Breva Maré Gintonico [CLOSED]

Cocktail Los Angeles

Gin & tonic, Spain's national cocktail, is the focus for Breva's bar program.

Lauded chef Casey Lane, best known for Italian food, takes on Spanish cuisine at Breva in downtown L.A.’s recently renovated Hotel Figueroa. To complement the bold food, decorated bar star Dushan Zaric collaborated with resident bartender Michael Lay on an inspired cocktail menu. Since the Gin & Tonic is Spain’s drink of choice, they devoted an entire menu section to Gintonico, creating eight different variations, each named for a different gin brand.

Maré ($15) features a Spanish gin dthat incorporates juniper (obviously), coriander, Valencia and Seville oranges, Seville lemon, Arbequina olives, Greek rosemary, Italian basil, and Turkish thyme. While some G&Ts contrast flavors, Zaric and Lay leaned into Maré’s botanicals, garnishing with thyme sprigs, basil leaves, green cardamom, juniper berries, dried grapefruit, and fresh-sliced lime. They even flash-infuse Gintonicos with dry ice to help meld flavors. Maré arrived in a gigantic Burgundy wine glass over ice with a sturdy paper straw and Three Cents tonic water that teams bitter quinine with heavy carbonation. I opted for Breva’s savoriest G&T possible, and this aromatic cocktail delivered on that promise.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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