Pub & Grub’s new bourbon bar will serve special concoctions Tuesday and Thursday 5-8 p.m. Jake Waldvogel | Collegian
Here’s to You Pub & Grub opened a new bourbon bar on its top floor Jan. 9.
Every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-8 p.m. the new bar will serve whiskey to its patrons from a selection of more than 30 different bottles. Kevin Conant, owner of Pub & Grub, said he will run the bar, hoping to make the most of a recent rise in bourbon demand.
“Spirits are really taking up popularity,” Conant said. “I watched it explode from hobby stuff to huge in the past eight years, so I figured it’s really smart to stay ahead of the market.”
The bar will serve as an upgrade to Conant’s previous “Bourbon Nights,” which he put on every other Tuesday night last summer and fall.
Bourbon is a particular kind of whiskey made exclusively in the United States. Its mash must contain at least 51% corn, and it is aged in white oak barrels.
Conant said his interest in bourbon follows a class he took which granted him the title “Executive Bourbon Steward,” a recognition of professionalism and quality by the bourbon industry.
“I’ve worked over the past year to really train my palette and pick out flavors so that I can get some nuances out of bourbon,” he said.
Though the bourbon bar’s use of space grants Pub & Grub’s upper level a more open and inviting atmosphere, the bar’s biggest appeals are these craft flavors that Conant invents for his customers. According to his staff, Conant always makes his own simple syrups to use in his whiskey cocktails.
“He always tests them out on me,” said Nikki Cowles, Pub & Grub’s longest serving staff member. “He makes the sample one, and I try it.”
Conant’s craft concoctions give the bar a unique attraction to customers looking for new flavors, and he rotates a signature cocktail into the menu every week.
“This week, I made a cinnamon clove simple syrup,” Conant said. “Then I paired it with a cocoa bitter and then a weeded bourbon. I kind of tie it all together.”
Specific flavors may be served for only a limited time, but Joel Shull, patron of the bourbon bar and manager of Dante’s Purgatorio Fine Wine and Spirits Shop, said each rotation is worth the taste.
“My favorite really depends on my mood,” said Shull, “but they’re always good.”
Having an acquired or refined taste is not required to appreciate the bar, according to Conant. He said he hopes to introduce more open hours and even some bourbon tasting sessions in the future. This would allow new bourbon enjoyers to slowly develop their whiskey palettes.
“We’re probably going to be pulling in some Fridays soon, and then I’m going to be doing some bourbon tasting,” Conant said. “It’s like small class stuff. So people who have never been around bourbon can ask questions, and we can discuss the different types of bourbon. They can try it and see what they like.”
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