Jamie Boudreau: Seattle

Montreal-born mixologist Jamie Boudreau might refer to himself as the “cocktail whisperer,” but there’s nothing quiet about the molecular gastronomy and other interesting twists he takes with classic cocktails served up at Seattle’s Tini Bigs. When Boudreau (who manned the bar at Seattle’s Vessel before joining Tini Bigs as bar director in late 2008) isn’t concocting ginger beer or bacon-infused bourbon, he’s lecturing at international drink conferences, where buzzwords like foams, dusts and hydrocolloids swirl through the room. “My drinks are a little bizarre,” says Boudreau, whose creations include a gin cocktail with rosemary cotton candy, lemon and chartreuse, and another with a bourbon base, a maple syrup foam, orange zest and bitters. “I purposely don’t let myself get tied down to one style. I’m not a big fan of trying to make a drink to please everyone,” he says, although his St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur Champagne cocktail seems to be a hit with at least half his clients. “The first time I served it to a woman she said it was something she could bathe in,” Boudreau says. Seductive cocktails aside, Boudreau will always hold a place in his heart for plain ‘ol whiskey: “The majority of my favorite cocktails are whiskey-based. How could one live without a manhattan?”

Ingredient obsession du jour: St Germain Elderflower Liqueur