The Lobmeyr Bar

“To have the opportunity to work with ABASK and Lobmeyr on our collection in 2024 was incredible, so it’s unofficially called The Lobmeyr Bar because of this extraordinary collection of Lobmeyr glasses I have there. The Lobmeyr Josef Hoffmann glassware that I first fell in love with—I can just sit and stare at those lines.

There’s also my collaboration based on the cowboy culture of West Texas. I had some people over on the weekend, and someone asked, “Is that you?” I proudly said, “Yep, I'm riding a horse on that one!” It's thrilling knowing the history of Lobmeyr, so I feel very humble.”

All The Smalls

“Aside from the Lobmeyr glassware, the other object I really love in this bar is the Lorenzi Milano springbok horn corkscrew which I probably use the most—it feels incredible and is so beautiful. There’s a vintage Murano glass red ashtray from ABASK that I love to look at, and this incredible tray from The Lacquer Company really stands out for me too. We chose the tray to clash and complement with the countertop marble, which itself was chosen to clash with the purple walls. I normally think the combination of purple and red is awful, but for some reason, it just works here. It was an intentional accident that ended up working beautifully.”

A Painterly Palette

“I have this incredible set of eight amber-colored glasses by Moser—each is the same shape, but the texture differs. We had the team at Urban Electric specifically light the shelves from the bottom to make the colors glow and it really pops.

I then found this beautiful lamp by Pol Agustí for AGO Projects that sits on the counter to the side. It adds another source of light that bounces off the glass and textures—even the paint. It’s kaleidoscopic. When I was at Frieze in LA and found this piece of art by Seth Bogart, which had all the colors of the bar and my ABASK objects, I remember thinking that that guy must have been on the same wavelength as I was.”

That First Sip

“Shaking up the first cocktail in the wet bar, I was able to experience so many aspects of the process. This drink makes me recall—and I hope it always does—the incredible decade I spent living in the West Texas desert in Marfa. Having it here, I was able to celebrate my new life in Brookhaven with the architecture, the interior design, and all my work with ABASK. Everything was encompassed in that moment; it was all here, represented.”

Getting Involved

“It’s so nice to send people into this tiny room to discover everything and fix themselves a drink. Everybody wants to have a drink, so everybody's going into that room at one point or another. Recently, I walked in halfway through the evening when I had 20 or so people over—it was so chaotic and I loved it. Every other room was pretty much perfect, but in this one, there were limes cut open, glasses in the sink, corkscrews, and bottles of booze everywhere. I should have taken a picture of it because that heavy use equated to massive social success. That's going to be the benchmark for if I had a successful evening or not: what does the bar look like?”

Perfectly Formed

“It’s a misconception that a small room can be considered quickly. It takes longer to experience than walking into the living room. We carved the wet bar out of the space under the staircase where the refrigerator was originally tucked away. It's not a big space but we added a window to make it feel like an intentional room. You can be smart and carve the most beautiful wet bar out of a closet. I think the important thing to have in a wet bar is an ice machine and the chicest, tiniest sink. Steven had all the sinks in the house carved out of blocks of marble that matched the counters with incredible hardware from Kohler. There are clever ways to hide storage, but the most important thing is to have the right lighting—shelves should be lit from underneath, for example. The main thing is to really commit to it being a wet bar.”

The Method

• Use ripe organic limes because it does make a difference (squeeze them at the store and make sure they're not hard). Before you squeeze, roll them on the table to break apart those juice pods inside.

• Use Cointreau, because it's important that the drink has sugar. I'm not an advocate for a skinny margarita because it tastes like salty liquor (Paula’s Orange Liquor from Austin Texas is also great if you can get your hands on it).

• And then a top-shelf tequila. No Jose Cuervo because that's not real tequila. I like to use Casa Dragones Blanco, but I’ve also experimented with Añejo or Reposado styles with a more intense flavor. There's a tequila called Tepozan which my friends Ally Hilfiger and Steve Hash make. It’s a small brand but a phenomenal tequila—and I'm not just saying that to support friends.

• The most important thing is the olive juice. You really want to get the most common supermarket olives you can find (you don't want fancy olive juice—you have to go cheap, like regular Spanish olives with a pimento inside) and that's the juice you use. It's like a McDonald's French fry or a Heinz ketchup. Certain flavors are so specific and the minute you mess with them, everything tastes different.

• Big ice is better to shake because small ice turns to water too quickly.

• Use the Zanetto shaker with that incredible textured surface that’s so comfortable in your hand, meaning you can shake for longer. I like a bruised and busted shaken drink that’s ice cold, so I go for a double grip at a good 20 to 30 seconds.

• You need to shake with a lot of ice for a while because it’s important to the drink that it dilutes a certain amount from the ice. It plays a bigger role than just getting the drink cold.

• Shake it, shake it, shake it—and then strain it into a beautiful Lobmeyr glass.

• I prefer it on the rocks, and I don’t salt the rim because there's probably enough. I don't necessarily love that hit of salt as I bring the glass to my mouth—it's like sand on your face—and I've never really been an advocate of Cajun or something spicy on the rim of glass because it distracts from the flavor. You want to taste the sweetness and the brine.

• Garnish it like a dirty martini with green olives.