Big news y'all. The rumors were true: Pouring Ribbons reopens tomorrow, September 22, 2021!
The influential NYC cocktail bar, opened most notably by Death & Co alum Joaquin Simo, has spent the past year and a half shuttered. With the exception of a few rounds of cocktails to go, the bar has mostly kept quiet. But then...
I, like many of you, wondered if the Pouring Ribbons Instagram account was hacked by Eastern European phishing bots. Thankfully, enough brave souls responded to this ominous call and here we are, on the eve of re-opening (only a week late)!
The last couple of weeks have seen General Manager Brooke Toscano bring our little blue bar back to life, with the help of Joaquin, of course *wink*. Together they have restaffed, reset the bar, and curated one heckuva menu to officially relaunch/retire.
Yes, you read that correctly. Pouring Ribbons is re-opening for six months for one last hurrah before closing for good.
As the bar reaches the end of its 10 year lease, the decision was made to close the bar with one last celebration of some the best-selling and most popular cocktails to grace its menu. Not every best seller could return for one reason or another (pour cost, labor of prep involved, sourcing of ingredients, etc.), but some of my absolute favorites are seeing a return, including some of Joaquin Simo's most inspired cocktails since his time at Death and Co.
I've had 19 cocktails on Pouring Ribbons' menus since 2017. That may seem like a lot, but over 200 drinks have crossed that infamous flavor matrix since the bar's opening in 2012. A handful of mine have been the best selling drinks of their menus (The Warriors, Daisy de Machito, Escape from New York, Venus Xtravaganza, etc.) and some of them have been the worst selling drinks of their menus (ironically enough the Sno-Cone, Concrete Junglebird). Some of them are easy to recreate and some require particularly difficult ingredients.
That said, as of tomorrow, Star People and Drag Race Thailand will be back on the menu along with ten other hits, including a delicious non-alcoholic cocktail I whipped up for the newly launched Kentucky 74 N/A whiskey. NO SPOILERS, but at least two more of mine will be rotated in before the final run is up. Unfortunately, the infamous Sno-Cone will NOT be returning, but I'll happily shake one up for you!
I'm unbelievably excited to return to Pouring Ribbons to close it out. I've bartended, served, and hosted. I've been the Bar Manager and the Head Bartender. I ran and streamlined the prep program, crafting not only the cocktails themselves, but every infusion, syrup, reduction, tincture, clarified juice, house-made bitter, etc. That bar is in my bones and I can't wait to shake/stir some drinks for y'all.