James Beard Award semifinalist John Brown Underground perfects the intersection of cocktail and concoction

Weather Report (left) and Let Me Be Clear (right) are some of the current menu favorites. // Photo by Sophia Lail

James Beard Award semifinalist John Brown’s Underground perfects the intersection of cocktail and concoction. 

Bartending sometimes emulates pop culture’s take on witchcraft; combining elixirs, potions, and spirits. Liquor is carefully measured, herbs are pestled, and recipes are nailed down to a science. Some of Kansas’s best mixologists who craft these drinks that emulate potions are right outside the metro and are definitely worth the day trip. 

John Brown’s Underground has sat quietly on a side street off of Lawrence’s famous Massachusetts St., but the cocktail lounge’s impact on the world of mixology has not been so silent. This year, they were named a James Beard Award semifinalist. As the Kansas City metro has begun to buzz about the talents of John Brown’s Underground, their mixology expertise and witty take on the upscale cocktail lounge has been no secret to locals. 

With a seasonal menu crafted in-house and table service, John Brown’s Underground is not like other girls—at least the other girls in Lawrence. Alongside their tight-knit team, manager Dante Colombo can be attributed to the bar’s unique take on the somewhat redundant art of going out for a drink. 

“It was kind of like this natural thing that happened here; It’s rare for a bar, especially in a college town, to operate on table service. That’s not typical,” Colombo says. “When we think about the people who we look up to and things we strive for, they are mostly bars in places like New York, London, Singapore. All these places do this sort of high concept cocktail bar operation. It’s a pretty new phenomenon, relatively.” 

John Brown Underground’s tight-knit staff collaborates to create their iconic menus. // Photo by Sophia Lail

Instead of fighting to get the attention of bartenders, whether by passive-aggressively staring at them or flashing your credit card, the bartenders come to you. Dare I say, it’s refreshing after years spent wiggling elbows between people to claim a chance at ordering a drink. 

Their current menu, A Day in The Park, takes bar-goers’ senses through the infamous parks of major cities across the world, such as New York City, Mexico City, Tokyo, Havana, London, and of course, Lawrence. 

When flipping through the menu, you’re met with experimental cocktails with a long list of ingredients, and likely some words you don’t recognize. Capurro pisco? Sure. Cocchi demerara reduction? Sounds… good to me! Despite the daunting lists of ingredients, the cocktail lounge finds the perfect balance of cocktail creation. 

From the Mexico City sub-menu is a drink titled Time For Slurp—a corn-washed margarita with Urupan Charanada Blanco, mellow corn, nixta corn liquor, charred corn, lime corn salt, topped with a Lawrence local Caramelo corn chip. This elixir really puts the corn in corn.

Unexpectedly, the drink is tangy and fresh; Yet, with its slight Frito-Lay esque taste, it challenges the usual cocktail. If you’re into the weird and off-kilter, this might just be the drink for you. Despite its unusual corn theme, it is genuinely a pretty safe drink to order, as it is wildly palatable. 

Another favorite off their menu from the Lawrence sub-menu is the Let Me Be Clear—a fruity tart tiki drink with a twist. With Probitas rum, Clairin Le Rocher, Worthy Park jungle rum, bitter bianco, clarified pineapple, and lime acid, it is truly a crowd-pleaser. On the menu, it is coined as a “clarified jungle bird”—a revered tiki drink that originated in the ‘70s. 

“It’s a staple on the menu. The body on it is so round and luscious, and I love pineapple. It’s just such a well-crafted, well-rounded drink, I’ll never get sick of,” bartender Mac says. 

As their menu reflects the soul of their operation, Colombo decided it would be best to fully immerse himself and his staff in the collaboration and creation of the menu, resulting in a quarterly week-long closure of the bar until their aspirations for their next menu come to fruition. 

Despite being a more upscale cocktail lounge, the space feels inviting and warm. // Photo by Sophia Lail

“Generally, we start with a conceptual idea,” Colombo says. “The first questions we ask ourselves is ‘What story do we want to tell? What’s inspiring to us right now? What haven’t we done yet? What’s a cool way to think about artistically translating art into drinks? Is there a concept in an art style that we think makes sense for this moment?’”

“We don’t always have the thesis statement right away, but we often will agree on a general idea for something, and then we kind of refine that as we go next. We think a lot about our format. It’s a long process that we’ve obviously chosen, no one’s making us make it hard on ourselves, but that is where we find joy, and where our clientele finds joy as well. So we take it seriously.”

As the seasons begin to change, their team is starting to brainstorm their next menu. Despite not having a clear direction, there’s one thing they’re sure of: Summer-themed drinks are a must. A current contender? A frozen raspberry gin and tonic.

So, we’ve made it official: A cocktail patio moment is imminent. How much will it run you, though? Currently, their menu drinks range from $12 to $23; But they pack a punch. 

“It’s all fun. Yes, these costs more than your average drink, certainly in this town, but the idea is hopefully that you want to come and have a whole experience and enjoy our whole process—the creative process,” Colombo says. “That’s our baseline; Do the drinks taste good? Yeah. But where we really find joy is the people and each other and the whole community.”

Their current menu is anticipated to be available for most of May, with their upcoming summer menu just around the corner. Although the theming is still in the works, get ready for something that reflects the best of what summer has to offer. 

John Brown’s Underground is located at 7 E 7th St, Lawrence, KS 66044.