Jammyland in Las Vegas Puts Hospitality First
I wrote about Los Angeles’ Caña Rum Bar more than once after it opened in 2010, including here in Distiller. It was easily LA’s best rum bar at that time, due in large part to warm, engaging service and...
Satoshi Yonemori of Grapes & Soda
To walk into tiny Grapes and Soda in Vancouver’s laid-back South Granville neighborhood is to experience the vision of Satoshi Yonemori. Often the only bartender behind the intimate bar (there is just one other part-time bartender), Yonemori is a...
Bar Manager Interview with Natasha Bahrami
If you ask gin lovers about the best gin bars in the U.S., those in the know will include The Gin Room (natashasginroom.com) in St. Louis (STL), MO, that is also a haven for cocktails, amaro and food inside...
Interview with Marguerite Regan & Christian “Suzu” Suzuki of Wildhawk
The San Francisco Bay Area pioneered cocktails first in the 1800s as cocktail bars rose to prominence, then again the last 30 years as a global renaissance was revived starting in its original birth towns of SF and NYC....
Interview with Bar Manager, Olivia Rose Griffin
When Olivia Rose Griffin moved from San Francisco to Louisville in 2014, there wasn’t a tiki bar in the state of Kentucky — and few in the South in general. But The Limbo (www.thelimbo.club/), which Griffin opened in early...
Interview with James Downs
Moving from Detroit to Cleveland and San Francisco, then back home to Detroit, James Downs first fell in love with cocktails and spirits working at a historic Detroit bar, then honed his craft in pioneering cocktail city, SF.
He is...
Interview with Duke’s Spirited Cocktails
In 2016, a very special bar opened in downtown Healdsburg from three Spoonbar (https://spoonbar.com) alums: Laura Sanfilippo, Tara Heffernon and Steven Maduro. Since its initial days when Wine Country bartending pioneer Scott Beattie first helmed Spoonbar’s bar, cocktails in...
Molly Wellmann
Walking down the streets of downtown Cincinnati with native daughter Molly Wellmann (www.mollywellmann.com), it’s easy to see she’s the Queen of Cincy. Locals know and adore her, constantly stopping her in the street, waving as she passes by or...
Interview with Bar Owner, Chris McMillian
There are bartenders who love their craft but are in the industry merely for a season. There are bartenders who get into the business for moments of press or local fame, then move on to brand ambassador-type roles or...
Interview with Felix Cohen, Bar Manager at Every Cloud
Felix Cohen is a much-needed figure in the London bar world, though web development is his “other” career. As the owner of the tiny, charming Every Cloud (everycloudbar.com) bar in London’s Hackney neighborhood (in our top bars feature, pg....
