Michael McIlroy

Coming Up

A bar education can pass through hotel service, independent rooms, and high-spec cocktail bars before it becomes a repeatable floor system. Michael Mcllroy worked first as a bartender at hotel bar in Belfast, then at Apartment in Belfast, before moving to New York to work behind the bar at Milk & Honey. That sequence sits behind his current role as co-owner of Attaboy.

Where They Are Now

The no-menu format shifts the work from printed choice to diagnosis: preference, mood, appetite, and trust are gathered before the drink is made. At Attaboy, where Michael Mcllroy is co-owner, guests talk through what they like with staff, who then make a drink to suit the guest’s mood. "It's still so cool to freak people out with the block ice and silver straws. Introducing them to sprits and styles of drinks that they've never had before.”

Signature

The signed work attached to Michael Mcllroy includes The Archangel, American Trilogy, Rome With a View, and Right Hand.

In Their Words “To cut a very long story short, when I was 21, I flew over to New York to ask Sasha if I could have a job at Milk & Honey. It was the only bar in the world I wanted to work at. The rest is history.” “Blowing people's minds. It's still so cool to freak people out with the block ice and silver straws. Introducing them to sprits and styles of drinks that they've never had before.”

Honors

Trade recognition for the bar includes Best Bar in North America for Attaboy (2022), an honor associated here with Michael Mcllroy’s work as co-owner.