Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
A local GM
Milligan is a 1993 Fairmont High School graduate who studied organizational leadership at Wright State University.
“I’ve always done this as kind of like, ”Okay, this is the job that’s going to put me through school,”” Milligan said. “I decided to turn this into a career and work real hard at getting to where I’m at now.”
His first job in the food and beverage industry was at Little Caesars when he was 15 years old. It wasn’t until his early 20s when he became a part-time bartender at Bella’s Italian Grill in Celina when he started thinking about bartending long-term.
He immersed himself into the deeper parts of cocktails, beers, wines, spirits and whiskeys as he worked his way up the ranks to head bartender, assistant manager and general manager.
“There’s a lot of jobs that you just do to do, and you get to do it for a paycheck. I do this job because I love doing it,” Milligan said.
Some of his favorite jobs throughout his career included beverage manager at Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Mich. where he helped build a new bar program focusing on craft cocktails and as general manager of Whiskey, Wine and Roses in Fort Jennings.
Prior to The Century, he was beverage manager for Marriott at the University of Dayton.
Creating and educating
One of his favorite parts of bartending is the creativity and experimenting that goes into it.
“There’s so many things you can do to craft the perfect cocktail,” Milligan said. “My favorite thing to do is watch baking shows. I get a lot of inspiration from baking shows because they put all these ingredients together that you wouldn’t think go together.”
Much of his job now is educating guests and watching their “eyes light up” when they learn something new.
“Once you really learn the background and everything that’s behind it, now you can really fall in love with something,” Milligan said. “That’s what happened with me. I took a trip down to Kentucky and went to a bunch of distilleries, talked to a whole bunch of people, and (discovered) this is where I want to be.”
Maintaining the legacy of The Century
When he took the role as general manager, The Century was undergoing a complete employee turnover.
“This team right now is very tight knit in the fact that we all have the same goal,” Milligan said. “We want The Century Bar to continue to be, what it’s known for.”
The Century is downtown Dayton’s oldest bar, dating back to 1942 under its current name, but the history of having a bar on South Jefferson Street dates back even before then.
In the 1890s, Kette & Sons Rye Whiskey Distillery was established in the bar’s previous space and lasted until the flood.
Frank Steffen is said to have purchased the famous back bar you see at the bar today around 1924 for Steffen’s, a male-only “coffee shop” that opened in The Century’s previous space three years after the Great Dayton Flood of 1913. The back bar was constructed in 1862 and had been in Gibson’s Hotel in Cincinnati.
Back in the day, The Century was a classic dive bar with darts, pool and a jukebox on the wall. Today, the bar is nationally known for its selection of more than 800 whiskeys — especially its bourbon.
In 2020, The Century moved from 10 S. Jefferson St. to its current location at 18 S. Jefferson St.
What’s new?
In honor of being known as a bourbon and whiskey bar, The Century is offering a wide variety of flights.
From the Executive Flight featuring four, half-ounce pours of Elmer T. Lee, Blanton SFTB, Weller Full Proof Private Barrel and Thomas Handy Sazerac Rye for $100 to the Buckeye Bourbons featuring Indian Creek 1820 Bourbon, Watershed Bottled in Bond, Hocking Hills Bourbon and Belle of Dayton Detrick Bourbon for $40, guests can try a little bit of everything.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
With the help of Head Mixologist Chris Barry, the team at The Century have also launched a summer cocktail menu. Milligan described it as tropical-themed with world wide influences.
Must-try cocktails include:
- Njord’s Trident (barrel-aged with Four Roses Yellow Label, aquavit, white port, Cynar Spritz and transatlantic bitters) $15
- Midnight Dreary (Ezra Brooks Cask Strength, creme de mure, concerto, Benedictine and espresso) $16
- 3-6-9 (cachaca, coconut water, coconut rum, fresh lime juice, lavender/raspberry simple syrup) $15
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
- The Jade Merchant (2 oz. honeydew-infused Corazon Tequila, lime juice, Giffard Passionfruit Liqueur and Chareau Aloe Liqueur) $15
- Caribbean Nuptials (hibiscus-infused Russel’s Reserve Private Barrel, lemon juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, Ultra Grenadine and Angostura bitters) $15
Something Milligan is looking forward to adding is a barrel-aged program. For Njord’s Trident, the bar collaborated with Four Roses and had the cocktail sit in a barrel for 45 days. This resulted in a unique flavor profile.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The Century has also added mocktails to its menu including:
- Cherry-Aid (fresh lemon or lime juice, Luxardo cherry juice, soda and fresh fruit) $6
- Dirty Coke (Coke or Diet Coke, coconut cream, lime juice and half and half over ice) $8
CBD can be added to any of the mocktails.
The summer cocktail menu is expected to be available until mid-September.
Milligan is looking forward to building up the bar’s gin and rum portfolios as those spirits are gaining attention.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“I certainly don’t want to change the aesthetic,” Milligan said. “At the end of the day, we’re a whiskey bar and we’re always going to be a whiskey bar.”
MORE DETAILS
The Century is open 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 5 p.m. to midnight Sunday.
For more information, visit centurybardayton.com or the bar’s Facebook or Instagram (@thecenturybar) pages.
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