Ryan Maybee—founder of Manifesto Cocktail Bar, The Rieger Grill & Exchange, and J.Rieger & Co. Distillery—has a fascination with history and a keen intuition for emerging trends. No, these traits aren’t contradictory or mutually exclusive. Maybee has proven time and again that by studying history, we can uncover inspiration for the next big thing.
I met Maybee inside an old warehouse in the East Bottoms—the current home of J.Rieger & Co. Distillery. Next door, construction crews are restoring a larger, 118-year-old warehouse—the future home of the distillery that will allow them to triple production. The J.Rieger brand itself is over 130 years old and was once the largest mail-order whiskey provider in the country.
On a cosmic level, this is Maybee’s happy place: surrounded by history, trailblazing the future. It’s in this place where he finds long-forgotten lessons for business success. First it was speakeasies and the opening of Manifesto in 2009. Then it was The Rieger Grill & Exchange inside the old Rieger Hotel. Then the J.Rieger distillery.
Today, Maybee has his hands full with the new facility, but that doesn’t stop him from thinking about larger trends in the food and drink industry.
One trend he sees is a subtle shift in the way bartenders are innovating. It’s not just about developing new drinks, but the finer details of the bar experience.
‘A Few Bad Apples’
At the peak of the craft cocktail revolution, Maybee noticed a concerning trend among bartenders:
“All too often, those focusing on innovation lost sight of hospitality, and fell short of a great bar experience,” he wrote on Twitter.
Others in the industry saw it as well. In a 2015 Punch Magazine article, Bar Design in the Post-Speakeasy Era, journalist Christopher Ross wrote:
“After the novelty wore off, it became more fashionable to sneer at the pretensions of the speakeasy than to know where to find the door.”
To be fair, Maybee said, hospitality didn’t die. “A few bad apples didn’t spoil the bunch.” But they did enough damage to make Maybee and others rethink the direction of the industry.
‘A Rock ‘n Roll Dive Bar in Tokyo with Badass Cocktails’
Maybee believes that the most creative bars today are those getting back to the roots of hospitality. Not only are they serving great drinks, but they are creating a unique and fun environment for guests.
A prime example is Hunky Dory, a Brooklyn bar that Maybee visited on his last trip to New York. The space is small and cozy and seems like nothing special on the surface. Then Maybee sat at the bar and started talking to the owner-bartender.
“[He was] super engaging and very passionate about every product on the back bar,” said Maybee, “He was showing me these Cachacas from Brazil made with an heirloom varietal of sugar cane. I didn’t even know that existed, and I work in the industry!”
Note: Maybee doesn’t just work in the industry. He’s a 20+ year vet.
Another bar that is *ahem* raising the bar on hospitality is Katana Kitten. The Manhattan East Village establishment almost left Maybee speechless.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” he said, “It’s like a rock ‘n roll dive in Tokyo with badass cocktails.”
Katana Kitten is a full sensory experience from the moment guests walk in the door. The light, the sound, the drink presentation, and the friendly ‘hello’ from the bartender add up to an unforgettable night.
“It was just an absolute blast, and it’s mainly because of Masa [Masa Urushiro, the owner-bartender] and the way he sets the mood in the bar,” said Maybee, “Not only was he making the drinks, but he was engaging with each guest individually and adjusting the music and lighting depending on the crowd. The attention to detail for the overall experience was really spectacular.”
As for the drinks? Amazing, of course, but nothing too wild. The bar’s signature cocktail is a gin & tonic, perfectly executed, with the simple addition of a shiso leaf.
‘Those Finer Details I Find Inspiring’
Innovative doesn’t always mean ‘new.’ Creatives can be innovative by paying attention to details that others have forgotten.
One local establishment that Maybee commends is Corvino Supper Club. The fine dining restaurant and James Beard finalist draws its inspiration from the lost elegance and excitement of 1940s-era supper clubs.
“It’s an ambitious concept and I think they knocked it out of the park,” said Maybee. “I haven’t seen anything else like it in other cities.”
The new J.Rieger Distillery is another example. The attention to historical detail is astounding. Not only is there a 3,000-square foot exhibit on the history of Kansas City, but everywhere you turn, there are historical footnotes that seem too uncanny to be true.
My favorite: Heim Brewery, the original tenant of the distillery’s new building, also manufactured glass bottles. One of their best customers? The original J.Rieger distillery. The new J.Rieger is honoring this history by serving a traditional German lager brewed exclusively for the distillery by KC Bier Co.
No historical detail is too small for Maybee. He has a team of people, including a professional historian, digging into the history of the East Bottoms neighborhood. He’s mining for details to immerse his guests in the Rieger experience. He’s searching for forgotten insights that could be his company’s next creative idea.
It’s these small details that make customers feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. To experience the arch of time gives us perspective. We are all just historical footnotes in the end, but not unimportant ones. Even when our memory is lost to time, there’s still a chance that someone finds our work and becomes inspired.
This lesson of innovation applies to all creative industries, not just bars and spirits. When we pay attention to the time-honored traditions of our craft, we learn how to tell old stories in new ways.
“Those finer details I find inspiring,” said Maybee. “You can find inspiration anywhere you go if you look for it.”
