Once a month, the local Calgary cocktail industry gathers under one roof at Untitled Champagne Lounge where their small community celebrates the rhythm and flow of house music with bold flavours. Known as Musical Pairings, the industry event has been running regularly since Aug. 2023 and began as an opportunity for managing partner Nathan Bueckert to get behind the DJ booth.
“Musical Pairings is definitely my baby,” Bueckert said. “To be honest, I just wanted to play house music and I’ve wanted house music for Untitled for a very long time. I wanted to do an industry event as well, so the stars all kind of aligned for it. We wanted to give back to the industry, give people a platform to be creative.”
For each event, a guest bartenders is invited to create a one-off cocktail menu that pushes the boundaries of their creative expression.
Bueckert said, “It was kind of an opportunity to get other bartenders in the city and be like, ‘Hey, run as wild and as crazy as you can, at least for one night. Do the annoying stuff, make foams, make Ramos gin fizzes, make smoked cocktails, do whatever you want.’”
The most recent guest bartender, Rhiannon Lewis, winner of the Alberta Patrón Perfectionist cocktail competition, fully embraced that idea.
“A lot of the time we’re designing cocktails for a menu, so we have to hit certain marks. And in this way, we get to go and just do whatever the heck we want and just expand on all of these weird ideas that we’ve always had that we weren’t allowed to execute [in other settings]. I had all these ideas brewing in me that finally got to come out — it kind of just flew, like just flowed out of me,” said Lewis.
“I made these stained glass pears. I made 40 of them, which is not a lot, and it took over three hours. It was such a pain in the ass. Sorry, a pain in the butt. But I just wanted to see if I could actually do it, and they turned out so beautifully. The time that went into it was totally worth it, but I would never do that for service.”
The last few Musical Pairings have evolved to include an overarching theme for the night, something Bueckert believes in fully embracing for the sake of the guest bartender’s expression making it their night.
“If somebody was like, ‘I want everyone to dress up in chef coats and be really fine dining style,’ we can definitely do that.”
For Lewis, that theme was centred around a movie night, with movie theatre decorations across the lounge and a drink menu full of references to film.
“Felix’s Bathwater, that one was everybody’s favourite,” said Lewis of her inspired cocktail mix. “I watched Saltburn and I watched [actor Barry Keoghan] lick the drain of this dude’s bath water. It was so dirty, but also mildly erotic. I wanted to make a drink that would taste like that man’s bathwater. Also Jacob Elordi [who plays the character Felix in Saltburn] is the most beautiful man ever created. I would certainly drink his bathwater.”
Once the themed menu is built, Bueckert collaborates with his partner behind the booth, DJ Fatrock, to construct a set list that matches the tone of the drinks and theme. Bueckert feels that the events have been key to his growth as a DJ, relying on the more experienced Fatrock for advice.
“Musically, I’m still pretty green as a DJ, so I’m learning a ton every single event…. Part of DJing is playing a room. Part of DJing is making sure the energy is at a certain level and a lot of it is holding that energy until it’s ready to go”
The next Musical Pairings event will be held on Sunday, Apr. 28, with guest bartender Robyn Thomas working diligently towards the night’s tropical-themed cocktail menu. While less enthusiastic about the pragmatic aspect of making cocktails, Thomas has been enjoying the opportunity to embrace a creative side she otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to.
“As a bartender of over ten years, I think I’ve artfully avoided doing the annoying thing at all times,” she said. “I’m just having more fun. Tapping into silly things I wish I could do here [at Paper Lantern] that might not be taken as seriously.”
With Thomas working diligently on the evening’s drink menu, the musical pairing portion of the evening is already well under way focusing on a tropical theme.
“It’s been great to work with Robyn,” said Bueckert. She’s been so helpful. Not that nobody else has been, but she’s been above and beyond. It’s gonna be tropical house, I love tropical house. I love those beachy vibes. I remember Patrón [Tequila] put on an event where they just threw sand everywhere. We’re definitely not gonna fucking do that at Untitled, because that would be a disaster. But I’m looking forward to it!”