Common Spirits focuses on craft cocktails in Goshen
Jami Hawkins, owner of Common Spirits, talks craft cocktails and business in Goshen
Daycap: Hospitality with Every Bite
Next to Common Spirits, Goshen’s intimate cocktail bar, sits Daycap, a breakfast-all-day eatery serving all the fixings from fried chicken to pancakes to bloody marys. Daycap and Common Spirits stand side by side dressed in light green brick and adorned with white and maroon trim. Inside Daycap, the small brick room holds less than a dozen tables, often full of groups of all sizes and ages, smiling and chatting.
This is the environment that Jami and Ryan Hawkins, the owners, had always hoped for: comfortable, welcoming and vintage. With, of course, lots of heartwarming food. In the corner beside the arching window, a nine-foot tall fiddle leaf fig stands proud, soaking up sun and keeping watch over the restaurant below.
“We just wanted people to feel welcome,” said Jami Hawkins. “Before the food, before the drinks, hospitality is just something that means so much to both of us.”
The food comes as a close second to the warm nature of Daycap, where homestyle, made-from-scratch, locally sourced dishes pack a flavorful punch—no salting needed. But if you choose, the saltshakers are vintage, handpicked by Hawkins herself.
“We love bold flavors,” said Hawkins.” Our hope is that… no one needs to salt or season anything when it comes to the table because we want to provide that for you.”
Although Hawkins is known for her brunch and cocktails, her aura is reflective of the style in which she manages, sporting bright blue eyeshadow, a Travis Tritt concert tee, a velvet skirt, tights and Doc Martens. At Daycap on Saturday mornings, she can be found running hot plates to tables and mixing drinks by the white, subway tile bar.
That said, it’s difficult to describe Hawkins without mentioning her cocktails, which she approaches in the same way as almost everything else-with love. Although Hawkins doesn’t find herself mixing cocktails at Daycap in the intimate way she does at night behind the bar at Common Spirits, she speaks of it admirably.
“I’m making this thing like with care and consideration, I’m making the syrups for you, I'm juicing the juices,” said Hawkins.
The Luciana, the most popular cocktail at Daycap, was inspired by Hawkins’ childhood years in Argentina, where maté was a ceremonial staple. The drink features a pineapple maté syrup, which Hawkins came up with.
“It’s basically like an elevated mimosa,” said Hawkins, describing the Luciana. “You can pick your spirit, it has fresh lemon juice, the pineapple maté syrup and then it’s topped with sparkling wine, super refreshing, pairs well with the food.”
Daycap opened in August of 2022, six years after Common Spirits next door. The eatery was born out of the need for a kitchen next door and when the space opened up, the Hawkins jumped at the opportunity to service both.
“We were never like, “We wanna open a brunch place,” ever. And we still feel that way. But, we love the food and drink industry so much that we were like what does this community need, what can we provide and that was what it was,” said Hawkins.
Although the Hawkins opened Common Spirits only six years ago, she is not new to Goshen’s food scene. Hawkins got her first serving job at the South Side Soda Shop at age 17 years old, working on and off at the diner for 10 years. Following that, she worked at the County Seat for four or five years and at Venturi for the same time, where she learned to bartend.
“It’s just in my blood,” said Hawkins.
Her experience in the food and beverage industry is shown from her craft cocktails to the variety of items on the menu. The most popular food item at Daycap, the Fritz special, a shredded potato, egg and sausage scramble with toast, comes from the County Seat menu, Goshen’s landmark breakfast joint that started in 1984, by Freeda Huser, or “Fritz.” Although the County Seat closed many years ago, Freeda and Hawkins are still friends to this day.
“When we decided to do brunch, I was like we should do the Fritz special like hands down,” said Hawkins. “I asked her for permission and she was like totally, go for it.” Unsurprisingly, the Fritz special was the favorite at the County Seat.
Hawkins loves the thought of making people happy with food, which she does every day. But, it is not without its challenges, not to mention owning an evening restaurant next door. She consistently works 13 to 14-hour days, or 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. most of the days Daycap is open.
Although the hours can be difficult, the Common Spirits and Daycap staff, along with the Goshen community, make the challenge worth it.
“I fall in love with these people who are like working at my dreams, helping my dreams come true … Honestly, managing the team I have is really easy because they’re all really great. I’m really lucky,” said Hawkins.
Hawkins continued, “I say this like all the time, Goshen is like the best place to own a business…I feel like Goshen as a community really rallies around like their own people. I literally would not want to own these businesses anywhere else.”
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