Audrey Saunders
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Audrey Saunders (born 1962) is an American bartender, considered one of the world's most famous bartenders. She is most well known as the operating partner and creative lead of Pegu Club, a bar in New York City from 2005 to 2020. The bar was one of the most influential in the United States. Since its closure, Saunders and her husband have been developing a retreat for beverage industry members in rural Washington state.


Life

Audrey Saunders was born in 1962 to Swiss parents, and grew up in Port Washington, on the north shore of Long Island in New York state. She grew up appreciating the cocktail world from the '' Thin Man'' series, where detectives Nick and Nora Charles solved crimes while enjoying gin martinis. She entered the bartending industry later in her life, after co-founding a corporate cleaning business, Contract Services of America. Her first bartending job was at the Waterfront Alehouse in Brooklyn. She began to train herself there, and early on, she met
Dale DeGroff Dale DeGroff (born September 21, 1948), also known as "the King of Cocktails" or "King Cocktail", is an American bartender and author. The ''New York Times'' in 2015 called DeGroff "one of the world's foremost cocktail experts", and wrote that h ...
, the head bartender at the
Rainbow Room The Rainbow Room is a private event space on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Run by Tishman Speyer, it is among the highest venues in New York City. The Rainbow Room was design ...
. DeGroff was teaching a bar business class for NYU's continuing education program; she approached him after class, asking to work for free in order to learn high-end bartending from him. She helped him with charity events for several years. In 1999, she became lead bartender for Waldy Malouf's Beacon Restaurant in New York City. After two years, she became a manager at Tonic, a bar and restaurant in Chelsea. After Tonic closed in 2001, DeGroff hired her as bar manager of Bemelmans Bar, in the
Carlyle Hotel The Carlyle Hotel is a luxury apartment hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1930, the Art Deco hotel was designed by Sylvan Bien and Harry M. Prince, with interiors by Dorothy Draper. It was named after the S ...
. Saunders excelled at her job there, and was approached to be an operating partner and the creative talent for the Pegu Club bar. Saunders pioneered creating sophisticated drinks, after decades of
craft cocktail The craft cocktail movement is a social movement spurred by the cocktail renaissance, a period of time in the late 20th and early 21st century characterized by a revival and re-prioritization of traditional recipes and methods in the bar industr ...
knowledge being discarded. Some of Saunder's inventions, like the Old Cuban and Gin-Gin Mule, have become seen as classic cocktails. Saunders founded and "personified" the Pegu Club, a bar in New York City, which operated from 2005 to 2020. The bar is considered one of the most influential in the United States, and was considered a center of the craft cocktail movement. It closed in 2020, amid the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, an expiring lease, a likely rent hike, an expensive plumbing issue, and other obstacles that come along with operating a bar in New York City. While at the Pegu Club, Saunders spread the Nick & Nora glass (named after the aforementioned detectives) to other bars, and it became a key part of the glassware at her own bar. Saunders served classic martinis in the glass, attempting to break preconceptions that larger drinks are better. Other bars followed her lead, including
Please Don't Tell PDT, also known as Please Don't Tell, is a speakeasy-style cocktail bar in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. The bar is often cited as the first speakeasy-style bar and thus originator of the modern speakeasy trend, and has influence ...
and Death & Co., both in the East Village in Manhattan. At the Pegu Club, Saunders trained many people now considered some of the top bartenders, including Jim Meehan of
Please Don't Tell PDT, also known as Please Don't Tell, is a speakeasy-style cocktail bar in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. The bar is often cited as the first speakeasy-style bar and thus originator of the modern speakeasy trend, and has influence ...
and Phil Ward, of Mayahuel. Saunders also pioneered a practice at the Pegu Club for guests to adjust drinks at their table, by placing small bottles of simple syrup, juices, and bitters beside the guests. In 2021, Saunders contributed as an area editor to '' The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails''. Saunders has been married to noted cocktail aficionado Robert Hess since 2011. Hess and Saunders are developing the Ravenwood Beverage Institute, a retreat dedicated to the craft cocktail movement, on their property in rural Washington.


See also

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List of bartenders This is a list of notable bartenders. A bartender (also known as a barkeep or a mixologist) is a person who serves alcoholic beverages and other drinks behind a bar, typically in a licensed bar (establishment), establishment. Bartenders A * To ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Audrey 1962 births American bartenders American writers Living people People from New York City American people of Swiss descent People from Port Washington, New York