Episode 91: Julie Reiner & The Great GoogaMooga

04/17/13 • 29 min

Holy GoogaMooga! Julie Reiner, owner and operator of the Clover Club and Flatiron Lounge, chats with Damon Boelte on The Speakeasy about her role as VIP Cocktail Experience coordinator of the Great GoogaMooga Festival in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Music, food and cocktails collide at the Great GoogaMooga. Reiner is working on bringing together the city’s biggest mixologists and with quality food (foie gras donut, anyone?). The festival features bars at specific times so listen to who’s coming and when to catch them. With the festival only a month away, hear what goes into making a festival “cocktail experience” happen from pre-batching to planning how to serve the drinks. This program was sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

“When you get behind the bar, what’s your entry song? ...you got to have your own theme song.” [5:36]

“We had a ton of people last year who were cocktail people and they knew they were going to get great cocktails from the bars that were involved. It wasn’t just ‘Give me what you have’ and throw it back.” [20:08]

“Im always looking for that sweet spot that the majority of the public is going to enjoy” [24:51]

–Julie Reiner on The Speakeasy

“When you get behind the bar, what’s your entry song? ...you got to have your own theme song.” [5:36]

“Im always looking for that sweet spot that the majority of the public is going to enjoy” [24:51]

–Julie Reiner on The Speakeasy

Previous Episode

Episode 90: Attaboy

Same spot, new look! This week on The Speakeasy, Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy drop by to talk with host Damon Boelte about their new bar, Attaboy. The two took over the former location of Lower East Side staple, Milk and Honey. Find out what it takes to open your own bar, and what they’ve changed to make the spot their own. What’s stayed the same since the bar opened a month ago? Classic cocktails. Hear Damon, Sam and Michael debate the value of a cocktail menu. Does a lack of menus make things more personal between a bartender and a customer, or more confusing? Without a menu, the duo talks about serving guests personalized drinks in “courses” – whether it’s with citrus or, even, an egg. This program was sponsored by White Oak Pastures

“Those couple months we were closed during the renovations, hours were changed significantly from being bartender for 14 odd-years getting up around midday, on an early miday and then getting home until 5 to just to change, getting and being there at 9 o’clock, making sure the contractors were on top of their game, making those phone calls, did you know business hours close at 5 p.m.?”

“Those few months we were closed I was just craving getting back behind the bar and we’re doing that in our own space.”

—Sam Ross of Attaboy on The Speakeasy

Next Episode

Episode 92: Great Gatsby Inspired Cocktails

Tara Wright is the head bartender at 21 Club, the historical speakeasy located on 52nd street in New York City. During our time speaking with Tara, she explained to us the special cocktails she created inspired by the upcoming movie, The Great Gatsby and why they are representative of that time period and that movie specifically. Tara also gave us the historical backstory to the historical establishment that was opened on December 31, 1929. She tells us the creative way in which they were able to conceal the cases and cases of alcohol, using a 5,000 pound brick door and a dip switch.