[Photographs: Alice Gao]  Jim Meehan opened PDT—the
secret/famous cocktail lounge accessed through a phone booth in
the East Village's Crif Dogs—in 2007. Since then, we've loved
his drinks and his work on Food & Wine's annual cocktail guide.
His PDT Cocktail Book is one of our home bar essentials. Meehan
is schooled in classic cocktails and has a massive collection of
vintage drink books, but we wanted to ask him a bit about how he
develops new drinks, and what he sees happening in the future of
the cocktail scene.  Shall we get started?  What got you into
the bar business in the first place?  My first job was as an 18
year old freshman in college at State Street Brats in Madison,
WI. My friend Andre worked there as a bouncer and loved it, so I
asked him to help me get a job. Initially, I used the extra cash
to supplement what my parents afforded me; and eventually ended
up using tips to pay for it all when the well ran dry. The bar
business pays you to host a party every night, and I've always
enjoyed that.