Although guests will take away so much from your wedding day, a strong emphasis is always placed on your wedding menu, including food and drinks. To make sure you and your guests love the drinks you serve, we’re chatting all about the latest trends in wedding cocktails with Aaron of 13th Street Cocktails. We were thrilled to work with Aaron at one of our most recent weddings at Terrain at Styer’s, and we are so impressed with Aaron, his team, and their mobile bar (it’s built out of a horse trailer!)
NOW TRENDING: 13TH STREET COCKTAILS
The company offers a number of varied services for events and weddings, and we’re thrilled Aaron is sharing the number one drink he thinks should be on every wedding menu, how he guides couples who are crafting signature drinks, and his best tip to keep in mind when choosing your bartender. Make sure to keep reading below for Aaron’s answers to our top five cocktail questions!
What are the latest trends you are seeing in cocktails?
There is a marriage between the kitchen and the bar. Bartenders have become much more inclined to raid their restaurant’s walk-ins looking for fresh ingredients. Also, I think many good establishments put an emphasis on using seasonal produce in their beverage programs.
What is the most underrated cocktail that should be on every wedding menu?
Moscow mule. It is a drink that everyone knows and is comfortable ordering. They are also perfect for this time of year. We make our own Ginger beer for our events but the stuff in the cans and bottles are also great.
What is the best way to tailor cocktail offerings to make for a smooth running bar?
As far as venue is concerned, we batch our drinks so we can serve guests quickly despite all of the constraints of using mobile bars.
If a couple wants to develop a signature cocktail, can you walk us through your process?
We always offer a cocktail menu tasting for any client. If the client isn’t able to meet prior to event, we just ask them if there are any flavors or style of drinks that they normally order and we can modify from there. After we select a few cocktails, we ask the client if they want to name the drinks. That part is the most fun. Lastly, we design a beautiful menu and then the hard work begins.
If you were to offer one tip to a couple booking a bartender, what would it be?
For small parties, probably the same way we book our staff. I go to bars and look for bartenders whom are great with guests, smile, and competent behind the bar. However, for your big day, I would always go with a professional caterer. Most people do not have all of the equipment needed to bring a cocktail bar to your venue.
