Eryn Reece is an American bartender. She is the bar director for Banzabar and Freemans Restaurant, both in New York City. In 2013, Reece was named Speed Rack National Champion. In 2014, ''

The Daily Meal The Daily Meal is a food and drinks website. It is the first site launched by Spanfeller Media Group. Jim Spanfeller is a former CEO of Forbes.com. In 2016, Spanfeller was acquired by Tribune Publishing. Content The Daily Meal produces original c ...

'' named her one of the top 25 bartenders in the United States. Reece has been profiled in, and her work featured in, ''PUNCH'', ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', ''

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'',

WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...

, ''

The Spirits Business ''The Spirits Business'' is a British magazine aimed at distillers, distillery proprietors and other spirits industry professionals that concentrates on the fine spirits end of the beverage industry. History and profile ''The Spirits Business' ...

'',

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis News ...

, and other media outlets.

Early life and education

Eryn Reece was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. She waitressed when she was a teenager. When she turned 21, she started bartending at Mona's Bistro in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. She moved to New York City in 2007 to intern at an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

as part of her undergraduate studies.

Career

In New York City, Reece first bartended at MercBar, followed by Bar Milano. In a 2013 interview, Reece called her time at Bar Milano as "the most eye-opening experience of my life," after working with Tony Abou-Ganim. She also worked at Louis 649, The Hideout, Dressler, Rye House,

Mayahuel Mayahuel () is the female deity associated with the maguey plant among cultures of central Mexico in the Postclassic era of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican chronology, and in particular of the Aztec cultures. As the personification of the maguey plant, ...

and Death & Co. In 2013, Reece was named Speed Rack National Champion. The following year, ''

'' named her one of the top 25 best bartenders in the United States. As of 2019, she serves as bar director at Banzabar and Freemans Restaurant, both in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

. At Banzabar, Reece prepares low alcohol cocktails to be paired with a

tasting menu A tasting menu is a collection of several dishes in small portions, served by a restaurant as a single meal. The French name for a tasting menu is ''menu dégustation''. Some restaurants and chefs specialize in tasting menus, while in other case ...

by chef Humberto Guallpa, as well as serving an à la carte menu featuring beverages of various alcohol levels.

Style, cocktails and influences

One of Reece's signature drinks at Banzabar is Shackleton's Urn. The cocktail was inspired by the Cobra's Fang cocktail. It comprises two types of gin, rum, lime, passionfruit, ginger, cinnamon, and peach. It is served on crushed ice in an urn-shaped container with a lime lit on fire. The container was created specifically for the glass by a company in Portland, Oregon. Reece refers to ''Flavor Bible'' by

Karen A. Page Karen A. Page (born May 8, 1962, in Warren, Michigan) along with her husband Andrew Dornenburg, is a James Beard Award-winning author of a number of culinary-themed books. Among their books are ''Becoming a Chef'' (1995; 2003, 2nd ed.), ''Culinar ...

and

Andrew Dornenburg Andrew Dornenburg (born December 18, 1958, in Concord, California) along with his wife Karen A. Page, is a James Beard Award-winning author of a number of culinary-themed books. Among their books are ''Becoming a Chef'' (1995; 2003, 2nd ed.), '' ...

when creating new cocktails. In ''PUNCH'', Reece shared that Tyson Buhler's rye whiskey cocktail, the Warrior Poet, was one of the best drinks she had ever had. The worst drink she has ever had is

Amaro Sibilla Amaro Sibilla is an Italian liqueur in the Amaro category. It is produced by the Varnelli S.p.A., a distillery in Pievebovigliana, in the Province of Macerata from the Marche region of central north eastern Italy. It was created in 1868 by t ...

. Her favorite bar is

Good Night Sonny In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

and her "go-to" drink at a cocktail bar is a

Daiquiri The daiquiri (; es, daiquirí ) is a cocktail whose main ingredients are rum, citrus juice (typically lime juice), and sugar or other sweetener. The daiquiri is one of the six basic drinks listed in David A. Embury's classic ''The Fine Art o ...

. In 2013, she named Joaquin Simo one of her favorite bartenders.

Personal life

Reece lives in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

References

Interview with Eryn Reece
on The Speakeasy podcast {{DEFAULTSORT:Reece, Eryn People from Portland, Oregon Living people People from New York City American bartenders Year of birth missing (living people)