Terry Keel is unlike most bartenders in the East Valley. The 30-something flair-tender, who is something of a mad scientist in the bartender world, thinks outside the box. He creates upscale cocktails for club customers by incorporating components such as dry ice, rose petals, glow sticks and strobe-like ice cubes with vodka-infused flavored drinks.

“I take a couple of extra steps to make that cocktail more personal for the customer,” Keel, a Scottsdale resident, says.

He holds court in the milk room — which is bathed in white — at the chic downtown Scottsdale dance club Myst, where he's been working since the club reopened (it was Sanctuary prior to Myst) nearly a year ago. Keel worked his cocktail magic at the now defunct Opium and Mecca before he landed a job at Myst.

“I pretty much fell into this kind of work,” he says. “I'm not one for flipping bottles and stuff so I had to find another niche. It started out with a blow torch — caramelizing sugar at the edge of the glass. I wanted to step up cocktails a little. Four or five years ago, it was real hip to drink apple martinis. I wanted to take the apple martini and make a variation on it.’’

Then Keel experimented with various other cocktails.

“You want a sense of security in this industry so you want to bring something to the table that no one else is A.) willing to take the time to do or B.) they're not creative enough to figure out how to execute it,’’ he says.

With Myst's high drink prices, Keel says he wanted to make sure customers received a first-rate drink.

“As a bartender in a nightclub when you’re charging people the prices that we’re charging, you want to make them feel as though they’re getting a good bang for their buck as opposed to here's your drink, it's $10, see you later,’’ he says. Keel's creations range from $8 to $100 and include the Fire and Ice (“raspberry/strawberry vodka served in a flute glass with dry ice at the bottom and a sliced apple garnish which is soaked in 151 and caramelized with sugar”), Mystic River (“melon vodka with Socko and a couple of secret ingredients served in a large glass which two or more people can share”) and the Blue Jacuzzi (“with everything under the sun in it. It serves anywhere from five to six people”).

One of the more popular cocktails is the Mystic River, says Keel. “It’s eye catching,” he says. “I know for a fact that when the customer leaves the bar that I'm going to have another group of people come up and ask me what that is... People want a little flash.”

And others have opted for some super bling.

“I’ve done a couple engagements where I’ve actually incorporated the ring into the drink,” he says. “And they’re all still married now.”

Keel says it usually takes him about two hours to set up behind the bar and no more than two minutes to make a drink.

“Preparation is everything,’’ he says. “You want to make it look easy... My flair is preparation.’’

Naturally, the flair-tender has taken home some big tips as a result of his work. Keel says that he usually makes anywhere from $200 to $400 a night. And he once took home $700 on a $300 tab.

“I’ve had some really generous tippers,” he says.

Although tips help, Keel says the biggest perk of the job is mingling with his customers.

“You get to meet a lot of nice people,” he says. “I have a cell phone full of phone numbers of regulars. There’s a good handful of them I can call on any given night and say, ‘I need 20 people in here’ and they'll bring in 20 people.”