Corporate Bartending in Philadelphia
Spirit Forward is a Philadelphia based craft cocktail bartending team. We show up to your office, your building, or your property with a full bar and a menu built for the occasion, it is a great opportunity to warm up a space to either employees or residents and have them talking about it for days.
Tap into the industry
Our team consists of working bartenders in and around the Philadelphia area, so it is like bringing a high end happy hour directly to you.
Considering we are a group of active bartenders over selected catering staff we do this every day…for a living. We handle crowds, we love to banter, and we really want you to ask about the current concoction we are working on. And yes it has three different bitters in it.
Owner Dan Hamm has built and opened over a dozen cocktail programs from scratch in Philadelphia, including Alpen Rose, Midnight and the Wicked, 1 Tippling Place, Giuseppe and Sons, and Palizzi Social Club (President's Room).
Resident events and building amenities
If you run a building, you already know the pitch. On a tour you get to say: this is where we have our resident events, we do happy hours and pool parties, there's a bartender, sometimes a DJ, it's a good time.
We help you deliver on that promise.
We build a custom cocktail menu for your event and bring everything needed to run it. Your residents walk in and find a craft bartender making cocktails, by hand, as opposed to a small table with wine samples on it.
We work this way at Liberty Two, The St. James, One Liberty Place, CMMP, The Atlantic and many more.
We range from the annual Holiday Party to client appreciation happy hour. The care we put in is exactly the same, we just package it appropriately to make it hit perfectly.
The Room at Liberty Two
One building relationship turned into multiple events, and two of them show what's possible when a client gives you a theme and lets you run with it.
Miracle on the 3rd Floor was a holiday pop up. Themed drinks, themed decor, the whole floor dressed. Think candy cane margarita, elevated.
May the 4th was a cocktail class where we taught the real basics of drink making and themed the entire thing out. Our bartender came as Anakin Skywalker. His assistant came as Leia. It was awesome.
Open houses and property events
This seems like a no-brainer, but there are specific touch points we've formulated for this to make this absolutely next level. Print the address of the property in a nice font on top of an espresso martini, and people will be taking pictures. We have seen it.
The level of execution matters here more than anywhere. We make sure to show up with the poise and precision appropriate for such an event.
Office and company events
Corporate happy hours, holiday parties, client receptions, product launches, brand activations, and the fundraiser your firm runs every year.
We've worked events for a global investment bank, a Big Three consulting firm, an AmLaw 100 law firm, a top-tier pharmaceutical company, and one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the world. A few of the rooms: the Union League, the Kimmel Center, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and Convene.
One office campus in Chesterbrook has had us back every year, across holiday parties, tenant events, and summer happy hours, for three different companies on the same property. Our favorite holiday party, we put together a workshop and give instructionals on how to make specific holiday drinks for a crowd. Then the guest leaves with a takeaway card, just to solidify the moment.
We've also poured for the charity foundations of Philadelphia professional athletes, including a sneaker ball fundraiser and an annual bourbon and bowties evening, both times representing the spirits brand that sponsored the night. And a fundraiser for eight hundred guests at the Loews, one of the biggest rooms we've ever run.
Brand activations
When a brand needs its product poured properly at a high end event, the person running that event needs a bartender who will represent the brand the way the brand wants to be represented. We are that call.
For spirits brands, that has meant Casamigos, Maker's Mark, Tito's Vodka and countless others. It doesn't stop at spirits. We've activated for everyone from luxury brands to pharmaceutical companies and everywhere in between. Any brand, any format, we'll build the bar around it.
That work has put us behind the bar for a Casamigos tasting at the Kimmel Center for three hundred people, a Cristalino launch built around an ice sculpture, a tequila brand's activation at Whiskey Fest at Lincoln Financial Field for four hundred, and Pharma Week at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. In King of Prussia we've activated for Louis Vuitton, Estée Lauder and a Stuart Weitzman store opening.
Brands hire us because we know how to make their product the point without making it a pitch.
How it works
We build the menu with you. Custom cocktails designed around the occasion, the space, and your crowd. Menu design and printing included.
You buy the alcohol. Pennsylvania liquor law requires it, so the spirits and the wine are purchased or provided by you. We hand you a precise shopping list of exactly what to buy and how much of it.
We bring everything else. Fresh juices, mixers, cocktail-ready ice, bar setup and equipment, and the full breakdown and clean up.
We staff it to the room. Sized to your headcount ensuring every guest is served efficiently, with a show.
A few things people ask
Can you invoice a company?
Yes. Standard invoicing through QuickBooks, and we can work with your procurement process.
Do you carry insurance?
Yes. We carry General Liability, and we can add your venue as an additional insured.
How much lead time do you need?
For a weekday happy hour, less than you'd think. For December, book early. Holiday party season fills first.
Can you do beer and wine only?
Yes. We'll pour whatever you've bought and keep it running smoothly.
Do you have a bar cart or a truck?
Not yet. We build the bar in your space, using your surfaces or ours, and design the setup around the room you actually have.
Let's plan it
Tell us the date, roughly how many people, and what the event is for. We'll come back with a menu.