'She could do it all': Friends toast late Marie Zahn, 'heart' of Louisville cocktail scene

Bar owner Dennie Humphrey's favorite memory of longtime Louisville beverage director Marie Zahn is the day she asked to become a business partner in their ownership group.

She didn't have the money needed to become a part-owner. They laughed.

It didn't stop her.

"The Monday after that, she started a second job at Le Moo, and eight months later came to us with the $25,000," Humphrey recalled. "She saved all her money to come to us, and it got her in the bar business where she belonged. That's how she got to own her own bar. She busted her ass for months working doubles to get there."

It was a memorable moment, Humphrey said. He knew working with her would set the tone for their future.

"It was Marie's ability and passion that gave us the confidence coming out of Jimmy Can't Dance into High Horse and expand into the bar/ restaurant group we have become," said Brian Goodwin, another part-owner of the group. "She was the industry heart of the movement."

On Nov. 27, 2022, Marie Zahn, 39, passed away from a sudden medical event in her home. She is survived by her brother Evan Zahn, father Steve Zahn, aunt Carol Zahn, and two dogs, Lenny and Chico.

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Zahn, Goodwin and Humphrey worked together for many years with additional business partners Calvin Philley, Ben West and James Wise on a variety of bars across Louisville, including Jimmy Can't Dance, High Horse Bar, Darling's, and the newly-reopened Spring Street Bar & Grill.

Louisville bar fans might not know it, but Zahn had her hands in nearly a dozen Louisville bars before that, too, including MEAT, Butchertown Grocery, 732 Social, St. Charles Exchange, Proof on Main, and La Coop. She also spent several years at Hawthorne Innovations, a locally-owned bar consulting company.

Zahn's death was announced in a statement on High Horse's social media on Monday. The team wrote that she "changed people's lives with her energy and changed this city with her businesses that will now live on in her honor."

Humphrey said her death left a space that no one will ever fill.

"She was effortless behind the bar," he said. "She made cocktails approachable and pleasant for people. Her style was impeccable, from clothing to perfume to drinks. She had some crazy good mojo."

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In the days since her death, messages, condolences and stories have flooded social media from bartenders around Louisville. She was a mentor for many people, including Eric Wentworth, who now owns The Hub Louisville and Modica Superfood Cocktail Mix.

"There are some people that you encounter and just think, 'wow, they are something special,'" Wentworth wrote on Facebook. "I think everyone can agree that that was true for Marie Zahn. Working behind the bar with her was one of the highlights of my career. She was such a bright light, and she will forever be one of my favorites. Truly a sad day and a devastating loss for Louisville."

Eron Plevan, a bartender and beverage director who previously worked at Copper & Kings American Brandy Co. and the now-closed Gold Bar, worked under Zahn at his first bar, MEAT.

Plevan said Zahn was the one who first inspired him to pursue craft cocktails. She taught him to "shock" mint and introduced him to akvavit and Green Chartreuse, some of her favorite spirits. She allowed him to create and put his first cocktail, a smoky Pisco sour called "The Church Lady," on her menu.

"Anyone who has a passion for craft cocktails in this city is probably in some way in the lineage of Marie's influence," he said. "She was very mature in hospitality and could bartend and flourish in any kind of bar setting, and a lot of people can't do that. They're very niche and have [one set] style. She could do it all."

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Nicknamed "Lady Chartreuse," Zahn had a love for all things food and beverage and an "eye for elegant things," Plevan said. She was a fan of botanical herbal-style flavors and layers in drinks and wasn't afraid of far-out ingredients. Several friends and colleagues commented on the way Zahn would connect and bond with everyone she encountered.

It was one of the many reasons she was an excellent bartender.

"At the end of the day, you can have a fancy, fun-tasting drink, but you don't go back to the bar for the bar. You go back to the bar for the bartender," said Hawthorne Innovations owner Josh Durr. "It's all about the experience. Marie understood that and I think that translated well in her bars. You have to be good at what you do, but how you make people feel is important. She was a good soul."

James Wise, Zahn's partner of seven years, said Zahn was a goofball with "weird, crass 80s humor" who loved to travel and explore cocktail bars abroad. She collected vintage glassware and was "obsessed with perfume," which she also collected.

"The only thing that could compete with her obsession with cocktails was her obsession with perfumes," Wise said. "She could smell a perfume and tell you the notes and finish and how the ingredients interacted — and she applied that to her cocktails. She could say, 'yeah, add a dash of something else' and it would change the bouquet of the cocktail and completely change the flavor. That's the difference between someone making a drink and someone who can make a cocktail."

Wise said he will remember her as a special, giving person. And he'll never forget the day they got snowed in and she decided to make a cocktail out of snow.

"So many of us wouldn't even be in the industry if they hadn't met her," he said. "I don't think our cocktail scene would be nearly as advanced if she hadn't been a part of it."

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A special memorial event will be held for Zahn at High Horse on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. The High Horse team is still organizing things but expects to serve tribute cocktails in her honor.

"You can see her impact in the way the staff is leaning on each other right now," Humphrey said. "I tell them, 'Don't ever forget the focus she had. Her legacy is still in that building. In all our buildings. What would she want you to do? That's what we do tomorrow.'"

Reach dining reporter Dahlia Ghabour at dghabour@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Longtime Louisville beverage director Marie Zahn dies Nov. 2022 at 39