Personalities

Erick Castro

Erick's Links:

West Coast Brand Ambassador for Plymouth and Beefeater Gins

Erick Castro has been working in the hospitality industry for nearly seventeen years and behind the bar for over eight of those.

After building his cocktail chops at the award-winning Bourbon & Branch, he was assigned the beverage director position at its newest sister bar, Rickhouse.

Since it opened in June of 2009, Rickhouse has been chosen as one of the Worlds Top Bars by Food & Wine Magazine, and just recently won The Cheers: Benchmark Award for Top Cocktail Lounge 2010.

The program he created at Rickhouse has also gone on to pickup three nominations in 2010 at the prestigious Tales of the Cocktail which takes place in New Orleans every year. These nominations included: World's Best New Bar, Best American Cocktail Menu and World's Best Menu.

Over the years, Castro has created and developed recipes for brands as diverse and prestigious as Belvedere Vodka, Bulleit Bourbon, Glenrothes Single-Malt, Bols Genever and Patron Tequila, and his cocktails have appeared on menus around the world.

Castro and his drinks have been featured in publications around the world such as, The NY Times, the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post and the SF Chronicle.

Castro was also recently awarded a Rising Star Award for 2010 from Star Chefs and is currently the West Coast Brand Ambassador for Plymouth and Beefeater Gins.