Nothing to Keep Quiet About
Entrepreneurs Chad Ferrari and Andrew Schuster were both greatly influenced by their fathers. So, when it came time a few years back for these two career bartenders to open their own place – in this case, The Liquid Library in Westminster – both leaned on the lessons they learned in their younger years from their family patriarchs.
Ferrari (OK, let’s all just agree right up front, that’s a cool name!) recalled, “Something my dad used to tell me was ‘Being tired for yourself and being tired for somebody else are two entirely different things!’ Meaning that if I ever got the chance to work for myself, I should absolutely do it. Those words of wisdom motivate me, especially in those times where we’re working 30 hours in two days.”
Schuster’s father was equally instrumental in putting him on the path to being his own boss. “My first few jobs that my father had me do growing up were in concrete and construction,” he said. “I learned a lot about hard work from those jobs, and those times have made me a hard worker all of my life.”
The result is an eating and drinking establishment that has become a favorite for a wide demographic in one of Maryland’s most charming college towns. Located on E. Main Street in Westminster, The Liquid Library boasts a wood-fired kitchen that produces a diverse menu of pizzas and entrees that satisfies all appetites.
Ferrari remarks, “We get a gamut of pretty much everybody, and we appeal to them all depending on the time of day. During the week, we open at 2 p.m. So, it’s kind of an early dinner/late lunch crowd at first. We get a lot of 30- to 50-year-olds during that time who just want to hang out and go into Happy Hour. Our evening hours attract everyone from dinner parties who want some elevated cocktails to anniversaries and 75th birthdays for grandma. For late nights, we change the vibe a little bit. We turn the lights down and play different music to catch that college age to late 20s crowd.”
It’s that college crowd that compelled Ferrari and Schuster to come up with the rather intellectual name for their business and the main reason why The Liquid Library is being featured in this ongoing series of articles on bars, restaurants, pubs, and taverns with funny and/or quirky names around the state.
Ferrari stated, “We decided we were going to do a craft cocktail lounge themed around the ’20s Prohibition era. We got the list of names down to seven or eight. The Apothecary was one. Then, we started to talk about how [McDaniel College] was such a big influence in town. So, one night we were sitting around and thinking about names that would be fun to say if you were a college student and figuring out, ‘Where do I want to go tonight?’ I don’t remember who actually said it aloud. But The Liquid Library came out of that discussion, and we all fell in love with it quick. It fit the whole motif.”
Schuster added, “The other thing we really liked was we started Googling it and found there was no other bar in America that has the Liquid Library name. We were surprised. There’s one in Canada. But I thought it was really cool that we would be the only place in the United States with that name.”
In terms of their drink selection, the menu offers more than 60 cocktails at all times and features a lot of rare bottles. “We were both, at certain times in our lives, career bartenders for 10-plus years,” said Schuster. “I did some traveling overseas and bartended in Australia and New Zealand. I’ve also bartended in the Florida Keys and out West. So, just the number of drinks I’ve learned in my travels and drinks that Chad and I had made up . . . it became exciting for us to put not just your standard, regular cocktails that everybody serves on the menu, but to also add our own flair.”
Ferrari concurred, adding, “When we got together, we realized our combined experience allowed us to be a little bit different. We talked a lot with our regulars -- we had a big following already at the places we’d worked – and the big thing we kept getting was they wanted to leave and go to Frederick or Baltimore to get their craft cocktails. We thought, ‘Well, if that can be done there, it can certainly be done here.’ So, I think we’ve combined every drink we have ever made and every drink we could have made, then narrowed it down to our top sixty-something of the moment. It’s been fun!”
Fun is the central goal of The Liquid Library. That, and making money, of course. With the fun that Ferrari and Schuster’s loyal clientele has night in and night out, the money has definitely come.
Schuster said, “I love to sit back and watch people get food they haven’t had before or get a cocktail they’ve never had and seeing the smile on their face and the nod of their head. I love those tables where everybody is sharing their cocktails and sharing their food, taking pictures and posting those pictures [on social media]. It’s just cool to sit back and see something that we created making people happy.”
Ferrari also shared some of the fun he has personally experienced: “I love the amount of community support we’ve gotten since we started this. We’ve met a lot of people who we would never have met otherwise – city government people, the mayor – who have rallied behind us and continue their support. This is our first try at a business. And to be accepted and liked and respected is just great.”
But operating The Liquid Library has required its own set of sacrifices. Fortunately, having been in the service and hospitality sector most of their adult lives, Schuster and Ferrari were prepared. The former remarked, “Balancing a work-family life can be hard. We are the only place in Westminster and, I believe, the county that is open until 2 a.m. every Friday and Saturday. We are a packed house on those two nights, so we have to spend another two hours putting the place back together before you can go home. It’s been a lot of long hours, but it’s also been an amazing experience.”
Ferrari then made mention of one of the “good problems” he and his partner are now facing. “Space!” he exclaimed. “As much as we have loved creating this niche spot that is sometimes hard to get into, it is rather small. Our No. 1 complaint is, ‘Why won’t you guys get a bigger place?!’ I like to keep it exclusive, so to speak, but there is a need and a want. I think eventually we are going to have to branch out.”
Both men were eager to close our conversation with some helpful tips for any bartender or barback reading this who might be thinking of branching out also and opening their own place someday. Schuster cautioned, “One of the toughest things you’ll encounter is trying to figure out all of the different paperwork and certificates needed from the state, the city, the county, the liquor board. It seemed like every time we thought we were getting close to opening and having all of our ducks in a row, it was, ‘Nope! Now you need to go and get this signed off on.’ Be aware that some of those documents take two or three months to get signed off and be completed.”
Ferrari, though, encourages a full-speed-ahead attitude to take the checkered flag in this competitive business. He concluded, “You will be able to do it whether you think you can or not. We had a lot of times where we doubted ourselves. But, in every situation, with a little bit of research and a couple of phone calls here and there, we figured it all out . . . and so will you!”
Click Here to check out the article as it appeared in The Journal.
Images by Ashli Mix Photography.