Petraske, Sasha (1973–2015), was one of the driving forces of modern speakeasy cocktail culture. On New Year’s Eve 1999, when he opened the speakeasy-style Milk & Honey (affectionately nicknamed M&H) on the edge of New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood, he set the pattern for countless bars that followed. See Milk & Honey. Sasha—he was universally known by his first name—was an unlikely trendsetter: he was allergic to the stereotype of a speakeasy bar and indeed didn’t like to follow trends at all when it came to making drinks and how to enjoy them. He preferred to quietly challenge the status quo. He wore slacks, suspenders, vests, and ties behind the bar before they were industry tropes because that’s how he dressed, not because he was playing the role of “speakeasy bartender.” Yet independent as he was, Sasha was also a consummate mentor and would go on to open a number of other highly lauded bars in partnership with his former employees.
Sasha was born in New York City and attended the exclusive and challenging Stuyvesant High School, often referred to as the no. 1 public school in the country. Sasha was a promising, straight-edge student, but he dropped out at seventeen and soon joined the United States Army, where he spent nine weeks training as an elite Ranger. The training had a lasting effect on his physical and mental acuity—the way he appeared to be at rest while standing at the ready, his ability to stay alert no matter how little sleep he was running on, his aptitude for defusing challenging situations and remaining Buddha-calm under pressure. He was an obsessive note taker and list maker and read the Sasha trained his bartenders not just in mixing drinks but in etiquette and comportment; to make a priority of cleanliness in everything from their fingernails to their workspace; to stand upright; and above all to be patient. Drinks were to be built in rounds so that all the drinks would be finished and put on the serving tray in a thirty-second window. When brought to the table, they would be served in clockwise order, reflecting how the guests were seated and had ordered. Sasha’s bartenders each became part of a team, almost a tribe, with a shared aesthetic and culture. This idea of a bar team was something new: in 1999, the bartenders at any one place were essentially independent contractors: individualists who each did things their own way and competed more than cooperated with their fellow bartenders. Sasha’s bartenders, however, became a loyal family that opened up other projects with him around the country and globe. In order of their openings after the original Milk & Honey: Milk & Honey, London (2002), with Jonathan Downey; Eastside Company, New York (2005); Little Branch, New York (2005), with Joseph Schwartz; White Star, New York (2008); the Varnish, Los Angeles (2009), with Eric Alperin and Cedd Moses; Dutch Kills, New York (2009), with Richard Boccato; the Everleigh, Melbourne (2011), with Michael Madrusan; Middle Branch, New York (2012), with Schwartz and Lucinda Sterling; Attaboy, New York (2013), with Sam Ross and Mickey McIlroy; Half Step, Austin (2014), with Alperin, Moses, Chris Bostick, and Eric Needleman. See Downey, Jonathan. Sasha was Yoda to many young bartending Jedis, and along with the staffs he trained at his bars, he also consulted on various bar projects, extending his codified method of cocktailing beyond his bar family. He was always in search of socially responsible activities to take part in, and at Bohanan’s Prime Steaks and Seafood in San Antonio (one of his consulting gigs), along with the chef, he started an annual cocktail festival—San Antonio Cocktail Conference. The monies raised from the festival were all distributed to various children’s charities. In June of 2015 he was married to Georgette Moger, and the couple fittingly had their honeymoon on the Orient Express. Sasha died of an unexpected heart attack a month after their return. The book he was in the midst of writing was completed by his wife, with the assistance of various members of the Milk & Honey family. Regarding Cocktails was published in 2016. Sasha was uncompromising without arrogance and is remembered for his devotion to doing the important things right. His legacy lives on through many of the top bartenders that trained with him. His attitude to bartending is perhaps best summarized through the following quotation, which was included in the Milk & Honey training compendium: Needless to say, the moment any pleasure is taken at demonstrating one’s skill at swordsmanship, all possibility of true swordsmanship is lost. By: —Anonymous swordsman, sixteenth-century Japan See also cocktail renaissance. Petraske, Sasha, and Georgette Moger-Petraske. Regarding Cocktails. New York: Phaidon, 2016. By: Eric Alperin