A well-made drink can tell a story, and few do it better than Julie Reiner, whose influence in bartending has shaped nightlife around the world.
Clover Club in Brooklyn is one of six bars Reiner has opened in her career. Â
“There are a lot more male-owned-and-operated bars in New York City than female owned, for sure,” Reiner said recently. “Getting opportunities is challenging. But we’re seeing that change, and we’re seeing more young female bartenders opening bars.”
Julie Reiner
CBS News New York
Women, Reiner says, really know what makes a good drink.
“Women have really great palates. Some of the best sort of cocktail makers I have known in my career have been women,” she said. “I strive to just have a very evenly balanced bar.”
A bar fight that dates back decades
Long before Reiner’s rise, women in Brooklyn were already fighting for their place behind the bar. Dominique Jean-Louis, chief historian at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Center for Brooklyn History, said outdated gender norms were part of the era’s debate.
“People raise the issue of privacy, that men wouldn’t be as free to engage in what we might call locker room talk if they knew there’s a woman behind the bar to listen to it,” Jean-Louis said.
During World War II, as men left for combat, women stepped into a variety of roles, including running bars and pouring drinks, and even formed a union in Brooklyn — Bar Maids Local 101 — to fight for their rights and safety.
“There were at least 70 different bars who employed female bartenders. And at its peak, the Women’s Bartender Union had about 100 members,” Jean-Louis said. “This is significant enough that we know postwar, women have a real interest in taking on this kind of work.”
After the war, a Brooklyn state lawmaker proposed an amendment that would prevent women from having the right to work behind a bar. But the bar maids rallied together and eventually won their fight.
Today’s bartenders and businesswomen are carrying on the legacy
That pushback paved the way for today’s trailblazers, including bartender and activist Ivy Mix.
“I hope that people can realize that it is a real job. Luckily, gone are the days that people ask me what else I do,” Mix, an award-winning mixologist, said.
A bartender, activist, and co-owner of two bars, Mix is also the founder of Speed Rack, a women’s bartending competition that raises money for breast cancer research.
In every crafted cocktail at these establishments, there’s a legacy built by women who refused to be told where they belong.
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