All Aboard

Nicole Giampino’s cocktails tell a story at the train-themed Platform 18 in Phoenix.

Nicole Giampino (pictured) aspired to become a bartender early in her restaurant career. Now, she leads the bar staff at Platform 18 in Phoenix, a train-themed venue with creative cocktails currently focused on New York City.
Nicole Giampino (pictured) aspired to become a bartender early in her restaurant career. Now, she leads the bar staff at Platform 18 in Phoenix, a train-themed venue with creative cocktails currently focused on New York City.

Nicole Giampino has known she wanted to be a bartender since she was 21, but when she asked her boss at the sports bar where she worked as a server about the possibility, he told her she’d never be good at it. Discouraged, she went back to college for a year—but when her mom got sick, she moved back home to Portland, Maine, and started bartending at nightclubs and dive bars. Thankfully, her mom recovered and encouraged her to explore options outside of her home state. “I moved to Arizona and started out at Hand Cut Chophouse—I went from prep bartender to manager in a year,” Giampino says. “Arizona was the place I learned what a craft cocktail was and I completely immersed myself in the industry.”

Then, roughly five years ago, Giampino and her friends visited a new bar in Phoenix called Platform 18, inside the Century Grand building. The bar’s interior is a replica 1920s train car that appears to be in motion when you’re inside and Giampino was smitten. “I completely fell in love with the magic of the train,” she says. “I felt I was in the right place at the right time and I didn’t want to work anywhere else.” She secured an interview that very night and was hired as a server, working her way up to bar manager in just two years. Three years later, Giampino proudly remains bar manager of this unique bar concept.

Platform 18’s cocktail menu (drinks are $15-$28) centers on a rotating 1920s-era locale. Previous destination themes included snowy Colorado vistas as well as New Orleans. “Right now, we’re in New York City and inspired by both the women who were the backbone of speakeasies and the tidal wave of immigrants coming through Ellis Island at the time,” Giampino says. “We were inspired not just by the ingredients in the immigrants’ culinary dishes but also their stories.” Her Club Intime ($20) from this menu features Irish, Bourbon, and Mexican whiskeys, plus Cachaça, house-made marshmallow demerara syrup, ancho chile honey, and cacao nib tincture, while her 54th Street Club ($22) comprises buttered popcorn-infused reposado Tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, and house-made togarashi syrup, lime cordial, and pandan tincture. “I love transporting people out of their world and into ours,” Giampino adds. “At the end of the day, it’s people that inspire a bar and its program, from the hospitality to the stories behind every drink.” 

Nicole Giampino’s Recipes

Club Intime

Ingredients

 ¾ ounce Bushmills Black Bush Irish whiskey;

¾ ounce Knob Creek 100 Proof Bourbon;

¼ ounce Abasolo Mexican whiskey;

¼ ounce Avua Amburana Cachaça;

¼ ounce marshmallow demerara syrup¹;

⅛ ounce ancho chile honey²;

⅛ ounce Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate bitters³;

Toasted marshmallow. 

Recipe

In a mixing glass combine Irish whiskey, Bourbon, Mexican whiskey, Cachaça, syrup, honey, and bitters in that order. Add ice and stir. Julep strain into a Glencairn glass and garnish with a skewered toasted marshmallow.

¹Heat 24 ounces of 2:1 demerara syrup on the stovetop. When simmering, add 2 grams marshmallow extract. Stir to combine, then remove from heat and strain.

²Combine 32 ounces water and 93 grams dried ancho chiles. Heat and allow to simmer until the liquid looks like tea. While hot, blend mixture in a blender and then fine strain. Measure the strained mixture and add 2 times volume organic wildflower honey, stirring to combine.

³This is a home substitution for Platform 18’s house-made cacao tincture.

54th Street Club

Ingredients

2 ounces buttered popcorn-infused Milagro Select Barrel Reposado Tequila⁶;

½ ounce Cointreau orange liqueur;

¾ ounce togarashi syrup⁵;

¾ ounce lime juice;

¾ ounce El Guapo lime cordial6;

2 dashes pandan tincture⁷;

1 dash powdered togarashi;

Togarashi-seasoned popcorn.

Recipe

In a cocktail shaker, combine Tequila, orange liqueur, togarashi syrup, lime juice, lime cordial, and pandan tincture in that order. Add ice and shake. Using a Hawthorne strainer, tight strain into a double Old Fashioned glass over fresh ice. Garnish with powdered togarashi and serve with a small bag of togarashi-seasoned popcorn.

⁴Prepare 1 bag organic buttered popcorn in the microwave. Add popcorn to a sous vide bag along with 1 liter Tequila. Sous vide at 150º for 60 minutes then freeze the mixture. After freezing, remove the solids and strain through a fine mesh strainer and a coffee filter.

⁵In a sous vide bag combine 40 grams powdered togarashi and 32 ounces of 1:1 simple syrup. Sous vide at 150º for 60 minutes then strain through a fine mesh strainer.

⁶This is a home substitute for Platform 18’s house-made lime cordial.

⁷In a sous vide bag combine 1 liter Tanqueray No. Ten and 113 grams pandan leaves. Sous vide at 150º for 90 minutes then strain.