She ran away to join the Big Apple Circus — to create cocktails. Taste them now at Greater Philadelphia Expo Center.

Jugglers, clowns, aerialists … a bartender?

Such is the lineup at today’s circus. Big Apple Circus, whose big top is set up through June 16 outside the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, has retained the services of Pam Wiznitzer, a veteran New York City bartender (and past president of the U.S. Bartenders Guild) to create three cocktails to serve adult guests.

Wiznitzer, a graduate of Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, got into bartending after losing her marketing job in the 2008 recession.

Though her parents were not thrilled early on at the prospect, she said she quickly decided “I wanted to do more than sling a vodka soda and open Coronas.“

"I think it’s easy to bartend to make the money you want and be really happy in a job,” she said. “But if you’re looking to pursue the opportunities of running a beverage program or working on behalf of a brand or a company or working internally for a company or organization creating beverage programming, you need to start showing your worth. I knew I could do more because I had that passion and drive.”

Stepping out from behind the bar, she consulted. One day, she got an email discussing a cocktail program at the circus. “I was completely excited, enthralled at the idea of it all because I had gone to the Big Apple Circus a lot, especially after college, because I had friends who used to perform in it. I love when cocktails intersect with whimsy and creativity, especially when there’s an intersection with other industries.”

Devising drinks for a traveling show to which patrons drive required some thought. “In New York, we had a longer menu, and I think that has a lot to do with proximity,” she said.

“We’re right in the center. No one’s really driving. Here we have three cocktails that we’re highlighting that were best-sellers in the other markets. We have the Howl at the Moon, which is an Irish whiskey base cocktail served in these really cool, looks like inflatable balloon animal water bottles you can take with you. We have our Flossy Flossy, which is a gin-based cocktail [garnished with cotton-candy hair], and then we have the Big Apple Circus, which is our signature. I always thought as a kid, if you take a licorice or Twizzler and you bite off the ends and try to use it as a straw, I think there’s something really fun about that.”

To speed service, the cocktails are made in batches.

“I want each drink to have a sense of whimsy,” she said. “I want every drink to encapsulates what happens in the big ring and be showcased in a glass.”