RED HOOK — The man behind some of New York's finest cocktail bars had big plans for Red Hook.
Bar owner Sasha Petraske had an idea for a cocktail bar on the corner of Van Brunt and Commerce streets in the neighborhood, one of many ongoing ventures for the creator of places like Milk & Honey, Little Branch and Middle Branch.
But when Petraske died last August at 42, the Red Hook bar's opening was delayed.
On Friday, Seaborne will finally open its doors at about 5 p.m. with a range of classic and modern cocktails as well as a frozen drink program, said Lucinda Sterling, a partner at Middle Branch who will help run the new bar.
"It emulates the original 'Milk & Honey,'" Sterling said, referring to the speakeasy's first tiny Lower East Side space before it relocated. (According to Milk & Honey's website, it is still searching for a new location after being pushed out of its second Flatiron home.)
"We wanted to do something that was off the beaten path," she said.
Sterling said Petraske had purchased two ice cream machines for the bar with the idea of making frozen treats spiked with alcohol.
She's created a drink that's "on the verge of an Italian ice" with fresh fruity flavors like strawberry or pressed apple cider with lemon juice and fennel.
Patrons can then choose to add whatever spirit they'd like to the icy mix — "like an alcoholic snow cone," she said.
Traditional cocktails will also be served as well as "Red Hooks," a blend of rye whiskey, Punt e Mes and maraschino liqueur.
Cocktails are priced around $12 but the frozen drinks will be a bit cheaper.
There's one thing that will be different from what Petraske had planned when the bar opens on Friday — the name.
Pestraske had originally decided on "Falconer" for the bar's name, drawing from a William Butler Yeats poem titled "The Second Coming."
"The bar was supposed to be his 'second coming,'" Sterling said.
The name however was nixed because of the similarly named "Fawkner" bar and restaurant that recently opened on Smith Street.
Sterling instead turned to another Yeats poem, "On a Political Prisoner," for the name "Seaborne" and the bar's mascot, Esby, a seagull with a bow tie.
Petraske was described as a "pioneer of the current cocktail revival" by the New York Times, which first reported the Friday opening date.
After opening Milk & Honey in 1999, Petraske went on to create Little Branch in Greenwich Village, The Varnish, LA's first craft cocktail bar, Dutch Kills in Long Island City, and Middle Branch in Murray Hill, according to Eater, only scratching the surface of his accomplishments in the cocktail industry.
But what Sterling hopes to bring to Seaborne is Petraske's style of bartending — an unwavering attention to the patron — and respect for the craft.
"He cared very much about the guest experience," she said. "He was never critical of what people wanted to drink."
"Have respect for your drink.. have respect for yourself."
