Over at LA Weekly’s Squid Ink they talk to Aidan Demarest, The Edison’s director of beverages and spirits, along with lead barman Marcos Tello about their monthly event where they fly out some of the most prominent bartenders throughout the country to their establishment.

SI: What was the inspiration for The Radio Room?


AD: Marcos and I were slowly changing things behind the scenes, but we hadn’t rolled anything out yet. I started asking Damian (The Roger Room) and Eric (The Varnish) and Vincenzo (Copa d’Oro) to come down and play. All three of them had places opening in the next six months so they were all magically in limbo. I thought of it as Advanced Swim Class: let’s have one night, with the best bartenders in town so we can make the kind of drinks we really want.

The guest bartender program immediately resonated with me and I was traveling a lot at the time and kept inviting people down. When I was up in San Francisco at Bourbon and Branch, I realized that I didn’t have to just have the guys from across town guest bartender, I could have these guys, and the liquor brands were stoked because it doubled their market.

Because it’s the weekend and cocktails just sound perfect about now.

If you have any remote interest in the cocktails or the current scene as it exists in Los Angeles, it’s well worth reading into the minds of Marcos Tello of The Edison, Eric Alperin of The Varnish, etc…

Related: “The New Cocktailians” written by Jonathan Gold.