Jason Crawley & Dylan Howarth: Fortunate Son

SOME FOLKS ARE BORN TO OPEN BARS

Business partners in creative agency, the Drinks Cabinet and well-known Sydney drinks’ kings’, Jason Crawley and Dylan Howarth, have opened a bar together opposite the Enmore Theatre. Called Fortunate Son it will hone the extensive knowledge, experience and expertise of this dynamic duo and focus on cool drinks, warm service and great tunes. Drinks World finds out more from Jason Crawley.

DRINKS WORLD: What style of bar is Fortunate Son?

JASON CRAWLEY: The bar is essentially “bricolage”. It is the sum of the positive experiences we have had in bars all over the world. Guest experiences are our core passion, so old school classic bartending with warm service and cool drinks served swiftly to an incredible soundtrack of the world’s best singalong and arresting music.

DW: Tell us the meaning behind the name? Any connection to Creedence Clearwater Revival?

JC: You got it. Yes, we are a music-focused bar, and Creedence’s famous rebellion song is the signature soundtrack. It’s going to be a rebellious bar. We feel it is a sort of reset button for the industry.

DW: Why is now the right time to open your first bar?

JC: In sum we have just been waiting for the right venue to pop up in a location teeming with ‘our people’ - and being bang opposite Australia’s most iconic music theatre is just a dreamy feeling. People are out following their music passions - so they will be in a good mood - which is good energy we can harness and extend.

DW: Has this always been a dream to open a bar?

JC: Yes and no. Dylan and I have been in quite a few ventures over the last ten years, and bars always seemed unrealistic purely from a sparetime point of view. We are very busy with our agency The Drink Cabinet, old cars and we both have families, but this one just had to be done.

DW: You both have a lot of industry experience - have there been any situations throughout the whole process that you weren’t expecting?

JC: Mixed bag. We knew it was going to be incredibly hard work and between Dylan, his dad and uncle (and me being the labourer - tea maker) we have come across a few tough hurdles, more from a construction point of view. Dylan has a solid carpenter background, so I’m glad to say his detailed joinery is wildly ambitious but, his hard work and talent delivered an amazing product. I’d say the physical bar itself is on a biblical scale!

DW: Share with us details about the menu. How has this been constructed?

JC: It was designed to create fun and meaningful talking points that develop rituals. We did a Fortunate Son pop up with Jack Daniel’s a few weeks ago, and we had over 400 people going around saying “Smoke and Pancake”! (Austin Powers pronounced “Schmooowke and Pancake) which will (now we know people like it and get the joke) be a signature drink with JD, banana, maple and smoke and finished with some weird bitters.

DW: There is a heavy focus on sustainability at the moment. Will this practice be incorporated into your venue?

JC: As much as is possible, yes of course, but mostly we are trying to be just a bar. We don’t have any desire to shout out how positive our moral fabric is, or lean on any particular cocktail, ferment program or spirit focus. We want you to come and spin around on our comfy bar chairs, sing together and drink champagne!

DW: Would you do it again?

JC: 100 per cent! We feel we are building a little bit of history by delivering a bar that will hopefully produce a lifetime of fun and positive experiences for people. Don’t we need more of these?