Bryant's Cocktail Lounge Mythbusters

Bryant's first opened in February of 1938. That's 73 years of serving the finest cocktails in Milwaukee. After so many years, there are bound to be a few myths and misunderstandings surrounding such a historic business. Some of the myths are fun and add to the charm. For instance, did Frank Sinatra used to frequent Bryant's on trips to Northern Wisconsin? We may never know, but enough old timers tell that tale. Others are just plain ridiculous- no, Al Capone did not run a bootlegging business out of the basement of Bryant's.

There are three common myths that surround Bryant's that we have decided to address.

1. Bryant's used to have a drink menu.

We hear this a lot. People swear that Bryant's has or had a drink list and, the last time they were in, they ordered off a menu. Sometimes this frustrates people so much that they leave, believing that we are hiding the menu from them!

We heard this myth so often that we had to ask the old manager (who worked at Bryant's since the 1950s) whether there was, at one time or another, a drink menu. She, as well as every other employee, insist that there never was a menu at Bryant's. It was the original owner Bryant's philosophy that a menu only leads to limited choice and prevents experimentation.

While we agree with Bryant, there is another, more practical set of reasons. First, who would be able to read a menu at Bryant's? It is so dark, we would have to make the print really large. This would make the menu, which would contain over 400 drinks, the size of Webster's unabridged dictionary. If we did have a menu, how the heck would we classify all the drinks? We would have to have a cross referencing index or perhaps a card catalog. Purely from a practical standpoint, our staff is much better at helping you choose a drink.

2. Bryant's Hates and/or Owns At Random

At Random, the similarly styled cocktail lounge located in Bay View, is often mixed up with Bryant's. At Random, which does have a menu, is also dimly lit with delicious cocktails. The feeling is different, but there are definitely a lot of similarities.

Since these two establishments share similarities, people start assuming things. The most common belief is that there is an angry rivalry between Bryant's and At Random. The second, less common belief is that we own or used to own At Random.

The truth is that Bryant's Cocktail Lounge and At Random are similar because the owner of At Random used to work at Bryant's. In the 1950s, he left and opened his own lounge in Bay View. This is why you will see some of the same cocktails at both establishments. They also share a similar style that was more common back in the day. There actually used to be several swanky cocktail lounges in Milwaukee- Bryant's and At Random are just the two best ones that happened to survive several periods of changing tastes.

There is no rivalry between At Random and Bryant's. In fact, the owners were friends for many years. Our staff will often go to At Random on their nights off- after all, where else would you go for a tasty cocktail if you didn't want to go back to work? We believe that there is plenty of room in this city for two cool cocktail lounges and Bryant's and At Random both offer great places to have a cocktail.

3. Bryant's is Haunted

It is difficult to confirm or deny this one. There have been a ton of strange happenings at Bryant's, but we have never been able to catch any on tape.

Footsteps, voices, stools moving on their own, customers being tapped on the shoulder only to turn around and find no one there. We have also seen shadows and people who were not there. Even our most skeptical staff members are suspicious of some of the weird happenings at Bryant's.

After 73 years, there have been two owners, several long term staff members and countless customers who have passed away. They all loved Bryant's and, if you believe in this sort of thing, would probably try to come back to sit at the bar and enjoy an Old Fashioned. I can't think of a better place to spend an afterlife!

I hope you have enjoyed this edition of Bryant's Mythbusters. Do you have a Bryant's myth you would like explained? Let us know and we will do our best!