South End’s Blue Door Is A Travel Experience

Mike Guzmán’s cocktail menu reads like a Michelin travel guide, with 21 drinks inspired by different U.S. cities. The Charleston is a savory cocktail with caramelized onion-infused Plymouth Gin. The Kansas City has Johnnie Walker Black, barbecue bitters, and hickory smoke. The Washington, D.C., uses a cherry blossom-infused spirit and Woodford Reserve bourbon. 

Guzmán loves the “science-y stuff” behind cocktails, but he also loves a drink that tells a story. And he’s got a few. He spent the last 15 years helping open bars and restaurants in Las Vegas, Denver, and Phoenix. As beverage director and general manager at Blue Door, he based the menu on the cross-country road trip he took last year, when he moved from Phoenix to Charlotte. 

The 31-year-old Tucson native competes in national mixology competitions and was ranked one of the top 30 bartenders in the world by the United States Bartenders Guild in 2023. He’s also an accredited mixologist, certified spirits specialist, and certified sommelier. It’s why Eric and Kate Gussin wanted to bring him on at Blue Door, the South End cocktail lounge they opened in October. “These are high-level cocktails,” Kate says, “so we needed someone killer.” 

After Guzmán moved to Charlotte with his girlfriend—he met her at a cocktail competition—she put him in touch with the Gussins, who had recently signed the lease on the former Bardo space on Mint Street. The Gussins also own Trio Nightclub across the street, but they wanted to bring something more upscale and intimate to a neighborhood marked by breweries and high-volume bars.

They opened the first Trio location in Charleston in 2018 and expanded to Charlotte four years later. “So many venues were crossing those two cities, and we have lots of friends in Charlotte,” Kate says. “The more we visited, the more we fell in love with the city.” 

The idea for Blue Door had percolated for a few years, but the pieces just hadn’t fallen into place. “We found a place in Charleston and created the Blue Door concept around it, but the space fell through,” Eric says. “So we just had this concept in our heads and kept looking for our ‘blue door.’ When the Bardo space opened up across the street, it was serendipitous.” 

The Gussins worked with the team at Carrie Frye Interior Design Studio to transform the 1,800-square-foot space into a dark, moody lounge. They also made trips to New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., and visited 30 different cocktail bars as they developed the menu. Then they’d collaborate and taste test with Guzmán as he finalized all 21 drinks.

Each of their 15 employees had to pass a 100-question test before they could pour cocktails from The Great American Road Trip menu. “They have to know every ingredient, every proportion, every glass, and every garnish,” Guzmán says. “If you miss one thing, you fail the test.” 

He plans to change the menu every six months, with the current lineup available through May. Other highlights from The Great American Road Trip include the Portland, made with porcini mushroom cordial, and the Las Vegas, which has Electricdust, derived from the Sichuan peppercorn flower. (“Your tongue goes numb for 60 to 90 seconds.”) Guzmán’s favorite, though, is the New Orleans, which he says is “like a beignet gin fizz.”

For Blue Door’s hometown cocktail, Guzmán knew he had to get it right. But in a city without a signature drink or cuisine, that proved a challenge. Ultimately, he decided to incorporate the greenery that mesmerized him on his first visit to Charlotte. “I come from the desert, so I wasn’t used to this,” he says. “It’s a bright, floral cocktail finished off with dogwood foam. I use Jamaican dogwood that creates a woody, tannic flavor. You get a barky, woodsy flavor, then the sweetness and floral flavor hits you on the end. It’s like you’re tasting a dogwood tree and the actual flowers on it.”

Feature Photo from Michael Georgopulos. The Charlotte Observer

Original Article