Local Hero: Cocktail Program

An Interview with Kate Gerwin, Co-owner
Photos by Stephanie Cameron

Left to right: Sorry, Not Sorry, with cilantro-infused espadín mezcal, dry curaçao, lime, and salt air; Happy Little Accidents, with tequila, ling hui mui– infused rum, guava, lemon, and passion fruit foam; and Ursula, with vodka, ube, Calpico Japanese soda, lavender, and lavender sugar “tentacles.”

Kate Gerwin’s twenty-plus-year career spans from her time as a master sommelier in some of Napa’s top wineries to being a finalist in the Netflix reality competition series Drink Masters. Along the way, she has racked up an armload of recognitions and awards in bartending, including the Bols Around the World Bartending Championship in 2014. Those aside, it is Happy Accidents that she is most passionate about. She and her longtime business partner, Blaze Montana, opened the Albuquerque bar and distillery in 2021, aiming to set a new standard in cocktail bars. Gerwin says when she’s concepting a drink, it might be to fill a gap in the menu or to showcase a technique or new flavors. “I take inspiration from everywhere—music, pop culture, art, food, trends, history. It’s different each time. I want [our guests] to feel like I have reached inside and pulled out a memory they forgot.”

Front row, left to right: Blaze Montana, Kate Gerwin; middle row: Shawn Charles, Nobian Henen, Zach Work, Oscar Leon, Luciano Urruita; back row: Briana Morales, Tammy Bouma, Issac Ramirez, and Zack Atzert.

Happy Accidents is a bit of an anomaly in the New Mexico bar scene: It’s big, brightly colored, arty. Where did the idea come from, and why Albuquerque?

We wanted to create an environment that was fun, upbeat, and entertaining—and unlike most bars you are used to going into. For some reason, there seems to be an assumed “template” for creating bars here, and we end up with places that all look and feel similar. We wanted to throw that mentality away and create something new and different. There’s room for lots of concepts, we don’t all have to be the same to be great.

You’ve said bartenders and mixologists are more like chefs than people realize. Can you say a bit more about that?

Firstly, I don’t personally align with the term “mixologist.” I think it was created to differentiate between dive or nightclub bartenders and cocktail bartenders, and in the end, we don’t need the hierarchy. We all specialize in different things, but we are here to serve guests with the tools we are given in our respective bars, and I am, and always will be, a bartender. That being said, I do think that bartenders are a lot like chefs in terms of being creatives and having a wealth of knowledge about our craft. Bartenders in all types of establishments have to study spirits, origins, flavors, techniques, history, culture, and more. It takes years of hard work and dedication to understand all the nuances of ingredients, how they work together and how to create layers of flavors, not to mention the ability to do all this while being forward-facing with guests, entertaining while also creating a safe and welcoming space for them to enjoy.

Last year you traveled to New Orleans to accept the Best US Bar Team Award at Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards. In 2022, Happy Accidents was named Best New Cocktail Bar twice, first for the Spirited Awards and then for the Liquor Awards. And now you’ve been named 2024 Bar of the Year by Bar and Restaurant Expo. What’s your secret to getting noticed nationally?

We are incredibly blessed to be getting the recognition, but I definitely do not have a secret. I assure you it didn’t come easily. I believe it is the decades of experience building bars across the country, the love and passion we have for our industry, our incredible team and each person’s unique contributions, the time we spend fostering creativity and education within the team, and staying connected to the global community as a whole that has allowed us time in the spotlight. The work that goes on behind the scenes is fierce; we live and breathe this work every day.

Left: Ursula. Right: Happy Little Accidents.

You’ve done pop-ups and collaborations with bars in other states. How did that idea come about, and what’s it like to set up shop far from Happy Accidents’ home base?

Pop-ups are a part of the new age of marketing that has taken hold in the industry. People want to experience what they are hearing about, so bringing your energy to them is a perfect way to market your brand in places that don’t have access to your space. For us, bars invite us to visit, we plan a menu, we set the vibe, and we go have some fun. It’s a great way to spread cheer and to network with other like-minded creatives.

What’s something a customer has said about one of your drinks that really made you happy?

I use a lot of nostalgia in my creative process. Drinks aren’t about me or my story; I want the guest to feel like I have seen them. I love it when a guest tastes a drink and immediately a core memory emerges and they can’t help but share it. It’s a bonding moment that makes me feel like I did my job and made them happy. Our Accidentally Loopy cocktail is a crystal-clear clarified milk punch made using milk infused with Fruit Loop cereal. It’s sophisticated but taps into that core childhood memory. I love the smile people get when they first taste it.

What’s your approach to garnishes and infusions? Are there flavors or trends out there that you find overrated or overplayed?

I think smoking cocktails is overrated and overplayed. People rarely use the technique properly, so all the flavors are lost behind a stale haze of smoke. In addition, everything in the room smells like smoke, so now you have altered the experience for every other guest in the bar. For me, garnishes have to serve a purpose. They have to somehow enhance the experience of the drink. And they must be edible.

Sustainability isn’t talked about much when it comes to bars and cocktails, but it’s something you’ve spoken about as being important. What does it mean for you and Happy Accidents?

It’s not just a buzzword with us. We look at every aspect of waste and try to eliminate or repurpose it. Being a distillery, we don’t experience the bottle/glass waste of most bars. We also look at food waste differently. For example, we juiced apples for one of our cocktails and had a bunch of pulp left, so we added spices and dehydrated it into a “granola” to use as a garnish. We take the avocado pits from the kitchen and make an avocado-orgeat syrup for one of our cocktails in the bar. We make fruit leathers, meringues, flavored sugars. It’s amazing how much you can repurpose when you make it a goal as part of your program.

Anything else you’d like to share with edible readers?

We are a 100 percent bartender-owned bar, and we obsessively love what we do and take an incredible amount of care to create each cocktail, alcoholic or nonalcoholic, for a unique experience. We know it might not be like the bar you are used to, and that’s OK. Come, let us take you on a journey. Let’s have some fun!

3225 Central NE, Albuquerque, happyaccidentsbar.com