If there’s one thing you know you’re going to get at Boatman Spirits Co. when it opens in late May, it’s a damn good cocktail. Curated over the last decade-plus by local cocktail legend and Boatman co-owner and Manager of Beverage and Hospitality Zack Thomas—of Foundation and The Crunkleton fame, to name just a couple—the extensive menu boasts ample flavorful ops to satisfy all taste preferences.
And these aren’t just your run-of-the-mill ’tails—see: even boat-inspired bevs like the Punch Romaine, aka the last drink served on the Titanic (you know, before Rose didn’t make room for Jack on the door). Reminiscent of a fluffy snow cone, the rum- and white wine-based bev with egg white, shaved ice and soda is served in a big coupe glass for one.
“There are so many unique flavors in Raleigh that not a lot of people have tapped into,” says Thomas. Launching with bevs crafted around spirits the Boatman team has come to love, the forthcoming distillery addition in a few months will give Thomas a broader arsenal—“like a cocktail bar with a lot more tools I can utilize,” he muses of the restaurant-bar-distillery trio.
Similar to Death & Co Market’s Cocktail Codex, Boatman’s menu will be divided into classifications based on how the ingredients interact with the base spirit. Think sections like old-fashioned/julep-style drinks; “duets” (or “alcohol modifiers”) like Manhattans and martinis; “harmony-style” drinks such as sours; and “ensembles” including Tiki drinks and the like. NA selects round out a refined program to ease selection.
Leaning into the restaurant’s Mediterranean theme are such cocktail standouts as the Cleopatra julep, feat. a fragrant mix of olive oil-washed rye whiskey, cinnamon, rose, myrrh, cardamom and mint reminiscent of what historians have determined about the Queen of the Nile’s signature perfume; and the West Side Garden, paying homage to the Mediterranean meals that shaped Thomas’ West Raleigh upbringing via a medley of traditional ingredients like scotch, apricot and tahini.
Serving sips with a story, Raleigh history will be further reflected in bevs like the Black Velvet-esque Velvet Cloak—its name a nod to the historic Hillsborough Street inn—and Little Italy-inspired Little Raleigh, anchored by an acorn amaro Thomas is crafting in collab with Boatman co-owner, distiller and Production Manager Geremy Prichard.
“The cocktail medium is awesome in that it’s one of the few culinary experiences where you have to tell a story,” emphasizes Thomas. “Why do we call a Manhattan a Manhattan instead of rye whiskey and vermouth? It’s meant to talk about the story.” And soon, that drink menu will write its own story—one that’ll have Raleighites talking for months to come. boatmanspirits.com
The 7,000-plus-square-foot distillery, bar and restaurant is now serving Med-inspired bites and bevs.
If you thought the Seaboard Station’s redevelopment was already transformative for the city, just wait. Enter Boatman Spirits Co., a 7,850-square-foot combined craft distillery, taproom, bar and restaurant. Now open on the ground floor of The Miles apartment building, Boatman is led by a stacked team of locals: owner/CEO George Ghneim and managing partners Geremy Prichard, Zack Thomas and Aaron Lambert.
Merging myriad minds, musings and masteries, Boatman Spirits Co. was born from a conversation Ghneim, an esteemed local veterinarian formerly of DTR bar/restaurant Riviera, struck up with Prichard, who was then working at a bar adjacent to one of his offices. Both were interested in some form of a distillery concept producing beer, wine and spirits—and Prichard came equipped with a NC State degree in bioprocessing science with experience winemaking in California to boot.
Simultaneously, Lambert had just departed his post as GM at Whiskey Kitchen with a detailed distillery/bar business proposal up his sleeve and plans in the works for a new bar with Thomas—well-known for running bar programs at Crawford and Son, Foundation and Killjoy.
Za’atar Wings | Photo by Forrest MasonObsequy | Photo by Forrest Mason
“As we spoke more, we realized it’d be such amazing synergy to do this altogether,” reflects Ghneim. “It just really clicked, and we realized very quickly these were the right pieces to start with.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
And history is precisely what’s at the forefront of Boatman, boasting an MO of “invoking journeys beyond, departures and escapes from the everyday,” says Lambert. “We just wanted people to get away—to depart from their lives, depart from just a normal bar.” Hence the name, a nod to many cultures’ and religions’ belief of paying a boatman to ferry you across a body of water to the afterlife once you die—not to mention the branding, devised by local designer Paul Tuorto—all inspired by a range of myths, rites, journeys, places, relics and practices.
In the same vein, the space itself appears “super-old but brand-new,” notes Lambert, who likens the vibe to an Indiana Jones discovery of some lost temple that’s “extremely pristine and looks like it was built yesterday, but at the same time, it’s always been there.”
Designed in partnership with Mauer Architecture and Bryan Costello (who also lent his designer touch to such local spots as Heights House and Madre), the interior boasts a “grandiose cathedral aspect” and catacombs-like feel consisting of stone and metal surfaces, dark ceilings and floors, ample plants, high windows offering lots of natural light, a water feature, and even “a bar that appears to have been handhewn out of the living rock,” maintains Lambert.
Photo by Forrest Mason
Varied takes on classic spirits will run the gamut from vodka, gin and brandy to eventually whiskey, made with old traditions from different cultures and local ingredients when possible. Starring in cocktails created by Thomas, those liquors will be complemented by Mediterranean street food as an ode to Ghneim’s Palestine heritage.
Ultimately, Boatman taps into a, well, untapped market locally. “We’ve kind of been disillusioned with our Raleigh scene,” says Lambert. … “This is going to be a place that’s uncanny and otherworldly—it’s not going to feel like somewhere else. It’s going to feel like an escape and departure from the norm.” So, somewhere to “leave it all behind,” indeed. @boatmanspiritsco
