īut, y’know, we had no idea we were supposed to refrigerate vermouth. They were made, a Manhattan back then would’ve been Canadian whiskey, and if there was any vermouth at all, it might be a splash of both to make it a Perfect Manhattan, and with the Martini & Rossi that had been on the rail for 4 years. But, as a young punk rocker, I was always drinking Manhattan’s or Old Fashioned‘s.ī: Oh no, no no no. My grandmother gave me my first cocktail, a Manhattan, when I was 8 or 9, right around the corner in fact, at Warmouth’s. So, how did you-I’ve read your story multiple times-become Boston’s person? Was that something you wanted to do for yourself or did someone just approach you like, “Yo, we know fucking nothin’, and we need help.”ī: It was actually through the music. L: You have an amazing reputation for music and cocktails. Every once and awhile, the Miller rep would find us with Bud backstage and we’d get in trouble. I’ll have to see if I can find this commercial.ī: It was like six cases of Miller delivered a night backstage.
L: I’m sorry, what? Yes! That is excellent. Miller paid us $150,000 to drink their beer on stage. My other band, The Del Fuegos, actually did the first rock beer commercial too.
So, a lot of these venues would start having the, “Buy a ticket and you get a free Combustible Edison cocktail.” It became such a thing that Campari got in touch with us and we got a sponsorship. And we come out at those same venues in our matching outfits, a vibraphone, and doing old Martin Denny stuff and our originals, and we drank cocktails on stage. Our booking agent at the time was also booking Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and other grunge bands. Before we had our sponsorship, Campari was confused-this was before they knew about our cocktail-and would ask, “Why did we just sell 20 cases in Madison, WI?” And it’s because we played a show in that area. So, the recipe was on the back cover of our CD’s. Combustible Edison (Courtesy of GQ Magazine, 1996)ī: Those didn’t exist at the time. It was brandy, Campari, and lemon juice shaken and served up. We had our own cocktail: the Combustible Edison, and we had a Campari sponsorship out of that. Well, part of it is because I was part of the first, maybe we were the only, cocktail band: Combustible Edison. You are a huge part of the reason behind the Boston and national cocktail renaissance.ī: Thanks. I mean, look at all the articles and interviews surrounding you and your influence. Boston was an early practitioner’s city, and part of that is well…because of me. It’s also kind of true in San Francisco and LA. You don’t see it in New York, because it’s fucking a lot harder. Everybody’s kinda friends with each other and hangs at each other’s bars. I mean, it’s expanded from when I kickstarted it 25 years ago. It’s not the size of New York City.ī: Everybody knows each other in the cocktail bar scene. I imagine the size of Boston has a lot to do with it. L: Seems that, even if bars are competitive, there’s a lot of camaraderie. So, Jackson calls them an Uber and sends them over and John has drinks already made for them and a reserved sign waiting. “Have you been here or here or even here?” There’s a famous story where Jackson Cannon had some guests at The Hawthorne who were getting ready to go to Drink and Jackson texted John Gertsen-who was then General Manager of Drink-saying I have two guests who are coming over and told him what they had been drinking with him. So, what makes Boston stand out compared to other cities?ī: The aspect of hospitality here really is something that has been in the forefront with people, for instance, steering guests toward other bars. LOREN BORNSTEIN: Thanks again for meeting with me, Brother Cleve. If you want, sip on an Americano cocktail, like we did, as I share with you some of Brother Cleve’s and Boston’s story: Recently, I got to sit down at the Silvertone with one of Boston’s most well-known legends, Brother Cleve, and he regaled me with stories of his own entry into craft cocktail-dom as well as a history of Boston’s part in bringing the craft cocktail back to life. When you visit a cocktail bar, chances are you’ve either encountered a few of the local legends or someone trained/influenced by one. (Images provided by and courtesy of Brother Cleve.) Ever since the late 90’s, Boston has been one of the go-to cities for cocktail renaissance and revolution.