by Kristen Wile

Justin Hazelton hands out samples of his Rosemary Rush cocktail at the Charlotte StrEATs Festival. Photo by Grant Baldwin

After working at Leah & Louise as beverage director since the restaurant’s opening at the start of the pandemic, Justin Hazelton has stepped out on his own. Over the last year, Hazelton has been working with Leah & Louise under his new beverage consultation company, Top Shelf Co., which offers training and logistics assistance as well as menu planning and creation.

“Everything that I’ve done with Leah & Louise that you’ve seen recently has been under Top Shelf Co., and I was just getting better and better at it, trying to figure out my actual business structure,” Hazelton says. “And now I’m at a place where I want to actually fully pursue that.”

Pursuing those plans includes working towards opening his own bar, which will be named Lorem Ipsum. As he was researching fonts for the bar’s name, Hazelton came across the common placeholder text used in news and print design.

“I was like, ‘What the hell does that mean?!'” Hazelton says. “I looked it up and it’s a poem that talks about pain itself and actually means gibberish and nothing. And I was trying to build a speakeasy. I said, ‘That’s it!’ The name is nothing; the name is a placeholder. I loved it.”

The project will be self-funded, and Hazelton is currently seeking a space that can help him create the vibe his dream bar will have — the bar he wishes this city had.

“I want a small, moody, dark bar that has amazing cocktails,” he says. Beyond his offerings at Leah & Louise, Hazelton’s skill at creating amazing cocktails has been evidenced by him coming in on top of several of our pandemic cocktail kit offerings over the last few years. He was also part of the Unpretentious Palate barrel selection at Jack Daniels this month, which will hit ABC Stores following a barrel launch party early next year.

If all goes as he plans, Hazelton says to expect Lorem Ipsum to open in the third quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, he is continuing with building his consulting work, including creating cocktails on Charlotte Panthers game days for Levy at Bank of America Stadium.

Hazelton says his departure from the BayHaven Restaurant Group has been “all love,” and he is succeeded by new bar manager Kayleigh Williams-Brown (more on that soon).