The United States of Cocktails

Images — Butterflies have sustained their beauty over the years by subsisting on a steady diet of the Rendezvous cocktail, which debuted in Kansas City in the 1940s. St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, which debuted in 1965 as a model of territorial expansion and development of these United States, was influential for our pioneering spirit, our historic reverence, and embracing new frontiers, not unlike the way a bartender approaches creating a new cocktail.

Missouri

What does every American bar need? Purse hooks and foot rails.

—Ryan Maybee, co-owner, Manifesto and J. Rieger & Co. (Kansas City)

There’s only one Show Me State in the finer fifty. This nickname is often associated with Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, who in 1899 stated, “I’m from Missouri, you’ve got to show me.”

The word Missouri means “wooden canoe people,” which is an ideal vessel for reclining in after eating at one of Missouri’s famed barbecue locations (Arthur Bryant’s in Kansas City has a spicy house sauce to die for, and I will happily join you there for lunch any old time.)

Kansas City, the “Paris of the Plains,” is special, mainly for being one of the cities to pretty much ignore Prohibition, so let’s toast to its defiance. There’s lots of great bars and restaurants in the Crossroads District, home to many independent businesses and little to no corporate elevations, thanks to a heroic former mayor. Swing by the boiler-room basement coziness of Swordfish Tom’s and revel in co-owner and bartender Jill Cockson’s nightly classes on keeping it real. SoT Social and Novel are also worthwhile cocktail destinations, and do not miss the Green Lady Lounge, one of the hippest happenings in the Midwest for live jazz, cocktails, and cutting a rug. TikiCat put Old Westport on the Kansas City cocktail map, and Country Club Plaza’s Monarch Bar, awarded Cocktail Bar of the Year by the Nightclub & Bar Media Group, succeeds in elevated hospitality and bar design at its finest, with more than a thousand acrylic butterflies adorning the central marble-topped bar, and a separate VIP room and bar with a completely different cocktail menu and high-end spirits.

St. Louis has a wonderful history of bartenders and watering holes; our esteemed godfather Jerry Thomas spent a little time there on his way across America, and so did Tom Bullock, a legendary St. Louis barman who published his first cocktail book in 1917—the first by an African American. When you’re not playing the fiddle or square dancing (both well-documented state pastimes), you can’t sneak by the state without hearing the whispers of Budweiser and its King of Beers clout, as Saint Louis’s Anheuser-Busch brewery is the largest beer-producing plant in the country.

There are ample great cocktail destinations in St. Louis. Blood & Sand has a wildly inventive cocktail menu, with signature cocktails inspired by a wide variety of musicians, Sanctuaria holds one of the most impressive bourbon selections in the country, and don’t miss Taste for a feel-good balance of delectable kitchen snacks (yeah, you, tempura-fried bananas). Taste was the last place I visited in St. Louis, and it will be the first place I go upon returning to the city. The Bartender’s Choice at Taste is always a great move, which makes me think of Gentleman Jim Gates, a radio DJ from East St. Louis who, for the first time in America, in 1979, made a funky move to put a little song on the airwaves called “Rapper’s Delight,” by the Sugarhill Gang, and the rest, as they sing, goes a little something like . . .

. . . To the rhythm of the boogie the beat . . .

Guess what, America? We love you. (I hope you appreciate how I needed to find a way to celebrate St. Louis cocktail legacy through the eyes of the Sugarhill Gang and bring it all home with the “America, we love you” reference. “It’s the little things, kids,” as my lovely brother Tim would say.)

MISSOURI’S OLDEST BAR

J. HUSTON TAVERN

Arrow Rock, 1834

When Joseph Huston realized his private residence would be a fine destination for cross-country travelers seeking sanctuary, J. Huston became a tavern and inn, and has never looked back. Open since 1834, J. Huston is the oldest restaurant west of the Mississippi. It has three dining rooms and a tap room, and some say the fried chicken will make you a believer. Arrow Rock is also famous for being the home of George Caleb Bingham, one of America’s great nineteenthcentury artists.

Jeremy Roth of Harry’s Bar & Tables in KC is one of my favorite American bartenders. Twenty years behind the same bar. Remembers everyone’s name. Treats everyone the same and is happy to mix you a cocktail, pop open a beer, or pour you a shot.

—Ryan Maybee, co-owner, Manifesto and J. Rieger (Kansas City)

MISSOURI BUCKET LIST BAR

HARRY’S BAR & TABLES

Kansas City

Harry’s Bar & Tables has been around since before any of us were born, and it’s where the locals go any time of day to unwind, because it’s just so damn comfortable and inviting inside, and the whole damn staff is downright polite, no matter what damn time of day. Not only do they make a mean Horsefeather cocktail (this page), but they make any classic cocktail with the right kind of execution, and they do it with class. Restaurant and bar industry staff head to Harry’s when they’re done working at their own places because Harry’s stays open until 3 a.m. every night. With an extensive Scotch menu, an all-star staff, and a kitchen open until 2 a.m., let the good times roll.

MISSOURI SPIRIT

J. RIEGER & CO.

There was no such designation as Kansas City whiskey until J. Rieger started to champion the cause in 2014. After lying dormant for decades, the brand was reestablished by Ryan Maybee and Andy Rieger, the great-great-great-grandson of J. Rieger, famed Kansas City hotelier and distiller until Prohibition, and in doing so created a new spirit designation: to be considered a Kansas City whiskey, the whiskey must contain 2 percent sherry—in this case Williams & Humbert oloroso sherry. J. Rieger’s Caffé amaro, a coffee liqueur made with locally sourced Kansas City beans, is a spirit to stock on the shelf, and one I have unapologetically used in many cocktails. J. Rieger also makes an annual limited-edition Monogram whiskey, aged in one-hundred-yearold oloroso sherry barrels, and the wonderful house gin is distilled by Tom Nichol, former longtime master distiller of Tanqueray. The company’s new distillery—a theme park of epic scale and history celebrating the civic pride of Kansas City—opened to the public in 2019 and is alone worth a trip to the city.

In 2014, J. Rieger & Co. were two guys making whiskey and everything by hand, with forty barrels to begin their process. They reached their oneyear goal in seven weeks. Now they have over seven thousand barrels and counting in their new distillery.

BAR SNACK

Kansas City has more miles of boulevards than Paris and more fountains than any city except Rome.

MISSOURI COCKTAIL BAR

MANIFESTO

Kansas City

It’s important to recognize the little engines of our small business world. When Manifesto opened in 2009 in what’s now known as the Crossroads District of Kansas City, nothing else was surrounding it, so Ryan Maybee needed it to be special enough to be a destination for people who wouldn’t otherwise be in the neighborhood. At the time, no other craft cocktail bars were operating in Kansas City, and the bartenders at Manifesto take great pride in cocktail history and their community. It’s the ideal hybrid of a place to get a well-balanced, thoughtful cocktail, coupled with friendly conversation. J. Rieger’s Ryan Maybee created Caffé Amaro, their fantastic coffee amaro, while standing behind the bar of his seminal speakeasy Manifesto, located in the basement of the Rieger Hotel. They use Thou Mayest coffee roasters, a local roaster stocked with fishing poles, house plants, and boxes of cereal (yes, they carry Kix, Reese’s Puffs, and Fruit Loops, in case you were wondering) and they play King Gizzard and the Lizard at ten in the morning, which is exactly the right time to play them.

When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.

I fell in love with bars because of the uninhibited, disordered, and surprising way life unfolds at the bar. The only logical progression in my life has been the wealth of characters who have crossed my path, leaving their sweet, sour, strong, and weak for me to ponder.

—Dale DeGroff, aka King Cocktail, author of The Craft of the Cocktail and The Essential Cocktail, and arguably the most important bartender in the world

RENDEZVOUS

Brian Bartels

I came across a Rendezvous recipe in Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up, and Ted had retrieved it from the famed Hotel Muehlebach in Kansas City, most likely named after the Rendezvous restaurant and lounge located inside the historic hotel. I think it’s worth noting to the home bartender: Don’t skimp on Luxardo maraschino; it should be one of your bottles available when making cocktails for friends. It gets plenty of love from the craft cocktail crowds, but you can wow a lot of new cocktail drinkers by smartly incorporating it into your cocktail repertoire. This recipe is my updated version of the original, adding more gin and allowing the maraschino to step up on the dance floor.

1½ ounces J. Rieger gin (or another American option, like St. George, Aviation, Dorothy Parker, or Letherbee)

¾ ounces Luxardo maraschino liqueur

¾ ounces fresh lime juice

Garnish: lime wedge (optional)

Shake the ingredients with ice until chilled; strain into a chilled cocktail glass and serve up, garnished with the lime, if using.

PENDERGAST

Ryan Maybee, Manifesto, Kansas City

Ryan Maybee, Imbibe’s 2013 Bartender of the Year, created this cocktail on Kansas City soil in his heralded speakeasy, and the rest is modern history, which is appropriate, as this is named after Tom Pendergast, who may or may have not been a little “influential” during Prohibition in Missouri. In addition to creating wonderful cocktails, Ryan also happens to be one of the most hospitable human beings I know, and is the kind of person who is nothing short of gracious when learning of people visiting his city and looking for recommendations. Also, his Great Dane is named Moose.

1½ ounces bourbon

¾ ounce sweet vermouth

½ ounce Bénédictine

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Garnish: lemon twist

Stir the ingredients with ice cubes until chilled; strain into a chilled double rocks glass without ice and garnish with the lemon.

MISSOURI BEVERAGE