Colin Williams

The work reads with kitchen precision, but it does not lock the drink into stiffness; there is still room for movement, timing, and a build that unfolds rather than lands all at once. Today, Colin is bartender and beverage director of The Kingsway.

At The Kingsway in New Orleans, Louisiana, beverage director Colin Williams builds menus that sit between bar discipline and kitchen logic. Scotch is one of his specialties, and Golden Hour, a specialty drink at the restaurant, is described as featuring scotch and wok-related ingredients. The drink suggests warmth and a late-day register, with a savory edge that fits the way he works. The same approach is clear in The Kings Way, a specialty cocktail made with gin, Asian pear cordial, Cocchi Americano, and dry vermouth.

A related listed build, Kingsway Cocktail, includes gin, dry vermouth, Cocchi Americano, Asian pear cordial, orange bitters, and pickled Asian pear. These are composed like plated elements: each part has a job, and the structure depends on restraint. That range continues in Johnny 5 Old Fashioned, which combines bourbon, Chinese five spice-soy syrup, Angostura bitters, Szechuan pepper-infused orange bitters, and anise.

The build leans into spice and depth, with a savory line that carries through the finish. Strawberry Sakura Spritz brings together umeshu, strawberry aperitif, strawberry-infused Mikibito, sakura bitters, and sakura blossom. It reads as a brighter expression, but the layering remains the same: fruit, floral notes, and bitterness kept in balance rather than pushed forward separately. Pai Gow is offered as a specialty cocktail option where the bartender surprises the guest, adding a controlled element of spontaneity to the menu.

Its listed build includes sake-based vermouth, coconut liqueur, verjus, Tom Kha Louisiana rice syrup, Thai green curry tincture, egg whites, and pandan spray. On paper, it moves through creamy, tart, herbal, and aromatic notes, and it asks the guest to trust the hand at the bar.

Colin Williams' signature dishes include Golden Hour, The Kings Way, Kingsway Cocktail, Johnny 5 Old Fashioned, and Strawberry Sakura Spritz. Taken together, they show a style built on contrast and control: scotch against wok-related ingredients, gin against pear and vermouth, bourbon against spice, sakura against strawberry, all of it grounded in a culinary vocabulary.

Colin Williams' honors include AAN Award for Arts Feature – Shorter Form.