GUEST SHIFT: WILL HOSCHEK, ITAMESHI (Albany)
Will Hoschek, bar director of the Japanese-Italian Itameshi in Albany’s Warehouse District, talks hot cocktails, koshu ferments + why he came back to the industry he loves.
Interview: Susie Davidson Powell
Photos: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing
Location: Itameshi, N.Y.
Read about Will’s featured Pearlescence cocktail here and non-alc cocktail here.
Read our early review of Itameshi Restaurant here.
Tastemaker: Will Hoschek, Bar Manager | IG: @AngoSutra
Where: Itameshi | IG: @ItameshiAlbany
Hometown: Holyoke, MA
Current city: Troy, NY
Personal style: Black on Black on Black, Wool Sweaters, Turtlenecks, Levis, Carhart, Dr. Martens, Knock off Members only jackets, Casio Watches, Asics, Tropical Shirts, Ranch Wear, and Vintage/Thrift when it very rarely fits me.
Listening to: L’Imperatrice, Jerry Reed, Megadeth, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Wet Leg, Viagara Boys, Tropical Fuck Storm, Turnstile, Steely Dan… and a bunch of good music too. At Itameshi we bump a lot of Italo-Disco, Japanese City Pop, down-tempo electronic and deep house. I truly love most genres, a time and a place for everything.
Favorite spirit/non-alc: Amaro, Shochu, or Rum.... all such dynamic categories.. To drink? Room temp Tequila or Fernet Branca
Favorite classic cocktail/non-alc drink: I’ve never had a bad Pearl Diver or Missionaries Downfall.. But those are both a hassle. Daily driver is Daiquiri or Negroni
Coffee or tea and what’s your order: Iced Oat Milk Matcha Latte or just Iced green tea
Biggest industry influence/inspiration: May sound sappy but of all the other people I see making drinks—both here and abroad—there is some serious local talent. Especially younger bartenders who are actively learning and curious, people who realize that education never stops. Cocktail is truly in its golden age. Anyone who utilizes a scientific edge catches my eye and conversely anyone out there who can blow my mind with a 3 to 4 ingredient off-the-shelf cocktail. No fancy infusions, roto vaps, or centrifuges involved. Spirits, modifiers, and a little technique can go a long way. A solid drink that can be made at any bar without having to render wagyu for a fat-wash is a thing of beauty. In a few words, David Arnold and Sasha Petraske
Drinks industry trend that should end: Calling everything a martini just because it’s up and cold in a coupe. I’m not above enjoying a nice trashy strip mall “Appletini” now and again but I am above calling it a martini. Reality is that vernacular is here to stay though, I know that. It’ll always be an “Espresso Martini” despite it not being remotely a martini, cue “Old man yells at cloud” meme. [laughs]
“Welcome to The Dishing’s Quick Serve interviews where we talk matters of taste with tastemakers in the hospitality industry and trailblazers at the intersection of food, culture and art. Today we’re talking with Will Hoschek, bar manager of Itameshi in Saratoga, about his start in Salt Lake City, hot cocktails, and leaning into the “Petraske Method.”
Hey, Will. Thanks for talking to The Dishing! Let’s get into it! How long have you been bartending and how did you get into the industry?
I moved to Utah as soon as I could afford to get out of Western MA. Luckily I got an internship that agreed to fly me out there and put me up for a couple months and I’ve always loved mountains, deserts, hiking, climbing, etc. There I lived in a huge ski condo with several other people in Park City. There was a group of us who were into craft beer and whiskey independently and we eventually got talking about home brewing. We slowly assembled better gear and more strict practices—outside of what could verifiably be referred to as swill. Now, Susie, eventually when you make some successful batches of beer you start to think bigger or, as it were, stronger. I hammered the first distillation column into shape on our back porch with a cheap blow torch, carpentry hammer and some makeshift jigs. We weren't producing enough to fill the barrel we stole from the back of an unnamed (but nationally known) Park City Distillery, so we opened it up and chiseled out the charred wood from within. We filled a bunch of jars with charred oak, added our unaged shine, shook routinely, waited as long as we could, strained, and were left with pretty decent hooch considering surface area is everything. I firmly believe in rapid aging techniques! I was making my own whiskey before I had ever heard of a Negroni! I ended up staying on to work my way up to Head Chocolatier at Ritual Chocolate where won international and national awards. I was surrounded by all things craft and I figure that’s where I fell in love with food and drink and realized it could be a legitimate career.
But I got into bartending and cocktails in Salt Lake City. While driving uber while in college there, I picked up some guys who owned a bar, talked whiskey enough and ended up getting hired at Tinwell/Tintiki as a barback. I eventually worked my way up to Bar Manager. During that time I also worked James Beard Nominee Post Office Place which is where I first learned about shochu, sake, and Japanese whiskey. I mostly learned under Amy Eldredge of Undercurrent/Tinwell, a friend and protégé of Sasha Petraske; Crystal Daniels of James Beard Nominated Bar Nohm and Post Office Place, legendary Night Manager/Bar Man Tristan Loughlin, and the TinTiki Manager/Tropical Culture enthusiast we’ll refer to as “Scuba Chuck.” So you could say my experience is mixed between classic cocktail method, modern craft techniques, and what I'll refer to as "the art of throwing a raging party". [laughs]
As the founding beverage director at Itameshi, a fusion Japanese-Italian restaurant in Albany’s Warehouse district, you have had free rein to design the entire program. I know you have an impressive selection of Japanese spirits and some favorite Italian amari. What’s your approach for both the spirit selection and cocktails? Are you drawing on past menus/travels in any way or really creating something that feels new for you?
I looked back to my time at Post Office Place, a Japanese Peruvian restaurant — what Crystal was able to achieve there is truly incredible. Then I looked at the market here in Albany. Not to suggest I watered anything down, but I knew we needed a selection of cocktails that would cater to people in the area who might want something more fun and easy drinking as well as ones that were far-out and exciting for the more adventurous diners in the area. You’ll notice my first menu has what I would call a “fancy midori sour.” I wasn't exactly re-inventing the wheel there but the cocktail is quite good. I am also running a cocktail composed of hot water, shochu and amaro, and salt — something people aren't exactly asking for by name. Educating the customer is one of the most important jobs one can perform in my opinion. Once I’m able to get their ear, quite a lot of people engage with and enjoy our more unique selections. People don’t know what they like, they like what they know. I’m inspired by the people who took the time to teach me and hope and I can help educate and inspire people myself.
I also do like a “shock value aspect” if i’m being honest. “Sweet potato what now from tropical Japan?”or “Alps Liqueur made from tiny pinecones only mountaineers can harvest?” [laughs]That’s where education for me begins, interest. That said, many of the cocktails on the menu are rooted in well known classics. The number one reason being that they work. A well made Manhattan with a select vermouth and decent whiskey can out perform scores of more elaborate cocktails. I am also limited on space for throwing on draft cocktails, making large batches, or running slushy machines so I am very much leaning into the “Petraske Method” Amy Eldredge passed to me. Good ingredients, Intention and execution are really all you need to make an interesting world class craft cocktail. We certainly do that at Itameshi.
You were born and raised in Holyoke, Ma., but you moved to Utah at 20-years old + almost immediately set off on an industry path. What prompted the move to upstate NY? Were there other stops on your way upstate + how have you adjusted to the East Coast?
The Covid-19 pandemic killed Tinwell/TinTiki as our main product was sweaty dance parties. Wild to think we were running 14 ingredient drinks at a high volume nightclub, all fresh juice too, truly unhinged choices. I remember the barbacks sweeping up dozens of broken Tiki Mugs from the dance floor some weekend nights, tragic yet validating. Anyways, after Tinwell closed I sort of accidentally moved to NY during a lengthy Covid hiking and camping focused road trip. I picked up some construction work in Mechanicville before meeting James and Erin of Whiskey Pickle their first week open. My time as Bar Manager/Entertainment Manager of Tinwell certainly came into play when I sent them my resume. The next week they asked me to help them build a nice cocktail program and eventually throw some wild parties and city wide events. In some ways I think of Whiskey Pickle as an echo of Tinwell/and Tin Tiki, like its spirit haunted me until it found a new home across the country in Troy, NY.
I miss the desert, I miss Salt Lake City’s bar culture and I miss sneaking into Sundance parties, but I grew up here and although I was gone for a third of my life it still feels like home. It's nice being close to the city and I do enjoy the people here. Despite its occasional hardships, the Warehouse District Albany feels like the place to be at the moment. Hoping this new “Night Life Council” is effective in its goals.
Itameshi has a pretty unique identity, but you’ve built really varied bar programs. Where do you find inspiration?
An accessible menu means diversity. Spirits, glassware, colors, cocktail branch, etc. So even if I come up with something I love, it might not make the menu. I do my best to my avoid over-saturing the menu with one spirit or format. Looking at my sales analytics on the last menu I've noticed they sell with almost anomalously close numbers. My Mezcal drink, Spaghetti Western, almost sells as much as our house named Itameshi Spritz. I like to think we offer something for everyone and that's why this may be the case. Some of my choices are data driven, I guess.
As far as individual cocktail inspiration and identity I like to look around the room. At Whiskey Pickle, the Pickle Ricky reigned supreme, quite obviously. We were also a summer dance party spot so the aptly named ‘Hot Girl Slammer’ was extremely popular and easily covered the cost of some patio updates. Itameshi is very different of course, and I am very happy to call it my home now as I’m able to dive a bit deeper into a plethora of Ingredients. We’re Japanese-Italian fusion so there is no end to the creative flavor opportunity. People who come to Itameshi have already paid for their “ticket to ride” so I’m able to push the boundaries a bit more while staying entirely thematic. I peruse the Baldor catalogue, farmers markets, and ethnic grocery stores for interesting flavors and unlikely flavor combinations. Then I just turn around to our massive in house spirit catalogue or consult the fine folk at one of the several distributors I work with. The fantastic reps I work with know not to come in with mass produced flavored vodkas. They come in and say “hey, I saw this weird thing and thought of you”. Seasonality also comes into play, I want hot beverages at the moment, who wouldn’t with this weather. So I dug into historic Japanese and Italian hot beverages instead of just making Hot Toddy variations and sure enough they both have their own takes. Me, imagining being at an Après in the Alps or trudging through snow in Niigata directly inspired our new Hotto Itameshi Menu.
Outside of bartending and consulting, I know you have been creative in crafting bitters and ideas for pre-batched cocktails. Is this an area where you hope to launch your own line some day?
We all have dreams. I also struggle with ADHD so my ambitions unfortunately change with the seasons. Launching a distillery of some kind would be ideal to hit all those notes though. The lifelong ambition shifted from whiskey to some sort of amaro or gin with American harvested ingredients. I’ve also seriously pondered on creating a spirit that doesn’t exist yet and is rooted in no tradition. Something delicious with sustainable ingredients that can be made locally. Not sure about the hurdles involved with working with the TTB or SLA to identify/classify an entirely new category of spirits. Kind of a silly idea, but a man can dream.
What cocktail are you most proud of to date and what’s something that you haven’t yet made yet but you’d love to figure out?
Most proud of is tough as I’ve had some very popular drinks on menus. The Pickle Ricky stands out. It’s simple, its a Gin Ricky with a half ounce of pickle juice in it and ideally a dill garnish. It’s so dumb, it’s so obvious, That feels like a cop out though. I’ve put literally hundreds of drinks on print at this point so I’d need my memory refreshed on all of them. Currently though I’m most Happy with the Hotto Itameshi, the self titled pinnacle of our new menu is a warming citrusy botanical tea of sorts. Hot Amaro can be weird to work with and R&D came together quickly, almost through intuition, so It’s a sign I’m improving I guess, [laughs].
As far as things I haven’t figured out I would love to figure out a way to very quickly and easily replicate a pearl diver. It's an incredible drink but the gardenia batter is really best the night you make it. So as a result, it's kind of an annoying drink to make the way I want it. Which is why you never see them on menus, even at Tiki Bars.
We often discuss how chefs and bartenders manage a work/life balance. We know burnout is real in the industry along with myriad pressures and difficulties from mental health to addiction. A year or two ago, you stepped away from the industry and took a job in construction sales which you told me you really enjoyed for the freedom of being out on the road. Can you talk about what led to it, what the break gave you, and what brought you back to the creativity and art of mixology?
Quite frankly I burned out pretty aggressively after a couple years at Whiskey Pickle, I guess you could say I just couldn't hang. Being surrounded by every vice for a decade and being alive is a win I guess though. I have flown to Vegas because it was faster than taking an Uber to Park City on more than one occasion, plus the bars would still be serving when we got there. What kind of formative years are those? Strange ones to say the least and to allude that those realities of this industry are fully behind me would be a disservice to myself. I want a peaceful, secure life and the only way to achieve that is through moderation and intention and a dear friend told me to focus on the stuff I’m good at to rise beyond, the nerdy stuff, the 12 ingredient perfection stuff. Full disclosure, the reason I came back though is because at this point It's one of the stronger aspects of my resume [laughs] and, at risk of sounding cocky, despite my faults, apparently I’m pretty good at it. I did private parties and occasional consulting on my hiatus so I felt like I never really left If I’m being honest, but having a break to reassess why I’m truly drawn to this career, beyond all the fun, was definitely important in me shifting gears and feeling motivated. I’m lucky to have the trust of my superiors at Itameshi to curate an interesting and meaningful menu beyond just sales goals, here I have the tranquility to dial in some pretty amazing genre-bending stuff.
Our bartender’s often have stories about their tattoos, although you were pretty covered up during out shoot. Do you have a favorite story behind one of yours?
Most of mine are stick and pokes. Hmm, I don’t honestly remember how it all unfolded, It was obviously a fun night but waking up with a partial Mary Poppins tattoo gave me a bit of a shock.
What do you do to unwind or relax?
I listen to a lot of music and see a lot of live music. I play a lot less these music these days but some of the best moments in the past year have been playing drums or guitar with the gals who live below me. We also have a pretty killer garden, nothing like gardening on a sunny monday when everyone else is at their office job. I also enjoy taking my canoe up to the Adirondacks, hiking, camping etc. Cooking is also very much a meditative practice for me, and when I want to turn off my brain I let Max Miller's Tasting History play over and over in the background.
Focusing on local tastes. What would be 3 of your favorite spots for breakfast, lunch or dinner for yourself or to take a guest anywhere in the Hudson Valley or Capital Region?
Breakfast is usually had on the go, so Naughters in Troy. Everything is infused with ghee and it’s beautiful. Yesfolk Kombucha in Troy is a sleeper hit, not a huge menu but between their low acidity wood fermented, garden-grown-indigenous botanical infused Kombucha draft list hits and they have awesome Egyptian/Afghani small bites, it's hard not to show them love. Get the huhammara with bread and the Yaupon Kombucha. Dinner is tough but laughing in a booth with someone I love at Tanpopo and over-ordering buns before some spicy ramen is hard to beat. For fancy dinner, Hamlet and Ghost or Sushi By Bou, but I could name several dozen…
Imagine an ideal day or night out. If you could go anywhere with no limits on costs or reservations, where would you go and how would your day or night unfold?
On my birthday I usually try to spend an unconscionable amount of money on sushi so I’d be in Japan at some street market enjoying cheap lager and bites until my series of reservations at all of the top sushi places in a 20 miles radius start hitting in rapid succession. We’d need a helicopter to really do it right and the chefs would all hate me. Karaoke for the few remaining hours of day light.
Restaurants and bars are still experiencing less foot traffic in part due to remote work and also a decline in drinking. What do you see as the future of bars?
I can imagine seeing more waves of closures as a certain generation dies off, the ones that actually spend money. Millennials are really holding the torch at this point. I think we’re already seeing a shift toward more quality over quantity, which is a good thing. People aren't spending as much in general these days. Home cooks and bartenders are better than they ever have been and consumers are more knowledgeable than they ever have been so people have even less of a reason to go out unless you offer something they can't achieve easily at home. I think it’ll shift from “lets go out to eat” to “lets go to THAT place”. Less about the act of going out and more about going for a specific experience. We at Itameshi are trying to offer something special and hope to be a part of that new wave of experiential dining.
How important do you think it is for bars to truly accommodate low or non-alc cocktails into drink menus?
There is clearly a demand for mocktail specific menus, hence my reasoning to finally roll one out. We’re offering everything from N/A Prosecco to N/A Aperitifs to Fermented Spicy N/A Margaritas for a reason. I would go even further by saying Lavender Lemonade and O’Douls don't really cut it anymore. I think it's important for consumers who don't imbibe to have comparable options and flavor experiences. Bars that don’t offer these options are leaving money on the table IMHO.
From those early days in Utah when you found your way into the brewing and drinks industry, did you know that you had found your career path? If so, are you where you thought you’d be and where do you imagine you’ll be 5 years from now?
I had no idea. I once had a previous owner, friend and very knowledgeable menu curator tell me, “Sorry for ruining your life.” He was implying he threw me on a different trajectory, an almost inescapable one. I was studying engineering and planned to minor in food science… I guess he felt responsible that I ended up managing a night club. I always thought I’d be in alcohol, fermentation or food product development, but never expected to end up on the user end experience. So I am rolling with the punches and luckily I love what I currently do. I am open to the mysteries of the future and the four winds blowing us in whatever direction we may go. Maybe it comes full circle to R&D or Brand/Product development; I don't see that as being outside the realm of opportunity. I’m lucky all the experiences I’ve had were part of wherever that path takes me. It’s a rough business but assuming we continue to grow and develop and stay solvent, I would be happy to still call myself beverage director of Itameshi in 5 years. Standing before an international cocktail program mirrored by a wall of Japanese whisky and Italian amaro is a special sort of privilege.
If your time on earth was nearly up, what would be your last call cocktail and why?
I was going to say something stoic like a flawless Manhattan, but If I’m going on the great forever vacation… well, nothing says vacation like a yard-long plastic novelty cup full of Miami Vice. That’s a strawberry Daiquiri blended into a Pina Colada. Preferably made with fresh, frothy pineapple juice, extra fatty coconut cream and 3 different types of Jamaican Rum: Dr. Bird, Appleton Estate 21, and something trashy like Meyers's Dark.
Thanks so much for talking with us, Will! We’re looking forward to seeing your new menu and where you take the Itameshi cocktail program.