Death & Co

Death & Co is a seminal cocktail bar located in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 2006 by David Kaplan and Ravi DeRossi, it is widely credited as a foundational establishment of the modern craft cocktail movement. The bar is renowned for its meticulous, inventive drinks, rigorous service standards, and influential cocktail program, which has shaped global bartending and drinking culture.

History

The bar opened in December 2006 on East 6th Street during a pivotal moment for the American cocktail renaissance, a period that also saw the rise of influential venues like PDT and Milk & Honey in New York City. Founders David Kaplan and Ravi DeRossi aimed to create a serious, dedicated space for classic and contemporary cocktails, hiring early head bartender Phil Ward to develop the initial menu. Its opening coincided with a renewed interest in pre-Prohibition whiskey and gin classics, as well as the proliferation of small-batch spirits from producers like St. George Spirits. The bar's name, often a topic of speculation, set a tone of deliberate gravity distinct from the more playful establishments of the era. Its early success helped solidify the East Village as a destination for serious cocktail enthusiasts alongside restaurants like Prune.

Cocktails and menu

The bar's menu is celebrated for its balance of refined classics and avant-garde originals, often featuring house-made ingredients and obscure amari. Iconic drinks created there include the Oaxaca Old Fashioned, invented by Phil Ward, which introduced mezcal to a wider audience, and the Conference, a bourbon-based cocktail. The program under later bar directors like Alex Day and David Kaplan emphasized seasonal ingredients and technical precision, influencing trends like the use of shochu and cachaça. Their menu format, which categorizes drinks by spirit base and style, has been widely emulated. The bar's output is documented in the influential cocktail book Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails, which won a James Beard Foundation Award.

Locations and expansion

The original, intimate location on East 6th Street, designed with a speakeasy-like ambiance, remained the sole outpost for nearly a decade. In 2014, the team opened the Denver location within the Ramble Hotel in the city's River North Art District, marking a significant geographic expansion of the brand. This was followed by an outpost in Los Angeles at the Edition Hotel in West Hollywood. Each location maintains the original's commitment to a bespoke cocktail experience while adapting to its local context, such as incorporating Colorado-distilled spirits in Denver. The group also founded the Cocktail Kingdom barware line and the Proprietors LLC hospitality group, which operates venues like Nitecap and Existing Conditions.

Influence and legacy

Death & Co is considered a quintessential influence on 21st-century bar culture, training a generation of bartenders who spread its ethos globally. Alumni like Joël Martínez, Caitlin Laman, and Tyson Buhler have gone on to lead programs at acclaimed bars such as The NoMad Bar and Dante. Its operational model, focusing on relentless quality control and customer education, became a blueprint for high-end cocktail bars worldwide from London to Singapore. The bar's two books are standard texts in the industry, and its emphasis on bartender-as-creator helped elevate the profession. Its success demonstrated the commercial viability of a bar dedicated almost exclusively to cocktails, paving the way for successors like Attaboy and Employees Only.

Awards and recognition

The bar has received extensive critical acclaim, including the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Bar Program in 2022. It was named "Best Cocktail Bar in America" by Tales of the Cocktail in 2010 and has consistently ranked in the top tiers of lists like World's 50 Best Bars. The associated book, Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails, won a James Beard Foundation Award for Beverage Book in 2015. The Denver location was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Bar Program in 2020, and the bar's team has been featured in publications like The New York Times and Food & Wine.

Category:Cocktail bars Category:Bars in Manhattan Category:Restaurants established in 2006