Lynnette Marrero

Lynnette Marrero’s career began when she accepted a job at NYC’s Flatiron Lounge alongside cocktail savant Julie Reiner. Marrero quickly made the transition from cocktail-waitress to bartender and knew that the spirits industry was her true calling. She then moved quickly from Senior Bartender at Freemans to consulting and co-designing the bar program for Elettaria in Manhattan's West Village. Here she worked closely with the chef to create an award-winning cocktail menu. After shadowing Zacapa Rum Master Blender in Guatemala and working as a Rum Ambassador for Diageo for two years, she returned and created her own company Drinksat6, cultivating a new generation of cocktail bartenders and elevating the bar at restaurants. 

In 2015, Marrero opened and is now the Bar Director at Brooklyn hotspot The Llama Inn and the newly opened Llama San, which just received a glowing three-star review from the New York Times. Marrero has won Time Out Eat Out Awards for Best New Cocktail Bar and Best Bar Restaurant Hybrid for her work as beverage Director at Rye House. Marrero has also been honored by the James Beard Awards as one of America’s Leading Female Mixologists 2009, named Food & Wine and Fortune Magazine’s Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink in 2015, and Wine Enthusiasts’ Mixologist of the Year in 2016. In July 2019, Marrero received the Tales of the Cocktails’ Spirited Awards  World’s Best Bar Mentors and the inaugural Philanthropy Award with co-founder Ivy Mix for their work in Speed Rack. She also placed in the Drinks International Bar World 100 in 2019, 2020 and 2021 .  Marrero  launched the Masterclass.com Mixology platform in March 2020. She was recently named the 50 Best Bars Altos Bartender’s Bartender for 2021 and placed in the semi-finals for James Beard Best Restaurant Program 2022 for her work at Llama San.

Other notable projects Marrero’s has worked on include: creating the bar program for Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream, being the National Brand Mixologist for Perrier Sparkling Water and San Pellegrino Sparkling Fruit Beverages, and working with Zacapa Rum team as their trade educator and mixologist.