Sharon Floyd named one of the Top 10 Mixologists to Watch by Beverage Media Magazine

SHARON FLOYD
New Orleans, Louisiana

At first, it seems like Sharon Floyd is a bit of a contradiction: when she’s not behind the bar at Iris in New Orleans, she’s leading students through yoga poses. Yet for Floyd, the parallels are obvious: “There is a popular sentiment that the more you drink and the worse your hangover, the better time you must have had. Why? Show me the person who seriously enjoys a hangover,” she comments. “Part of the beauty of the mixology movement for me is its emphasis on creating a drink worth savoring, rather than a drink with volume that can be measured by a yardstick. I am already delighted that the trend towards naturally flavored and colored spirits has arrived and I hope it’s permanent. I think there is a place for mixology in the mainstream.” Floyd further explores the connections between these two seemingly disparate worlds in her blog, ConsciousCocktail.com. It is inevitable, though, that Floyd would have a sharpened sense of spirituality, living in New Orleans, one of the country’s most fabled cocktail cities. “Some great cocktails were birthed among the buildings in the French Quarter and biking those streets to work to make those same drinks is very special. There is some mystique in imagining into a past that I was not physically a part of, but is still celebrated enough for me to experience in the present.” At Iris, where cocktails using fresh juices are Floyd’s specialty, the emphasis is on cocktail and food pairing. At the full-service restaurant guests typically order just one or two cocktails with their meal to “expand their flavor palate.”