Los Angeles Touring

The Los Feliz area is home to some of Los Angeles’ best bars and restaurants, but how well do you know the bartenders who help keep the party going? This month the Ledger sat down with Jack Mcloughlin, self-described “chatty bartender” at The Semi-Tropic, to discuss his career and favorite drink.

Where are you from?

I’m from Virginia. Shenandoah Valley, about an hour west of D.C. I moved out here about ten years ago.

What brought you out here?

I moved out here to act. I moved out here with a girl and I was done with college and wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to law school. Everyone in my family is a lawyer, but I decided I didn’t want to be like everyone else.

Any notable acting roles?

When I first moved out here, I was doing improv at Upright Citizens Brigade and I did a lot of commercials. That’s a weird experience because you go into a room where there are twenty versions of you, all waiting to shill out for McDonald’s if you’re lucky. It was good to get rejected a bunch, but it took a toll on me. I just did some voice over work for a cartoon and we’ll see if that comes out.

How’d you get into bartending?

Initially through loving beer. The thing I like about beer is it’s a super democratic beverage—pretty much everyone could afford the most expensive beer verses a nice glass of wine or the nicest glass of scotch.

The Semi-Tropic just got its liquor license, no?

We were initially doing just beer and wine here, but just got our liquor license in June. I’ve been here since they opened, it’s my first bartending gig and it an interesting way to jump the queue and help create a place. When I interviewed it was still a construction site. When they first opened, they didn’t even have a beer and wine license, it was just coffee during the day. But we’ve made it a good neighborhood spot. For me, I’ve been working on making the vibe we had with beer and wine transition to a full liquor license because people can get more rowdy when you have a full bar.

What’s one of the funniest, weirdest, most interesting things you’ve seen on the job?

We’ve had a lot of things. Recently, we had sort of an impromptu wedding reception. Nobody knew it was going to happen. A friend of mine was having her birthday party here. She had a friend bring in lasers that shined her name on the wall and there were dancers. But, people kept coming in asking if this was where the wedding reception was. We would up having a big birthday party and a wedding reception. The bride and her party were sitting on this couch under this bright laser sign that spelled out the girl’s name. It was a great time, I think the bride actually knew the birthday girl, so it was fine, but we were all thinking “Who decides to have their wedding reception at a bar but doesn’t tell the bar?”

Bars are a weird place to work; they’re a place where people get progressively looser and more intoxicated. I’m just trying to guide people on a pleasant evening; I want people to have a good night and a good morning without a hangover. So I’ll offer water or say “Hey, let’s talk a little.” I don’t know if I want to do this forever, but I’m content making drinks and talking to people, which is a really nice aspect. It’s nice to chew the fat with people about what they’re reading or how their love life’s going.

What is one of your favorite drinks, what do you like about it and how do we make it?

I love a simple drink, like a Daiquiri, Margarita or Gimlet. I love to play around with that. Like, I’ve been playing around with gin and a little Thai basil, cucumber, lime and simple syrup. They just go together so well. With a lot of cocktails, you want to give people something different, but familiar. Lately at home, I’ve been working on a Plantation Pineapple Old Fashioned. I’m using Plantation Pineapple Rum, which is so good. It’s great because they get the pineapple flavor from putting husks in the rum and letting it sit. You’re getting a naturally occurring flavor; it’s not like Absolut Citron. So, it’s that with three big dashes of bitters and some simple syrup. It’s a slightly sweeter version of an Old Fashioned and has some great herbal notes.

Plantation Pineapple Old Fashioned

3 dashes Angostura Bitters

¼ oz Simple Syrup

2 oz Plantation Pineapple Rum

Pour over a big ice cube in an Old Fashioned glass.