I take the opposite view. I don’t intend to mythologize Milk & Honey, but I think it’s hard to overemphasize its influence. Beacon, Tonic, C3 and even Dale’s work were important stepping stones, in their way, but they failed to spark the imagination of other bartenders and bargoers to the enormous degree M&H did. Even Angel Share’s, as seminal as it was, is important basically because it inspired Sasha to use some of the same ideas in M&H. In 14 years of covering this business, I’ve heard dozens of stories of how people walked away from M&H wanting to be a better bartender or create a bar like it elsewhere. I’ve never heard any such stories in regards to the other bars mentioned.
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