Q&A With Mike Vacheresse, Owner of Brooklyn’s Travel Bar

By Kurt Maitland

There are a world’s worth of bars – from speakeasies and dives to tourist traps and posh hotel bars, but for me perhaps the most important is the neighborhood bar. A “Cheers” type situation—where the bar owner knows the name of their regulars, the bartenders know what you drink and what’s new on the menu that you might like—you find one, you treasure it. One such bar is Brooklyn’s Travel Bar. From quality cocktails to a well curated collection of whiskies, the Travel Bar more than fits the bill. I got to talk to Mike Vacheresse and break down why.

KM: Tell us a bit about yourself.

MV: I have been in the bar business for more than 30 years. After college I alternated between bartending in fine dining restaurants and traveling the world. Eventually I moved to New York to work in world class restaurants. After designing cocktails for 3 and 4-star restaurants I opened my own bar and called it Travel Bar as a nod to my days on the road… and my collection of vintage travel bar cases.

KM: How did you come to own a bar in Brooklyn?

MV: After I started a family I moved back to Carroll Gardens which was the first neighborhood I lived in when I moved to New York. The idea of opening a local bar and being part of a community was what I wanted to do. For the past year and a half I have been volunteering on the local community board on the licensing and permits committee as a way to give back to the community I love.

KM: How did you pick the location of Travel Bar?

MV: We searched for a year for a bar spot. We saw a lot of properties that could work, but we couldn’t beat the location, space, design of Travel Bar. The space was an old restaurant and had many of the amenities that I needed. It became hard to refuse the space and neighborhood.

KM: What were your original ideas for the theme of Travel Bar and how much have they changed since you opened up?

MV: We started with 50 cocktails and 50 whiskeys. We emphasized our cocktail program because I had spent decades creating cocktails for some of the best restaurants in Portland Oregon and Manhattan. I wanted to offer some of the cocktails I had created earlier in my career as well as new ones in a comfortable, laid back atmosphere for locals. But as time went on, I became more and more interested in the whiskey program, and I started developing relationships with distilleries. We still pride ourselves on the quality and selection of our cocktails, but now we have more than 300 whiskeys from around the world. The one thing that has not changed is the atmosphere.

KM: What do you want a first-time visitor to get from your bar?

MV: High quality product offered in a comfortable atmosphere by a friendly and knowledgeable staff.

KM: You have an amazing selection of whiskeys at your bar. What are some of your favorites?

MV: Before I opened the bar, it was Glenfarcas 17. I am a stubborn bastard and it is still my favorite. I love lesser known distilleries that I can introduce to people, like Catoctin Creek rye, Amador out of California, Trails End….

KM: To go along with your great whiskey selection, you also have a great cocktail list. What are some of your personal favorite cocktails? How do you go about creating new cocktails on your list?

MV: Generally, I like three ingredient cocktails, meaning they aren’t overcomplicated and all of the flavors shine. One flavor doesn’t hide the other. They blend together so that they all come together as one. I created the Grapefruit Milano (Campari, Grapefruit Juice and Moscato d’Asti) in 2008 and I have carried it with me on several jobs and now it is a staple at Travel Bar.

Also, we do riffs on classic cocktails. For instance, we have a Summer Manhattan, which features Old Overholt Rye, Dubonnet Rouge with Regan’s orange bitters.

KM: Brooklyn has been a hot spot in the New York nightlife scene for a long time – so what are the best parts of being a neighborhood bar in NYC? What are the hardest parts?

MV: I know almost all of my clientele who come in twice. On a Saturday night, I will know everyone’s name at the bar. The hard part is cutting someone off. That is particularly difficult since I know everyone so well.

KM: Finally, I know that you are thinking about starting some classes/tasting sessions for your patrons. What type of classes are you thinking of offering?

MV: We are starting with whiskey 101 – a brief history with a focus on American Whiskey and an overview of the whiskey industry. We will also bring in producers and brands that we love. We have already lined up barrel crafts spirits, Pinhook and Glendronach to run classes as well.