Jim Meehan

The Kaizen Challenge is coming to you, Chicago 🏙️✨⁠ ⁠ Rooted in Japanese traditions of craftsmanship and continuous improvement, this program, sponsored by @suntoryglobalspirits , encourages bartenders to look beyond the bar to elevate what happens behind it. 🇯🇵 Following masterclasses, artisan-led learning, and guided discussions, participants will apply these lessons to refining a classic cocktail.⁠ ⁠ Only one will receive the title "Senpai – Best In Class Student" and a week-long development experience in Japan at The House of Suntory Dojo Forum – could it be you? Learn more at the link in bio 🔗

Thanks to everyone that’s subscribed to The Iceberg in the past couple days (especially to my first paid subscribers)! I’ve got one more julep post that dovetails nicely with an opportunity I have to interview author @NancyHachisu before her book event @vivienneculinarybooks here in Portland tomorrow evening. Nancy —whose authored five books on Japan— will be presenting The Art and Craft of Japanese Cooking, which is a reissue of her Food Artisans of Japan book that’s she’s revised and republished with @tuttlepublishing . Her 2018 book Japan, The Cookbook was the unofficial roadmap for the menu when I helped open @takibi_pdx here in Portland almost six years ago to the day. If you follow me here, you probably know that I adore Japan. My enthusiasm for its whisky and cocktail culture—and friendship with @gardner71 — paved the way for my first trip to Japan back in 2012 to experience the Yamazaki and Hakushu distilleries along with an unforgettable introduction to its people, landscape and culture. Subsequent trips have never failed to delight and inspire me, and I proudly work as a consultant for the House of Suntory now. Besides bringing back suitcases full of bar tools, glassware, whisky, stationary and heritage workwear from my trips to Japan, I’ve imported subtle nods to the country and its culture everywhere in my life and work since first visiting. For example, Prairie School was an homage to Japan. Once you’ve seen traditional architecture in Kyoto; it’s pretty obvious that Frank Lloyd Wright— who was a renown collector and dealer of Japanese wood block prints— also imported the countries architecture and aesthetics. A couple years after Prairie School, @jj__mc reached out to see if I’d be interested in helping him design the bar and create the beverage program for his companies restaurant in the newly built flagship North American headquarters of @snowpeakusa —a company I admired ever since I moved to Portland. I was both thrilled by the opportunity to work with Joshua at Snow Peak and anxious about the responsibility of representing a multi-generational Japanese company as an American. 📸: @ajmeeker Rest of the post in the comments ⤵️

Do you remember when I helped open a bar in my hometown inspired by a Midwestern architectural school (almost four years before a more talented and charismatic bartender opened a much more successful and enduring bar inspired by another Chicago-based architectural movement)? You probably don’t; because even though it was located on the ground floor of Google’s Chicago HQ across the street from the brand new @acehotelchicago in Fulton Market a block away from @aviarycocktails , it closed just eight months after it opened. Next week, it will be eight years since Prairie School closed. I grieve this closing, my experiences as a part of it, and what my partners and colleagues achieved here to this day. I messaged with a friend about his recent trip to Hong Kong last night, and he didn’t know I helped open a bar there, too. I (quietly) attempted to prop up a bar program in Shibuya for a legendary NYC restaurant before this, and won’t share whom that was for; even though I stand by the work. The truth, is the career I’ve enjoyed — a little too much during the good times— has been built upon a mountain of missteps, near misses and regretful failures. I have awards, media clippings, photos (like this kakigori julep variation— I told you I love the julep— this one’s called the Lemon Ice) for the tips of each iceberg that I was fortunate enough to be resourced with time, capital, brilliant colleagues, and an opportunity for luck to prevail; and a mixture of lukewarm friendships, uneasy alliances and bitter rivals from the others. I’ve made a point of not talking (much) about my past successes and failures because I’ve always wanted to focus on the work in the present. I think I’m ready to rethink that now. In the absence of a lifelong mentor who was committed to join me for the long haul (and tell me where the hell I am now), I’d surmise that careers seem to be a lot like cats. I’d estimate that we’ve got something along the lines of nine lives. I wonder how many have I lived at this point? 📸: @kristen.mendiola The point of this all in the comments 👹⤵️

Juleps should be featured before and after Derby Day. (Here’s a gorgeous image of mine photographed by @dorongildphotography and styled by @donbert for Meehan’s Bartender Manual.) This is one of many icy hot takes that cross my mind on days like Derby Day that I’ve previously set aside because I haven’t had the space (or a knowingly receptive audience) to discuss this with. These thoughts tend to intersect with other icy (and warm) events and ideas, such as a feature I just read by one of my favorite drink writers of this generation (my friend @wcurtis ) in the 20th anniversary edition of @imbibe on clear ice. Wayne devotes the whole feature to @alcademics , who has undoubtedly led the clear ice “movement” and written it’s definitive book, but I think it’s essential to point out that @donbert pioneered the use and demand for clear ice when he founded the bar program @momolongplay Ssam Bar using cubes he developed with @okamotostudio back in 2009. These cubes were clear, perfectly cut versions of the blocks Milk & Honey had been carving up for nearly a decade at that point until @ebenfreeman came up with the idea of using @grainger office supply organizers to freeze 2”x2” cubes in commercial freezers for his cocktail program at @sam_mason ’s brilliant restaurant Tailor (in a space that @mixtressnyc transformed into a tropical oasis afterwards). Tailor is where the fatwashing story begins too. PDT and other bars followed Eben’s lead until Don Lee upped the ante when he left to start his own program. Just like @audreysaunders Kold Draft ice machine at @peguclub_nyc changed the game; cocktail ice evolution was an expensive collegiate one-upmanship driven early aughts Cold War. @hundredweightice would certainly have a lot to add to bolster the East Coast perspective here. (Lede buried in comments ⤵️)

Thanks to Robin of @vivienneculinarybooks for hosting @trinitymouzon to share her wondrous new book Eating at Home. @irelandirelandireland led an intimate hour long talk for the audience that started with Trinity’s upbringing and moved on to her relationship with her husband (who illustrated the book) and how they balance their business and family life as parents and partners @golde . Trinity shared stories about gardening, her Sunday family cooking practice and how her aspirations to be a doctor (me too!) and her grandmother’s cooking led her into cooking as a form of wellness. She is amongst the most inspiring, radiantly charismatic and down to earth authors I’ve ever heard speak… I’m so excited to cook from this book! 📸: @mizubateaco

A HUGE thank you to all the participants, contributors attendees and bidders at last week’s #blockparty at @designwithinreach . Together, we raised k er $25,000 for @chappdx . What an amazing evening, and a great effort to come together to support a common cause! 🙏@mixography @pioneermillworks @otisconstruction @osmoseme @attend_interior @guggenheim @flux_design_pdx @bullseyeprojects @esquestudio @don_tankersley_co @paulmckeanarchitecture @kenpetersonstudio @material_af @newenergyworks @gsw_architects @mwdesignworkshop @lovettdecon @jhldesign @gold.leaf.pdx @zgfarchitects @skal.studio @dougchamblin @sugarpercussion @fowler_interior_design @risaboyerarchitecture @amyruppelart @boyboybuilt

Tonight, we were treated to an intimate conversation between Portland’s own Bonnie Morales of @kachkapdx and author @polina.chesnakova , who arrived this afternoon to commemorate the release of her beautiful new cookbook Chesnok, which celebrates her family’s Georgian cooking at @vivienneculinarybooks . (I also chose Bonnie to moderate my author event at Vivienne a year ago because her recipes are featured in my book and she’s amongst the most brilliant authors I know😉) I started following Polina back when she worked at @booklarder in Seattle, and this was my first time meeting her…. wow, is she wonderful. There’s so much I could say about what they discussed; but where I’ll leave it is that after listening to these two gifted, wildly talented cooks twist themselves into pretzels trying to parse the Soviet- particularly Russian- roots of their heritage as it relates to their experiences of language, food, religion and culture for a U.S. audience as first generation American authors; I just want to emphasize how arbitrary land borders and war in the age of oligarchic autocrats have warped our sense of selves with identity politics that have so much more to do with the greed of evil men than the people and places they ruthlessly lord over. As I struggle to figure out what’s next for us here and how to prepare for it; its becoming clear that the people who feed us- particularly those who’ve struggled against oppression as natives and immigrants- will be the first I look to for answers. Not only for how we will survive collectively; but how we will rebuild after we get through this- which we will- by bringing people back to the table. Thanks to Bonnie and Polina for sharing their vibrant, delicious, complicated cooking and culture with us tonight. And thanks to Robin for putting this on for us in Portland 💗

One of my favorite conversations I had when writing Meehan’s Bartender Manual was with Ken Nye of @ninthstreetespresso about the disproportionate energy operators allocate to opening a business versus closing it; as every business will eventually close. Last night at @republicapdx , @smalltimegenius told Val and me a story about how the bathroom door was recently broken, and while some suggested he could let it go because they’re closing soon; he felt the urgent need to try to fix it himself, fail, and then hire someone to do it properly. He told us many stories last night. Amidst a meal in a place with so much history coming to an untimely end under the oppressive weight of the world right now, it was a righteous story of resilience and integrity. The food, hospitality, service and ambiance sparkled last night… so go if you can still get a reservation. I’ve always felt that the way you finish something matters more than anything else. The memories someone will have about you or your work in the context of a shared experience. Last night at Republica was all pride… all integrity… all love. I’m so grateful we were able to be on the receiving end of it; a real gift in these times.

I had the pleasure of being amongst a packed house @vivienneculinarybooks tonight to listen to @culinarybreedingnetwork interview @katieparla in celebration of her new book on Rome, where she’s lived for over two decades. A self described “New Jersey mall rat” at heart, Katie is one of the most humble and infectiously charismatic personalities in the food world. I had the privilege of meeting up with her at a farmer’s market last time I was in Rome back in 2019, and we got along like old friends. Tonight, she personalized my special edition of Rome (before she even took her coat off), and her book on The Italian Islands, which Robin thankfully made available for sale for attendees. I was so pumped that the room was full (in spite of an Oregon semifinal football game going on) and that she sold all her books. Portland doesn’t always make every major author’s final cut for book tours, so I was really thrilled she came and chose Vivienne, which is the perfect place to host a cookbook event here with Robin. Parla self-published her last two books under her own imprint with @edandcamera photos and @iadingman ’s design work that she’s printing on her own dime in Italy. I can’t say enough about how badass and brilliant Katie and her writing are … so inspiring! Her back to back book tour schedule is pinned at the top of her feed. San Diego and San Francisco are next 📚 don’t sleep on seeing one of the culinary world’s most dazzling literary minds 🇮🇹

All of the major publishers passed on The PDT Cocktail Book proposal back when we pitched it in 2009, and I all but gave up on publishing what Chris Gall and I proposed writing until Chris’s agent suggested we show it to @cddevito2 at Sterling, who gave me- a working bartender- a chance at making something I’d spent years dreaming up. Since then, beverage professionals in their fields (bartenders, baristas, sommeliers, brewers, tea importers, sake samurai’s and distillers) have been increasingly published with great success, as most of the best-selling drinks books of the past decade have been professionally oriented instead of watered down, kitschy, comedic rags filled with sophomoric tropes about historic drunks and binge drinking. That is until recently, when they seem to be returning in the form of tv, movie, game and celebrity influencer cocktail books. It’s a real shame… there are a lot of brilliant folks I’d like to read books by (some whom reach out to me every once in a while wondering how to get a proposal considered) and I’m at a loss for words with some of the schlock that even the top culinary imprints are platforming. This dovetails- tragically if you care about this- with younger generations dramatic shift away from alcohol and a teetotalling editorial blitzkrieg over the past couple years from The New York Times that would make Carrie Nation blush. Before I get to the point of this post, I’d like to remind everyone that all this is going on during a period of rising nationalism, right wing xenophobia and wealth inequality that parallels the cultural and geopolitical climate of the period leading up to Prohibition in the US over a century ago. The stock market crashed after that… does this all feel familiar? Humans have consumed alcohol for thousands of years. Most of us consume beverages with every meal we eat- including in the world’s best restaurants, which nearly all serve alcohol- and yet beverage professionals still get treated like second class members of the culinary world. Continued in the comments (sorry 😩)

@bartsasso pun game ♾️

Happy tenth birthday to the greatest club in the universe. If you happen to be in Atlanta today, they’re hosting a holiday market where you can snag pieces from @bartsasso ’s anniversary capsule, which includes signed copies of @bartenderpantry . I’m hoping some of it makes its way online so distant members like myself don’t have to hope their regalia falls off the truck. I have paid… long live the club!