DRINK
From left to right: Designed Joy William For & Company co-founders owner and Kristen mixologist Sydow and Cary Heise Lily Ballance.
MEZCAL MAGIC William & Company’s Lily Ballance creates a sip of Mexico here in Raleigh with her spin on agave by JENN RICE photography by FORREST MASON
N
estled on Person Street’s culinary row is William & Company, a cozy 40-seat watering hole. Outside, brightly-painted metal tables invite patrons to linger; inside the dimly-lit space, deep, weathered sofas do the same. On a typical night, the bar is lined with mason jars overflowing with herbs and carefully labeled tinctures. Incense wafts through the room, and like
novena prayer candles, dried bouquets and painted skulls dot the space. It comes together as a sort of witchy mercado, enticing but a little mysterious. The same could be said for Lily Ballance, the bar’s owner and mixologist: behind her signature red lip is an almost mystical connection to the ingredients she puts into her cocktails, earthly intuition and a little black magic for getting the concoctions just right.
William & Company boasts one of the state’s most impressive Latin American spirits list, including mezcal, pisco, cachaça and even Diplomático rum from Venezuela. They call back to her roots— Ballance moved from Mexico City to the United States at age 14, without knowing how to speak English—and she’s worked to maintain that connection, and build it for her staff, by going back to the source. Earlier this year, Ballance flew her team SEPTEMBER 2020 | 37
