A Samoan Dillweed, anyone? Get your cocktail culture sea legs under you at Sea Wolf Tybee

Kids are back in school, the summer crowds are gone, temperatures are a little cooler, and there are parking spots close to the beach. September feels like the ideal time to visit a quieter seashore and have a cocktail at Sea Wolf Tybee.

Tucked off First Street at 106 S. Campbell just behind the post office, Sea Wolf Tybee celebrates its third birthday on Sept. 8, while its sister (or should we say brother?) bar, Savannah’s Lone Wolf Lounge turned five last month. To discuss his vision and to sample some of his more creative cocktails, I met with Andrew Jay Ripley who, together with Tom Worley and their minority partner Ricardo Ochoa, owns the funkily hip Tybee Island restaurant and bar.

Until recently, the burly, bearded, and trucker-hatted Ripley was the principal oboist of the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra, and per the nonprofit’s website, “received his formal training at The Julliard School and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. The fifth child of two bagpipers, Andrew grew up on a sheep farm in rural Minnesota, and in addition to being a classically trained musician, he is also a classically trained bartender.”

Ripley first came to town to play with the Savannah Symphony and following its demise attended graduate school at Indiana. That was when he first started bartending “and got the hospitality bug.”

Ripley commuted to Savannah to play with the Philharmonic, returning permanently after graduate school with the intention of opening a bar as “the town seemed ripe for a good cocktail program.” Going from being a classical musician to working in the service industry, he relished getting to know more people in our community as he tended bar at the Sparetime, Cotton & Rye, and The Andaz before partnering with Worley in taking over an abandoned-since-the-'70s insurance and realty company on the border of the Starland neighborhood.

Ripley said, “When the owner retired, he just locked the door and left. It still had the avocado green carpeting and the drop ceiling, and it was kind of the vibe I was going for.  I wanted the nostalgia of my background in Wisconsin’s neighborhood bars where the lighting’s good and the music’s good.”

Ripley added wryly, “Many people refer to it as a dive bar, but I call it a neighborhood bar.”

The other inspiration for Lone Wolf Lounge was the Caribbean and Savannah trade routes and the resulting focus on Central American and Caribbean spirits adds a retro-tiki bar, on-vacation feel.

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Opening Sea Wolf Tybee two years later, Ripley strove to create a neighborhood spot with a Northern Atlantic port city vibe; think dark wood paneling and harpoons. He showed me the beautiful painting of a sailing ship that takes pride of place in the front dining room and was the first piece he bought for the space. Taking Inspiration from Paul Kahan’s Chicago restaurant group, which focuses on just a few things – like tacos with tequila and bourbon, or oysters and pork with beer, Ripley appreciates how the concept of self-imposed constraints increases creativity.

Thus, although Sea Wolf Tybee’s menu changes often, it is constrained by its focus on oysters, smorgasbords, crudos, dips, and a delicious array of hot dogs [on the day of my visit, there was a loaded wagyu beef chili dog, a pimento cheese VooDoo Dog and a Classic Dog of wagyu beef with all the fixings]. For a restaurant that bought the meat smoker from Savannah’s sadly defunct Lucky’s Market, the menu is surprisingly vegan- and vegetarian-friendly.

While bartenders at both Wolves can mix up a great Manhattan or Martini, it’s the fun cocktail portion of the menu that has drawn me to Tybee. Interestingly, the cleverly named drinks, like The Recombobulator or the Five Hour Energy, are described without an explanation of their ingredients: Ripley explained, “It’s more about the feeling.”

For example, the wording under the illustration of The Recombobulator in a classic tiki tumbler simply reads, “It’s not just for breakfast anymore! Cucumber and honey combine to refresh and restore in this corpse reviving cooler.”

The other unexpected thing is intentional affordability. Currently priced at just $8 or $9, the seven specialty cocktails are at least $5 to $7 less expensive than other bars in our area.

I started by sampling The Owlbear, whose enticing description reads, “This tall, refreshing cooler, our take on the Scandinavian long drink, is like a stroll through the pines.” Light enough for summer sipping, the $8 (!) drink is served in a Collins glass and has enough complexity to enjoy in winter too: The St. George Terroir Gin with Douglas fir as its unusual main botanical, sweet Vermouth, Angostura bitters, lemon, and soda water are mixed and garnished with grapefruit peel.

Next, I try the crisp Zippah, described on the menu as “A real zippy nipper! Gin, Absinthe, and lemon with a touch of earthiness guaranteed to elevate your oysters.” At just $9, it does indeed seem like the perfect sipping accompaniment to briny oysters. Other elements include grapefruit juice and Vermouth, which is technically a wine that is herbal, fruity, and a little bitter, and which contributes to the “earthiness.” Adding ice to Absinthe (the process of La Louche) transforms its color from the original emerald green to a milky, opalescent liquid, but the Zippah is a beautiful yellow because of the addition of the gentian liqueur, Suze.

Lastly, I move on to the $9 Samoan Dillweed which, I confide to Ripley, is not something I would ever think to order, not really caring for dill in culinary dishes. But, of course, this mixologist knows what he’s about and the flavor profile is simply amazing! The first drink he designed for the Sea Wolf, it’s truly a magical blend of runs, almond orgeat, Absinthe, lemon, and dill, inspired, he says, “by how well Absinth and  orgeat go together, as well as Akvavit – kind of that caraway seed flavor.” It’s earthy and delicious – a weirdly effective marriage of the anise and fennel herbs of the Absinthe and the caraway and dill, all with a rich undercurrent of Barbados rum and a little white Rhum Agricole. This latter spirit is manufactured  exclusively on the French territories of the Caribbean where sugar cane grows in saltwater, and according to Ripley, “you can definitely taste the saline.”

Finally, having recently smirked my way through Becky Hughes’ New York Times article (Aug. 25, 2023) “Do Cocktail Glasses Have a Gender? For Some Men, Clearly,” I would be remiss in not mentioning the words printed on the bar’s seasonally changing cocktail menu:  “Shhhhhhh. We can discreetly substitute glassware for insecure men.”

So, no more excuses! It’s time for a post Labor Day visit to the beach and a delicious, reasonably priced drink at Sea Wolf Tybee!

Find out more at SeaWolfTybee.com and follow @seawolftybee to keep abreast of music, Saturday and Sunday brunch menus, art fairs, and special dinners [look for an Ocktoberfest dinner later this month]. Open seven days a week, the kitchen serves until 10 p.m., and the bar stays open until the last straggler leaves.

There is an interesting wine list, and bottled, canned and draft beer offerings, as well as plenty of indoor and outdoor seating under the trees. Additionally, when not practicing or playing with their Intracoastal Playboys country band, Ripley (on bass) and Worley (on drums) host the occasional wine dinner.

Ripley said, “People are scared of cocktail dinners…Though they are perfectly comfortable ordering a round of cocktails and then drinking two bottles of wine!”

I, for one, am all about a cocktail dinner. Let’s hope it happens again soon!

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Wash ashore at Sea Wolf Tybee for clever cocktails, focused menu