SBJ photo by Geoff Pickle

The site of Scotch & Soda next month is slated to become home to a concept called Sweet Boy's Neighborhood Bar.

Scotch & Soda makes way for Sweet Boy's

Posted online June 4, 2020 | 12:13 pm

How plans changed for Scotch & Soda

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, entrepreneur Josh Widner had planned to relocate Scotch & Soda, but it wouldn’t have gone far.

In a Thursday afternoon interview, Widner said the lease had expired at Scotch & Soda’s 310 South Ave. spot, and with the brand no longer connected to that location, a deal was in the works to move around the corner. He said the plan was to take over Dapper owner Sean Brownfield’s lease for The Hepburn, a speakeasy located in the basement of The Sterling, where the Park Central East barbershop is housed upstairs.

“We were 90% done with that,” Widner said. “Then we got hit with pandemic spring and it changed our thought process.”

Scotch & Soda is likely to make a Springfield return, he said, but the current focus is on launching Sweet Boy’s Neighborhood Bar. Widner said his team would reevaluate the Scotch & Soda brand locally within a couple years, noting he’s unsure whether those plans would include The Hepburn spot. Scotch & Soda’s Bentonville, Arkansas, location reopened a few weeks ago, he said.

“We paused on the crazy expensive cocktail bar and we pressed play on a new concept,” Widner said of Sweet Boy’s.

Last edited 2:40 p.m., June 4, 2020

Scotch & Soda is slated to make way for a new concept, dubbed Sweet Boy's Neighborhood Bar, in downtown Springfield.

The concept, from Scotch & Soda owner Josh Widner, is scheduled to open in mid-June. Widner is partnering on Sweet Boy's with Josh Sullivan, owner of Fried Design Co., and Rogan Howitt, Widner’s brother and beverage director of his Good Spirits company, according to a news release.

“We had 2020 marked with hope for great things for Scotch & Soda, including a rebrand, relocation and new exciting partnerships,” Widner said in the release. “The past few months have made us reprioritize our company values and goals. We’re more than excited to revamp the space we’ve called home for the past eight years.”

Scotch & Soda officials yesterday announced the change in a Facebook post, saying the establishment “decided to press pause on our revamp until the timing seems right again.” Scotch & Soda has been closed since March 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sweet Boy's Neighborhood Bar, according to the release, will have a rotating cocktail menu, draft beers and punches, and a signature frozen Irish coffee beverage.

Scotch & Soda opened in October 2012 with a collection of prohibition-era styled libations, according to SBJ archives. The concept was expanded to Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2015.

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