Colleagues and Lovers' refreshing cocktails ideal for sultry Savannah summer

Mixology maven Jane Fishel, owner of East Liberty Street’s extraordinarily successful Savoy Society bar and restaurant, jumped at the opportunity to move a little further south and open a second business in midtown's Habersham Village.  I met with Fishel in her beautifully renovated space, Colleagues and Lovers, to discuss both her mad bartending wizardry and to sample the refreshing cocktails she recommends for our hot and sultry Savannah summer.

Fishel came to Savannah as a teenager in the '90s, just as her older sister Clara was opening the storied Café Metropole on the site of present day’s The Grey. She said she owes her bartending skills to her first teacher, Christan Depken, owner of Savannah’s premier wine shop, Le Chai - galerie du vin. Depken ran the wine program at Café Metropole and was at the forefront of introducing classic cocktails to Savannah’s restaurant scene.

“Back then, no one even knew what classic cocktails were. We were making Manhattans, we were making Old Fashioneds and Martinis, we were using fresh mint from the garden to make Mint Julips,” Fishel recalled. “That’s how I learned how to bartend. We only used quality liquor, we made our own syrups, and we fresh-squeezed all our juices.”

After high school, Fishel worked at Vinnie Van Go-Go’s and Typhoon, before spending time in New York and San Francisco. “When I was in New York, the cocktail culture was really taking off. The bar down the street from me, Hotel Delmano, was making beautiful, beautiful cocktails ― really at the forefront of the cocktail renaissance in the city.”

She returned to Savannah in 2010 to help her sister open The Sparetime cocktail bar, restaurant and event space in the seemingly doomed corner of Congress Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (most recently home to Fat Radish and Folklore), and she later worked as food and beverage manager at Andaz Savannah.

On Halloween night 2019, the self-named Queen of Fernet opened the chic yet funky Savoy Society with her partner Matt Garappolo, co-owner of the infamous dive-bar, The Original Pinkie Masters. With such a legacy of entrepreneurial coolness, it is little wonder that Paula Lechter advocated for Fishel to take over the lease of the Bar.Food space following the death of her larger-than-life business partner, Johnny Baker, from COVID in 2020. Today, the reimagined restaurant and bar is fast becoming a beloved neighborhood hangout, upscale with a Bohemian vibe, and far away from the craziness of our historic district.

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Whiskey, rum and matcha, oh my!

As we speak, manager Warren Cooey, who also helped open Savoy Society, prepares his favorite summer-appropriate cocktails.  Fishel says she and Cooey created the cocktails for Colleagues and Lovers (or C&L) together, “but with this summer menu of more light and refreshing beverages, each bartender had the opportunity to create a new drink.”

Cooey presents a ‘C&L Highball #2’ created by bartender Alexis and served in a glass beer tankard. Looking like a pale green iced matcha tea, he tells me this unusual cocktail is a blend of Japanese whiskey, yuzu liqueur, matcha, honey and soda and, “is a take on a classic Japanese Highball.” Filled with ice cubes made from matcha -  powdered  Japanese green tea - the drink is light, refreshing, crisp and so thirst-quenching I could easily have finished it off then and there. But three more delectable summer drinks had been prepared…

Next up was the ‘Built to Spill,’ a light spritz served in a wine glass made from the quinine flavored Italian aperitif wine Cocchi Americano, the Italian vegetal and slightly bitter aperitif Cynar, Pamplemousse (pink grapefruit) liqueur, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and bubbles. Not overly sweet, it is effervescent and tasty while low in alcohol content – perfect for our steamy temperatures.

A whiskey lover, the next cocktail was more exciting to my palette: ‘East Meets West’ is made from Utah’s High West double rye, Smith & Cross Jamaican rum, strawberry-infused Aperol, Orgeat syrup, and lemon. Presented in a highball glass filled with ice and garnished with a sprig of mint and a strawberry, it is difficult to explain just how insanely delicious this cocktail is. It’s smooth and sweet, with a definite whiskey undertone, yet light and summery and, oh, so very drinkable. Cooey describes it as “our take on a classic Mai Tai – just very, very tasty!”

C&L has been sure to include three bespoke virgin cocktails on their summer menu: the ‘Yaupon Sour,’ featuring locally produced yaupon tea; the refreshing ‘Lamara,’ combining non-alcoholic Amethyst, spicy serrano, cucumber, lemon, and coconut water; and Cooey’s own ‘Garden Party’ made with non-alcoholic Seedlip gin. As I sip this last creation, he tells me “it contains a little bit of cinnamon syrup and our own tepache  -  a fermented pineapple beer that’s like a kombucha in that it has a little bit of effervescence and a strong, almost funky flavor. It’s light and refreshing because of the lime juice.”

In addition to her creative mixology acumen, Fishel is an art aficionado and has been a supporter of high-profile local artists since her days at Café Metropole (“back when I could afford to buy them!”) We sit under a Marcus Kenney collage and a Shea Slemmer painting, and opposite two works-on-paper by Betsy Cain. In the very back of the long narrow space, a Trish Anderson wall-hanging of looping, dripping fibers and yarns harmonizes with the bar’s serene color palette. Working with Susan Laney of Laney Contemporary, Fishel curates artwork to complement the space, while also providing a “rotating gallery wall,” which has already hosted four shows. Next up will be a selection from the gritty Late Night Polaroids series taken by acclaimed photographer Emily Earl, executive director of ARTS Southeast.

While we are meeting, a pop-up dinner is being prepared by the chef of Saint Bibiana, the restaurant at Stay Bardo (the former Mansion on Forsyth) slated to open in September. Fishel also hosts twice-monthly pop-up Tuesday lunches when more of her hospitality friends take over the kitchen. She says that C&L’s own Joshua Holland “has created a Spanish/Italian crossover menu. He makes all the bread in house and makes all the pastas.” Additionally, he hosts pizza night on Wednesdays, a $20-and-under Blue Plate Special dinner every Saturday (paired, of course, with an old-school martini), and a once-a-month steak house dinner (complete with white tablecloths and vinyl-only music).

Colleagues and Lovers is a not-to-be-missed neighborhood bar and restaurant featuring not-to-be-missed, highly inventive and highly delicious summer cocktails that I can’t recommend highly enough. Truly, wizardry at work. Check them out at colleaguesandloverssavannah.com, on Instagram @colleagues_and_lovers and, of course, at 4523 Habersham St. in midtown.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah cocktail culture colleagues and lovers highball spritz yaupon