The Violet Hour: An Appeciation

One of the Founding Bars of the Cocktail Renaissance Has Closed.

The bar at The Violet Hour in Chicago.

The Violet Hour, cocktail bar that opened in 2007 and, more than any other, helped to define the craft cocktail scene in Chicago, announced a few days ago that it had closed after 18 years in business and would not reopen.

As usual in these situations, an uncooperative landlord figured into the equation. “Several weeks ago, we closed temporarily due to unexpected damage to the building,” the Instagram post read. “Despite extensive efforts and negotiations, we were regretfully unable to reach a resolution with our landlord.”

It’s a heavy loss for a city that has been one of the nation’s leading cocktail centers for 15 years now. When The Violet Hour opened, there was virtually no craft cocktail scene in the city. Toby Maloney, one of the partners, had bartended at Milk & Honey, Flatiron Lounge and Pegu Club in New York and brought that experience and skill set to The Violet Hour. By his own acknowledgment, the bar was heavily influenced by what was happening in New York, the city that, along with San Francisco, largely led the cocktail revival in The United States.

Chicago didn’t quite take to The Violet Hour’s aesthetic when it opened. It all seemed a bit precious and high-hat. There was a secret entrance. You often had to wait in line. There was a posted list of rules of conduct, inspired by a similar one at Milk & Honey. The bar didn’t carry vodka or olives. It really was the bar’s way or the highway, and initially customers and critics bucked. But they quickly turned heel and came to love the serious and seriously delicious cocktails The Violet Hour was turning out.

To a certain extent, The Violet Hour was a special occasion bar. It certainly looked that way, with its long marble bar, chandeliers, fireplace, high ceilings, hushed color scheme and plush drapes.

When I met my publisher at Ten Speed Press for the first time, it was over drinks at The Violet Hour, sitting in those absurdly long-backed, lavender, upholstered chairs. When my second book for Ten Speed Press, A Proper Drink, was published, the Chicago leg of the book tour was held at The Violet Hour. That made sense, since the bar featured significantly in that book, which was a history of the modern cocktail revival.

The book event for A Proper Drink at The Violet Hour in December of 2016.

For the book, I interviewed several figures who had worked at The Violet Hour in its early days, including founder Toby Maloney, as well as bartenders Mike Ryan, Kirk Estopinal, and Robert Haynes. Other notable bartenders who worked there in the early years included Steven Cole, Kyle Davidson, Michael Rubel and Ira Koplowitz.

But then, The Violet Hour had often figured prominently in my work. Several of its drinks were included in Modern Classics of the Cocktail Renaissance, the cocktail app I created with Martin Doudoroff in 2016. And some of those same drinks were included in my subsequent book, Modern Classic Cocktails, published in 2022.

The main sitting room at The Violet Hour.

In fact, The Violet Hour placed more drinks in the Modern Classics app than any other bar, save Milk & Honey. They included Art of Choke, Bitter Giuseppe, Juliet & Romeo, Eeyore’s Lament and Paper Plane. The last one always surprises people because they associate the drink so closely with Milk & Honey, the New York bar where its inventor, Sam Ross, worked. But Ross created the drink for Maloney to put on the opening cocktail menu at The Violet Hour.

Like Milk & Honey, The Violet Hour had an impact beyond its home city. Estopinal, a New Orleans native, worked there while New Orleans was recovering from Hurricane Katrina. When he returned to New Orleans to help open the bar Cure, he took the ideas he learned at The Violet Hour with him. Similarly, Ira Koplowitz, another graduate of the bar, applied his knowledge when he moved to Milwakee to co-found the Bittercube bitters company. Susie Hoyt, meanwhile, moved to Louisville to open The Silver Dollar.

The Violet Hour’s notorious rules.

Within its own city, the Violet hour begat many bars. Bradley Bolt left to open Bar Deville and then Neon Wilderness. Steven Cole opened Barrelhouse Flat. Robert Haynes opened Analogue. Mike Ryan opened Sable Kitchen & Bar. Nandini Khaund opened Cindy’s Rooftop at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel.

All those bars, except Cindy’s, are now are sadly closed. But for a time there in the 2010s, the influence of The Violet Hour dominated the Chicago cocktail scene. And you can still feel the bar’s impact. During a recent trip to Chicago, I dined at the new restaurant Il Carciofo, where Kyle Davidson is running the bar.

It is fortunate, then, that Maloney managed to publish The Bartender’s Manifesto in 2022, with the help of Chicago journalist Emma Janzen. Between its covers are many of the cocktails that were served at The Violet Hour over the years.

The Violet Hour menu during my final visit to the bar.

Chicago will survive without The Violet Hour. There are so many great cocktail bars in the city now, among them Best Intensions, Billy Sunday, Sportman’s Club, Scofflaw, Gus’ Sip & Dip, Three Dots and a Dash, Moneygun, Kumiko, Aviary, Queen Mary, Meadowlark, the new Friends of Friends and many more. (The last two are run by another alum of the bar, Abe Vucekovich.) But the scene lacks an anchor bar now.

My final visit to the Violet hour was last February. It was actually a bit of an afterthought. I had already been to three bars that night and was walking to the L station at Damen and Milwaukee, when I decided at the last moment to have a nightcap at The Violet hour.

It wasn’t my best experience at the bar. It was nearly empty, just me and four or five other night owls sitting at the bar. The talk was exclusively of cocktails, the kind of geeky conversations that were common when The Violet Hour opened but are today almost never heard at bars. The place felt very much frozen in its era. But what a great era that was.

Paper Plane (The Original)

Sam Ross, The Violet Hour, Chicago, 2007

Ross’ original version of the Paper Plane, the one he made for The Violet Hour’s opening menu, featured Campari. Later, he would replace that with Aperol, which is how we know the cocktail today.

• 3/4 ounce Bourbon

• 3/4 ounce Amaro Nonino Quintessentia

• 3/4 Campari

• 3/4 lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe.

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Odds and Ends…

Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop, the popular New York pizza chain, will be opening a location in Gowanus soon, at the location formerly occupied by Ample Hills… The team behind Valkyrie, one of the more prominent cocktail bars in Tulsa, OK, will be opening a new concept. It’s called Maestro, a cocktail bar focused on agave and sugarcane spirits. It will also have food, featuring a menu of small plates based on Latin American and Caribbean cuisine. Fredo Nogueira from Cane & Table in New Orleans is the consulting chef… Brooks 1890 Restaurant, a classic restaurant in Long Island City, Queens, which closed in January after 135 years in business under various owners and names, will soon be occupied by a new location of the Dim Sum Palace chain… Noah Rothbaum’s new book The Whiskey Bible is now available for pre-order. It will be released on Sept. 9… Throughout the month of July, the Royal Tavern in Philadelphia will feature a unique selection of hot dogs on its menu. A new lineup of dogs drops each week, and this year, you can submit your own hot dog creation. The winners will be featured on the "Dog Days" finale menu on July 31 and will remain available through the first week of August. Submissions close July 13th… Dolores, a new Mexico-City inspired cocktail bar and cantina, from the husband-and-wife team behind Winona’s, will open in Brooklyn, at 397 Tompkins Ave, on July 2. The bar is inspired by co-founder Emir Dupeyron’s childhood and youth growing up in Mexico City. Partner and beverage director, Leanne Favre, leads the bar program.