Two Drummers Walk Into a Bar & Leave the Legacy of a Lifetime BY ALEX HENDRY
WARNING: When I started writing this, I was transported back to an 8th grade oratorical competition.
Whisky Explorer Magazine = Explore, share and pay tribute to those who create memories. I pondered how an unassuming establishment celebrating its 35th anniversary in small-town Canada somehow gained notoriety as one of the top whisky bars in the world while also being a small gathering place for walks of life, local or not? I’m talking about the impact Fredericton NB’s Lunar Rogue Pub has had for decades on all who have ventured inside.
customers at the other end of the bar if they needed another beer poured (It didn’t take 19 years to figure out that he had a set of very intentional service standards). The “Rogue” is so much more than a local watering hole. It’s Cheers 1 for the regulars and a place the whisky community can try over 1000+ whiskies. I regularly evangelize that it’s what a pub should be. I’m no journalist and Frank and Brian don’t bullshit so when asked how the Rogue came to be, they both told similar stories: Met via the pipe and drum band, became fast friends and (I’m reading between lines) like-minded schemers. They spent hours developing their philosophy from many of what Brian called working statements but the one that really hit home for both and perhaps what triggered my first TWE article: Offer quality without pretense. To hell with opening another tavern, their focus was a true Maritime pub. In 1989 they broke the mold and opened The Lunar Rogue Pub.
If legacy is the long-lasting impact of particular past events or actions that take place, or of a person’s life then The Lunar Rogue pub’s approach on hospitality, friendships and of course whisky “IS” legacy.
I met Frank Scott and Brian Freeman in 2005 when gunning for a job during my longer-than-normal university tenure. Frank was first during my interview: Did I have Berg draft systems experience (nope), had I worked anywhere other than a nightclub (nope), did I know anything about whisky (and… batting a zero). A few days later I was hired as “Day Bar” (19 years later, I discovered I didn’t pull the wool over Frank’s eyes). On my third shift there was Brian who, without introducing himself, told me to ignore him and go to
1 Cheers, American sitcom TV series that
ran on NBC (1982-1993)
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WINTER 2024
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