Hello and welcome back! Somehow seeing a video about a 28 course cocktail menu in Ireland (which I will link to and talk about later on) lead me to start reading about the history of bars and bartending in America. This week I’m going to get a little historical on you because I’m feeling nerdy and because I think that sometimes bartenders, servers, cooks, chefs, etc. don’t realize what a big impact the work that they do has.

Working in hospitality can be grueling, thankless, and even traumatizing at times but it is absolutely vital. I’d love to tell you how America exists thanks to neighborhood bars, pubs and taverns, but first let’s cover some recent developments in the American Whiskey Industry.

Award Winning Tennessee Whiskey Brand Ordered to be Taken Over by Receiver

Uncle Nearest is in the headlines and this time it’s for a different reason

Uncle Nearest, a Premium Tennessee Whiskey Brand that was founded in honor of Nathan “Nearest” Green, has earned “more than 1075 awards and accolades throughout the world since the brand’s July 2017 debut.” The article titles referencing the current legal situation paint many different pictures depending on the source. What it all boils down to is: U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. has ordered that the company be placed under a “receivership” in order to “shepherd Uncle Nearest through its current financial difficulties”.

What exactly is happening and why? The company admitted to defaulting on loans totaling over $108 million but stated that the fault was with the former CFO who overstated collateral to obtain said loans. The company has put efforts into working with the loan creditor, Farm Credit, to pay what was owed and reach a financial resolution but is now being put into a receivership that has wide reaching consequences for the brand in the public eye. The company’s founder, Fawn Weaver, has stated on social media that despite the spin by the media that this court decision shows their brand in decline that they have actually seen only growth overall.

I am compelled to add that even though there are such things as coincidence, that sometimes the timing of something like this just feels - bad. An article that stuck with me is this one from the Miami Herald. A brand that has built its entire legacy on honoring a formerly uncredited enslaved man is in the headlines alongside articles outlining how the current president is calling for a review of eight of The Smithsonian’s museums. These reviews were called because Trump complained that the histories depicted focused too heavily on “bleaker” aspects of American history - including slavery. Notably, one of the museums called for review was the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Everybody!”

-The Founding Fathers Probably

What if I told you that many pivotal American historical events were born out of bar rooms? The American Revolution itself was orchestrated from private rooms in taverns all across the British Colonies. In fact, local taverns were responsible for keeping the populace informed and connected in ways that other public spaces simply couldn’t. Not only does having a few strong drinks help loosen the lips of otherwise reserved neighbors, but the pubs of long ago were also a social equalizer. All age groups and income brackets mixed in ways they normally wouldn’t. There’s also of course an extra measure of courage found at the bottom of some of those bottles, making some more apt to act on ideas they may have balked at sober.

I would be remiss not to mention The Stonewall Inn and how the riot associated with it is often credited as a major turning point for LGBTQ+ rights in America. The Stonewall Riots were born out of desperation and an ever-shrinking landscape of possible gathering spaces for the LGBTQ+ community, and it also started in a bar. In a time when queer people were being arrested over being suspected of just being gay in public, the LGBTQ+ community sought community in the comfort of queer-coded bars. These were often run by unsavory groups that exploited both the patrons they served and the police enforcing anti-gay laws in order to extort the most profit. Although Stonewall is widely regarded as the moment that tipped the scales for the movement, the work of people in the LGBTQ+ community on smaller scales across the nation set the powder keg to ignite. Without the unique culture of bars and pubs in America these fractured segments of people might not have had a that unifying moment that tipped the scales for their human rights.

Although our social drinking landscape has evolved in many ways since revolutionary times one thing stays true: local watering holes hold a special place in our hearts. They are not only a less intimidating place to belly up to the bar but they contain the seeds of what our communities are: the people who live in it.

The Ever-Changing Hospitality Landscape

As the bar continues to rise for craft cocktail bartending, we always hold on to our roots

I am perpetually late to nearly every pop-culture trend (thanks, parenting) so it wasn’t until recently that my husband and I finally decided to check out the fan-favorite series “The Bear”. All that to say, I have never experienced Michelin-Star level dining before but I was really into the idea of that caliber of experience applied to a coursed out cocktail seating. Bar 1661 in Dublin, Ireland is the first bar to be recognized for a Michelin-style cocktail experience, and it’s not all that surprising considering how award-winning and innovative they have been since their opening.

@dublinsocial

Dublin's Best Experiences 🍸 This Michelin-Esque 28 Drink Tasting Menu is one of the best things we have ever did! 🙌 @1661bar is Ireland's... See more

The fact that there are places all over the world delivering drinks of this caliber and continuing to fine-tune their craft day after day is truly mind boggling. I would absolutely jump at the chance to fly to Ireland and pay to taste my way through Bar 1661’s masterpiece. I also have a deep love for the reliable and less budget threatening dive bars that continue to sustain the towns and cities they reside in. It is heartening to know that while articles about the top 5, 10, however many, craft cocktail bars in America are spilling out of the search algorithms in overwhelming waves that I still find articles like this one about the best of the basics. Truly the best way to explain it is in the first line: “Defining a dive bar is like explaining why a joke is funny.”

It is important to remember that no matter the perceived “caliber” of the bar or bartender you may encounter, that this industry in all of its imperfectness has an irrevocable humanness in all of its layers.

Best Video We Saw This Week

This one was like a sneaky hack-not-hack but I really love it just the same. Clarified cocktails are laborious; egg white cocktails are laborious; but finding ways to give distinct nuances to the same cocktail with one simple swap is pretty cool. It’s a little science micro-dose that makes sense even without knowing all the details.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJYf1NJM9md/?igsh=cjcyNXgzcGpyb3Yw

(Our newsletter system won't embed this one for some reason, but go watch it. It's worth it)

Quick Hits:

• Elijah Craig has released a special limited edition of their Small Batch Bourbon for The Ryder Cup and it actually sounds good enough to make me buy a golf branded product for the first time in my life.

• Emmy-nominated composer Rob Lewis is slated to compose a musical track entirely out of sounds made during the whiskey-making process.

• Bandarful, an Indian brand of coffee liqueur, was just awarded gold for World’s Best Liqueur at USA Spirits Ratings.