Todd Maul of Clio (Photo: Susanna Bolle)

Clio and its sister sashimi bar, Uni, are two of Boston’s most celebrated restaurants, the types of places that most people–particularly if you’re on my budget–reserve for very special occasions. But it’s not just the food that makes them so special, it’s also their extraordinary selection of cocktails. Clio’s epic, shared drink list includes over seventy cocktails, ranging from classics to bar originals, fizzes to Tiki drinks. What’s more, you can drop by the bar and get some great drinks without (necessarily) breaking the bank. No special occasion required.

The man behind the massive cocktail tome at Clio is bartender Todd Maul. It’s fitting that he would author a list that reads like a book, since he studied English in grad school. (“There are two things you don’t want to get me started on, if you don’t have some time,” he says with a laugh, “alcohol and Moby Dick.”) After leaving school and tending bar at a number of hotels around town, Todd landed at Clio a year and a half ago to head up their ambitious bar program. It was just a few months back that he unveiled the new drink menu, which immediately set area cocktail-enthusiasts abuzz.

The Emerson Cocktail (Photo: Susanna Bolle)

The idea behind the menu was to create a bar menu with the same ethos as the restaurants themselves, with a foundation in tradition that provides a platform for ambitious innovation and experimentation. “Basically,” he said, “we wanted people to steal this menu. We wanted it to be something so different and so unique that you’re going to want to put it in your pocket before you leave.”

Not only is there the encyclopedic list itself to lure you into a life of crime at the end of the evening, there are also humorous ads (for things such as whiskey toothpaste and the like). These are a nod to classic cocktail books, which often included advertisements for spirits and the occasional odd, spirit-related product. Todd, again: “It’s like my philosophy of tending bar; it should be taken seriously, but it can also be whimsical and funny. You go out to have drinks to have fun.”

Not surprisingly, given his textual bent, Todd is an avid reader of old cocktail books. He cites David A. Embury’s 1948 classic, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, as the greatest influence on how he plies his trade as a bartender, providing what he describes as a kind of theoretical background to mixing. “It’s almost like being an archaeologist,” he says of his passion for vintage cocktail guides, “because you’re sifting through all this stuff, asking ‘How was this done?’ Ultimately, I figure I should go straight to the source.”

A lot has changed since Todd started tending bar in the late nineties. For one, there’s been a resurgence of interest in traditional cocktail mixing, in general, with lots of great bartenders in Boston alone. There’s also a wide variety of new spirits available in the US, from genever gins to unusual aperitifs, as well as exotic varieties of bitters and other ingredients. People’s tastes have moderated, too. The focus now is less on sweeter drinks, and more on those that emphasize the taste of the spirits themselves. “I like to say that here at Clio we’re making drinks that showcase the taste of alcohol. Everybody likes the effect of alcohol, but I like the actual taste of it, so I make drinks for people who like the taste of alcohol as opposed to the end result of it.”

Two of Todd’s current favorite cocktails reflect his passion for traditional drinks (with a slight tweak) as well as his playful, innovative combination of ingredients. Both drinks feature the distinctively spicy Italian vermouth, Punt e Mes. The first is his version of the classic Emerson cocktail, which has a surprising spiciness to it. The second is his take on a Tiki drink called The Last Drink on The Last Page, which is, as its name indicates, the last drink on the bar menu. With a shaved nutmeg garnish (inspired by a customer’s tale of drinking rum with nutmeg in Granada), it is a refreshing and not overly sweet drink.

The Last Drink on the Last Page (Photo: Susanna Bolle)

Emerson

1 1/2 ounces Hayman’s Old Tom gin
3/4 ounce Punt e Mes
1/2 ounce of lime juice
1/4 ounce of Luxardo maraschino liqueur
 
The Last Drink on the Last Page


2 ounces Goslings rum
1 ounce Punt e Mes
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce Rothman & Winter Orchard apricot liqueur
1/2 ounce orange juice
A dash of Angostura bitters


Garnish with shaved nutmeg.
Next up for “Meet Your Bartender:” Deep Ellum’s Max Toste