Michael Simic — RyeCentral Lab Mixologist
Michael Simic
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Bartender in Oklahoma City, two years in, with a palate built in cocktail bars half a world away — and a standing interest in the spice or the fruit nobody else is reaching for.
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Michael’s Approach Behind the Stick
Two years in, and the strongest influence on how Michael builds a drink is other people’s bars. Traveling, especially through Asia, put him in front of cocktail cultures that treat flavor, technique and hospitality in completely different ways, and he came home thinking about what he could take from them and bend to his own taste. It is a borrowed-and-adapted approach rather than a copied one.
What he reaches for is the ingredient nobody expects: spices, and fruit that rarely makes it onto a menu. Fresh citrus, he will tell you, is still king behind the bar — the experiments sit on top of that, not instead of it. His working technique list runs shaken, stirred, built, fat-washed, batched and clarified, which is a serious span for a second-year bartender; fat-washing and clarifying in particular are not where most people start.
How Michael Found Rye
His best rye memory is a specific drink in a specific room: a Japanese salted plum amaretto sour at Katana Kitten in New York, built on rye and amaretto together. “A flavor bomb,” he calls it — a little salty, a little almondy, and entirely convincing because the flavors and the texture were both right. The bottle in it was Wild Turkey 101 Rye, which he rates as a great cocktail rye and an unusually accessible one.
Behind his own bar he splits the work between two. Michter’s US*1 is the stirred pick, chosen for a specific reason: he likes riffing on the Manhattan, and a rye that doesn’t bulldoze the vermouth is what that drink needs. Wild Turkey 101 comes out when something gets shaken.
Michael’s Signature: The Marzipan Monk
An egg-white rye sour — creme de noyaux for the marzipan, Benedictine for the monks
Ingredients
- 1.25 oz Michter’s Rye
- 0.75 oz creme de noyaux
- 0.25 oz Benedictine
- 0.5 oz simple syrup
- 0.75 oz lemon juice
- 0.5 oz egg white
Method (Michael’s words)
“Add all ingredients to shaker. Shake cocktail without ice (dry shake) to emulsify egg white. Add ice to shaker and vigorously shake for 15 seconds. Double strain cocktail into coupe glass. Garnish with 1 cocktail cherry.”
RyeCentral Lab Tested
Michael’s Lab-Tested Cocktails
Lab-tested builds that sit close to how Michael works — one classic, one spice riff. Click either to read the full guide.
Rye Old Fashioned
Ginger Old Fashioned
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Available for
Bookings · Collaborations · Consulting
Get in Touch with Michael
Booking a wedding, a private party, a tasting or a brand collaboration? Drop Michael a note, or follow the experiments on Instagram.
Email lands in Michael’s inbox directly. Allow a day or two for a reply.
In Michael’s Words
Q. What makes a good cocktail?
A good cocktail is made using the fresh ingredients, fine spirits, and attentive technique that you expect as a guest. A great cocktail is one that involves a new flavor, technique, or combination that you didn’t even realize could happen and be delicious.
Q. Why do you do what you do?
This industry is amazing because we get to work in the environment where our guests come to have fun. That brings such a wonderful energy and vibe to our job and it’s impossible not to catch the excitement. But vibe also comes from the quality of the product, and so making great cocktails is a key part of the whole experience for guests as well as bar staff.
Q. Where do we find you when you’re not behind the bar?
I try to get to the gym or a soccer field when I’m not working. If I go out to a bar or restaurant as a customer, it’s impossible not to run into someone I know as you meet so many great people while working in this industry.
Community Reviews
Worked with Michael? Tell us how it went.
Had Michael make you a drink, booked him for an event, or built the Marzipan Monk at home? Leave a rating and review — verified RyeCentral Lab entries are tagged.
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What Michael Brings Behind the Stick
- Fresh ingredients, good spirits and attentive technique as the floor, not the ceiling
- Ideas carried back from bars abroad and adapted to his own palate rather than copied
- Spices and seldom-used fruit as the experiment; fresh citrus as the constant
- Six techniques in rotation — shaken, stirred, built, fat-washed, batched, clarified
- Michter’s US*1 for stirred drinks, Wild Turkey 101 when it gets shaken
- The Manhattan as the benchmark — and the classic he riffs on most
Michael’s Mission Behind the Bar
Michael’s read on the job starts with the room. Guests come to a bar to enjoy themselves, and that energy is the part of the work he rates highest — “it’s impossible not to catch the excitement.” But he is clear that the feeling doesn’t arrive on its own: it comes from the quality of what’s in the glass. Make the cocktail properly and the rest of the night follows, for the guests and for the people working the bar.
Here’s to your and Michael’s next Rye discovery! 🍾
Explore the rye reviews and cocktail builds Michael is pulling from
Browse All Rye Whiskey ReviewsProfile compiled from Michael’s application · RyeCentral Lab Mixologists Program
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