New Business Spotlight: West Main Crafting Co.

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West Main Crafting Co. opened this past spring at 135 West Main St., and is part of a wave of new establishments that are bringing a noticeably more upscale and urban feel to downtown Lexington.

Everything about the experience at West Main Crafting Co. is high end, starting with its original-recipe cocktails crafted with house-made bitters and sodas. West Main also offers full absinthe service, as well as a seasonal menu with small plates that are perfect for sharing. Visitors are fully immersed in the pre-prohibition experience, and may even forget they aren’t in a larger market such as New York City or Chicago for the evening.  

The attention to detail is evident. “Everything has been peer reviewed multiple times,” said Brand Ambassador Jonathan Laurel. “Every garnish. Every drink. Everything is very intentional.” This intention extends to West Main’s “crafting menu” and its approach to pairing food with drinks, which is one reason the restaurant offers both a full bar and its full food menu from 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. every day of the week. 

Chef Robert Weickel and beverage director Jake Sulek have taken the concept of pairing cocktails with food to the extreme. Instead of simply offering dishes with a drink suggestion, many of the food and drinks on the crafting menu share similar ingredients and inspiration. “A perfect example is the birch beer sorbet,” said Weickel. “If he (Sulek) makes birch beer, then I’ll turn it into a sorbet.” The team is also committed to serving food that is both locally sourced and directly farm to table. “When we say chef driven, we mean it,” Weickel said.  

The seasonal cocktail menu runs “Keeneland to Keeneland” (or spring/summer and fall/winter for those who don’t speak Lexingtonian), and offers an abundance of information on the cocktail menu, including period appropriate cocktail flights. “Our slogan is ‘drink better’. That’s why, with every single one of our specialty cocktails, there is a full page (in the menu) with tasting notes, actual ingredients and an explanation of why we do it that way,” explained Jaggers. “Our hope is that these details will make it much more approachable.”

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