San Antonio’s most storied watering hole is in new hands.
The Esquire Tavern’s most recent owner, developer Chris Hill, announced last week longtime beverage director Stephan Mendez has taken ownership of the celebrated space. The Esquire Tavern, widely cited as being the oldest bar on the San Antonio River Walk, features the longest wooden bar top in Texas.
“The Esquire is more than a bar; it’s embedded in the history of San Antonio. Every person who has ever pulled up a stool here has become a part of what makes this place special,” Hill said in a news release. “Stewarding that legacy has been one of the greatest honors of my life, and I’m proud to pass it on to someone who will carry the same passion for generations to come. I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve built, or more confident in what comes next.”
The lore runs deep in that dark hall bound in wood and brass. Famously, Esquire was ready to pour the second prohibition was lifted in 1933. And it’s impossible to overstate the role the bar and its team of luminaries, Mendez included, have played in shaping the city’s cocktail culture.
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