In this eye-opening conversation with Walter Meyenberg, founder of Hanky Panky, some of the topics we discuss include:

• Why this bar, which is so famous for being a modern “speakeasy,” wasn’t originally planned that way, and how they evolved from not even charging for drinks to winning international awards for hospitality.
• What it’s like to locate, enter, and drink at Hanky Panky, according to our mixological travel correspondent, Adam Bauer.
• How Walter thinks about developing individual members of his bar team and building a community of international “friends of Hanky Panky,” and why this people-first mentality allowed the program to thrive, even during the pandemic.
• We also explore some of Walter’s other projects, like his bar Casa de las Brujas, which places an all-female bar team in the spotlight, and Liquid Show, an educational initiative launched in partnership with other leading bar figures in Mexico City.
• Along the way, we cover the books that inspired Walter’s approach to hospitality, the design aesthetic behind throne-like bar stools and mirrored tables, foundational memories of being fed and pampered by his Lebanese mother, and much, much more.

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