Three of New York City's most storied watering holes are putting their rivalries aside for one night to raise a glass to the city's drinking history. Fraunces Tavern, The Dead Rabbit and Gage & Tollner will gather on October 27 for an evening devoted to New York's bar culture, from Revolutionary War-era taverns to the modern craft cocktail revival, with tickets priced at $30 and every dollar going to City Harvest.
The event, called History of Bars in New York, is organized by the Alliance for Downtown New York and will be held at the historic Fraunces Tavern at 54 Pearl Street. Doors open at 6 p.m., and according to the organization, admission includes light bites and two special cocktails being created exclusively for the evening, with nonalcoholic beverages also available. The panel brings together Dan Saltzstein, a New York Times deputy editor who authored a book called That's So New York: Short (and Very Short) Stories About the Greatest City on Earth, alongside Gage & Tollner co-founder St. John Frizell and master mixologists Jack McGarry of The Dead Rabbit and Barry Smyth of Fraunces Tavern. Saltzstein is set to lead the conversation.
Four Figures, One Centuries-Long Story
Barry Smyth serves as beverage manager at Fraunces Tavern Restaurant, according to the Fraunces Tavern Museum, where he selects 650 whiskies. Jack McGarry, meanwhile, has led The Dead Rabbit's operations at 30 Water Street since at least 2022, per the bar's own account of its history. St. John Frizell opened Fort Defiance, his cafe-bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn, back in 2009, and his newer venture Gage & Tollner mixes his taste for historical research with classic cocktails and oysters Rockefeller, according to Sunken Harbor Club, another of his projects.
The venue itself carries the weight of that history. Fraunces Tavern traces its history to 1762, according to its own account. Its most famous moment came in 1783, when George Washington delivered a farewell at the tavern.
Toasting a Living Archive
The Dead Rabbit has built its own legend, pouring more than 250,000 pints of Guinness annually and collecting eight Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, including two for World's Best Bar, per the bar's own telling.
The tavern makes a fitting stage for a conversation tracing New York's drinking culture across three centuries, linking the city's colonial-era taverns to the craft cocktail renaissance embodied by bars like The Dead Rabbit and Gage & Tollner.
Tickets for the October 27 gathering are available through Eventbrite, with the full $30 admission price going to City Harvest.
