When Hawaii was still in the throes of one too many sugary mai tais and piña coladas, Dave Newman (Instagram: @808bartender) moved from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Since then, he’s worked as bar manager of Nobu Waikiki and served as the president of the Hawai’i chapter of the United States Bartending Guild. He opened Pint + Jigger in 2012, and then the intimate Harry’s Hardware Emporium at the very end of 2017. He brought craft beer, an extensive whiskey selection, and whiskey cocktails (and beyond) to the islands. This was not only unheard of in Hawaii at the time but was actually met with some resistance.
In summer 2022, as this issue goes to print, Newman is about to reopen a larger Pint + Jigger — and hidden upstairs, Harry’s Hardware Emporium — inside the Ala Moana Hotel. With close access to Waikiki, his bars will now reach a whole new audience of hotel guests mingling with locals in a space lined with whiskey barrels hand-selected from distilleries around the world.
In his own words, Newman tells us how he decides what spirits to stock, how his team navigated the pandemic, and what he sees as the future of the bar world.
What led you into the cocktail and the bar world?
I started finding myself interested in bars and getting behind the bar at a young age. My grandpa had an affinity for perfect Rob Roys and Bombay Sapphire gin and tonics. He actually taught me how to make them for him when I was very young. I’m not sure if that was the impetus for my bar career, but I did hold him in very high regard.
Later I found myself working for a catering company as a server (I was 19 at the time), and at one event, the bartender had gotten himself into a car accident. The event organizer asked if anyone else knew how to bartend. Before I realized it, I had said, “I do!” I believe the second drink ordered was a Cuba libre and I had no clue what that was. After the guest informed me it was a rum and Coke with a lime, I couldn’t understand why he just didn’t say that. It became clear that I had no idea what I was doing, but from that point, I started bugging the bar manager of this Italian place I was working at to teach me how to bartend.
I kid you not, he told me, “First off, I don’t like you, and secondly, you’re too young.” I’m not sure why, but I was so drawn to that first experience behind the bar that I would ask him every shift to teach me. Finally, he relented and told me to come in early the next day. He told me that he would teach me one drink every day. I had to write it down on a flash card and if he ever asked me for a recipe we had gone over and I didn’t know it, then we were done. Eventually, something similar to the car crash happened and a bartender called out sick last minute. The GM asked if anyone could bartend and the bar manager said, “Well, Dave knows all the recipes.” That was that and I started down the bartender path, having no idea I would still be at it some 25+ years later.
What is unique about your bars, and how does being based in Hawaii influence your bar’s style and operations?
We started Pint + Jigger to actually be an escape from Hawaii for a few hours. By that, I mean that there were a few very specific bar styles in Hawaii when we opened. We wanted to break those molds as far as aesthetics, hospitality, quality of cocktails, and craft beer go but retain the amazing convivial gathering atmosphere that was prevalent everywhere.
That was a decade ago, and a lot has changed in the bar and restaurant landscape here in Hawaii. We’re definitely built for high-speed craft at Pint + Jigger. We’ve taken advantage of as many ways to speed up our operations as possible. Cocktails on tap, bottled cocktails, barrel-aged offerings, slushy machines, combined with having 21 taps featuring some amazing beers, really keeps the ticket times low. Not to mention we are blessed with an unbelievable bar team. Makes me smile to see them crushing on a nightly basis.
We take advantage of Hawaii’s amazing bounty of local fruits and veg, and its culinary melting pot of ingredients, and that sets us apart. Watching guests’ eyes the first time they taste fresh lilikoi, calamansi, lychee, or yuzu is just so rewarding. We have ingredients we forage depending on the time of year. The saying goes there are only two seasons in Hawaii: mango season and no mango season.
When we combined the two things — creating an escape for locals and our unique local offerings — we sort of stumbled across this great combination for our guests that are visiting the islands. They get the comfort of familiar surroundings (we often hear that they feel like our bar is from SF, Chicago, or New Orleans) with some unfamiliar ingredients or at least ingredients used in unfamiliar ways.
Tell us more about opening a whiskey-centric bar in Hawaii when that wasn’t popular.
I personally fell in love with the whiskey category and stirred and boozy cocktails. Kind of went down a rabbit hole where I wanted to dissect every cocktail and rework its proportions and brands of ingredients and fine-tune each drink. There can be considerable expense involved with this process, so I was lucky at the time to be working in a place where a number of factors lined up for me to be able to do this.
When we opened Pint + Jigger, people told me our vision wasn’t viable in Hawaii. No bars on the mainland were even combining craft beer and craft cocktails at the time. Those were separated: You either had a craft beer place that offered some shots or a cocktail bar that offered little to no beer other than maybe an industry favorite like High Life. Looking back now, it almost seems unbelievable that craft beer and craft cocktails weren’t joined at the hip, because now they are.
At the time, whiskey wasn’t a thing in Hawaii beyond a shot of Jamo [Jameson] or a, “chilled Crown with a pine back.” I’m not joking: that was literally the thing. So opening a bar that placed whiskey front and center and made no apologies about it wasn’t looked at as a smart business move. I won’t lie: It took some time, but it was amazing to see people at the bar asking each other what they were drinking and hearing, “Well, I don’t normally order whiskey, but I’m gonna give it a go since you seem to be enjoying it so much.”
To look back on that and to see what the current drinking trends are is pretty amazing. We put so much effort into training our staff, then giving them a lot of freedom to create. I’d say that, more than anything, was Pint + Jigger’s contribution to the island’s drinking culture. So many of the staff who came through Pint + Jigger ended up running programs or going to work at some of the best spots on the island, carrying with them some of what we were passionate about.
What is your philosophy on deciding what brands to stock in your bar?
I probably take a less popular opinion on this than many of our industry colleagues. I am more driven by what our regular guests are looking for. I then take every opportunity to engage in thoughtful conversation about why as individuals we choose the brands that we do. I love bars and liquor stores that have a highly curated spirits, wine, and beer selection. I feel like as much as I love these places and will drink and shop at them, they lose an opportunity to have these discussions with their guests.
How do you educate customers on small-batch, quality spirits?
We try in as many ways as possible to offer education for our guests. When a brand person comes to town, we try to set up a staff meeting with them, then immediately after we try to offer the same to our guests. So if David Kearns or Bobby G is in town from Maker’s Mark, we do a staff training at 3 PM, then offer our guests the same experience when we open at 4:30 PM. This also encourages our staff to show up. We also curate our flights so that we can use these times to educate our guests.
Our team also focuses so much on education and we give them freedom to operate in those parameters, so they’re allowed to take every opportunity to taste and educate our guests. If a guest requested, say, a tequila that had a production method that our bartender didn’t agree with, we encourage them to bring a taste of Tequila Ocho or Fortaleza that we all champion, for example. The conversations start here.
We offer tasting dinners when any brands are on the island that want to participate. Our new menu will have a link from every whiskey — and eventually every spirit — that breaks down everything we know about the product and distillery. At the bottom of the page the guests will find tasting notes from our bartenders and local whiskey experts.
What new forms of business or processes have you implemented during the pandemic?
The bar world is ever evolving and I think the pandemic just intensified this process. A big part of this answer will depend on state and local laws. During the pandemic, we were allowed to sell to-go cocktails and spirits. Is this the wave of the future or just a temporary fix? Only time will tell. Will the three-tier system finally see its end? I think the key is to be ready to quickly adjust and make necessary changes.
One of the biggest adaptations will be in improving the quality of life for our employees. Whether that is more time off, leadership training, work environment, or higher pay. We’re investing in this next wave of future restaurant and bar owners. My goal is to see them succeed and show support I never received while I was coming up in the industry.
And how do you envision the bar world evolving in the coming years?
I see the bar world really diving into social media more and more. I work for Angel’s Envy and they have just released the first metaverse whiskey distillery tour. I see bars and restaurants that maybe are tough to get a reservation at having virtual experiences. Maybe you live in South Africa and have heard many times of this amazing restaurant in Napa called The French Laundry, but you know you may never make it there. A virtual experience may allow you to make that connection instead.
More and more is being shared via the internet. We are making our reservations, placing our orders, and deciding where we spend our money based on social media and the internet. Never before have we seen a time like this and it’s not going to slow down. Embracing these changes and learning to share on all levels is where we see things going.
Bartenders used to be protective of their recipes, and many still are, but we feel this is short-sighted. We want to share everything we do with our guests and the fans of [our bars]. We want you to make the Talventi and Smoking Gun at home. We want you to come back, share your successes, and ask questions to tweak what you tried at home. We want our friends at other bars or places that have an ex-employee to share our recipes…I have visions of a menu that shares all the secrets and recipes we use. I can envision other bars or restaurants coming in and “borrowing” ideas or recipes and I love that! I’ve been into bars in Seattle, Vancouver, or Portland that have a Pint + Jigger recipe featured, and it blows my mind. Sometimes they give credit, sometimes they don’t. But in either case, I’m happy to see they enjoyed something we loved and put energy into enough to share with their guests as well.
I also see bars that offer a much simpler experience being sought after. There’s always backlash to progress and a certain romance for places that keep it old school. It will be fun to see these places find their niche and thrive. Hospitality will continue to be even more of a focal point. We’ve seen a backlash and, in most places, the death of “The customer is always right.” I think this is a positive, in that the service industry needs to be seen in a different light. At the same time, I unfortunately have experienced some of the worst hospitality I’ve seen in decades. This isn’t and will never be the answer. Even in my favorite dive bars, I want to be told to “F— off” with the utmost of hospitality. The two aren’t necessarily independent of each other. The future is bright in our industry, and we’re excited to be a small part of that here in Hawaii.
