About Me

Hey, it's Clint. Thanks for checking out The Gayviary—I'm glad you landed here.

This project started in 2019 with a few friends gathering regularly to make cocktails from The Aviary Cocktail Book. It quickly took on a life of its own and became the catalyst for learning everything from cocktail photography to beer brewing, 3D-printing, vintage spirits collecting, and urban foraging—not exactly the sort of things you'd expect from working your way through a cocktail book.

Somewhere along the way, I realized the stories from this project were just as compelling as the cocktails themselves. They stretch far beyond recipes and techniques into friendship, travel, unexpected collaborations, and the kind of serendipity that makes this project feel much bigger than the recipes themselves.

As for me, I live in Denver and grew up in rural Iowa. Before this project, I only occasionally dabbled in making craft cocktails and had never worked in a bar or restaurant—unless you count manning the Target snack bar in college (which, to be fair, I don't). You'd have been far more likely to find me playing old-school video games in the basement than flash-freezing tomato water with liquid nitrogen.

As of this writing, I'm a little over halfway through the project, with plenty of stories still waiting to be told. This has been a project full of stops and starts, detours and side quests—and after seven years, I'm excited to finally have a dedicated space to share the journey with you.