Sommelier Javia Gilliam-Sanford and mixologist Kaje Sanford introduced St. Louisans to their mobile beverage concept Pour Decisions in 2020. Last year, the husband-and-wife duo established a brick-and-mortar location downtown. Its popularity inspired their move to a two-story space in the Delmar Loop for the second iteration of The Passport Craft Cocktail and Wine Bar (6275 Delmar). Here’s what to know when it opens in November.
The Menu
Gilliam-Sanford wants to reassure customers that their favorites from the downtown bar will remain on the cocktail menu in the Loop, including Earl’s Fever Dream (Earl Grey vodka, espresso, coffee liqueur, simple syrup, and lavender cold foam) and the Golden Martini (gin, dry vermouth, bitters, and olives stuffed with truffle caviar).
The global theme will carry on as well, including signature cocktails reminiscent of the couple’s world travels, such as the Greek-inspired From Mykonos, With Love (mastiha, mint, lime juice, simple syrup, and club soda) and El Diablo de Cuba (rum, jalapeño-lime simple syrup, pineapple juice).
Sanford has been innovating with both the classic and signature cocktail menus and adding new elements, such as Japanese spirits. The Shibuya Spin (pear eau de vie, shochu, elderflower, and citrus) is a refreshing and simple example. He’s also having a little fun with combinations like Grandma’s Hands, riffing on a regionally popular flavor pairing (peppermint gin, dry vermouth, and pickle brine).
Keep an eye out for rotating and seasonal specials such as the Jungle Bird, first up in the rotation for frozen cocktails. “We’re really excited about the new things we’ve brought on,” Gilliam-Sanford says.
The spirit-free menu is just as thoughtfully crafted. A foamy and fun Clover Club features Lyre’s Dry London Spirit, Lyre’s White Cane Spirit, Falernum syrup, grenadine, and pineapple, lime and grapefruit juices. The same line of NA spirits is featured in a globetrotting mocktail lineup that spans from Japan to the Caribbean as well as classics like the Old Fashioned and Dark and Stormy.
The Passport’s wine menu currently includes 12 whites and rosés and 10 reds with some returning and some new. There’s an orange blend from the Slovenian boutique producer Grape Abduction, a Mary Taylor Bordeaux Blanc sourced from small growers in France, an Undone pinot noir from Germany, and a Jean Sambardier Beaujolais from France.
Gilliam-Sanford has expanded by-the-bottle selections and will gauge by-the-glass options depending on which wines are most popular. She also plans to continue bringing in wines she discovers in her studies along her sommelier journey, as well as intriguing finds such as a Lubanzi sparkling rosé from South Africa.
The three-tiered wine club will retain the same levels and pricing: two bottles (one red, one white) per month at the $40 and $60 levels, plus a $90 level in which members receive all four wines. Every third Thursday of the month, wine club members are invited to a tasting of the upcoming selection.
Not only do the tastings build community, but they also help Gilliam-Sanford gauge demand and plan for the future. “I was a data analyst before I left to do the bartending thing, and it comes through sometimes,” she quips.
University City requires establishments to offer food, and Gilliam-Sanford is excited about the menu of elevated bar food they are finalizing with a chef. Although the kitchen is “minimal,” it is brand new and structured to meet their needs. “This space was a bookshop previously, so we had to be very creative with putting the kitchen in,” she explains.
The Atmosphere
This is the first time the couple has built out a bar, but Gilliam-Sanford is pleased with the results. “I love it! It feels like the old Passport, which everyone said felt like a friend’s living room. But now it feels like your friend got a promotion,” she says with a laugh before describing the updated, higher-end décor. “It’s still very mid-century modern, with vintage furniture where you can just settle in.”
And there are still travel-inspired details. The Italian black marble counter, for example, is a detail that Sanford-Gilliam decided on after spending several weeks in Italy surrounded by marble this summer on a sommelier trip.
Upstairs, in a ruby red room known as the Equinox Lounge, The Passport will host wine club meetings on the third Wednesday of the month and other events such as DJ spins and a weekly Vino and Vinyl Wednesday session.
When the couple was deciding on a permanent location for The Passport, they were drawn to the Loop because the community has been very supportive of Pour Decisions. “We’ve developed a lot of relationships there,” Gilliam-Sanford says. As they considered options, they did what any traveler would do. “We did a walk of Delmar with our Realtor, and we went past this little space and saw a For Lease sign. It was very old school.”
The Team
“Kaje and I appreciate the enthusiasm people have around The Passport,” Gilliam-Sanford says. “It’s been a rough year for many businesses, ours included, so to be at the forefront of people’s brains as a third space where they genuinely like to be and interact makes us very grateful.”
Setbacks in 2025 included unexpected damage to their mobile bar, as well as plumbing issues on the buildout at the new location. For the first time in their entrepreneurship journey, they decided to borrow money to cover the expenses. “We’ve bootstrapped everything and never taken a loan of any sort,” says Gilliam-Sanford.
Their customers responded to their request for a crowd-funded $12,000 Kiva Loan via Wepower by fulfilling the request in only five days.
Now, The Passport’s plumbing is in place, and the Pour Decisions mobile bar is repaired to a condition that’s better than before, back on the road providing full-service bartending, as it has been since early in the pandemic. Later this fall, the mobile bar will pause operations for the winter, and they will offer only pop-up bar service or in-house events hosted at The Passport.
The couple also plans to continue offering their Bar Alliance curated line of fresh, handcrafted bar goods, such as syrups and salts for at-home bartenders, bakers, and flavor lovers.
Gilliam-Sanford promises that even as they ramp up operations at The Passport, however, “Pour Decisions will keep growing. It is the brand that made us who we are.”
For more details about The Passport’s opening date and hours, follow Pour Decisions on Facebook and Instagram.
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