I live in Los Angeles; without a doubt one of the trendiest cities in the United States, (or at least we like to think we are). Yet it's always a challenge when I sit down to write a trend report. I mean, who do I think I am? Some sort of intoxicant oracle?
So this year I decided to focus on wishful thinking and explore some of the trends I'd selfishly like to see more of.

The Re-Birth of at Home Entertaining
The Art of being a host has luckily been preserved within our bars, however entertaining of guests at ones home has been reduced, for the most part, to microwaved Trader Joe's hors d'oeuvres and Yellow Tail wine. C'mon people, we can do better.
Nothing makes a guest feel welcome like a punch bowl, a D.I.Y. set up or being handed a cocktail that you made especially for them.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that more and more people will begin investing in their home bar, no matter how small, and then purchasing a copy of Dave Stolte's Home Bar Basics.
Gentleman you are not exempt from this. This is not your cue to assume this time tested social ritual is a domestication and beneath you. Did you learn nothing from Ryan Gosling's Character in Crazy Stupid Love? Four words; Panty droppin' Old Fashioneds. Thank you Eric Alperin.

Reclamations
I love seeing bar and restaurant build outs that incorporate reclaimed materials. It not only guarantees uniqueness, but reduces the solid waste stream.
Sassafras in Los Angeles is a south of the Mason-Dixon gem that is literally a reconstructed town house from Savannah Georgia.
Masion Premiere in Brooklyn NY is pretty epic, with painstaking attention paid to every little circa-19th-century-French-via-New Orleans-detail, it'll transform anyone into a Francophile.
Trick dog in San Francisco, the latest and perhaps greatest from The Bon Vivants, laces beautiful recycled steel beams from the Warfield Theater as well as marble quarried in the Sierras. Schmancy.

Salty Sour Savory
Coming from a girl who drank only Micheladas on Christmas, this may just appeal to my palate, but if sorority girls are slamming Bone Luges and the snobbiest of bartenders are pouring Pickle backs, I think we may be moving in the right direction.

I Say Arrack, You Say Gimme A Pabst
"Bison Grass Smoked Slivovitz, Mazatec Garden Shamanic Nettle Shrubb, Salsify Tincture". Why do cocktail menu's have to be so difficult to understand!?
Cocktails should have some kind of palliative effect, but they can't until the guest consumes them, and how can that be accomplished if what's printed on the menu gives them anxiety? Menu's that read easy and evoke what the drink will actually taste like are making an overdue return.