Well-Versed

Lenoir in Austin serves up cocktails made mostly without liquor

- EMILY HAVENER

Clinton Tedin has spent a lifetime in hospitality. Starting young as a dishwasher, he gravitated toward the bar; he worked with Austin’s Bill Norris at Fino and helmed the beverage program at Dai Due. “I’m more of an introvert so I like bartending because it’s sort of a built-in social life,” he says. He’s also big on hospitality, staying away from the pretentiousness that can come along with craft cocktail culture: “If somebody wants a vodka soda, it’s my job to make them the best damn vodka soda they’ve ever had and give it to them with a smile.”

At Lenoir in Austin, where he’s headed the bar program since June 2020, Tedin develops the cocktail menu with what he refers to fondly as “a limited palate.” “We can’t purchase anything over 19% ABV. It’s sort of like writing a sonnet—no, that sounds really pretentious—writing a limerick. You have limitations that you have to work within.” The menu features cocktails made with lambrusco, sherry, vermouth, and a variety of aperitifs, along with the occasional sprinkling of mezcal or other liquor to add flavor without increasing ABV.

“We always try to have several distinct sorts of cocktails available to appeal to the broadest range of what people are going to want,” Tedin says. He’s created riffs on an old fashioned and a Pimm’s cup, and always on the menu is the Como la Flor, a creation of former beverage manager Jessica Martinez, that reimagines a classic martini with manzanilla sherry.