Dive Bar Jukebox with Joseph Stinchcomb
"When the lights shut off. And it’s my turn to settle down."
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Dive Bar Jukebox
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? The 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…
Joseph Stinchcomb
Following last week’s DBJ with chef John Currence, we set up base camp in Mississippi for another Oxford native, bartender and bar owner Joseph Stinchcomb. Stinchcomb began his hospitality career as a dishwasher and prep cook Oxford’s popular live-music venue, Proud Larry’s, where he worked his way up to bartender.
His reputation grew beyond Oxford to the national scene when he became the beverage director at Saint Leo, Emily Blount’s upscale Italian-inspired restaurant known for wood-fired Neapolitan-via-the-American-South style pizza and inventive cocktails. Saint Leo received recognition from the James Beard Foundation Awards as semi-finalists for Best New Restaurant (2017) and Outstanding Bar Program (2019).
In 2018 Stinchcomb was the Bartender in Residence at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium and in 2019 was named a Southern Foodways Alliance Smith Fellow, which celebrates individuals whose work promises a positive impact on the southern region and its foodways. In 2020 Stinchcomb was selected to be a Sam Beall Fellow, which, before it was impacted by the pandemic, had him working and gaining experience at Blackberry Farm, Post Ranch Inn, The French Laundry, and Hotel Jerome.
In October 2021 Stinchcomb opened Bar Muse, a vest-pocket craft cocktail bar located inside the historic Lyric Theater, where he is co-owner and beverage director. “We wanted the bar to be a mix of a dive bar atmosphere and a high-end cocktail experience,” Stinchcomb told me when I interviewed him for a story for VinePair on Oxford’s drinking scene. “You will hear hip-hop blaring from the speakers but all the bartenders know how to mix you up something cool.”
I first met Joe in Charleston, South Carolina, in the summer of 2017 at BevCon. We were both hanging out at a barbecue joint drinking beer and listening to the band play and he came over and introduced himself. Since then I’ve been fortunate to call him a good friend and always enjoy spending time with him whenever I’m in Oxford or here in New York.
Joe was one of my favorite profiles in my book, Last Call, and that hot summer night we spent together bar-hopping through Oxford—from Saint Leo to City Grocery to The Blind Pig to sharing a flask of bourbon at Faulkner’s graveside. But perhaps a bigger thrill for both of us was when I collaborated with Andrew Bohrer for an update to my very first story for PUNCH on LEGO Bartenders.
As you can see, Joe has a thing for Chartreuse. A Last Word was his "final drink” in Last Call:
This is the last drink Stinchcomb would want to cross his lips before his eternal last call. When I asked him why, he rolls up the sleeve of his T-shirt to show off the tattoo of the Chartreuse logo on his right bicep. “For me, the Last Word is the alpha and the omega. It’s the perfect cocktail. It’s balanced, it’s citrusy, it’s tangy. You get those botanical notes from the gin. It’s the perfect last call drink. It’s what brought me into the industry, and I swear it’s what’s going to take me out.”
Joe gets “a little grimy” with his all-Atlanta hip-hop Dive Bar Jukebox playlist, but he notes it’s one that would be at home at most of his favorite dives and promises you’ll want to turn it up loud.