No. 01
The Cornerstone
A dry, cold, no-nonsense martini. Stirred thirty seconds — not a second more.
- Chanticleer Original2½ oz
- Dry vermouth½ oz
- Olive brine1 tsp
- Lemon twist—
Base · Original
Vodka · Ithaca, New York·Est. 1946
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Chapter I · The Corner
Two brothers from Rochester.
One corner in Ithaca.
Anthony and Frank Leonardo opened the doors at State & Cayuga in 1946. Eighty years of last calls later, the family is still behind the bar — and now, behind the bottle.
Chapter II · The Rooster
The neon went up in 1947
and never learned to be quiet.
Rich the Rooster crows from a cylindrical steel sign on the corner — a designated city landmark, and the only bird in Ithaca with its own fan club.
Chapter III · The Pour
New York winter wheat.
Finger Lakes water.
Distilled seven times and filtered once — through nothing but patience. Soft on the front, a whisper of white pepper, and a finish as long and cool as a Cayuga night.
Chapter IV · The Label
Every bottle
wears the bird.
Allocation One: 1,946 numbered bottles, held at the bar that named them. Reserve yours and pick it up under the rooster.
0yrs
On the corner
0
Doors opened
0×
Distilled
0
Bottles · Allocation One
0AM
Last call
The Rooster · 1947 — Present
January 2020.
The rooster came down.
Years of standing water and snow rotted the awning out from under it. The corner went dark for the first time since Truman.
The Rooster · The Neighborhood
The regulars had it back
before summer.
The repair estimate tripled. The town didn't blink — former bartenders, old Cornell kids, people who met their spouses at the rail. The neighborhood paid to put the bird back.
The Rooster · Still Crowing
You don't own a sign like that.
You keep the lights on.
Landmark-designated. Family-kept. It's the bird on every label, and the reason the bottle glows a little orange in the right light.
The long version
Eighty years,
briefly.
Scroll to travel →
01 / 08
1945
The Office Hotel comes down.
Steel I-beams go up in its place — one of the first postwar buildings in upstate New York to use them. Dark stone below, buff stone above, wide arched windows.
02 / 08
1946
Anthony & Frank Leonardo open the doors.
Two brothers from Rochester. Fine dining on the first floor, a name found by accident while shopping for bar equipment in New Jersey. Chanticleer — Old English for the rooster.
03 / 08
1947
The neon goes up.
Two roosters, one on each face of a projecting cylindrical steel sign on the angled corner entrance. It has not come down voluntarily since.
04 / 08
The Rainbow Room
Upstairs, a dance floor you needed a reservation for.
The second floor pulled crowds from across the Finger Lakes. Today it's the Chanti Loft — and the name on our oak-rested expression.
05 / 08
1979
Rich takes the keys.
Frank's nephew, Rich Leonardo, becomes the owner and keeps the original bar, ceilings and floors exactly where they were. The rooster gets a nickname.
06 / 08
2016
Seventy years.
Same bar. Same ceiling. Same floor. Chicken pictures on every wall, a jukebox that knows both Otis and the new stuff, and a party in December.
07 / 08
2020
The rooster falls. The town catches it.
Water damage takes the sign down in January. TJ Leonardo opens a fundraiser in February; the neighborhood answers by spring. The bird returns to the corner.
08 / 08
2026
The corner, bottled.
Chanticleer Vodka. Distilled from New York wheat, cut with Finger Lakes water, and released first at the bar that named it. Allocation One: 1,946 bottles.
No. 01 · Original
80Proof
Three expressions
Original
The house pour. Clean as a wiped-down rail, soft wheat on the palate, and a finish that keeps going after the ice has quit.
Soft wheatWhite pepperCool mineralLong finish
Choose a sizePick a size first
$34Per bottle · Pickup at the bar
Chanticleer Original750 ml · $34 · Allocation One
“We didn't, as a family, anticipate the outpour of support.”TJ Leonardo · On the rooster fundraiser, 2020
House cocktails
Four ways to
close the corner.
No. 02
Rainbow Room Fizz
Tall, bright and danceable. Honey from the hill, lemon from wherever lemons are from.
- Rainbow Room2 oz
- Lemon¾ oz
- Honey syrup½ oz
- SodaTop
Base · Rainbow Room
No. 03
Rooster's Crow
An espresso martini for a 1 AM that isn't over. Charred lemon on the nose, black pepper on the way out.
- Last Call2 oz
- Cold brew1 oz
- Demerara½ oz
- Three beans—
Base · Last Call
No. 04
State & Cayuga
The corner in a glass: Finger Lakes Riesling, grapefruit, and a rooster's worth of vodka.
- Chanticleer Original1½ oz
- Dry Riesling2 oz
- Grapefruit1 oz
- Salt rimHalf
Base · Original
Home bar
Pours first
where it was named.
Chanticleer Vodka is released at the rail of the bar that inspired it. Downstairs: the long bar, the jukebox, the pool table, the pinball. Upstairs: the Chanti Loft, for the nights that need a room of their own.
101 West State Street
Ithaca, New York 14850Corner of State & Cayuga · (607) 272-9678
Ithaca, New York 14850Corner of State & Cayuga · (607) 272-9678
Sun — MonClosed
Tue — Wed5 PM — 1 AM
Thu — Sat3 PM — 1 AM
Downtown Ithaca
Two blocks from the Commons
Two blocks from the Commons
Allocation One
1,946 bottles.
Held at the bar.
Reserve a bottle, pick a night, and we'll hold it under the rooster with your name on the tag. Show the ticket at the rail. First pour's on the house.
Remaining
1,412
Pickup
Tue — Sat
Age
21+