John deBary | Founder, Proteau
“I was able to kind of sneak in without any real experience,” admits John deBary on landing his first bartending job, at Please Don’t Tell, back in 2008. He cites…
- photo: Naima Green
Jenny Lefcourt | Co-Founder and CEO, Jenny & François Selections
Knowing she wouldn’t be able to find the natural wines she’d enjoyed drinking in France’s Loire Valley in the late 1990s back in New York, Jenny Lefcourt did as most…
- photo: Eric Medsker
Franky Marshall | Spirits Educator
When Ms. Franky Marshall entered the craft cocktail scene, she knew she was all-in. “There was no looking back. I got caught up in it, and I still am,” she…
- photo: Lizzie Munro
Neal Rosenthal | Founder, Rosenthal Wine Merchant
When Neal Rosenthal took over his father’s Upper East Side pharmacy-turned-liquor store in 1977, he couldn’t have predicted that it would mark the start of his decades-long career in wine.…
- photo: Maurizio Gjivovich
Jill Bernheimer | Owner, Domaine LA
When Domaine LA opened its doors in 2009, owner Jill Bernheimer knew she wanted to do something different with her wine shop. Zeroing in on natural wines well before that…
- photo: Dylan + Jeni
Stephanie Andrews | Beverage Director, Billy Sunday and Spindle Bar
“Inventory is a nightmare,” says Stephanie Andrews, who recently binned her 600th amaro for Billy Sunday’s 300-bottle library—among one of the largest in the country. “But I’m kind of a…
- photo: Anna Naphtali
Al Sotack | Partner, Jupiter Disco
“I'm not really sure any drink would describe who I am exactly,” says Al Sotack. A self-described “bar dork,” Sotack began barbacking after college in 2004 and worked various bartending…
- photo: Lizzie Munro
Lauren Woods Limbach | Wood Cellar Director and Blender, New Belgium Brewing
Long before sour beer could be found at nearly every craft brewery, Lauren Woods Limbach was experimenting with French-oak foeders and wild yeast—since 1998 to be exact. From those early…
- photo: New Belgium
Marco Zappia | Beverage Director, Martina and Colita
If you ask Marco Zappia what he does for a living, he’ll tell you: “The first part of my day is spent compulsively macerating and cultivating gnarly microbial growth. The…
- photo: Matthew Hintz
Eryn Reece | Bar Director, Freemans Restaurant and Banzarbar
For Eryn Reece, drink-making wasn't always about precise pours of sotol and Angelica root-rinsed glasses. When she first made the jump from waitressing as a teen to working behind the…
- photo: Eric Medsker