This week I went to the preview dinner for a new restaurant here in Portland called Oven and Shaker. The shaker part of the equation is the brain child of Ryan Magarian, a successful Portland bartender who is one of the creative forces behind Aviation Gin. When he’s not behind the bar, Magarian is the head of a company called Liquid Relations, a cocktail consulting business that helps launch bars and optimize bar programs.

Magarian is one of the most methodical bartenders I know. He has an extremely elaborate cocktail lab where he runs every cocktail recipe through rigorous testing. Magarian may take a classic drink like the Red Hook (which is rye, vermouth, and maraschino liqueur) and run it through the gauntlet, trying it out with a wide variety of rye whiskeys, vermouths, and maraschino liqueurs until he’s satisfied he’s got the right ones and the measurements are exactly the right proportions. The result of this is a database of nearly 3,000 drinks from which he can draw to build his menus.

For his menu at Oven and Shaker, Magarian drew from his immense database, as well as a number of new signature drinks he created for the restaurant. The menu combines classics like the Old Fashioned, Martini, and Mexican Firing Squad (which is one of the early classic Tequila drinks from the 1930′s) with modern creations including a Walnut and Blackberry Daisy, Pepper Smash #2, and Corleone (which mixes Aviation Gin, lemon, simple, bitters, and Oregon grappa).

It’s fairly common for drink menus to list the ingredients that go into the drinks, but the cocktail menu at Oven and Shaker is the first menu I’ve seen that actually lists the cocktail recipe, including exact measurements and brands. It’s a bold move and something that would be unfathomable on a food menu. Magarian commented, “It’s like running naked through the streets,” and in many ways his cocktail menu is “naked.” It also speaks to a notion that what you get at a bar like Oven and Shaker is something more than just what’s in your glass. The current craft cocktail revival has put a lot of attention on the cocktail, but perhaps taking away the mystique behind the cocktail shifts the focus to the actual experience you have when you’re drinking it.

I’ve often felt that cocktails are as much about the context in which you consume them as anything else. Some of my favorite drinks were definitely influenced by where I had them and when. Will this “naked” view of cocktails catch on? Perhaps. It’s an extremely good idea that enables customers to bring home something they really enjoyed from a memorable evening.  Just because someone has the recipe doesn’t mean they will be able to recreate the experience, and in the end, the experience is what it’s all about.