After partnering with the Merchant Hotel in Belfast to win the ‘World’s Best Cocktail Bar’ and the ‘World’s Best Hotel Cocktail Bar’ we followed Jack McGarry and Sean Muldoon to New York to open the now famous Dead Rabbit Bar. Since opening in 2012, the Drinksology studio has served as much more than just a design partner. Together with Jack and Sean we pursued a relentless timetable of evolution for the first five years that culminated in the highest of recognitions.
Tales of the Cocktail &
Worlds50 Best Bar Awards:
50 Best: Best Bar in the World 2016
Tales: World’s Best Bar 2015
Tales: World’s Best Menu 2013, 2015
Tales: Best American Bar 2014
Tales: World’s Best Drink Selection 2014
Tales: World’s Best New Cocktail Bar 2013
Tales: International Bartender of the Year 2013
50 Best: Best Bar in North America 2013, 2014
Other Noteworthy Awards:
Time Out Magazine: Best New Cocktail Bar 2014
Village Voice: Best New Bar 2013
New York Magazine: Best Everyman’s Bar 2013
Design and Branding Awards:
New York Design Awards: Best Publication 2014
Irish Print Awards: Best Bound Book 2013
Twice winning the World’s Best Cocktail Bar at the most prestigious awards
Brand Architecture
Building on our clients base concept of the 1850’s Dead Rabbit gang in New York’, we layered the visual and narrative brand strategy alongside the design architecture that defined the most successful years.
Interior Design
We designed the interior spaces in New York and Austin, blending functional and aesthetic requirements with highly detailed design packs that helped the client achieve their true vision of the spaces.
Menu Design
Twice voted ‘World’s Best Cocktail Menu’ at the Tales of the Cocktail ‘Spirited Awards’. The menus set new industry standards at the time for every touch point of production values.
Product Design
We didn’t just work with our client to create a world renowned hospitality venue - we also helped extend the brand in a multitude of directions including the design of the Dead Rabbit Irish Whiskey
Book Development
Over the years we created 3 Best Selling books together culminating in ‘Mixology and Mayhem’, that seamlessly blending gritty "Gangs of New York" graphic novel artwork with complex, world-class recipes.
Not just a bar.
A brand
When owners Sean and Jack moved to New York, our promise to them was to work hand in hand and build the World’s best cocktail bar ‘brand’, not just another world class bar. It was an intense time. For every message of friendly encouragement was another doubting whether a gritty concept ‘pub’ could really garner the same level of success we had achieved together in the opulent Merchant Hotel. To reach these dizzy heights again we needed to regroup and redefine the idea of strong hospitality brand foundations that would transport guests to the mean streets of 1850’s New York. The branding was hand drawn and supported with a suite of secondary marks that set the style for the wave of design that was to come. Building on these strong foundations the Dead Rabbit achieved what many said was impossible - turning a sawdust covered floor venue with as much love for a pint of Guinness as a cocktail into the the envy of the world.
More room.
More mayhem
We were commissioned to design the bulk of the legendary bar meet cocktail lounge. There were 3 main areas to consider, the ground floor Taproom, the first floor Parlour and the staff areas. Starting with the Taproom, it doubled in size with a dedicated Irish Coffee Bar, a couple of extra bathrooms and a fancy-schmancy kitchen. Whilst the ground floor Taproom Bar is the engine house the first floor Parlour Bar really is the headquarters, the reason people travel from all over the globe to sip on one of the cocktails. Below are a few pics of the space. Oh – and what’s that you see at end? That’s right: snugs. Two of ’em. Who doesn't love a snug!
Each Mixed Drinks List in the trilogy is something special to behold, with a heady mix of leather, violence and good auld Irish storytelling. Two-times winner of 'The World's Best Cocktail Menu' at the Spirited awards, these menus sold over 20,000 copies in three years and came with their own box set. At Drinksology we nurtured the series of 80+ page hard-backed books from conception to execution. Menu direction, story writing, illustration, design and printing are all part of the work. Each book features a distinct three-part narrative, including features by industry titans Dave Broom and David Wondrich and Master Distiller Barry Crockett.
Twice creating the World’s Best Menu
Best selling books, whiskey & glassware.
Our shared ambition to build a global brand rather than just a bar guided us towards the right strategic projects. Among these collaborations, three specific projects stood out. First, the Dead Rabbit Irish Whiskey required premium packaging and branding matching the venue's formidable reputation. Next, their award-winning books, including The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual and Mixology & Mayhem, adopting a completely different take on cocktail publishing. Seamlessly blending a gritty "Gangs of New York" narrative and graphic novel artwork with complex recipes, these best-sellers successfully brought the bar’s boundary-pushing magic directly to global consumers. Finally, we designed the bespoke glassware for their iconic Irish Coffee, providing the perfect physical touchpoint for their signature serve. Each element is small on its own, but together they build a powerful, cohesive, global brand footprint.
