Dive Bar Jukebox with Garret Richard
"Want some whiskey in your water? Sugar in your tea?"
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Welcome back to Dive Bar Jukebox, where every Friday bartenders, writers, chefs, musicians, and a host of dynamic people answer the question: If we were hanging out together at a bar and I put ten credits on the jukebox, what songs would you punch in and why? Their answers reveal thoughts on their favorite dive bars along with a hand-picked, annotated 10-song playlist for your weekend listening pleasure.
Please welcome today’s special guest…
Garret Richard
Longtime tiki and tropical drinks evangelist Garret Richard is the Chief Cocktail Officer at the Sunken Harbor Club, the nautical cocktail bar tucked away on the second floor above the landmark Brooklyn restaurant Gage & Tollner.
Richard was born in New York and grew up in Los Angeles, but he’s been back in NYC since he returned to attend Fordham University, where he worked as a producer at WFUV (which happens to be my go-to station to stream when I’m working at home). But his journey with the New York bar scene began in 2011 working for Julie Reiner at Monkey Bar. I got to know Richard when he worked at Prime Meats, where he hosted a popular “Tiki Takeover” series (I think I still have a hangover from his one-night-only ‘70s event; I blame it on his Bartender on Acid). After Prime Meats he was part of the opening bar team at Slowly Shirley (the basement-level bar beneath The Happiest Hour) and later at Existing Conditions before helping launch Sunken Harbor Club.
And later this spring, Richard’s debut book, Tropical Standard: Cocktail Techniques and Reinvented Recipes, co-written with Ben Schaffer and featuring a foreword from Dave Arnold, will be published on May 16 from Countryman Press. The book features photographs by Nico Schinco and illustrations by Pearl Shen and promises to serve as a guidebook to the next wave of tropical cocktails, with 84 recipes covering vintage drinks, modern classics, and new-look favorites like the Beachcomber Negroni.
Read on as Richard shares a vibes-soaked mostly ‘70s and ‘80s playlist as well as his recipe for an updated take on the Palmetto cocktail.