EATERAZ Restaurant Week: Trudy Thomas
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Continuing on with our week of profiles, this one reminds us that these people do more than influence our food and beverage scene, they influence the food and beverage scene. Although these people operate at the 40,000-foot-level, with their eyes on the larger picture, they’re not afraid to get down in the trenches. Trudy Thomas, for instance, can still be seen shaking up martinis and experimenting with cocktails behind the bar, meeting customers, yet she’s almost never here in town because she’s often tapped to speak on behalf of her favorite liquor–bourbon–and educate industry members about the importance of balance in a cocktail. She’s one of a handful of certified mixologists, and co-founder/vice-chairman of the Arizona Chapter of the US Bartenders Guild. There are other accolades, sure, but we’re not in the resume-listing business. We’re in the business of reporting that she concocted a pretty clever Twitter handle: @INNToxic8ing.
It’s been said by many that Thomas knows how make a balanced cocktail better than anyone in AZ (we agree, by the way), but her real strength is her ability to truly understand the liquor itself. That’s why she was recently tapped to work on a panel that tasted over 1,100 spirits at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (the pinnacle of spirits judging). If Thomas likes it, chances are that spirit will find distribution here and you’ll be drinking it soon. The day job: she’s the Director of Beverage at Camelback Inn Resort & Spa. Although she can turn out a mean cocktail, her preferred role is teaching bartenders how to perfect their craft. While doing this, she quietly pushes her own agenda of getting the world to give bourbon a chance. One of the few female advocates of the brown-spirit drink, Thomas is a Kentucky native who thinks the best balance comes from a couple ice cubes and a comfy bar stool.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve tasted recently?
At the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, we judged Maotai. None of us had heard much about it, knew exactly what it was, or, and this is most important, how we would react to it. Maotai is a Chinese spirit that smelled bizarre, made us all gag, and just wasn’t like anything we’d ever drank. It was repulsive yet intriguing, and placing it in a category with other spirits was extremely difficult. But once we all discussed our reactions and tried to understand Maotai itself, we became more objective with our assessment. Maotai ended up scoring really well.
What’s the number one problem with a cocktail?
Too much alcohol. Every cocktail should be balanced.
What’s the current trend in mixology?
Bartenders who can get a balanced cocktail out quickly. People want fresh and seasonal, but they don’t want to wait thirty minutes. So we’re searching for recipes that can be easily executed but offer something fresh and unique.
What’s next?
We’ve been so busy experimenting, we’re all getting back into classic cocktails. And punches—I think you’ll see a lot of punch cocktails emerge soon.
Why are you in the business?
It’s like I always say: ‘this is not what I do, it’s who I am.’
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