Nicole Giampino

Coyote Ugly | Kabin - New York, NY

Nicole Giampino is an award-winning bartender and hospitality leader with over 11 years of experience in cocktail culture and bar operations. She is known for building community, mentoring rising talent, and bridging the worlds of craft cocktail culture and high-volume bar leadership. She has developed a reputation for bringing people together by connecting individuals with opportunities, resources, and each other while fostering a culture of collaboration, mentorship, and genuine hospitality.

Originally from Maine, Giampino currently works in management at Coyote Ugly in New York, where she focuses on training, team development, and mentoring the next generation of bartenders. After years working within award-winning cocktail programs, she intentionally pivoted into high-volume bar environments, bringing the standards of world-class hospitality to a new style of bar culture. She also works behind the bar at Kabin, a Nordic-inspired cocktail bar in Hudson Square that brings Scandinavian hygge, a sense of warmth and coziness, to Manhattan, keeping her closely connected to the craft cocktail community.

Previously, Giampino worked with the team at Clemente Bar at Eleven Madison Park, where the bar ranked #11 on North America’s 50 Best Bars and received the Three Cents Best New Opening Award while also earning a Top 4 nomination for Best New Cocktail Bar from the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation.

Before relocating to New York, Giampino spent five years on the team at Century Grand in Phoenix, Arizona. During her tenure as Bar Manager and Head Bartender, she was part of the leadership team when the bar was named Best U.S. Cocktail Bar by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation in 2023 and ranked on North America’s 50 Best Bars in consecutive years. Giampino also helped lead the team to a Top 4 finalist nomination for Best U.S. Bar Team from the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation.

Individually, Nicole Giampino has been recognized as a Top 10 finalist for Bartender of the Year by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, a Top 24 regional Finalist of Most Imaginative Bartender by Bombay Sapphire, and the winner of the American Beverage Marketers Cocktail Competition.

Giampino is also an active supporter of industry initiatives including Speed Rack and the nonprofit Another Round Another Rally. During her free time you can find Giampino at a local dance studio, lifting weights in the gym, or snuggling up to a fantastical smut novel.