Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/148134
Bean & Bottle bartender Jason Phung makes a Sonoma Old Fashioned using locally distilled Hooker's House Sonoma-Style Rye from Prohibition Spirits (aged in Zinfandel barrels from Schug Winery) with house-made simple syrup, Angostura bitters and an orange peel. Simply delish! Public speaker, wine purveyor to film festivals and blind taster for a number of prestigious wine competitions, Sawyer still has time for his full-time job at the The Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Resort & Spa in southern Sonoma County, entertaining and educating his customers on the diversity—and pleasures—of Sonoma's wines. With a professional tenure than spans more than 19 years, Sawyer admits he has grown along with the wine region where he grew up. "Just as I have matured, so have the wines of Sonoma County." In fact, his new book, which will be published next year, will delve into the unique stories and magnificent wines made in special appellations on the West Coast and a series in THE TASTING PANEL will include excerpts on the highlights. For the past nine years, Sawyer has overseen the wine and spirits program at the always fresh and finely appointed Carneros Bistro, but his latest efforts have resulted in the hotel property's most profitable on-premise hotspot: Bean & Bottle. In what was just an average lobby bar, Bean & Bottle, which debuted in April 2011, has become the focal point for the Lodge at Sonoma. Gourmet coffees fill the air with heady aromatics; a wine bar and bottle shop showcase small Sonoma producers that Sawyer hand-picks as benchmarks for the region. Sonoma producers are featured with local cheese and charcuterie plates and just-picked garden salads. And the pièce de résistance is the destination cocktail bar where the talented Jason Phung continues to experiment at the pleasure of the imbibing audience, in creating garden-to-glass concoctions using many local distillers' spirits. "Sonoma is home to some of the country's best agricultural products," insists Sawyer, pointing to Sonoma Liberty duck, a long list of cheeses, Rocky Free Range chicken, our coastline fish and Dungeness crab and of course all the fresh produce farmed locally." Meet Chef Andrew Wilson "For me, Sonoma is heaven on earth, says Chef Andrew " Wilson, who, for the past two years, has been the culinary inspiration at Carneros Bistro. The East Coast native actually started his career in San Francisco, but has been recruited for two toque-tours of duty in Charleston, South Carolina. Although classically French-trained, his Southern stints have led to some fascinating combinations, such as his signature dish of shrimp and grits. "I am looking forward to working with all the wonderful fall produce, he tells THE TASTING PANEL. "Beets, " parsnips, turnips—90 percent is locally grown. I have so much to work with here. " Sonoma-grown heirloom tomatoes make this chef happy! august 2013 / the tasting panel / 95 TP0813_066-103.indd 95 7/24/13 9:52 PM