Hey, welcome to our journey.
Our Space
We treat the space as our second house, our second living room itself. Our goal is for you to find comfort here, that’s why we built a small stage with couches and why we have friendly dogs around (please don’t feed them). we appreciate it if you can return your glassware to the bar top and say goodbye when you go. We hope to see you again next week, cheers for now.
Our Drink Philosophy
We drink to celebrate. We drink to connect with friends, old and new. We drink to discover. With each menu, we strive to share unique things, humorous metaphors, and comforting concepts. Giving you, your friends, and every one a reason to visit again, and again, and again…
Fresh-squeezed citrus, house made syrups, and local produce (when possible) all make an appearance in our cocktails.
When we make a cocktail we pay attention to the balance. All the elements should be present, but not over-powering. It’s a sort of dance. Anyone can do it at home, but like a puppet show, it’s always entertaining when someone else does it.
Questions & Answers
Why did you name it 5BAR?
It was an auto-text gone wrong. Levi texted an old drinking pal “When are we going to buy a divebar?” and the ‘dive-bar’ populated to five-bar. They spent the rest of that day floating the Sugar River and talking about a dive-bar that had great cocktails.
The more they talked, the more the number 5 showed up. $5 would be a fine price for a nice rail spirit drink. There’s 5 senses: hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling. There are also 5 perceptions of flavor: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami. Then the big idea came, for rotating a menu each month with 5 different drinks around a centralized themed. Boom, 5BAR was on its way to becoming a real thing.
That was summer 2017, the concept kept evolving till the soft opening in October 2020. The concept went through a few good ideas and many bad ideas. Ultimately landing on 5BAR being a comfy bar with a menu to touch all 5 senses, rotating cocktail menu that has 1 theme and 5 drinks.
What is the dog’s name?
Her name is Lady, born November 29th 2020. She is here at the bar most days, but does travel with Levi her owner quite often. Never feed her, we cannot stress that enough. She has a very tiny tummy and it gets upset when she has random food. Which leads to her getting the runs, no good. She also is a little people shy, you can pet her, but she likely will keep her distance, its just her way.
What was the inspiration for 5BAR’s decor?
The bar is supposed to feel familiar and cozy, like a place you’ve already been to. We also call the vibes ‘divebar-chic,’ which implies a more fancy and feminine ambiance.