My 10 Favorite Moments of BCB 2024
And some basic advice for attending and getting the most out of the show.
First, an apology: I’d meant to send this out last Friday, after taking a moment to catch my breath post-BCB and process what I’d experienced there.
But my laptop died. For good. It’s now a silver-colored brick. And I spent the weekend trying to recover my files. I’m typing this on a borrowed tablet. RIP, beloved Dell. Anyhow…
If you have even a passing familiarity with the drinks world and/or follow any bars or bartenders on social media, you surely noticed that something happened last week.
That thing was Bar Convent Brooklyn (BCB), an offshoot of Bar Convent Berlin, which spread to Brooklyn in 2018 and is now a two-day production in Industry City offering seminars and multiple buildings filled with tradeshow-like booths, and spawning parties and popups throughout the city before, during, and after the show.
I described it to someone recently as “baby Tales” (Tales of the Cocktail being, of course, the bar industry’s premier annual gathering in New Orleans) and I stand by it, though it’s a description that’s getting less accurate by the year: BCB is growing rapidly, and someone I talked with last week called it “more serious” and “more educational” than the New Orleans gathering.
I’ll readily admit I wasn’t able to experience everything BCB had to offer. I didn’t go to every party or bar takeover (there were literally dozens each night); I didn’t have a sip of every new product on offer (there were probably hundreds); I’m just one girl with one liver and a metrocard.
But of what I did experience, these were 10 moments I loved, in no particular order:
Walking past the Haus Alpenz booth and spotting David Wondrich setting up to make martinis. No queue had formed, and I was first in line, along with two fanboys from Toronto who were giggling over being in the presence of the great drinks historian. I noticed ice in tiny plastic cups, which Wondrich dumped out once the martinis were stirred and before he poured them. “Were… were you chilling the plastic cups? Was that what was happening there?” I asked. “Yes,” he said. “I was doing it out of spite.” No further questions; I’ve done weirder things for the same reason. It was the best martini I’ve ever had.
Successfully cadging an entire bottle of the non-alc Suze Tonic RTD from the rep (versus the half-ounce samples that were being handed out). It tastes uncannily like Suze. It launches in August, I’m told, and I expect it to be this summer’s hot drink. Going by the responses of bar-industry folks who saw the photo I posted to Instagram Stories and responded with some version of “WHAT?!?” it’s going to be huge.
Walking into Paradise Lost and realizing that the room—utterly over-the-top to begin with—had been turned (by Jon Nutter and Mikey Reihill) essentially into my ‘90s skater crush’s basement for a Tony Hawk (the game moreso than the person)-themed takeover, with tube TVs set up on the tables and at the bar with the game installed and working handsets. Of course people were playing. Do you want the drink garnished with a lighted mini roach or the one with a toddler-sized Chuck Taylor? Why not both?
Getting a second chance to catch the Yacht Club team while they were in town. I had missed their raging party at Grand Army on Tuesday night, but managed to nab a last-minute seat the next evening at the Yachttaboy takeover (at, yes, Attaboy). One of the two Yacht Club drinks on offer was the Hidden Valley Ranch Water, a cocktail that under ordinary circumstances I would’ve glanced at on a menu and promptly skipped right past: I’m not a fan of ranch dressing, and I never jumped on the “ranch water” highball trend of a couple years back. And yet it turned out to be one of the absolute most delicious cocktails I tasted the entire week, herbaceous and tangy and utterly perfect. Once in a while the universe sends me a humbling reminder to check my assumptions, and this was one of those times.
Meeting Nick Bennett’s puppet doppelganger at the pre-release event for Jim Meehan’s ingredients-focused new book, The Bartender’s Pantry, at Porchlight. Talking with Jim, meeting Bart Sasso, the book’s illustrator (who, fun fact, did the design work for Tip Top Cocktails), and attending the panel session with them and co-author Emma Janzen was great, of course. But when there’s a puppet present, sorry, the puppet is the star of the evening.
Joining Sother Teague at Bar Goto for what he calls “GibSundays” (aka “church”) and what became, this time around, almost a private party of sorts, with more than a dozen of Sother’s friends and fans sitting around the bar, most drinking, yes, Gibsons.
Getting a preview of the soon-to-(re)open Experimental Cocktail Club during Nathalie Durrieu’s bar takeover at Romeo’s. Tasting her drinks reminded me why I miss ECC so much (the original NYC incarnation shuttered in 2016) and why I’m so hyped for its imminent return. Speaking of making assumptions about drinks on bar menus, don’t miss the vodka seltzer, which is so much more than what its name implies: At the popup, flavors of strawberry, mango, and lemongrass were added to the mix, to dazzling effect.
Tasting Bar Kaiju’s magic at the team’s bar takeover at Grand Army. I visited the Miami bar last December and it knocked my socks off. While there, Derek Stilmann had asked where I like to drink in NYC, and Grand Army was the first spot I had named. He said he’d actually done a popup there the summer before, and I swore to myself I wouldn’t miss it if it happened again. It did. I went. It was fantastic. They were out of one of the five drinks on the menu by the time I tried to order it, but my drinking companion and I had the other four…and then had half of those all over again. The winner: La Djablesse: rhum, coconut oil, “tropical distillate” (pineapple, mango, passion fruit).
Sipping a drink mixed for me by Roberto Bavi that sent Barbie-pink fireworks through my brain. I had walked by the Cocchi stand earlier and, upon seeing all the vermouth bottles on ice, thought to myself “that looks exactly like the inside of my refrigerator.” Extra-dry, check. Americano and Americano Rosa, check. Di Torino, check. Dopo Teatro and Barolo Chinato, both recently finished. But are those bottles of sparkling wine in the bucket, too? Yes, they were—a product I hadn’t even known Cocchi produced. Roberto Bava poured me a bit of each, then poured a 50-50ish mixture of Americano Rosa and Brachetto d’Acqui over ice and added a lemon twist. Then he handed me a square of Italian white chocolate infused with raspberry. He’d bowled me over with pairings before (try Barolo Chinato with dark chocolate and see for yourself), and this was a pink pairing like nothing I’d had before.
Rubbing elbows, literally, with industry titans who still intimidate me slightly. I’d told my friends Rich and Heather Manning I’d be joining them in a few minutes at Timo Janse’s takeover at the newly opened Clover Club Saloon (the classic bar’s next-door annex), and asked them to save me a barstool if possible. I walked in and immediately spotted them in front of the bar. Heather moved to the side to reveal the seat they’d saved for me: between Rich and Dale Degroff, “King Cocktail” himself, with Julie Reiner standing right behind Dale. Timo stood, smiling, directly behind the bar. It was a perfect moment of lovely people, and I’m so happy I had the presence of mind to take a photo.
Bonus: Every moment I petted a dog. (If you’ve ever been in an introverted or overwhelmed mood at a party, you’ll understand.) Particularly the rainbow-tailed dog who basically became BCB’s mascot.
If you haven’t attended BCB before and are considering it next year, here’s my advice.
Is it worth attending? If you live in New York City and don’t have to pay for travel expenses, absolutely! If you’d be coming from out of town, it depends. As I said to someone recently regarding Tales, I would offer the same advice as I would to someone considering graduate school: Before signing on and investing time and money, consider what you want to get out of it and whether that goal is realistic, and if it is, devise a plan for achieving that result before you commit. If you want to attend the seminars, set multiple alarms for the morning and don’t stay out all night partying (however tempting it might be). If you want to network and there are specific people you’re hoping to meet, maybe send them a note well in advance to ask whether/when you can connect.
Those not based in a major city might benefit the most from attending. You’ll get exposure to new products, hear from industry leaders at the seminars, and rub elbows with bar-industry legends at the accompanying events. But if it’s your first time in NYC and you’re hoping to experience the city’s top bars, it’s a terrible time for that, since most will be hosting bar takeovers from out-of-town teams.
For networking, think about which types of events might be most useful to attend. Hint: It’s maybe not the enormous brand activations or raucous parties where the music’s too loud for conversations; aim for the smaller, lower-key events.
About all those parties: Some are invite-only and some require RSVPs well in advance; it’s fine and accepted to work your connections. Pay attention to your favorite bars’ Instagram accounts, which is where they announce BCB-week happenings. Make a calendar or spreadsheet with the times and locations of the events you’re hoping to hit, and try to stick to all one area (for instance: the East Village and Lower East Side, Williamsburg/Greenpoint/Bushwick, South Brooklyn, etc) because otherwise you’re likely to spend more time in taxis than you do at the events themselves.
A final word of advice: Talk to people. This is one time you’re totally allowed to talk to any stranger or butt into nearly any conversation. We’re all friends here. Say hello. Make connections. Ask questions. You never know who you’ll end up back in touch with somewhere down the line.