiskey, Canadian whiskey, bourbon, Scotch. Regardless of what it is, if it’s been aged, the flavor profiles are complex and amazing and there are no two that are exactly identical.”
With such a wide repertoire, it’s hard for him to pin down a favorite signature cocktail.
“I have a few different craft Old Fashioneds that are really fun, but the one that I probably get the most enjoyment of watching the customer’s face would be the perfect Manhattan,” he says. “You make that drink and they take a sip and they’re just blown away by the flavor.”
906 Lounge
906 Garrison Avenue
Fort Smith, Arkansas
906lounge.com
