An Interview with The Edison’s Most Popular Bartender at Disney Springs
Mixologist Talon Steinhauer says crafting an unforgettable cocktail is all about connection.
WHEN YOU STRIKE UP A CONVERSATION WITH BARTENDER EXTRAORDINAIRE TALON STEINHAUER, be prepared for a spirited discourse on the history of cocktails, how to pour a great drink and much more. This dynamic and engaging mixologist is The Edison at Disney Springs’ most senior bartender, and guests return time and time again to interact with him, whether they ask him to create a new cocktail or are looking for tips for their own parties.
Watching Steinhauer build the cocktails is also a main draw. Steinhauer is a natural performer, as you’ll witness firsthand when he prepares them for you tableside. We became repeat customers just to watch him prepare a drink.
Originally a coordinator at Walt Disney World’s Atlantic Dance Hall, Steinhauer was working his way up the ladder when he asked his manager about a leadership position. But the manager had a different suggestion: Bartending. Steinhauer changed his path and has never looked back.
He sat down with us to talk about all things bartending.
Watching you do your job, it seems that bartending is a bit like being a performer. Is that something that comes naturally to you?
It does. I come from a family of performers. We’ve been involved in the Orlando entertainment industry for a long time and also have had a big presence in the convention scene, like MEGACON Orlando and the Anime Festival. We dress up as characters and portray those characters for guests, which is something that helps hone the craft naturally.
I tell many aspiring bartenders that it’s really not about the drinks or how you prepare them. It’s the connection that you make with the guests. Maybe you make a really darned good old fashioned. People are going to remember your old fashioned, but they’re going to remember the stories that you tell more and bring their friends back to hear that.
How do you get people to engage with you?
It’s always on a person-by-person basis. If a guest is having a conversation with their friends, I may overhear something that piques my interest, or something I know I have specific information about, and I may just politely interject into their conversation. Here at The Edison, we love to engage our guests with not just amazing cocktails and amazing service, but also knowledge about bartending and the history of cocktails.
Talon Steinhauer has been expanding guests’ palates at The Edison at Disney Springs for more than four years.
What, to you, makes a great cocktail?
A cocktail is a vehicle for imbibing alcohol in a way that changes your perception of the ingredients, something that becomes more than the sum of its parts. A scotch and soda can taste good, but it can also be something that changes your perception of the flavors that were present in the original liquor.
The way I explain it to guests is that you’re taking the flavor of the scotch, which is this condensed, potent flavor of the malt. When you add soda water to it, you’re not changing the flavor, you’re just pitching it down, stretching it out so you’re able to perceive those peaks in the valleys and the flavor a little bit better. That creates something that is all the more refreshing.
Are there any seasonal drinks you like to create or flavors you particularly like to work with in the winter?
I love flavors that are evocative of Christmas. One of the drinks that I had on the menu for a number of Christmases was called the Cosmic Poinsettia. I was trying to evoke a flavor of a dish my mother used to make for me when I was a child. It was called Brandy pears—mind you, it was sans the brandy for the kids. So, I decided to make a cocktail that was a vodka infusion. For 72 hours, we infused vodka with macerated cranberries, cloves, cinnamon and orange peel. Then, after straining it all out, you have this beautiful, red-colored vodka, and we combined that with two different types of pear brandy, a little lime juice and some house-made cinnamon syrup for a cosmo that’s out of this world.
What’s the most unusual cocktail someone asked you to make them?
Somebody asked me if I knew of a cocktail to make with Malört, a wormwood spirit created by Carl Jepson in Chicago that’s incredibly bitter. The recipe came about as an intestinal parasitic cleanse. I said, ‘OK, combine one-part Malört with one-part mezcal, a little drop of liquid aminos and a squeeze of a quarter lime’. They asked, ‘what do you call that?’ I said, ‘it’s called a cigarette butt.’ I had to preface it afterwards that they didn’t say it had to be a good drink. (laughs).
Editor’s Note: A walking encyclopedia on all things cocktail, Steinhauer is truly a master in his field. Not only does he interact with guests at The Edison, but Steinhauer also leads cocktail classes there and is one of Central Florida’s most popular bartenders to hire for weddings and other special events.
