If success is defined by passion and mindfulness, the owners and operators of Pearl’s, Columbia Tusculum’s newest bar, are already set with a home run on their hands.
Co-owner John Tieman, a local developer since 2005, purchased the building that is now Pearl’s in 2010. The 100-year-old structure was the last-standing two-family residential property in a commercially zoned district on Eastern Avenue. After using the space for his personal office, Tieman decided to turn it into a bar.
Along with longtime friends-turned-business-partners Scott Yards and Mike Finley, the group applied for and received the first liquor license for the new Columbia Tusculum Entertainment District and started construction on the bar in March of 2014.
“I’ve lived in the area for years, and I love to go out and visit different places, but I felt like there was no place to just go get a drink and chill out close to home,” Tieman says. “Once we figured that out, that drove [the bar’s development].”
The bar’s initial operating name was Last House Standing. However, the name was changed to Pearl’s to honor the home’s previous owner, Pearl, who passed away in 2009. With that, the vision of the entire establishment was designed to maintain a sense of authenticity and honor its former use as a residence. The bar’s aesthetic and heart was centered on the idea of a consciously repurposed space; Tieman recycled and reused every material possible, with an aim to balance the old with the new.
“That commitment is why it took nearly a year to renovate,” he says.
This careful reworking can be seen throughout the establishment. The bricks that came from the original chimney were used to create the freestanding fireplace on the 1,000-square-foot patio. The side paneling was refinished and reassembled; the wood floors, window frames and ceiling joists are all original; and the wood that lines the steps to the private area upstairs is the original exterior wall, simply deep cleaned and patched up where necessary. Even the building’s whitewashed exterior looks lived-in and antiqued.
“We wanted to keep the building as it was as much as possible,” Tieman says.
As mindful as the construction of the establishment was, the same went for the care and consideration of the staff and service. Pearl’s, at its core, is a neighborhood bar, and it will operate that way.
The drink options are standard bar fare, but with a focus on quality and the occasional surprise. And the small bites menu ($5.50-$7.50) has four interesting options: oven-toasted soft pretzels, cocoa-sea salt or chipotle-lime cashews, prosciutto-stuffed cherry peppers with baguette, and jerky — black-cherry barbecue pork, sweet-chipotle beef or lemon-garlic turkey.
“We sell a lot of beer, but we also want to provide classic cocktails with a twist,” General Manager Clint Hepfner says.
The bar’s Manhattans are made with Bulleit Rye whiskey, as are its Old Fashioneds. The Mojito is a darker one, made with Captain Morgan’s rum, and all juices are fresh-squeezed.
“It doesn’t matter how slammed we are, we will be engaging with customers, getting to know them, all the while making 57 Moscow Mules with fresh-squeezed lime juice, which just happened last Saturday night,” Hepfner says.
It is hard not think about Cheers when thinking about Pearl’s — it’s clear that the motivation behind this place is to have a space in which everybody really does know your name. That, combined with the artful consideration for its architecture and design, should pique anyone’s interest in a drink — including Pearl’s popular Moscow Mule (recipe below).
Moscow Mule
Ingredients:
1 ½ oz. Russian Standard vodka
Ginger beer
½ lime, juiced
½ lemon, juiced
Instructions: In a cocktail glass, fill with ice and 1 ½ ounces of Russian Standard vodka. Then, fill glass with ginger beer. Pour into mixer and squeeze ½ of the lime and ½ of the lemon into container. Shake and pour back into glass.
PEARL’S is located at 3520 Eastern Ave., Columbia Tusculum. More info: pearlscincy.com.
This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2015.