There’s a brand new boss on the town the place the ice-cold beer started flowing from faucets for the primary time on the exact same day Prohibition ended on Dec. 5, 1933.
The Esquire Tavern, the oldest bar on the San Antonio River Stroll, introduced new majority possession Wednesday.
Architect and developer Chris Hill has handed the torch to Stephan Mendez, the Esquire’s longtime operator and beverage director, and now proprietor of the storied tavern.
Hill has owned the institution since 2011, reopening it after a five-year closure and reigniting a cocktail tradition in San Antonio. In 2017, the Esquire was nominated for a James Beard Award for Excellent Bar Program.
Hill mentioned he’s joyful to “cross the proverbial cocktail shaker” to Mendez at the same time as he stays on the Esquire as a minority accomplice.
“The Esquire is greater than a bar; it’s embedded within the historical past of San Antonio,” Hill mentioned. “Each one who has ever pulled up a stool right here has turn into part of what makes this place particular. Stewarding that legacy has been one of many best honors of my life.”
Mendez adopted famous mixologists Houston Eaves and Jeret Peña on the Esquire and is a founding member of the US Bartenders’ Guild in San Antonio.
For the previous dozen years or so, Mendez has gone from serving as again bartender to move bartender to bar supervisor to beverage director to overseeing operations of the dad or mum firm Spot On Hospitality, which incorporates the Tokyo Cowboy restaurant and Hugman’s Oasis, a tiki bar.
“I’ve been form of doing every part for fairly some time, and Chris and I’ve been shut mates since 2013 and I feel he was on the lookout for somewhat little bit of a change, and he trusts me to maintain the imaginative and prescient and the tradition and every part we’ve labored on going ahead,” he mentioned.
On the time Hill reopened the Esquire, there have been few locations that provided cocktails, the place bartenders knew learn how to make these sorts of drinks, Mendez mentioned. “That was one thing that known as to me [and] I form of fell in love with it from the second I walked by way of the entrance door.”
In 2021, Hill opened The Cover by Hilton, a cantilevered construction subsequent door to the Esquire, at 123 N. St. Mary’s St.
Simply west of the Esquire, he additionally renovated the circa-1866 Witte constructing at 135 E. Commerce, changing it for residential and industrial makes use of, together with the bars, Hugman’s Oasis and Toyko Cowboy.
The Esquire, situated at 133 E. Commerce St., options the unique century-old and hand-worn picket bar high from its begin 93 years in the past, a restored River-level lounge and patio, and a full menu of pub fare, beer, spirits, wine and cocktails.
In style on the menu this summer time has been the bar’s Hoover Maneuver, mentioned Mendez, who described it as a refreshing, boozy and effervescent beverage for warm summer time days.
