5 Things: John Cox on The Year of the Rooster

By That's Shanghai, January 27, 2017

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A That's series where we ask a Shanghai-based somebody to tell us 5 Things specific to his or her life. 


To kick start the year of the Rooster, we check in with the man behind The Rooster (bar) himself: Mr. John Cox. He talks fire cocks, Rooster revelry and what's in store for us in the year ahead...

1. Ah, the mystical fire cock.

A rare specimen indeed. Needless to say for The Year of the Rooster, uncertainty will be the order of the day with unpredictable highs and lows galore. Regardless on which end of the spectrum you find yourself, there’s comfort waiting for you at the bottom of a glass at The Rooster. We sold a lot of comfort on the night of the US election…

2. My favorite Rooster memory... 

besides Ned Kelly knocking over flaming shots and setting the bar on fire whenever he shows up? Our charity scooter washes for sure at our original Yongkang Lu location. Not every day you see a group of laowai in swimsuits soaping up scooters on the street. It was a unique time and place in Shanghai that I'll always remember.

3. The reason for The Rooster? 

A lot of the great animal names were already taken when we opened in 2012. Beaver, Camel, Boxing Cat, Wagas… So we had to think bigger, bolder, cockier. We knew That's would write about roosters in 2017 and look, here we are. Apple, eat your heart out. I am still bummed I could never figure out how to work the name Cox into the name of the place though.

4. Did you know? 

We have a secret menu with 12 baijiu martinis. Just kidding. It’s 13. And did you know, roosters can drink twice their body weight in beer? True story. #alternativefact

5. Being the year of the Rooster, well... 

We're stoked! We've recently expanded to eight taps so we'll be carrying new Microbrews all the time with tap takeovers every month. Our patio gets furry the first Saturday of every month with our new Barkyard Saturdays so bring your pup for free hot dogs and drink specials. We're also rolling out new cocktails, live music, burger nights, more Sunday night trivia... It's going to be a very good year. And if not, we've got plenty of comfort to go around. 

The Rooster's kick off party starts tonight, January 27 with live music and free flow drinks. See listing for The Rooster here


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