Samantha Casuga

Temple Bar - New York, NY

Samantha Casuga is the Head Bartender at the reinvented Temple Bar in New York City.
Having spent her formative bartending years in Canada, Samantha made the move stateside in 2017 where she spent the next four years at the highly accoladed Irish-American bar The Dead Rabbit working herself up to Head Bartender.

Known to hit the ground running, Samantha has participated in and won numerous competitions most notably New York’s Most Imaginative Bartender in 2018 with Bombay Sapphire. Since then, she has become a judge in major cocktail competitions including Diageo World Class and Bacardi Legacy. She is an active member of the community and has been in leadership roles for the prep teams at San Antonio Cocktail Conference and Tales of the Cocktail and has been on the education committee for Bar Convent Brooklyn. Samantha loves to teach and has run seminars and masterclasses on both the national and international level.

At Temple Bar, Samantha (or “Big Sam” so as not to be confused with Sam Ross) takes pride in her solid team, in not taking herself too seriously behind the bar, and in cultivating a world class cocktail experience within the fiery scene of New York City nightlife. In the world of civilians she teaches yoga, loves to play in the sand and/or snow, and is training to be the ultimate housewife. Tiny, yet mighty she dares you to try and keep up with her.