Meet the Next Great Bartenders: Ricky Reyna and Izzy Tulloch

This article is part of The Spill Awards 2026, covering the best in spirits, cocktails, bartenders and drinks culture. Find all of the stories here.

Is 2026 the year that we bring fun back into bartending? If it’s up to our Next Great Bartender winners, that answer is a resounding yes.

They’ve both trained at some of the world’s most highly-rated bars. Ricky Reyna spent three years at Overstory before joining the opening team at Bar Madonna as head bartender. Izzy Tulloch trained at HiHi Room and Clover Club and led Milady’s as head bartender before departing to try her hand as co-owner at her highly-anticipated concept, A Bar Called Pancakes. It’s clear their drink-making skills are top-notch, but where these two bartenders set themselves apart is with their service style.

They both emphasize being in tune with their guests’ needs and overall comfort as the secret to great service. Whether it’s Reyna’s beaming welcome with a taste of amaro or Tulloch’s ability to double shake while dancing, these two ensure that everyone who sits at the bar leaves with a smile. I caught up with both of them on an icy day in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to hear about what keeps them grinning, how they approach their perfect version of service and what’s next for their bartending careers.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

InsideHook: How did you get into bartending?

Izzy Tulloch: I was working at a country club in New Jersey. I had a boss, Troy, who loved craft cocktail bars. I remember when he told me about Trick Dog back in 2014 or 2015, and I just started reading everything I could about cocktails. There was a room downstairs at the club, basically nothing more than a storage space, and I took it over. I made little cocktails down there and experimented. Eventually, they updated the space into a kind of speakeasy with a tiny bar for members and let me run with it.

Ricky Reyna: I’ve been bartending for 10 years, but I say I’ve been really bartending for the last five. I started in restaurants as a barback and then a bartender in San Francisco before I came to New York. When I started at Overstory, that’s where it took off for me. I told Harrison [Ginsberg, bar director at Overstory] that I didn’t know what kind of bartender he was looking for, but I was ready to learn. The next three years were serious bartending school.

Do you have a first memory of being excited or inspired that made you think, “This is the career for me?”

IT: I joined my New Jersey chapter of USBG (United States Bartending Guild) and found out about cocktail competitions. I started entering them and made it into a Rémy Cointreau competition at Clover Club. The judges were David Wondrich, Joaquin Simo and Emily Arseneau, and it was a whole world I didn’t know about yet. Julie Reiner came up to me and said, “You should really be working in New York. I’ll have a job waiting for you.” Two years later, I got myself together to make the move to the city, and I emailed Julie first thing.

RR: Harrison showed me how to make a clarified milk punch, which is when I was inspired to create a cocktail that ended up on the Overstory menu. I realized, I can do all of this — the infusions, the fat washing, making syrups, oleos and sodas. I can build everything on these techniques and create my own flavors. I realized that now I have the tools to take my creative thoughts and put them into a beverage.

Traveling for events and pop-ups has become such a huge part of being a bartender. Is that something you expected when starting out?

IT: The first time I traveled internationally was for a guest shift at El Gallo [in Guadalajara, Mexico]. It completely changed how I think about hospitality and the industry. Then I traveled a ton for pop-ups when I worked at Milady’s. I’m a different bartender at pop-ups — the energy is so different and fun.

My concept [A Bar Called Pancakes] started as a series of pop-ups. Before we jumped into brick and mortar, we wanted to test things out. I had to make sure that a bar is what we really want to do. I ran it by Eric [Finkelstein, Tulloch’s former boss at the HiHi Room] and he said, “Why don’t you do it at S&P?” So we had a pop-up there and have done Pancakes pop-ups at other New York bars.

RR: Not at all. My grandma is like, “What do you mean you’re in India because you work as a bartender?” My favorite part about traveling is not only being behind the bar and showing off our cocktails, our bar and our New York style — it’s the people we get to meet and the other bars we get to dip into. It keeps me inspired and keeps me wanting to create new and different drinks.

When you spend two hours across the bar from a guest and they walk away with the best experience of their life, what are they telling their friends about you?

IT: I think that I’m adaptable. You have to change for every person and every situation. What I really hope is they would say I’m a good bartender. Because all people have a different definition of what that means.

There have definitely been nights, especially at Milady’s, when you’re getting ticket after ticket and you’re still able to talk to guests as you’re going through them. And someone will say, “It’s really beautiful to watch you work.” That means a lot to me.

RR: That I was enjoying my job. I think it’s so important to the guest experience that a bartender can make drinks and talk to guests at the same time. And it’s not the easiest thing — it’s serious multitasking and takes practice. I’m always working on being myself while making great drinks.

It does start at the top. Eric [Madonna, owner of Bar Madonna] opens the space up for everyone on the team to be themselves. I love that — we thrive on it so much because there are a lot of personalities at Bar Madonna.

What is your relationship with perfectionism, especially behind the bar?

IT: Oh, it’s terrible. I’ll put it this way: I’ve never liked a single drink I’ve ever made. I’m never finished. I’m always collecting opinions and getting people to taste things. I always think, “It’s still missing something.” Danielle [Tulloch’s business partner] will tell me, “No, stop.” That’s when I’m able to take my hands off a drink. Then I’m convinced my next concept will be the drink that comes out perfect.

RR: It’s nice. You could say I’m Type A behind the bar — I want to feel ready. I think it’s a big part of my flow. But look, nothing is perfect. If something goes wrong, we’ll roll with the punches, we’ll work to fix it. I [want to] get something in your hand quickly, to make you feel taken care of. Then we can correct mistakes or work out of being backed up. It can’t always be perfect.

What’s coming up that you’re excited about?

IT: We’re hoping to open A Bar Called Pancakes soon, by the end of spring 2026. We want it to be a place you can show up from anywhere at any time in any state of mind, and we’ll make you feel better than when you walked in.

RR: I’m excited for this next year, to see what new flavor profiles we can create, to see what collaborations we can do with the bar. I’ve got a full plate right now. We’re coming up on two years of Bar Madonna. It’s so much fun, and I’m so busy helping this bar be the best.