07/04/2026
Tipple is turning 11 years old this month as the US is turning 250 years old today and I can’t help but to reflect on both of these milestones small and large.
That said, I always get emotional this time of year reminiscing about all it took to get open in 2015. Chef Calavino and I were trying to build our family as we were building out the shop, trying desperately to birth this labor of love…
After a few setbacks, we finally wound up opening in late July and I was sure no one was going to show up. I was sure it wasn’t going to work. But, I built it anyway for those who needed a space like this because I knew I needed a space like this.
It was built as a space for bookworms and “word nerds”, artists and outsiders, for the doubters who ask questions and the believers who challenge them. A space for laughter and fun, yes, but also both a respite from and a repository for tears because Life is meaningless without acknowledging that reality.
And, 11 years later, I’ve witnessed in awe from my microcosmic corner of this country what is possible in this world.
Watching the daily convergence of cultures move seamlessly through this space brings a level of comfort and hope that the bigger picture will soon catch up + come together. Hoping against hope that, if we can hold space together in here like this, we have a fighting chance out there.
This is all to say…
We are not our governments.
We are not the laws they make that seek to break us, to divide us.
Just watch the FIFA footage where the Colombian fans stayed silent while a lone Congolese fan sang his national anthem and you can see that it’s true.
We are the tables we build.
We are the ideals and vision of this Grand Experiment that will go on if we fully commit to its survival, commit ourselves fully to each other.
And, 250 years later, our job, our labor of love is to continue to build bigger and better tables in bigger and better rooms when the original ones become too small, or outdated, or just not good enough to house the multitudes we contain.
So, Happy Birthday to Tipple + Rose and to this complicated, frustrating, beautiful, bountiful, and worthy place we call home…
❤️🤍💙
