Eric Scouten (Supplied/credit Greg Knudson)
From East Coast cocktail standards to modern classics, Saint John mixologist Eric Scouten can rattle off 400 to 500 cocktail recipes, but he doesn’t like to think of preparing drinks in those terms. For him, it’s the story of how one gets to the finished product that is more interesting and important than any actual recipe.
“What I love is taking the ingredients that I have and finding a pleasurable way to combine them together into something that I’m going to be proud of and something that I hope other people will enjoy,” Scouten said.
Trouble in paradise is a black pepper and basil tincture with amaro, gin, and tonic water. (Credit Eric Scouten)
His experience and skill in making alcoholic beverages developed while he was growing up. Scouten’s grandparents had a farm and his parents do a lot of foraging. His grandmother was also a botanist who specialized in herbal medicines, from whom he learned about wild edibles, gardening techniques and food components.
“There’s always been this like a really strong connection to food and beverage and coming from like a French cultural background you don’t separate food and beverage, so like drinks are part of the meal.”
“A big part of my passion is just like flavor-profiling and playing around with ingredients and creating things,” Scouten explained. “This is an opportunity for me to create things based on concepts and ideas that I’ve had over time that I haven’t necessarily put into action and shown anybody, so it’s a lot of fun that way.”
Scouten does several things as a consultant, such as menu development, staff and product training and mixology lessons and is well-known in the local culinary world for his ability to save ingredients from waste.
“I’ve developed a lot of really interesting techniques for extracting more flavors or transforming those waste products into a new ingredient that can be incorporated somewhere else in the menu,” Scouten said.
Eggnog with whole egg, heavy cream, aged rum, vanilla and walnut extract. Mixed in vanilla ice cream. (Credit Eric Scouten)
Scouten does cocktail events regularly, with an upcoming oyster and beverage event taking place on February 28th at the Five and Dime in Saint John. He also has a full-service bar set up in his backyard where he held a fall flavors tasting last year and says he’s already working with Uncorked Tours, which will soon open at the City Market.
Plans for co-hosting a coffee cocktail event at The Art Warehouse are in progress, as is finding a space to open a beer garden in Saint John.
Later this week, a two-hour pop-up event will be held at Rogue Coffee Friday evening at 7:30 featuring three of Eric’s unique cocktails — all created from preserved items from the past year.
“I’ve got a lot of wild rose petals that I will be using, some sarsaparilla fruit that I have preserved as well. I’m using some jam that my mom gave me from last year, her hedgerow jam basically to create the fruit-like syrups, some different infusions and components for the cocktails,” said Scouten.
“There’s tons of options out there; its just all about having the ingredients available and accessible at the time,” he said.
