by TM Petaccia

Kel Minton leads the reopening of Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte’s The Punch Room. TM Petaccia/UP

The Punch Room, the high-end cocktail bar on the fifteenth floor of Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte in Uptown, will reopen for the first time since the COVID lockdown. While the exact date has yet to be set, mixologist Kel Minton expects the relaunch over the next several weeks.

Minton steps into the role after notable stints at Heirloom, Soul Gastrolounge, and most recently, The Royal Tot.

“Getting here has been about a year-long process since Soul closed down,” Minton says. “A good friend in the industry contacted me about this position to see if I was interested, then some people from Marriott reached out, and here I am.”

Look for hyper-seasonal punches as part of Kel Minton’s menu. TM Petaccia/UP

While the fundamental concept of The Punch Room — an upscale cocktail bar offering shared punches — will go unchanged, Minton has already taken several steps to put his personal and professional stamps on the bar’s rebirth. “We will remain very elegant, focusing on expertise in service — that will be the same,” he says.

What will not be the same is the signature The Punch Room chef jackets worn by past bartenders. Minton will not have them. “It just didn’t seem natural to me,” he says. “While I’ve been taught by some amazing chefs, I never earned a chef jacket.”

“We will still have a punch menu and a regular cocktail menu, but there will be more of a combination of things I’ve learned over my past 15 years of the Charlotte bar scene — starting from what I learned at Heirloom and going into what I learned in Soul and Royal Tot,” Minton says “It’ll all show up.”

Many of the ingredients for Minton’s cocktails and punches will be sourced from the Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte rooftop garden. TM Petaccia/UP

One of the approaches Minton will bring from his experience at Heirloom will be a focus on incorporating locally sourced ingredients into his cocktails — as local as the Ritz-Carlton rooftop. The hotel maintains a rooftop garden which grows various herbs, berries, and a few vegetables.

Minton is also bringing back the rooftop aviary and plans to maintain the hive himself using what he learned from his Heirloom days. “I’ll be reaching out to Clark (Barlowe, Heirloom’s original chef and owner) to get some additional insights and tips,” he says. “The bees have naturally started returning already.”

While most of Minton’s local sourcing efforts will be focused on farms, the bar will include a few North Carolina spirits, including Singapore Slings on tap featuring Durham Distillery’s Conniption Navy Strength gin. “It’s one of my favorite cocktails of all time,” he says.

The cocktail menu will include a weekly rotational hyper-seasonal menu created from what the rooftop garden provides, as well as from local farms via Freshlist. “I’ll be working with Freshlist again just like every other spot I’ve ever run to source as much as I can within a certain radius of the hotel,” Minton says.

Another Minton touch will be his creation of an extensive alcohol-free cocktail list, using NoABV versions of most mainstream spirits (including whiskey, gin, and tequila), vermouths, and amaros, all formulated in-house.

Once open, The Punch Room will offer a menu of about 10-12 food items created by chef Saravanan Appadurai, including dishes such as carpaccio and pork belly, plus vegan and gluten-free options.

Initially, The Punch Room will only be open Thursday-Saturday. “I’ll need a day for my weekly menu planning and then a day to prep everything out for the week,” Minton says.

“I’m looking at this as a very culinary-focused, kitchen-style high-end bar.”