Bill Carlo knows of some cool places in Brooklyn where you can sip a cocktail and listen to Wu-Tang, day or night.
It’s a vibe the beverage director at The Brixton wanted to capture through the Babylon restaurant’s first-ever list of original cocktails. That list was called C.R.E.A.M. (Cocktails Rule Everything Around Me), a nod to Wu-Tang Clan’s signature 1994 hit by the same acronym — though their C.R.E.A.M. stood for Cash Rules Everything Around Me.
“I love hip-hop, and this place reminds me of some of those places in Brooklyn I would go and listen to hip-hop,” Carlo said of The Brixton.
The rap-inspired list of original cocktails (check out all the names below) was available right when The Brixton opened its doors in January at 111 Deer Park Avenue.
“People were into it,” he said. “It was cool and funky. You’d get people who would immediately come in and be like, ‘This is awesome. They would wonder about [the lyrical drink names], and be like, was that Wu-Tang? Was that Biggie?”
The reminiscing also kept people off their phones, something The Brixton staffers pride themselves on.
“Everyone’s off their phones because we’re always doing something weird back behind the bar,’ Carlo said. “It’s not like Cocktail, where we’re throwing bottles, but just going through and mixing all these individual parts to the drinks; it’s a show.”
GreaterBabylon only recently got wind of the hip-hop drinks at The Brixton.
But it was a bit too late for us, as the spring lineup of Brixton originals has since come out, and those carry an Always Sunny in Philadelphia theme.
“We’re calling it It’s Always Sunny in Babylon,” Carlo said.
Fans of the long-running FX comedy will get the references, not only with the drink names — which include Pisco Silvia and Rum Ham — but also the descriptions.
Click here for the Spring Cocktail Menu
Carlo, who lives in Long Beach, said that in the future, patrons can expect The Brixton’s original drinks lineup to change every few months, as well as the craft beer and wine offerings.
“I get bored really easily,” he laughed.
For local rap fans, they can still saddle up to the bar at The Brixton and order a Rye or Dye or OTDB (Old Tom Dirty Beverage), two hip-hop holdovers.
“Those moved to our classics section,” Carlo said. ‘But for the most part we can replicate or make any of the previous cocktails. And if I can’t make what you want, I’ll just make you something better.”
Top: Bill Carlo at work at The Brixton, as found in his Instagram feed @cardinalcocktail.
