Cherry Street Bottle Shop and Craft Event Collective Offer Craft Cocktails, Event Services and More
Written by Paetyn Greve | Photos from Craft Event Bar's Facebook page
TROY - Just off from Troy’s main square is the Cherry Street Bottle Shop, named after the road it lives on - 12 N. Cherry Street. A brick exterior with the name printed on the glass, the unassuming front holds a variety of interesting alcohols and a long history.
Cherry Street Bottle Shop and Cocktail Kitchen is the brick and mortar version of the Craft Event Collective, an event planning group run by Carly Witmer and Sara Studebaker, who sat down for an interview about their business in Troy.
LEFT: Sara Studebaker and Carly Witmer RIGHT: Interior of Cherry Street Bottle Shop
While the Craft Event Collective began in 2022, Carly and Sara actually have a history before that. “We met in Australia in 2002,” says Carly. “We were both studying abroad at the same school.” And although Sara lived in Denver for some time, she married her husband in Ohio, and had hired Carly for her wedding. When Sara moved back to Ohio, she and Carly reunited to start their business, as Sara had been an event and wedding planner.
“It was like, twenty years after we first met,” Sara says.
Although the Craft Event Collective was available to clients beginning in 2022, the physical location of Cherry Street Bottle Shop wasn’t opened to the public until late 2023. When asked why they chose to open to the public, Carly stated that, “...It’s really fun, I think, to have a brick and mortar because before we just worked out of our venues or houses, and now we get to know our neighbors a little bit.”
Sara agreed, “...people can come visit us, see what we’re about, see our aesthetic and stuff like that. That’s really important for weddings as well. They can kind of get to know us a little better,” she said.
What differentiates Cherry Street Bottle Shop from your regular liquor store, or even just the selection at Walmart? “I always say that once people know our beer cooler is here, it would be silly to go anywhere else,” Carly says. “We have the hugest selection, they’re all cold, and they’re retail prices.”
And their selection is indeed vast. Not only do Carly and Sara stock up on the traditional types of alcohol you would find, but they have various wines, beers, and even items to make your own cocktails, if that is your style. By far, however, their most popular item is their craft cocktails they offer.
The menu, available on their website at cherrystreetbottleshop.com, has various craft cocktails that they sell bottled and chilled. Craft cocktails are versions of cocktails that are just slightly fancier- such as their Cherry Street Sour, a similar kind of cocktail to the classic amaretto sour. Both Carly and Sara make the cocktails, although Carly says her favorite to make is a “pisco sour, because of the foam you can get on top.” Sara, on the other hand, favors
making vodka martinis.
An assortment of craft cocktails from The Cherry Street Bottle Shop.
When asked about the most uncommon item they sell, Carly says, “The most uncommon thing we sell is beers from my cousin’s brewery in Brooklyn, that had not distributed in Ohio until I hooked him up with a distributor. They’re called Grimm Artisanal Ales… we’re about to get a whole bunch in. They were voted Best Brewery in New York State.”
For those unaware, alcohol is distributed through a three step system. There are the manufacturers, the distributors, and the retailers. Cherry Street is a retailer, which means that they “...can’t just go to a winery in Italy and be like, ‘hey, I wanna carry your wine in Ohio, can you ship me some?’” as Sara puts it. When that point was brought up, however, Carly pointed out that the two of them did have some friends interested in opening up a distribution center for certain Italian wines- so keep an eye out for that.
But as with every business, there are highs and lows. The bottle shop, located behind MISO, is on an offshoot of the Main Street, and many people don’t realize it’s there. Both Carly and Sara agreed that simply announcing they are there seems to be the primary struggle of their business. They also discussed that being both business owners, and working in event planning, requires some compartmentalizing between them. Sara says, “I like the challenge of
thinking of different things we can do to get business, and shifting and pivoting… we have to compartmentalize our focus, too. We have to focus on our events on the weekend, and then Monday through Thursday, we’re focused on the shop to some degree. It makes it fun to shift back and forth.”
As for the future, Carly and Sara have big plans. “We have something really exciting coming up,” Carly says. “We are opening a Christmas pop up bar for the holiday season. So we’re doing a lot of décor, we’ll be dressing the
kitchen and lounge up with a whole slew of very Christmas-focused decorations, and cocktails. People can reserve and come in, and just like, really Christmas it up.” Sara adds, “We are going to start taking reservations on September 15th, and then we will open it up, probably a soft open, the weekend before the Christmas tree lighting. The official opening will be the weekend of the tree lighting, and it’ll be all through December.” This is their first time doing something like this, and both Carly and Sara are excited for the event - they both agree that Christmas in Troy is such a magical time, and they cannot wait to add to that. When asked if there was anything else important to note, Carly summed it up; “I’m just really excited for the Christmas bar.”
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As an aside, I had the privilege of trying two of the different alcoholic beverages offered at the Cherry Street Bottle Shop. The first that I tried was the Cherry Street Sour, which actually includes Hayner Rye from the Hayner Distillery in Troy! I enjoyed the drink. It was smooth and had a really nice cherry flavor to it. Additionally, as a present for myself and my roommates, I bought one of the bottles of wine they offered there - a 2021 Riesling from Schlink Haus. I love a sweet and fruity wine, and this certainly fulfilled both aspects. It’s a nice white wine with lots of fruity notes that we all fully enjoyed.