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Interview edited for space and clarity.
Photography by Sam Cohen
Since winning the inaugural season of Netflix’s hit show Drink Masters, Lauren Paylor (LP) O’Brien has been expanding her already-successful bartending career in a myriad of new and exciting directions. Her high-concept pop-up, Bodega Culture—an homage to her time growing up in the Bronx (as well as to the cocktail that won viewers’ hearts on Drink Masters)—is wowing visitors across the country this year. LP has also become a growing voice in the alcohol-free world with her groundbreaking mocktail, the Butterfly, created for the Emmy Awards, and through the work she does to encourage inclusiveness and integrate nonalcoholic options in both the restaurant and beverage worlds. LP is a shareholder in the NA beverage brand Siponey, and a partner in hospitality industry wellness organization, Focus on Health. She has a brick-and-mortar concept, Bar Lienzo, in the works for 2025. (And did we mention she’s also a new mom?) We sat down with LP to find out more about these accomplishments and what’s coming next…
Nicole Pietrandrea Hough for AFTER Magazine: Hi LP! I’m thrilled to be here with you today and to have you on our fall cover!
Lauren Paylor (LP) O’Brien: Thanks so much for having me.
N: So, you have a lot going on! We’re going to talk about all of it! I was hoping to start in the middle though…the first time I heard about the work you’re doing was when you created the mocktail for the Emmy Awards. Can you tell me how that came about?
LP: Absolutely. There’s an amazing bartender named Charles Joly, who is a mentor/friend of mine, and I just adore him. He [has been bartending the big award shows for years.] In 2022 he was bartending the Emmy Awards and he picked me to do it with him. So, I had this opportunity to create a serve for the Emmys and for whatever reason, I immediately thought, ‘Ooh, can we do nonalcoholic?’ My first focus is always trying to be inclusive and there are actually quite a few celebrities who are sober, so I thought it would be a great option. I ended up making this beautiful clarified milk punch that was NA, and it was this vibrant purple color. [See recipe, Emmy Worthy Cocktails]. It was delicious, and it was such a hit. I had so much fun serving that drink. It was a pretty amazing moment.
N: I remember learning about this and thinking it felt like a culturally significant moment to have [an NA drink] be so mainstream. It made a really big splash in the alcohol-free community at the time.
LP: I think so too. At the moment, I didn’t realize it. I think I just did it because I was trying to be forward-thinking and inclusive and the aftermath was really awesome for the reasons you just pointed out. People were like, “Oh my gosh, can you believe that there’s this option and it’s so craft-oriented [and thoughtfully] produced?” It was really cool.
N: I hear over and over again how much people appreciate an alcohol-free beverage with some thought behind it and with sophisticated, layered flavors. You don’t really see that all the time.
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