New wine and cocktail club takes “flight” in Oshkosh

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

September 9, 2024

OSHKOSH – After devoting 26 years to a career in K-12 education – both in the classroom and administration – Andrea Reichenberger said she felt she needed a change.  

That change has come in the form of Flights Wine and Cocktail Club (607 S. Main St.), a new establishment in Oshkosh’s Sawdust District.

Though a far cry from a public sector job, Reichenberger said for her, that is exactly the change she was looking for – and needed.

As she was contemplating a second career, she said her husband, Tim, asked her what else she was passionate about. 

Reichenberger said the answer came to her pretty quickly.

About 20 years earlier, she said she had become passionate about wine – not just any wine in particular, all wines.

“I probably started like many people with something pretty basic, a white Zinfandel or something along those lines, and worked my way up to red wines,” she said. “I just started experimenting and drinking different wines and developing my palette. My husband and I had also started doing some traveling, and I started trying different wines while traveling.” 

Reichenberger said she also likes trying to get other people to try different wines,

“People get set into drinking only white or red wines, and I like making suggestions to people to help them expand their palette as well,” she said.

That, Reichenberger said, gave her the idea of opening a wine and cocktail bar.

Oshkosh was calling her name

Though the couple had been living in Kaukauna, they started their lives together in Oshkosh – a city that Reichenberger said was calling them home.

Not only did they meet in Oshkosh, but they got married and owned a home there some 20 years earlier.

But once they started a family, Reichenberger said they had a tough time finding childcare in Oshkosh – prompting the move to Kaukauna.

Now with their children grown, she said they started seriously talking about moving back to Oshkosh. 

“When I started researching business ideas (that could involve wine), I started researching Oshkosh also,” she said. “I discovered there was no place for women to hang out and talk with their friends and drink wine in Oshkosh. So, that was kind of where I got the idea to get started. I wanted to create this space for women, something that wasn’t another sports bar with the TVs blaring, or another neighborhood tavern where the music was so loud you couldn’t talk to or hear each other.” 

Reichenberger said what she envisioned was a quaint, relaxing atmosphere that was conducive to women sharing conversation over cocktails – a place where they could let their hair down and be one with themselves and each other. 

“That was the original concept,” she said. “While I was out of town one weekend, my husband started researching available commercial properties and discovered that the site of the former Brooklyn Bar & Grill was available. The owners of the building were very particular about what they wanted in this building. They didn’t want another sports bar. So, when we told them our concept they were completely on board and very supportive in helping us get this off the ground.”   

With that, Reichenberger said Flights Wine and Cocktail Club started to become a reality.  

Breathing new life into property

Reichenberger said the Brooklyn Bar & Grill had been an institution in Oshkosh for many years. Located around the corner from the Brooklyn No. 4 Fire House – which was listed on the State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places – Brooklyn’s interior was much like that of the old firehouse.

At the same time, Reichenberger said it resembled a 1940s New York-era speakeasy. 

It was that charm, character and “old school ambience” – with its brick walls and wooden floors – that Reichenberger said drew them to the building.

“It was just the perfect vibe for what I wanted to create,” she said. “Everything from there fell into place.”
Though the place had good bones, it had been sitting vacant since the Brooklyn closed in December 2019 – and Reichenberger said there was work that needed to be done to bring the building back to life.

“The booths were in pretty rough shape, so we removed the booths and tables in the back and replaced them with couches and cute, comfortable chairs,” she said. “The old mural behind the bar has been covered up with antique glass tile. The bar itself was beautiful, but it had kind of a dark green laminate on it. So, we had a nice cream-colored epoxy put on it to brighten that up. We painted some of the wood to brighten it up as well.”

The outdoor patio remains, but Reichenberger said the tree that had sat in the middle of it had died over the years and needed to be removed.

The remainder of the patio, she said, was repainted and new furniture now graces the area.

“People who have come in lately have said how much they like the vibe and that they can talk to their friends over a glass of wine without having to shout to be heard,” she said.  

Taking flight

When coming up with a name, Reichenberger said the word “flights” just seemed like a natural fit in a couple of different ways.

“We wanted to specialize in flights, plus the Oshkosh and EAA connection seemed to be a cute play on words, even though we’re not doing an aviation theme,” she said.

Reichenberger said flights can help people try new flavors and spirits and compare different options to choose their favorite.

At Flights Wine and Cocktail Club, she said, flights are a standard offering for customers.

“They’re served in miniature glasses so you can try different things without paying for a full glass of something,” she said. “We offer several featured wine flights, which allow people to experience new wines. I have some unique wines you can’t get anywhere else, including a very nice natural wine selection from some great distributors who come from Madison and Milwaukee. I try to source locally whenever possible.”

Reichenberger said the establishment’s flight themes change with the season.

“We’ll be doing a Wisconsin wine flight coming up in the fall, and we’re looking at doing a cider flight and a fall wine flight, also,” she said. “We’ll be doing an October pink flight for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”

Once Flights Wine and Cocktail Club secures a liquor license that allows it, Reichenberger said she eventually wants to offer build-your-own beer flights and high-end bourbon and whiskey flights, old-fashioned flights and any other flights you can imagine.

Like any other municipality, Reichenberger said the City of Oshkosh only issues so many liquor licenses.

Flights Wine and Cocktail Club has a license to sell beer – all of which are sourced locally – and a license to sell wine. 

To sell other liquor, spirits and fermented malt, Reichenberger said she must have a different license and at the moment there are none available. 

“The Oshkosh Area Chamber of Commerce has been very helpful in advocating on our behalf in trying to get our liquor license, as has Kris Larson, owner of Beckets (and Oshkosh Common Council member),” she said.

Full liquor license or not, Reichenberger said nothing is standing in her way.

Flights Wine and Cocktail Club is open for business, and she said people are loving it. 

“Business has been quite steady so far, and it’s really been great because a lot of people have come in and said that Oshkosh really needs this,” she said. “People have been telling other people about the vibe and ambiance. Honestly, I haven’t had to do a ton of advertising because the word-of-mouth is really spreading. Facebook has been huge for us. Discover Oshkosh (VisitOshkosh.com) and the chamber have both promoted us, so that has helped, too.”  

Reichenberger said they recently hosted a “Flights and Fashion” event in which they partnered with Periwinkle Poppy Boutique – which provided patrons an opportunity to sip and shop.

She said she would like to do similar events with other women’s clothing and jewelry businesses. 

Flights Wine and Cocktail Club will also be hosting live jazz music throughout September and Reichenberger said she hopes to do some pop-up chef events where certain foods are paired with different wines.

When it gets closer to the holidays, she said she’d like to do some wine pairings with traditional holiday goodies, as well.

As an in-house pairing option, Reichenberger said Flights Wine and Cocktail Club offers “choose your own charcuterie” boards – which feature cheeses from Renard’s in Sturgeon Bay, ThunderBird Bakery bread and Oaks Chocolates. 

“Everything’s been a pretty big hit so far,” she said. “I want to continue building on my initial concept… I want to create an experience for people that’s different from anything else we’ve ever had here in Oshkosh.” 

For more information, including hours of operation and special event details, visit Flight Wine and Cocktail Club on Facebook.