Scott’s Restaurant and Bar Winter Hand Crafted Cocktails by James Wood

Scott’s is an awesome steak and seafood American style restaurant that is located close to South Coast Plaza Mall & Segerstrom Center for the Arts Theater in the city of Costa Mesa.  There are a great variety of delectable eats at Scott’s as well as some fabulous cocktails. Scott’s Restaurant and Bar invited me to check out their Winter Crafted cocktails created by Lead Mixologist, James Wood along with some light bites to accompany them.  There were 7 drinks we had an opportunity to sample and they were accompanied with cheeses and charcuterie and 5 small bite plates.

New Mixologist, James Wood from Scott’s recently relocated from Hopscotch in Downtown Fullerton to bring his fabulous cocktails and creativity to Costa Mesa.  He has worked with a long history of restaurants, such as Blue Corral, which was a restaurant he helped to open.  He was awarded Best Cocktails in OC, Readers Choice Vote, Best Bartender, Best signature Cocktail and OC Weekly’s “Drink of the Week” twice!

The first drink we tried was the Blossom which was made from Templeton rye, St. Germain, noilly prat, and whiskey barrel bitters. I am normally not a whiskey drinker but the flavors were blended together perfectly and I very much enjoyed this cocktail. This was paired with a yummy turkey slider that had a home made pizza dough bun, havarti cheese, and French fries.

Our second cocktail was called Shake and it was a creamy beverage that consisted of rye whiskey, cherry heering, vanilla, chocolate bitters, and rose water.  I very much enjoyed this one, but I would most likely only be able to handle this one in small doses because of its’ creamy texture.  This had a very pleasant flavor and went nicely with the nutty cheese on a cracker.

The third drink of the night was the Rosemary cocktail made from juniper, St. Germain, and bruised rosemary.  This one was well loved by many other cocktail goers, but was slightly too intense for me. The flavors blended well, but we all have different taste buds. It was decent, just not my personal favorite. 🙂  This was paired with Scott’s Calamari which was made with a spicy Provencal style viognier.  I am not personally a calamari fan, but my husband is and he loved it!

Next, we were served the Jalisco which was by far my favorite drink of the night! I could easily go back and get these regularly…actually I will be going back to get one of these very soon!  Jalisco had very well developed distinct flavors that brought pleasure to my taste buds.  Jalisco ingredients included agave underground tequila, cointreau noir, Kubler absinth, lime and rhubarb bitters…This drink was a slice of heaven and went nicely with the macadamia nut spinach.  I will be back to visit my good friend, Jalisco!

Rouge was a pleasant beverage made with hardy vs cognac, port, lemon, cranberry, and cinnamon.  Mixologist, James Wood definitely had a wide variety of flavor blends with his British background, growing up in England and this cocktail was definitely unique.  This cocktail made me think of something I would want around the holiday season in front of a nice fireplace which was perfect because there is a gorgeous fireplace on the patio at Scott’s! Brussel Sprouts cooked to order went nice with this holiday cocktail.

Next we tried the Hops beverage that was made from Hopshophead vodka, aperol, orange, lemon, and honey.  What a great beverage to warm you up and make you crave another! Served with crab cakes (my personal favorite dish of the night) with Seranno aioli, organic carrots, and micro greens, this cocktail and small plate went perfectly together!

The last beverage of the night was the Barbadian, which was also lead mixologist, James Woods’ favorite.  This was made with mount gay black barrel rum, amaro nonino, hibiscus, elixir, lime and mint.  James explained to me that he loves to utilize rum in cocktails and that he believed this one blended together absolutely perfectly. I have to agree with him.

Just head in to Scott’s Restaurant and Bar and check it out for yourself!  Let me know your thoughts below.  They also have an awesome happy hour from Monday through Friday from 3-6pm that includes ½ off tasting plates and bar menu, half off specialty cocktails, and $6 wine, and $4 & $5 beer!

James Wood says, “I try to concoct something new for our guests on a nightly basis.  It keeps my job unpredictable and exciting when you have someone tasting a hand crafted cocktail for the first time.  I have always believed that if you are going to be successful as a mixologist, you need to keep in mind three things – keep it simple, sexy and sophisticated.  As yourself this question, would Dean Martin or Ernest Hemingway drink it?”

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