“We’re trying to create our own hubbub,” says Joe Kouza, one of the owners of Siris, a bar that opened at the end of April at 207 N. Main.
The Kouza family has been part of what Joe calls “the forgotten block” of N. Main, between Ann and Miller, since acquiring the Main Street Party Store in 1989. Siris is the latest of their venues revitalizing the area. They opened Agave Tequila Bar, a few doors north, earlier this year (Marketplace Changes, April), and also own the Heidelberg Restaurant.
Siris’s building had stood vacant since a 2011 fire. The total reconstruction includes a comfortable basement barroom, made possible by excavating tons of rock and rubble, bucket by bucket, through a window into the alley. Out front, an illuminated marquee advertises “Brews BBQ Cigars.”
While Siris has a full bar, beer is a focus, with 121 different pours on tap and another couple of hundred available by the bottle. A cigar bar license allows smoking on the premises, which features a humidor the size of a walk-in closet. Kosch Dining Solutions marketing manager Geoff Schwartz says a “massive” ventilation system will keep things comfortable for nonsmoking patrons.
As at Agave, the Kouzas are working with Rochester-based Kosch to run Siris. It is “really a passion project for the Kouza brothers,” Schwartz says. “Siris is their vision from the get-go, a beer lover’s dream.”
And why is it called Siris? Siris was the goddess of beer in Mesopotamia, where beer was first fermented.
Siris, 207 N. Main St., 263-1296.
4 p.m-2 a.m. daily. sirisannarbor.com
