Death & Co – Revolutionizing Cocktail Discovery Through AI-Powered Bartender Intelligence

The Challenge

• 2,000+ cocktail recipes locked in static, unsearchable databases
• No interactive way for customers to explore recipes based on available ingredients
• Inability to provide personalized recommendations at scale
• Customers struggling to find recipes matching their preferences and ingredient availability
• Limited staff capacity to provide one-on-one cocktail guidance to all customers

Solution Implemented

• AI-powered bartender chatbot with natural language understanding
• Intelligent recipe search based on available ingredients
• Personalized cocktail recommendations using machine learning
• Interactive conversational interface mimicking expert bartender guidance
• Scalable platform serving customers 24/7 across all time zones
  
  

About the Company

Death & Co: Pioneering the Modern Craft Cocktail Renaissance
Founded: New Year’s Eve 2006/07 
Headquarters: East Village, Manhattan, New York City 
Locations: 4 (New York, Denver, Los Angeles, Washington D.C.) 
Industry: Craft Cocktail Hospitality 
Parent Company: Gin & Luck (est. 2018)
Leadership:
David Kaplan – Co-Founder & CEO
Ravi DeRossi – Co-Founder & Partner
Alex Day – Chief Operating Officer & Partner
Devon Tarby – Partner

Death & Co is a renowned craft cocktail hospitality company recognized as a premier innovator in the industry. What began as a single, intimate bar in Manhattan’s East Village on New Year’s Eve 2006 quickly became a pioneer in the modern craft cocktail movement, redefining what a cocktail bar could be.

Expansion & Growth

Death & Co has successfully scaled from its original Manhattan location to become a national brand with strategic expansion:

• 2006/07: Original bar opens in Manhattan’s East Village
• 2018: Denver location launches with exclusive bar service for The Ramble Hotel
• 2019: Los Angeles location opens
• 2023: Washington D.C. location opens, taking over the acclaimed Columbia Room space

The company established Gin & Luck in 2018 as its parent company to support further expansion, new bar brands (including Close Company), and ventures into boutique hotels and e-learning platforms.

Industry Recognition & Awards

Death & Co’s influence extends far beyond its physical locations:

• Listed repeatedly in “The World’s 50 Best Bars” during its early years
• Winner of America’s Best Cocktail Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards (2010)
• Winner of World’s Best Cocktail Menu at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards (2010)
• James Beard Award Winner: “Cocktail Codex” won Book of the Year
• Acclaimed Publications: “Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails” and “Cocktail Codex” are considered essential texts in the industry

The Challenge of Digital Transformation

After building a legacy of awards and cultural impact, the natural next move was expanding that influence through a meaningful digital transformation. The company’s extensive cocktail library represents nearly two decades of innovation and expertise, with over 2,000 recipes developed by world-class bartenders. However, this valuable intellectual property remained trapped in static databases, inaccessible to the 50,000+ retail customers who wanted to engage with Death & Co’s expertise between bar visits and recreate the experience at home.

Death & Co wasn’t only looking to digitize recipes, they also needed to capture the essence of what makes their bartenders exceptional: the ability to listen to a customer’s preferences, understand their constraints, and provide expert guidance that leads to a perfect cocktail.

The challenge was translating this human expertise into an AI experience that felt authentic, helpful, and aligned with the Death & Co brand. 

The Partnership View

Death & Co recognized that their cocktail knowledge could serve a much broader audience if delivered through modern technology. They needed a partner who could:

• Understand the nuances of cocktail creation and bartending expertise
• Build sophisticated AI that could provide authentic bartending guidance
• Create an engaging user experience that matched their brand’s premium quality
• Handle the complexity of ingredient substitutions and personalization

Project Details & Timeline

Project Start: March 2025 
Development Model: 5-week Proof of Concept (PoC) 
Technology Stack: React (Frontend) + Python (Backend) 
AI Framework: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) 

Our Approach

Valere approached this challenge not as a simple chatbot implementation, but as a project to capture and scale bartending expertise through artificial intelligence. The goal was to create an AI bartender that could think like Death & Co’s world-class bartenders, understanding context, making intelligent substitutions, and providing personalized guidance.

Methodology

Discovery Phase:

• Comprehensive discovery workshop documenting business goals and product vision
• Deep dive into Death & Co’s recipe database structure and taxonomy
• Analysis of 2,000+ recipe collection from Death & Co books and archives
• User research identifying two distinct audiences: home enthusiasts (approx. 80%) and professional bartenders (approx. 20%)
• Documentation of pain points: limited real-time expert access, ingredient substitution uncertainty, difficulty finding reliable recipes
• Analysis of Death & Co’s distinctive writing style and bartender persona for AI training

Technical Solutioning Phase:

• Selected Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) framework for optimal balance of accuracy and flexibility
• Designed natural language processing system to understand cocktail-related queries
• Built ingredient intelligence for substitutions based on Death & Co’s Cocktail Codex fundamentals
• Created recommendation engine prioritizing Death & Co recipes with intelligent fallback to generated recipes
• Implemented technical guardrails: cocktail-focused conversations, appropriate topic redirection, clear labeling for non-database recommendations
• Technology stack: React for frontend responsiveness, Python for backend robustness

Data Structuring & Training:

• Organized 2,000+ recipes into RAG-accessible format
• Structured data around six fundamental cocktails from Cocktail Codex for recipe generation fallback
• Trained AI personality to mirror Death & Co’s book writing style and professional bartender tone
• Developed taxonomy for ingredients, techniques, and flavor profiles
• Implemented preference tracking for personalized experiences

User Experience Design:

• Designed simple, text-based chat interface with clear navigation
• Created free-access model with email/phone capture after three queries
• Implemented one-week chat history retention
• Built conversational flows mimicking expert bartender interactions
• Designed for seamless embedding on Death & Co website
• Optional feedback mechanism (thumbs up/down) for continuous improvement

Development Phase:

• 5-week intensive PoC sprint (March 2025)
• Agile development with continuous stakeholder feedback
• Focus on core functionality: recipe retrieval, recommendations, ingredient substitutions
• Basic conversational capabilities with room for enhancement

Deployment Strategy:

• Direct integration with Death & Co website
• Phased rollout to existing 50,000+ retail customer base
• Scalable architecture supporting future enhancements: advanced personalization, e-commerce integration, educational features

The Solution: Cocktail Rolodex

An AI-powered bartender chatbot that transforms how customers discover, learn about, and create Death & Co’s world-class cocktails. Built on advanced AI and natural language processing, Cocktail Rolodex delivers personalized bartending expertise at scale.

Intelligent Recipe Discovery

Ingredient-Based Search

• Customers can enter available ingredients and receive matching cocktail recommendations
• AI understands ingredient variations and suggests appropriate substitutions
• Handles partial ingredient lists and provides “close match” suggestions

Natural Language Queries

• Conversational interface allowing customers to ask questions naturally
• Understanding of cocktail preferences (“I like something citrusy and refreshing”)
• Context awareness across multi-turn conversations

Personalized Recommendations

AI-Powered Suggestions

• Learns from customer preferences and previous interactions
• Recommends cocktails based on taste profiles, occasions, and skill levels

Expert Guidance

• Provides step-by-step instructions with bartending tips
• Explains techniques and why certain ingredients work together
• Offers substitution suggestions when exact ingredients aren’t available

Scalable Expertise

24/7 Availability

• Customers can access bartending expertise anytime, anywhere
• No wait time for recommendations or recipe searches
• Serves global audience across all time zones

Brand Extension

• Extends Death & Co expertise beyond physical bar locations
• Creates ongoing customer engagement between bar visits

The Results

Cocktail Rolodex successfully transformed Death & Co’s extensive cocktail library into an engaging, intelligent customer experience that extends their bartending expertise globally. 

Measurable outcomes include:

• 90% accuracy rate: The chatbot provides correct, relevant responses from source materials 90% of the time
• Additional 5-7%: Minor tweaks needed but fundamentally correct responses
• Staging build deployed: Fully functional application tested with real users
• Production-ready: Foundation built for public launch and future feature expansion
• Brand voice achieved: AI personality successfully mirrors Death & Co’s professional bartender style
• User data capture: Email/phone collection system integrated for marketing funnel

Business Impact Metrics

The AI bartender now delivers accurate cocktail guidance 24/7 with a 90% response accuracy rate, cuts user search time from minutes to seconds, and captures new customer data to fuel Death & Co’s marketing engine. It transforms 2,000+ static recipes into an interactive experience that boosts engagement while reducing staff workload.