One
A weekly menu card, printed and ready
Three exclusive drinks a week, written, spec'd and laid out for you. It lands as a print-ready card — you put it on the bar and pour. Nothing to develop, nothing to name, nothing to design.
For restaurants & bars
Be the Merry Hour bar in your neighborhood.
The one people choose over everyone else nearby this holiday season.
The honest part
Every bar does something for the holidays. Almost none of it gets talked about.
A cinnamon garnish, a red cocktail, a string of lights — and December arrives looking a lot like November, with the same faces in the same seats. The busiest, highest-margin weeks of the year go by without a single new person walking in because of something they heard.
The turn
This is where The Merry Hour comes in.
The Merry Hour is a national holiday drink experience that runs in a small, select group of bars in each city. Every week of the season, the same three exclusive drinks appear in those rooms and nowhere else — written by us, poured by you. Guests read about the week's drinks, then go looking for the nearest room serving them. That room can be yours.
How it works
Three things arrive. That's the whole job.
Two
A table tent that does the asking
A small folded card on every table, in the guest's eyeline before a server ever reaches them. The guest picks the drink themselves. No script, no pitch, no training night.
Three
And people are sent to your door
Your room on the map and the zip search, your name in the city drinks guide, and a place in the newsletter that goes out when the season opens. Guests arrive already knowing what they want to order.
Everything you get
The whole of it, laid out.
Seven things arrive with the partnership. Not a bullet list on a slide — the actual parts you'll use from the first week of the season to the last.
All of it, for one season, in one room — yours.
The Look Book
See ThePartnership
Prospects always ask the same thing: what does this actually look like? Here it is — the menu your guests read, the feature your room earns, and the winter your space could have.
Sub-section One
This Week's Menu
Every Monday of the season a new national three-drink card lands, printed and ready. Week 01 — “First Frost” — is the real thing: same three drinks, same specs, poured coast to coast that week.
A real look at what your guests see each week.
Sub-section Two · Sample Feature
A Look at Your Future Feature
Every partner room is written up by our editors for the city guide and the press round-up — the write-up, the photography, the map placement, the whole spread.
A preview of what your feature could look like in our magazine and press guide. Mocked up for illustration — the inaugural season has not been published yet.
Sub-section Three · Concept Vision
Winter Wonderland — What's Possible
Garlands, warm light, flocked trees, candles on every table. Decor is never required to be a Merry Hour bar — but if you want the full transformation, this is the direction our design team works in.
A vision of what your space could become with our design team. This is a concept image, not a past project — no installations have been completed yet.
Sub-section Four
Three Ways to Partner
Same drink program at the heart of all three. The difference is how much of the room we handle for you.
Tier One
The Merry Hour Partnership
Join as an official Merry Hour Bar.
- Eight exclusive weekly national drink menus
- National press and Merry Map placement
- The Zero-Effort Sell in-venue materials
- Starter decor guidance for your room
Tier Two
The Design Partnership
Everything in the base partnership, plus a design plan you execute.
- Everything in The Merry Hour Partnership
- Full curated item sheets, sourced for you
- Multiple holiday theme options to choose from
- Complete installation guides for your team
Tier Three
The Winter Wonderland Takeover
Everything in the Design Partnership, done for you.
- Everything in The Design Partnership
- Full-service professional installation
- Our vetted design and install team on site
- A complete, done-for-you holiday transformation
Ready to see which fits your bar? Let's talk through it.
Inspiration
None of this is required. Some rooms want it anyway.
Want to go further? Our design team helps with that too.
Why bars join
01
“A menu people search for by name — then walk in and ask for.”
02
“Table tents that sell without a single pitch from your staff.”
03
“One bar per neighborhood. Not every bar on the block.”
04
“Drinks a guest cannot get from the place across the street.”
Exclusivity
We're only working with a small number of bars in each city this season.
The whole promise falls apart if these drinks are on every block. So each city gets a short list, and once a neighborhood is taken, it's taken for the season. If yours is still open, we'd rather it were you.
Last thing
Ready to find out if there's a spot for your city?
Leave us five details. We'll get back to you with what's still open in your city and set up a short call.