Quartz launches new cocktails with local and intergalactic inspiration

Quartz, the downtown cocktail lounge that mines inspiration from the natural world, will unveil a new cache of stone- and desert-themed drinks on Monday.

The concept is home to not one but two bars, including a main lounge and a hidden space called The Cave. Quartz opened in the historic Welnick Marketplace and Liefgreen Seed Co. building on Van Buren Street near Third Avenue in April 2023. The dual spaces offer a casual, communal walk-in watering hole and a dreamy special occasion spot where groups can tuck into booths.

Since opening, the two-bars-in-one concept has been named Phoenix New Times' Best New Bar and among the Valley's Top 100 Bars.

About a year and a half into Quartz’s tenure, bar director Maxwell Berlin says it was time to change things up in both the main lounge and The Cave.

“We’ve been very fortunate and blessed to be very known for cutting-edge cocktails here in Phoenix and abroad,” Berlin says. “It’s time to push it up, kick it up one more notch."

Crystals, boozy kakigori and happy hour deals

The new menu in Quartz’s main lounge, which is anchored by a long bar with a craggy faux rock and rope lighting hanging overhead, is inspired by healing crystals.

“It’s another way to offer new cocktails, new flavor profiles and introduce people to more rocks that we love,” Berlin says of the “Crystal Cruncher” menu.

The entire bar team got in on the menu, selecting crystals as their prompt. The Bamm Bamm Beryl uses the intention of its namesake stone to represent love and nostalgic memories, by drawing on the childhood cereal Fruity Pebbles. The pastel-hued drink is made with vodka, strawberry-banana shrub, rhubarb and lemon. Served in a coupe glass, it’s topped with a cereal milk foam.

The main lounge will also add a dedicated daily happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m., offering $4 off a selection of classic and tropical-leaning tipples, such as a caipirinha – a Brazillian cocktail made with cachaça that is a favorite of Berlin.

But, not every drink on the former lounge menu is gone. Some of Quartz’s most popular birthstone-inspired tipples will stay. Among those are the vibrant Sea of Aquamarine, the smokey Turquoise Dilemma and the creamy chocolate, mint and anise-flavored Peridot Periquito. Some of the returning drinks have been refined. The Peridot, for example, is now served on nitro to add a creamier texture to the drink.

The bar's menu is also expanding with its boozy version of the fluffy Japanese shaved ice kakigori, “done up” Jell-O shots and a larger selection of beer, wine and zero-proof sips. On the food menu, metal bento boxes packed with charcuterie or conservas and crackers are joining the selection of hot dogs and snacks, such as a masala spiced Chex Mix.

Berlin says the bar will also continue to partner with chefs on pop-ups and will begin hosting potlucks as part of their roster of regular events.

Cocktails at The Cave draw from local, intergalactic inspiration

Inside Quartz’s rose gold tiled hideaway, The Cave, the menu will continue to revolve around desert landscapes, people and flavors, but "there’s some fun twists and turns as we even leave the planet,” Berlin says.

The mixologist is leaning into Quartz’s inadvertent label as a “Star Wars”-themed bar after co-owner Chuckie Duff referred to part of The Cave’s private-booth design being inspired by film’s iconic cantina on Tatooine.

“At the end of the day we’re not a “Star Wars”-themed bar, but it always stuck and we could never get away from it,” Berlin says.

With the Binary Sunset cocktail, he chose to lean into intergalactic characterization while using flavors from this planet, including “all these kind of alien tropical fruits that grow around the world.”

The barman says the drink is akin to the colorful, layered Filipino dessert Halo Halo.

Another drink from The Cave hits closer to home, and is one Berlin has been working on from Quartz’s start. It is “probably the most difficult cocktail, conceptually, that I’ve ever created,” he says.

We Call It Home pays homage to Phoenix and some of Berlin’s favorite restaurants.

“We’re a thriving food community that really is (putting) itself on the map,” Berlin says. “I wanted to take a little bit from all these people.”

He started by making a list of his favorite places, such as Bacanora, Belly, FnB, Old Town Taste, Tratto, Valentine and Glai Baan, whose wine and beverage program was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2023 during Berlin’s tenure. The flavors he sought to highlight from each of those places included a seemingly disparate collection that included chiltepin and prickly pear, as well as sun-dried tomatoes and fish sauce.

“I was looking at this list and I’m like, this is all over the place,” Berlin says.

Things clicked when he started thinking about the ingredients as more of a melting pot of soup, evoking flavors of pho and pozole. He used Phoenix’s unofficial cocktail, the margarita, as his starting point. The drink uses a tomato-infused bacanora, citrus stock and a rice syrup made with prickly pear and red onion, among other ingredients.

“It’s a little smoky, sweet, sour, spicy, all whipped up into something that’s very refreshing and very Phoenix,” he says.

The drink arrives in a cactus-shaped glass adorned with a piece of fried, seasoned rice paper and is topped with a cluster of bougainvillea blooms.

Imbibers will also find signature savory sips from Berlin. He has integrated flavors of Middle Eastern mezze, or appetizers, such as baba ghanoush and tabbouleh. For one such drink, Berlin riffs on a Southside cocktail by adding parsley and honeydew.

“I’ve always tried to incorporate my love for food and my culinary history into my cocktail making, so there’s naturally a tendency to incorporate more savory ingredients,” he says.

Favorites from The Cave’s first menu that will remain include the gin-based Dreamtime, which is inspired by the Great Australian Desert.

While this is Quartz’s first menu change-up, it’s something Berlin hopes to continue to do annually. What won’t alter is his approach of incorporating the ingredients, people and traditions from around the globe.

“I always try to find the halfway point between their stories and my story,” he says.

Quartz

341 W. Van Buren St., Suite B