AUTHOR

Jim Meehan

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Jim Meehan, author of the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award winning The PDT Cocktail Book and the James Beard award winning Meehan’s Bartender Manual and The Bartender’s Pantry, entered the hospitality business in 1995 while studying at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He worked his way through school as a bartender, then moved to New York City in 2002 to develop his craft in bars and restaurants including Gramercy Tavern and the Pegu Club. In 2007, Meehan opened PDT, a hidden cocktail lounge attached to a hot dog stand in the East Village. In 2009, he and the bar were recognized with Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards for American Bartender of the Year and World’s Best Cocktail Bar at Tales of the Cocktail. In 2011, PDT was ranked as the #1 bar in the world on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. In 2012, PDT was recognized with the first Outstanding Bar Program award from the James Beard Foundation. In 2017, Meehan collaborated with Heisler Hospitality on Prairie School in the Fulton Market neighborhood of Chicago. 2018, Meehan helped open a Hong Kong Branch of PDT in the Landmark Mandarin Oriental in the Central district of the city. In 2021, Meehan helped open Takibi, a full-service restaurant in the back of Snow Peak’s U.S. flagship retail store in Portland, Oregon. Between 2012 and 2025, Meehan helped American Express open a novel, game-changing network of member’s airport lounges that have reshaped the financial services industry and brought craft cocktails to world travelers in transit. Meehan wrote the cocktail menus for lounges in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Hong Kong and London. Before he authored his own books, Meehan helped edit eight editions of Food & Wine Magazine’s annual cocktail book and four Mr. Boston Bartender’s Guides. His writing has been featured in magazines such as Imbibe, Man of the World, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Bloomberg Businessweek and Lucky Peach. He and his family reside in Portland, Oregon, where he operates his consulting firm Mixography Inc.