The Sixth to Open 12/28

The Sixth - a neighborhood bar from The Fifty/50 Restaurant Group and its beverage director Benjamin Schiller - will open to the public on Monday, December 28 in the heart of Lincoln Square.

The Sixth - located in the same physical address at 2200 West Lawrence Avenue as the newly opened Roots Handmade Pizza with a separate entrance - will open daily at 5pm and will close at 2am every night except for Saturdays when it closes at 3am. The Sixth will be open on New Year's Eve, but reservations must be made via info@thesixthbar.com.

The Sixth at its core is a neighborhood bar to serve the residents of Lincoln Square at neighborhood prices. Guests will be given the friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable service and should be comfortable ordering anything from a mass market canned lager, to a vodka & soda, to carefully-crafted esoteric cocktail, to a glass of small-production orange wine, to a rare out-of-production spirit from just after Prohibition ended, and everything else.

"This is my neighborhood," Schiller said. "This is where I've lived for many, many years. I'm really excited to plant a stake in Lincoln Square and take care of my neighborhood. We want to be creative. We want to show technique. But we're also mindful about not becoming pretentious. The best way to guard against that is to keep things whimsical, keep things light, keep things fun."

The Sixth's opening bartenders are Schiller, Josh Relkin (previously of The Office, The Aviary, Alinea, Per Se, Sable, and The Berkshire Room) and Joel Rund (previously of The Berkshire Room, Homestead On The Roof, and Rebar) - and all three live in Lincoln Square just a few blocks away from The Sixth and walk to work.

The name of The Sixth was inspired by two different storylines. The first inspiration comes from author Gerald Carson's book "The Social History of Bourbon" where he writes that at one time in American history one in every six men were involved with the distilling or distribution of bourbon.

The second inspiration comes from the fact that The Sixth is the sixth unique concept to open from The Fifty/50 Restaurant Group. The other concepts from the restaurant group include The Berkshire Room, The Fifty/50, Roots Handmade Pizza, Homestead On The Roof, and West Town Bakery. The second location of Roots is now open next to The Sixth in Lincoln Square.

"We've been wanting to open a small neighborhood bar up in Lincoln Square for many years, and Benjamin was our obvious choice to help us make it all happen," Mohr said. "We've always prided ourselves that all of our restaurants and bars are unique and standalone concepts, and The Sixth will continue our tradition of doing just that."

Weiner and Mohr were both responsible for the creative curation and conception of The Sixth. Mohr also helped design the intimate 50-seat space with Nick Bowers of blocHaus (The Berkshire Room, the Lincoln Square location of Roots Handmade Pizza, Lillie's Q, Epic Sky, etc).

The Sixth's contemporary design features a dark, warm palette of mostly grays that are accented with bright colors, custom and sleek mid-century inspired lighting, marble tabletops, and Dutch modern-inspired furniture including yellow couches and four armchairs made of wood and leather.

Bar seating is 14 of the 50 seats in The Sixth, and the bar top itself is made of poured concrete and features brass drink grates inset into the bar where guests can set down their drinks without the need of a cocktail napkin. There are also three tall marble "Bartender's Tables" (inspired by Chef's Tables) that are positioned higher up where guests can get a view of the cocktail creation going on behind the bar and are able to interact with the bartenders.

The Sixth will open with 10 house cocktails that are all priced at $12 each - except for an "Old Money" cocktail (bourbon, Aperol, walnut liqueur, allspice) that's finished in a port wine barrel for $15.

One of Schiller's house cocktails at The Sixth is the "Silly Rabbit" that's inspired by the Trix cereal bunny. A riff on a refreshing "Southside" cocktail (featuring gin and fresh lemon) will be served in a carafe along with a dropper bottle of housemade mint extract. The guest will then pour the carafe and add the mint to a Collins glass that contains four different ice cube that are each modeled after the Trix flavors ("Orangey Orange", "Lemony Yellow", "Raspberry Red", and "Grapeity Grape").

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