Phil Ward
Philip Ward was born and mostly raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He wound up in New York City via chance, a plane ticket to Rome, and four months in Europe and Africa. He stumbled into the Flatiron Lounge and the, until then, unknown world of cocktails in June 2003 under the tutelage of Julie Reiner. Hired as a barback, he quickly became enamored with the drink making process and became obsessed once promoted to bartender. He would spend three years at Flatiron, the latter time as head bartender. He then moved on to help open the Pegu Club with Audrey Saunders where he again served the latter portion of his time as Head Bartender. Seeking something smaller, more intimate, and the chance to run his own program, in January 2007 he jumped ship to open and run the beverage program at what has become the renowned Death & Company in New York. After a little over two years of service there, and again seeking a new venture, he and Ravi Derossi opened the much anticipated Mayahuel in New York City, the first Tequila/Mezcal cocktail bar. He lives in Brooklyn with the woman he loves and his perpetually hungry cat Ralph. In his minimal bit of spare time he is a voracious reader, a bad writer, and a worse painter.