With all the additions to Kakaako in recent months, it’s easy to forget Bevy is less than 4 years old.

It wasn’t long ago that Christian Self called Hotel Street home as he ran the bar program at thirtyninehotel, one of the earliest contributors to the rebirth of Chinatown as a nightlife destination in the mid-2000s.

As new restaurants aim to turn Chinatown into more of a place for foodies to hang, Self now carries the torch for mixology at the corner of Auahi and Keawe streets. But there’s so much more to Bevy’s cocktail menu than just a single line of text describing each drink — nearly every one has its own story, and Self is turning to his employees to help create additions.

“That was always the idea, to get up and running and then get the bar staff trained and comfortable so they could explore their creativity and blossom,” Self said. “Then it becomes more of a team or family effort instead of just an individual. We’re greater as the sum of all our parts.”

Originally from Liverpool, England, Self got his start bartending in the early 2000s at the old TGI Fridays on Ward Avenue. He helped open Ala Moana Center’s Pearl Ultralounge, served as beverage manager at Edition Waikiki (now the Modern Honolulu) and worked on mainland projects with industry consultant Barmagic. In 2010 he created the “World’s Best Mai Tai” and collected $10,000 for his efforts at the Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai Festival on Hawaii island.

Beginning at thirtyninehotel and now Bevy, Self continues his effort to elevate craft cocktail culture in Honolulu. Amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, he gathered Bevy’s small crew of bartenders and servers for a midafternoon training session in December to prepare for the biggest change to Bevy’s menu since the bar opened in summer 2013. A recent expansion into an adjoining space at Salt at Our Kakaako added full kitchen capabilities, with chef Susan Smolinski developing a new food menu to go with a dozen new cocktails that debuted in January.

“For me personally, I like coming up with drinks that use obscure spirits, but you also have to balance out the need for comfort drinks,” Self explained. “So we want to fulfill the criteria of offering a vodka drink, a whiskey drink, right on down the line. When I designed this new menu, I tried to make sure there was a drink on there for absolutely everybody.”

Take pisco, the South American brandy distilled from fermented grape juice. I’ve been a fan of Self’s take on the classic pisco sour from his days at thirtyninehotel, and the drink is still on the menu at Bevy. But Self wanted another method of delivery for the spirit that would be more accessible for guests.

So he turned to bitter lemon syrup, another ingredient more popular outside the United States. Europeans often make a version of the classic gin and tonic by swapping out the tonic water for bitter lemon. Self took it a step further by offering different options for the base spirit.

“Bitter lemon is basically a sparkling quinine and lemon juice mixer,” Self said. “It’s great just as it is when made with gin, but why should it just be that when you can have multiple different types of spirits?

“My personal preference is pisco, but we also offer arrack, a Javanese sugar cane distillate that has this wonderful vanilla note and kind of a smokiness to it. You can make it with vodka, and if you wanted to you could try it with whiskey.”

Bevy employees occupied about a half-dozen seats at the bar during the December training, with Self leading them through the steps to correctly prepare and effectively present the new cocktails. As he demonstrated each, Self shared tidbits of information, from small recipe tweaks to the backstories of certain drinks. Sometimes the staff expanded the creative process.

For example: As Self presented the Holy Matchamony, a vodka-based cocktail with matcha powder and honeydew liqueur, he explained the difference between traditional Greek yogurt and labne, a “kind of cross between a Middle Eastern yogurt and cheese,” which he’d wanted to use in the drink. Hearing this for the first time during the training, Smolinski immediately offered to start producing labne in-house; the current version of the drink is now “exponentially better” due to the switch, Self said.

The St. George and the Dragon, a variation of the classic Sidecar, uses egg whites to create a froth that supports a layer of Campari in the shape of a traditional English cross. Cracked green peppercorn “dragon scales” are another finishing touch he said would “help open up your taste buds” and provide guests with a chuckle when reading the menu.

“When you drink it, if you don’t get the cross, it tastes one way. If you do get the cross, it tastes completely different,” Self told his staff in December. “This is one of those drinks that comes with a cool little background story for you to share. Cocktails shouldn’t always be serious. Have fun and come up with a narrative that’s outside the box.”

One of the biggest successes on the new menu is a $20 tiki cocktail designed to be split between two customers. While most drinks at Bevy fall in the $10 to $13 range, don’t be afraid to spend a little more to try bartender Justin Kipapa’s newest creation, Pele’s Morning Brew.

“Every time I hear somebody order it, I get excited,” said Kipapa, who joined Bevy after working under award-winning mixologist Justin Park at Manifest in Chinatown. “I also like delivering it to the customer. I’ll bring it to the table myself and explain it to them.”

Served in a metallic pineapple decanter, the drink combines Bulleit bourbon whiskey and 15-year-old El Dorado rum with the flavors of lilikoi, lime, pineapple and vanilla. Macadamia-infused orgeat syrup and coconut foam balance the sweetness and help cut the overall kick from the liquor. The drink is even served on a pedestal of sorts, the cup set atop the metal pineapple’s “crown” and a flaming, 151-proof-rum-soaked lime wheel as garnish.

When Kipapa made it for his co-workers for the first time in December, everyone agreed the sheer spectacle would make it a winner. Now, Self said, once Kipapa delivers the drink to a table, other guests will often order their own — and on some weekends Kipapa will be stuck in a corner for 15 or 20 minutes at a time making multiples.

Bartender Jordan Edwards came to Hawaii from San Francisco to run the drinks program at the former Salt Kitchen & Tasting Bar in Kaimuki. His contribution to Bevy’s new menu is the Cup of Philz, a boozy homage to one of his favorite coffee shops.

“Phil’s is a coffee house in San Francisco. They do an iced coffee there that just blew my mind,” he said. “I originally made this drink at Salt, where I did a 50-50 mix of El Dorado rum and Elijah Craig (whiskey).

“Now I just use High West rye whiskey, which cuts down on the sweetness. The coffee flavor comes from the Campari and Averna (a bitter liqueur). There’s a little of the coffee bitters, too, but that really just pulls it all together.”

Now that he’s opened the menu to staff contributions, Self said he’s noticed a renewed sense of employee pride as they harness their own creativity for the benefit of the entire business.

“People sit at our bar and watch our bartenders and they’re entertained with what they’re doing and ask questions,” he said. “That’s the experience.”

CONCEPTS BEHIND THE COCKTAILS

Tequila Mockingbird

• Concept: A tequila-based cocktail that isn’t a margarita
• Flavors: Turmeric, lemon, papaya nectar, ancho chili liqueur, tequila
• Christian Self says: “You get a nice bit of savoriness from chili. It has a dry, kind of prickly, smoky flavor. Tequila is so versatile, and the papaya nectar adds a nice, juicy component.”

Another Brick In The Wall

• Concept: An elevated take on the classic Old-Fashioned
• Flavors: Walnut-infused private selection bourbon, Bevy’s cherry liqueur, root beer/plum bitters, mushroom tincture
• Final touch: A trio of cherries, set afire

Good Life Daiquiri

• Concept: A simple cocktail that showcases locally made Kohana rum
• Flavors: Chamomile, agave, lime, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, rum
• Self says: “We cut the chamomile and agave by half to create that sour profile. The St. Germain adds just a little bit of sweetness, but the tropical and floral notes help accentuate the chamomile flavor.”

St. George And The Dragon

• Concept: A variation on the Sidecar, traditionally made with cognac and citrus juices
• Flavors: St. George raspberry brandy, Lillet Blanc (a citrusy French apertif)
• Final touch: A cross made of brandy and garnished with cracked green peppercorns

Jason Genegabus has written about the local bar and drink scenes since 2001. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram or email jason@staradvertiser.com.