Beverage Director Ashley Cibor isn’t simply mixing drinks at Inform Your Buddies—she’s shaping Scottsdale’s cocktail scene.
Pictures by Inform Your Buddies
In lower than a 12 months, she’s introduced the sultry speakeasy to nationwide recognition, unveiling its first full menu revamp with a lineup of reimagined classics outlined by precision, layered textures, and trendy taste profiles. The result’s a cocktail program that balances innovation with approachability, firmly rooted in her ingredient-driven creativity.
Her imaginative and prescient has earned Inform Your Buddies high honors, Bar of the Yr on the 2025 Bar & Restaurant Expo Trade Excellence Awards and Iconic Speakeasy Expertise on the Arizona Foodist Awards, cementing its place among the many nation’s standout bars. A former biochemistry main turned cocktail skilled, Cibor brings scientific rigor to her craft, supported by whiskey certifications and a decade of hands-on expertise. From her early life at Phoenix tiki hotspot UnderTow, the place she collaborated with mixology pioneer Jason Asher, to her management at present, Cibor continues to raise Scottsdale’s cocktail scene with each technical mastery and a hospitality-first ethos. We caught up with Ashley to speak about her first full menu revamp at Inform Your Buddies, the science behind her cocktail creativity, and the way she’s shaping Scottsdale’s cocktail tradition.
Your first full menu revamp at Inform Your Buddies simply launched! What was your artistic imaginative and prescient going into this overhaul, and the way did you need the brand new cocktails to mirror the evolution of the house?
My first focus is at all times seasonality. We launched the brand new menu at first of February to begin transitioning into these spring flavors. I aimed to maintain issues vigorous and contemporary, whereas additionally incorporating twists on traditional cocktails to supply a way of familiarity for company. I need individuals to recollect every go to to Inform Your Buddies and really feel inspired to discover one thing new by cocktails they might not have skilled earlier than. The cocktails, ambiance, meals and music convey a renewed vitality to our a part of city that I feel company will actually take pleasure in.
You’ve got a background in biochemistry—does that scientific coaching affect your method to method, taste stability, and experimentation behind the bar?
Sure, my background in biochemistry deeply informs my method behind the bar by bringing precision, an understanding of molecular interactions and a methodical mindset to taste stability and method. It turns experimentation right into a deliberate, scientific course of—remodeling creativity into repeatable outcomes.
Stroll us by a cocktail that finest represents your fashion and the innovation you’re aiming for.
My favourite cocktail on the menu proper now could be the Decadence in Disguise. The inspiration for it’s one in all my most cherished desserts: carrot cake. I attempted to impart every taste from the cake into its liquid type, and when all of it comes collectively, it’s similar. It has a carrot syrup spiced with cinnamon and ginger, a walnut liqueur, a sherry that has a golden raisin taste, and a goat cheese-infused rye whiskey for a velvety texture.
After wins like Bar of the Yr and Iconic Speakeasy Expertise, what’s been most rewarding about watching Inform Your Buddies acquire an increasing number of recognition?
I feel the most effective a part of receiving any sort of award is the popularity for all of the onerous work that goes into opening any bar or restaurant. From possession and designers to the servers, bartenders and barbacks, it takes a full group of devoted people to convey a imaginative and prescient to life – after which to success. It’s very rewarding to be a a part of that. Seeing individuals genuinely join with the house and with one another, turning the bar into greater than only a place to drink, has been extremely fulfilling. Watching that neighborhood develop alongside the popularity has meant so much.
Scottsdale is clearly having a cocktail second. How do you see Inform Your Buddies setting the tone for the place the town’s scene is headed?
Inform Your Buddies units the tone in our space by pushing artistic boundaries whereas staying rooted in hospitality. We’re displaying that North Scottsdale may be each modern and intimate, with cocktails which might be as considerate as they’re memorable.
