Legendary Bartender Shingo Gokan on Hype, Humility, and Sip & Guzzle’s Big Win
When Sip & Guzzle snagged the top spot on the annual North America’s 50 Best list in April, it somehow felt like Shingo Gokan was finally getting his flowers.
This may look like an odd statement if you’re familiar with Gokan’s career. After all, his curriculum vitae contains more floral arrangements than the average bodega. He was Tales of the Cocktail’s International Bartender of the Year in 2017, and recognized as the fifth most influential figure in the bar industry on Drinks International’s Bar World 100 list in 2022. Asia’s 50 Best Bars awarded him the Altos Bartender’s Bartender award in 2019 and the Roku Industry Icon award in 2021. He’s earned around 50 awards for the bars he owns and operates in Japan and China, including The SG Club, the multi-level Tokyo bar that created Sip & Guzzle’s Tokyo-meets-New York blueprint. He also spent a decade at the helm of the seminal New York City bar Angel’s Share at a time when the American craft cocktail scene began its crossover from nerdy niche movement to mainstream culture.
Despite these international plaudits and his brilliant New York work, Gokan’s prowess somehow tended to fly under the radar in the States, especially when compared to some of his domestic industry contemporaries. It’s why, from Gokan’s point of view, the award matters so much.
“This one definitely has the biggest impact,” he says. “I believe it’s the most influential award both inside and outside the industry right now. To be recognized as No. 1 among so many incredible bars that we truly admire is very meaningful, and it’s something we don’t take lightly.”
Credit: Shingo Gokan
A History of Excellence
The hardware hauled in by Sip & Guzzle doesn’t validate Gokan’s career by any means. Such validation happened long before, as the aforementioned awards demonstrate. Still, it helps bring overdue attention to an impressive part of his career narrative.
A native of the Tokyo suburb of Kawasaki, Japan, Gokan began his bartending journey at the age of 18, when he landed a job at a local restaurant bar and taught himself how to make drinks. He was a good teacher and pupil — good enough to land a gig as head bartender at a different local spot two years later. His skills and burgeoning appreciation for drinks compelled him to move to New York in December 2006 at the age of 23. He didn’t speak a word of English, but the bartending acumen he honed back home was sharp enough to secure a job while he absorbed the language. Six months later, he got a job at Angel’s Share. He grew into an elite bartender and a world-class mentor during his tenure, utilizing his craftsmanship and leadership to assemble a powerhouse bar team whose members would eventually open their own acclaimed bars around the world, including Double Chicken Please co-owner GN Chan and Martiny’s owner Takuma Watanabe.
“My experience at Angel’s Share is arguably the most informative in my career,” Gokan says. “The bartenders I trained there are now making their mark all over the world from New York and Los Angeles to Bangkok and Cape Town, which makes me very proud. That experience shaped how I think about mentorship, culture, and building strong teams.”
Gokan parlayed his success at Angel’s Share into opening several bars throughout Japan and China. International awards would follow. A road that would eventually lead back to New York would also form. In 2018, Gokan opened the ’80s-themed Shanghai bar The Odd Couple with Steve Schneider, and this partnership would eventually lead to the creation of Sip & Guzzle.
The duo’s partnership was anything but odd, especially given their backgrounds: Schneider’s star was ascending at Employee’s Only at the same time Ginko was at Angel’s Share, and he admired the work of Ginko’s team. Years later, Ginko based the “G” (or “guzzle”) part of The SG Club on Employees Only’s high-volume controlled chaos. Gokan says this mutual respect, along with a few other parallels, helps keep their partnership fresh.
“The fact that we’re the same age and both led teams in iconic bars in New York for about 10 years is remarkable,” he says. “I’ve respected his style and work since those days, so I feel incredibly lucky to work with him now.”
“To be recognized as No. 1 among so many incredible bars that we truly admire is very meaningful, and it’s something we don’t take lightly.”
A World of Influence
The opening of Sip & Guzzle checks a major box for Gokan — owning a bar in New York City. He takes great care in making sure it’s a New York City bar and not The SG Club’s identical twin, entrusting Schneider to handle the “Guzzle” side of things to help build its iconoclastic Big Apple soul.
While Gokan oversees Sip, he typically does so from afar out of necessity. He’s on the road most of the year, checking in on his properties around the globe (12 locations in four countries as of this writing) to make sure every venue still runs smoothly. Gokan considers Tokyo his home base when he’s not globetrotting, and he values whatever time he has there for reasons beyond rest.
“I spend about one-third of the year in Tokyo, so I wouldn’t say most of my time is spent there, but the time I do spend there is meaningful to me,” he says. “By staying connected to Tokyo and expressing the current essence of Japan, I believe I’m able to share a more authentic and evolving perspective through each bar.”
Credit: @by__dre for Sip & Guzzle NYC on Instagram
Once a Bartender, Always a Bartender
Gokan’s profile will most likely rise among the cocktail crowd in the aftermath of Sip & Guzzle hauling in the top spot at North America’s 50 Best Bars. That’s what usually happens to owners when their bar wins top prize. While the award itself is a big deal for the bar, Gokan doesn’t care that much if his stature grows in kind.
“I don’t think it’s particularly important for guests to know who I am,” he says. “I’d rather guests simply enjoy the time they spend with us — the cocktails, the food, and the atmosphere. If they leave happy, that’s what matters most.”
Gokan is also cognizant of an award’s inherent ability to raise guest expectations. This compels him to focus on making sure the bar routinely justifies such hype. “This award has raised our profile without a doubt, but we just need to continue to deliver the quality of the product and the service that matches this recognition,” he says. “Ultimately, consistency is what builds real credibility and connection over time.”
Gokan would be completely forgiven if he thought guests recognizing him was even slightly important. It’s probably not easy to hold on to humbleness after so many awards, and that difficulty may ramp up even further when accolades start to make a stubborn market notice. But Gokan doesn’t succumb to even the least bit of brashness, and it may be due to how he views himself. For all the successes he’s experienced as an international bar owner, he’s never forgotten his roots.
“I still refer to myself as a bartender,” he says. “I do take on more of the responsibilities of a business owner in Japan and China, so in a sense, there’s a balance between being a bartender and being a bar owner. But at the core, my identity is still rooted behind the bar.”
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