Lisa Carielle: The Vibe Queen
Detroit-based craft cocktail bartender for the past 10 years. Getting her start in the fast bar industry, she gained interest in spirits quickly - learning the basics through taste - she began to understand the beauty of a well-balanced drink. Lisa’s love for cooking at home and the intimacy behind developing something out of passion, putting yourself on a plate (or a glass, in this case) was the highest form of sharing for her and that kind of care pivoted her from shots at the strip club and mules at dive bars to the craft cocktail scene.
In its opening in 2019, Lisa got her start at Evening Bar inside the Shinola Hotel where she became more comfortable with the diversity and complexities of spirits and how bringing unusual things to the palate is an art form in itself. From there she moved to California with a brief involvement in The Spare Room, returning home due to the pandemic to be with her mother and daughter.
During the pandemic, she used her love of people and drinks to continue the relationship between the two and created the Carielle Table, a homemade video production making drinks with a quirky twist, talking you through the process. This production led her to do a virtual company-wide cocktail class for Ideo, an interview with big Sean sponsored by Budweiser, and an e-book in collaboration with The Noble Brand, a candle and fragrance company based in California. Once the pandemic settled, she went back into the industry coming across the opportunity to turn a venue space into an intimate cocktail bar in Ann Arbor, MI. Opening ROOT allowed Lisa to not only aid in the creation of an experimental cocktail menu but to expand her wings as a bar manager, fostering an energy that made you want to come back over and over again.
Lisa is currently the Bar Manager at ImaginATE and South Beach Ultra Lounger in Royal Oak.
“Black on Both Sides (BOBS) is a love-driven effort for me. Showcasing my love of my people, the industry, and cocktails while creating an atmosphere of joy and excitement is exactly the type of space I’d want to be welcomed into - so now that we have the chance, why not create it for ourselves?”
Instagram: @lisacarielle
