ALEX VALENCIA
Alex Valencia got his start in the cocktail industry in 2006 as a bartender at the Italian restaurant Osteria Gelsi, in midtown Manhattan. In 2008 he went to work at Havana Alma de Cuba, in the West Village, and was one of the original bartenders at Yerba Buena when it opened on Avenue A in 2008. He came to Yerba Buena Perry full time when the restaurant opened in 2009.
Valencia attributes much of his cocktail knowledge to the tutelage of Artemio Vasquez, another of the original mixologists at Yerba Buena (Avenue A). He most likes to mix with white spirits (tequila blanco, white rum) and experiments with herbs and vegetables in his drinks. His favorite cocktail to drink? A classic, the Sazerac.
