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...
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 Leigh Lacap
From coffee barista days to bartending his first gig at San Diego’s great Craft and Commerce (www.craft-commerce.com), Leigh Lacap is schooled on balance and technique, but also imparts a playful, feel-good approach that many a bar manager could learn...
Interview with Larry Piaskowy of the Alembic
Moving from his hometown of Chicago to the west coast, Larry Piaskowy has been a chef in San Francisco at venerable bars like 15 Romolo, where excellent cocktails and spirits walk hand-in-hand with soulful food. Given a chef background...
Interview Michael Martensen
Growing up in Wyoming with a stint in Oregon, Dallas-based Michael Martensen (@imbibemartensen on Twitter) moved to Argentina not long after high school. At 19, he wasn’t feeling inspired by much and was unsure of what direction to head,...
Interview with Camille Cavan, Bar Manager at Quaintrelle
Portland has no shortage of bartenders, it’s true. And plenty with great bar acumen. But to find one who is experienced in spirits and cocktails and also exhibits exceptional service is not always so easy. Lucky for Portland, they...
Meta Interview with Jeremy Johnson
One of our favorite Louisville bars for years was Meat, a unique haven for quality cocktails in a late-night setting upstairs in a former butcher shop. Although that now-closed bar supposedly has plans to reopen, its talent has moved...
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...
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 Leigh LaCap, Coin-Op Bar Manager
From coffee barista days to bartending his first gig at San Diego’s great Craft and Commerce (www.craft-commerce.com), Leigh Lacap is schooled on balance and technique, but also imparts a playful, feel-good approach that many a bar managex+r could learn...
