{The nearly completed bar at The Whiskey Ring}
Whiskey bars are catching fire around town. On the heels of recently opened Gamlin Whiskey House in the Central West End, Blind Tiger in Maplewood and the soon-to-open Small Batch in Midtown Alley comes The Whiskey Ring, opening Dec. 17.
Located at 2651 Cherokee St., the 46-seat bar is a project by John Joern and Jason Matthews. Both are former bartenders at local music venue Off Broadway. “We feature about 50 bottles of bourbon, rye and scotch. We are expanding that weekly,” said Joern, adding that while the liquor selection is whiskey-centric, other widely known and unfamiliar spirits are available. “We try to keep things interesting.” A cocktail menu will be finalized this week. The Whiskey Ring, which will be open daily from 4 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., does not offer food; however, Joern said he is in discussion with an area deli about delivery service when that shop opens in a few months.
{The Whiskey Bar will be located at 2651 Cherokee St.}
Joern was Off Broadway’s bar manager for the last eight years; Matthews worked there for the past four years. This is the duo’s first time owning a bar, but both used their prior experiences in construction to gut the space and renovate it themselves, using reclaimed local materials. Joern gave a nod to fellow Cherokee Street business owner Kristen Dennis (co-owner of The Fortune Teller Bar), for coming up with the bar’s concept. The Whiskey Ring refers to a scandal that occurred during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant in the 1870s, when a group of whiskey distillers conspired to defraud the government of liquor taxes. St. Louis was one of the major cities where the whiskey ring operated.
Joern and Matthews chose to open their bar in the Cherokee neighborhood of South City, where they both live. “It’s a great community with great business ideas; culturally, it’s a melting pot – and art-driven community,” Joern said. “It’s very up-and-coming.”
This article appears in December 2013.