In April we were in Vancouver for North America’s 50 Best Bars. The day after the big awards, Julie Reiner was a guest bartender at The Botanist serving up Clover Clubs and Milady’s Martinis and let’s just say, it was an excellent way to cap things off. Julie is a true professional and that shows in the care she puts into all that she does. When she makes you a drink, she doesn’t place it on the bar in front of you instead she hands you the glass with true intention and connection.
Julie is a pioneering force in the craft cocktail movement and co-owner of acclaimed bars Clover Club and Milady’s. She is the author of The Craft Cocktail Party and a judge on the Netflix series Drink Masters. Over the past 25 years, she has helped shape New York City’s cocktail culture, beginning with the award-winning Flatiron Lounge and The Pegu Club.
Originally from Hawaii, Julie’s approach blends seasonal ingredients and thoughtful technique. She opened Clover Club in 2008 in Brooklyn, earning widespread recognition for its classic cocktail focus and commitment to quality. In 2022, she returned to Manhattan with the revival of Milady’s, a reimagined version of the beloved SoHo dive bar, now infused with Reiner’s signature hospitality and modern touches.
In 2020, Julie and longtime collaborator Tom Macy launched Social Hour, a line of ready-to-drink cocktails designed to bring bar-quality drinks to a wider audience. Julie’s accolades include Wine Enthusiast’s Mixologist of the Year, the Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award, and most recently, the 2025 Roku Industry Icon award from North America’s 50 Best Bars. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Food & Wine, and The Today Show.
Bartender Atlas: Where were you born?
Julie Reiner: I was actually born in Syracuse, New York.
BA: Where do you work now?
JR: I have lived in New York City since 1998.
BA: A direct shot from Syracuse to New York City.
JR: No, no, no, I actually never even lived in Syracuse. My mom grew up there and she was visiting her parents and I was born there, but I really grew up in Hawaii for most of my life. I’ve been in New York since 1998. And then, you know, I currently own two cocktail bars, Clover Club and Milady’s here in New York City. And that is what I do.
BA: Other than bar owner, how would you describe your position in the industry?
JR: Oh, gosh, um, den mother?
BA: Where do you go out to eat and drink when you have a day off?
JR: I like to go to Joe’s Shanghai in Chinatown and eat soup dumplings. I like to go to some of the best pizza joints around. I mean, you know, restaurants, it’s New York, you can go anywhere. As long as it’s high quality, I’m there.
BA: What do you do outside of eating and drinking on your days off?
JR: Well, I travel a lot. So that is definitely a hobby and also a work kind of a situation. And I like to walk the city.
BA: When you get to a new city and go walking, is there anything specifically you go looking for? Waterfalls or basketball courts or whatever?
JR: When I travel to new places, I think walking them is the best way to get a vibe for a place. Sometimes, you walk in the wrong direction, but you walk into an area you’re not supposed to. I really do like to try to just get out and walk around and see what a city is all about. Sometimes I’ll take a subway to a random different location in a city just to sort of see, okay, this is a neighborhood, you know? I did that in Barcelona maybe a year or so ago. Joaquin Simo was like “oh, you gotta check out this restaurant”. And I took the subway, and it was in this little family neighborhood. I went there and I just walked around and ate at the restaurant that he told me I should go to. But it’s cool to see what life is like, not in the touristy kind of area.
BA:…and not always from behind a bar either.
JR: Exactly. Yeah or sitting at one.
BA: Who is your favourite fictional bartender?
JR: (long pause to think on this one) I mean, Tom Cruise [in Cocktail], mainly because that came out, when I was very young and impressionable. Looking back at it was so funny because it was like “the bartender is a rock star”. You look back at it now and it’s so absurd that he’s like standing on the bar and everybody in a nightclub just stops to listen to his poem, like, that’s not happening [in real life].
BA: 1200 people really want to hear what he has to say.
JR: I was very impressionable at that time. So, you know, I was like, “that looks like fun. I want to do that!”
BA: What’s an album that you think everyone should listen to, whether they’re in the bar or not?
JR: My Desert Island album if I had to choose one album to listen to for the rest of my life is Steel Pulse True Democracy.
BA: Wow! What an amazing call! You could have said Pet Sounds and that would have been great too, but I didn’t see Steel Pulse coming.
JR: I had to choose if you can only have one album on this, they would be that one for sure.
BA: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given, work related or not?
JR: Early on in my career somebody said, when I started to be written about, like the drinks that I was doing and whatever, to read it once, then close it, set it aside and get back to work. Because the minute you really start believing all of the hype, you’ll lose it. You lose your edge and you lose your passion for what you’re really doing, which is the reason you get written about in the first place.
BA: Good one.
JR: It’s something that resonates almost even more today.
BA: What’s something that you’re excited about? What have you got coming up?
JR: Oh gosh, well, I am really excited. I’m going to Japan in October with Beam Suntory. I’m super stoked about that. I’m excited for a trip to California that I have in August with my family, sort of a little bit of work and a little bit of play, but yeah, that’s gonna be fun. And having some time off this summer.
RETURN TO ALL HOSPITALITY GEMS
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Posted July 7th, 2025
