Sasha Petraske
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Sasha Nathan Petraske (March 16, 1973 – August 21, 2015) was the founder of the New York City cocktail bar Milk & Honey, as well as a partner and creative force behind many of the world's most highly regarded bars.[1] During his lifetime he was credited with inventing modern cocktail culture.[2]
Petraske was born in Greenwich Village, New York City[3] to Alan and Anita Petraske, an administrator in the health care industry and a Village Voice fact-checker.[4] Often described as a savant, Petraske dropped out of Stuyvesant High School at the age of 17, and never received a formal post-secondary education.[3] After traveling cross-country, he joined the U.S. Army. He served in Alpha Company 2nd/75th Ranger Regiment and engineered his exit after three years of service by falsely claiming that he was gay.[3] Following his departure from the army, he tended bar, ultimately opening Milk and Honey.[3]
His bar was known for its focus on attention-to-detail on classic cocktail recipes and a strict set of "Rules of Etiquette" to ensure a polite and enjoyable drinking experience, while carefully minimizing unnecessary costs and maintaining consistent recipe ratios through pioneering the use of a bartending jigger to ensure precise pours of liquid cocktail ingredients, an unusual practice at the time.[3][5] Cocktail historian Dale DeGroff described Petraske as a "Solve the problem, common-sense kind of guy."[3]
Petraske was very prolific and together with partners was the creative responsible for dozens of notable venues.[2] A partial list is included below.
- Bohanan's, San Antonio (2006)
- Dutch Kills, NY (2009)
- East Side Company Bar, NY (2005)
- The Everleigh, Melbourne (2011)
- Little Branch, NY (2005)
- Middle Branch, NY (2012)
- Milk and Honey, London (2002)
- Milk and Honey, NY (1999)
- The Varnish, Los Angeles (2009)[6]
- White Star, NY (2008)
- Wm. Farmer & Sons (2015)[7]
In May 2015, Petraske married journalist Georgette Moger.[4]
Death
He was found dead at his home in Hudson, New York on August 21, 2015.[4]
