(Left to right) Bartenders Casey Miller and Ian Youngs mix a round of cocktails at AC Lounge. “We both have a very solid understanding of the city and its people and its culture,” says Miller. | J. Adrian Wylie
Casey Miller’s new business card calls him “head alchemist.” For Ian Youngs, it’s “beverage enthusiast.” The barkeepers at downtown’s newest hotel “take our drinks seriously,” says Miller. “We don’t take ourselves that seriously.”
Both are as chatty as you’d want them to be, whether it’s offering visitors recommendations for a night on the town, or delving into the details of the cocktails they’ve crafted for AC Lounge, in the lobby of Marriott’s new AC Hotel at E. Huron St. and S. Fifth Ave.
Owned by Ann Arbor–based First Martin Corporation, the six-floor hotel opened in February. The “AC” refers to Antonio Catalán, the Spanish founder of the brand of mid-range hotels that’s now a subsidiary of Marriott International.
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Miller, a veteran of the Last Word, was laid up with lateral epicondylitis, an occupational hazard for more than just tennis players, when Rebecca Morrow of Tammy’s Tastings suggested the hotel as a possible path toward stability—“an opportunity for me to pursue my own vision on someone else’s dime,” as he puts it.
He met with general manager Ryan Wilkins and others and “convinced them they needed to open a position, and then I put forth myself as the candidate for the position,” he says with deadpan diction.
As months of planning shrunk into days until launch, he got the okay to bring on Youngs, most recently the beverage director at Black Pearl. “It’s actually very, very difficult to find experienced, hospitable, talented, passionate people,” Miller says. “I’ve known him for years. We both have a very solid understanding of the city and its people and its culture.”
Their program fuses European influence with distinctive local elements, offering both classic familiarity and creative novelty. The Shared Waters Milk Punch combines aquavit, rum, cherry whiskey, cognac, ruby port, and blend of TeaHaus and Blue Nile teas in a lactose-clarified cocktail.
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Joining forces with the Hidden King, they swung a deal with a Spanish importer to offer vermouth on tap, making it easy to offer sample sips of the aromatic fortified wine.
The team of four bartenders are the lounge’s sole service staff. Beyond delivering the tapas, toasts, salads, and sweets from the kitchen, they cultivate conversations between locals and first-time visitors and play the part of Ann Arbor cultural ambassadors.
“We really are here to provide that moment of time where nothing else matters,” Youngs says. “This is you and me. What can I do for you?”
AC Lounge, 310 E. Huron. (734) 249–6200. Sun.–Thurs. 4–10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 4–11 p.m. marriott.com/en-us/hotels/dtwad-ac-hotel-ann-arbor-downtown/dining
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