About

The act of drinking eau de vie with strangers is the highest form of art

Bar Storey is an art project about drinking and hanging out.

To make a 375ml bottle of apricot eau de vie the Rochelt family distillery in Austria contracts with farmers from the Wachau region to collect only the ripest Klosterneuburger and Ungarische Best apricots varieties right after they fall from the trees on the bank of the Danube river. The fruit is carefully distilled and then rested in glass demijohn bottles for seven years. In the end, the nineteen pounds of fruit used for each bottle are concentrated into a unique luxurious taste of incredible ripe apricots.

In essence, Bar Storey was created to share special liquid luxuries like Rochelt eau de vie with friends and acquaintances. The brilliant existence of Rochelt eau de vie had sent me on a journey to taste other eau de vies, and spirits of all types that were made with similar attention to craftsmanship, and more importantly with a care for the land and traditions that produced the agricultural products used as the base materials in many whiskeys, gins, rums, mezcals, and other liquors around the world. I cared about who grew my food and how they grew it, and now I cared about the same for the spirits I drank. On a basic level I wanted to share the beautiful tastes I was experiencing with others.

The Rochelt eau de vie is a seemingly inaccessible luxury, costing $400 for a small bottle in New York City in 2024. But at a $15.77 pour cost for a half ounce taste, it still costs less for a taste than a single drink at a NYC cocktail bar. Luckily there are many more exceptional spirits that cost only a few dollars an ounce. Years ago I became a home bartender to balance the equation of my love for cocktails and the comparative ROI between a single drink at a craft cocktail bar and a nice bottle of booze. I love cocktail bars, but drinking at home is more affordable, and allows more people to try exceptional spirits that are too rare or expensive in bars.

Besides eau de vie made from apricots, pears, wild raspberries, or even carrots, six guests at each tasting will sample things like whiskey made from ancestral Mexican corn or heirloom American rye, gin steeped in botanicals from agricultural systems from every corner of the globe, potato vodka that actually expresses terroir, rum made by Caribbean entrepreneurs writing a new chapter in rum history, and mezcal distilled from sustainably cultivated agave, and a sunchoke-distillate alternative.

Every tasting is uniquely tailored to the spirit preferences and familiarity of each guest. Collectively, we share a tasting of a dozen or so unique spirits, a few mini cocktails, some snacks, and conversation.

Take the survey to request a tasting.

I am looking for hosts (I supply the spirits, you supply the food). Contact me if you are interested.

Note: this is a non-commercial art project, hosted in a different home each time. No tickets will be sold. Tastings are by invitation only. Barter, donations to the Slow Food movement, or sliding scale contributions to cover costs are accepted. Each experience will be documented as an open template, with recepies and guides to create your own tasting experience in your own home.