Images by Glee Digital Media
Adam Fournier brings over 15 years of expertise to the hospitality trade, having labored at famend Los Angeles venues like Areal, The Chestnut Membership, and The NoMad LA.
His experience in uncommon spirits helped form the bourbon increase in LA, the place he curated over 30 single barrels. Fournier has competed in prestigious occasions equivalent to Heaven Hill’s Bartender of the 12 months and the Remy Martin Sidecar Competitors and was named Diageo World Class US Bartender of the 12 months in 2021, inserting within the World Prime 5. He’s additionally an advocate for aware ingesting and believes that non-alcoholic drinks ought to be simply as inventive and scrumptious as conventional cocktails. Past his work at Spago, he shares his insights into cocktail tradition by writing and presenting.
At Spago Beverly Hills, Fournier presents an iconic and ever-evolving expertise. He describes the restaurant as “the birthplace of Californian fusion delicacies,” and says that this spirit of innovation “inhabits the menu and the visitor expertise daily.” Fournier emphasizes that whereas the meals and drinks are distinctive, it’s the workers’s character and a spotlight to element that elevate the expertise. “When you stroll by the doorways, you’ll have a world-class eating expertise, however greater than that, you’ll have a world-class hospitality expertise.”
The cocktail menu at Spago is impressed by the kitchen and the restaurant’s award-winning wine program. It’s structured round a tasting wheel, permitting visitors to pick drinks based mostly on their physique depth. Fournier additionally created a Spirit-Free menu “as considerate and deep as the principle cocktail menu” to make sure that non-drinkers have the identical expertise.
“Anybody who is selecting to not imbibe feels as part of the expertise as each different visitor.”
Widespread cocktails on the menu embrace the Amalfi Gimlet, which options gin or vodka, Meyer lemon, and an “Amalfi Air” that evokes the Mediterranean breeze, and the Banana Dance, a private favourite of Fournier’s that’s primarily a low-ABV Manhattan-style drink with banana-infused sherry and Irish whiskey. The star of the present, nonetheless, is the Walrus & The Carpenter martini. “At its core, it’s a seaside martini themed across the whimsy of the Lewis Carol poem of the identical identify a few Walrus & a Carpenter who lead a household of oysters down the seashore to devour them solely to be unhappy after they’re completed as there aren’t any extra oysters to eat.
It combines Ford’s London Dry Gin with a home mix of 4 completely different vermouths, quinquina, and sherry. This vermouth mix has been infused with oyster shell and sea beans. The drink is seasoned with sea salt and mignonette, served sidecar model to keep up that good chill and garnished with an entire oyster on the facet. The entire setup is on a tray with the paintings and last stanzas of the poem in order every element is eliminated the visitor can really feel that longing for only one extra oyster, for only one extra sip of martini.”
In relation to making a profitable bar program, Fournier believes in specializing in each the small print and visitor preferences. “In the event you’re constructing a program only for your self, the one individual sitting at your bar might be your self,” he says. He encourages bartenders to be curious, study from others, and excellent their methods, whether or not utilizing a jigger or free-pouring. Nevertheless, taste is King.
“All of the method, all of the tales, all of the know-how on the earth received’t matter if the drink doesn’t style good. Not each drink must be a mass crowd-pleaser, however it higher please the group that likes that model of drink.”

Picture by Glee Digital Media
The Walrus & The Carpenter
by Adam Fournier
Components
- 2 ½ oz. Ford’s London Dry Gin
- ¾ oz. Oysters Shell and Samphire Infused Mix of Vermouths*
- 5 Dashes Mignonette
- 3 Drops Saline
Preparation
- Mix all components in a mixing glass. Stir with ice.
- Pressure into a calming carafe in a bowl with ice to maintain the drink to good temp.
- Garnish a calming martini glass with pickled sea beans or a lemon stuffed olive.
- Place the facet automotive service and a serving attempt with a single oyster.
- As every element is completed, take away them from the tray to learn the ultimate traces of the drinks namesake poem and really feel that longing for only one extra chew of oyster and only one extra sip of martini.
Extra Notes
Notice: At Spago, we full batch the drink and preserve it within the freezer, pulling it out solely on the final second to make sure that coldest martini doable.
*Oysters Shell and Samphire Infused Mix of Vermouths
Components
- 500 g. Noilly Pratt Additional Dry Vermouth
- 200 g. Dolin Dry Vermouth
- 200 g. Cap Corse Blanc
- 100 g. Lustau Manzanilla Sherry
- 150 g. Cleaned Oyster Shells
- 100 g. Sea Bean
Preparation
- Take the tops of the shucked oysters and clear them below scorching water.
- Gently crush them to create extra floor space.
- Mix the Vermouths and sherry with the oyster shells in a vacuum seal bag.
- Vacuum seal and retailer within the fridge for 12 hours.
- Take away from bag and high-quality pressure to take away oyster shells.
- Return the liquid to a different vacuum bag with the ocean beans.
- Seal and let set below refrigeration for one more 4 hours.
- Open and high-quality pressure.
- Retailer in a clear glass container below refrigeration for as much as three (3) weeks