October 2012
Beverage Media
61
BAR
TALK
She’s Fresh
Kristin Almy, Bar Manager,
Grand Café, San Francisco
BY ALIA AKKAM
Just five years ago it would have been
hard to imagine a bar serving cocktails
on draft. Now we’ve entered an era where
even green Chartreuse flows from a
tap—at least at Grand Café at the Hotel
Monaco in San Francisco, the first
establishment in the country to do so.
But a plethora of the circa-1700s herbal
liqueur (available as a shot, paired with
a Kronenbourg 1664, or in the form of a
Grand Old Fashioned cocktail) isn’t the
only intriguing specialty at Kristin Almy’s bar.
THE BEVERAGE NETWORK:
Green Chartreuse on tap at Grand
Café is certainly exciting. What
inspired this idea?
KRISTIN ALMY:
It was a collaboration. I
was sitting down with staff and having a
chat about things we like. Everyone was
already doing Fernet Branca on tap, but
we also loved Chartreuse. ‘How could no
one have done this before?’ we asked.
TBN:
And so you did. It’s wild to
think that Chartreuse has become so
sought-after among imbibers.
KA:
People are excited about it. Funny,
I’ve had some guests who had tried it be-
fore, like in the ’70s at their weird profes-
sor’s house, and didn’t realize it’s now a
popular thing. Forgotten spirits are weav-
ing their way back through cocktail snobs
who started looking at old drink recipes.
Think about
Mad Men
and how 1960s fur-
niture is popular again. People are inter-
ested in the social aspect.
TBN:
And it’s one way of staying
competitive in a city that’s cluttered
with fabulous cocktail bars.
KA:
Everywhere you go here there is
an amazing cocktail menu—even in
dive bars.
TBN:
Prior to coming to San Francisco
and working at Bar Adagio and in
Oakland at Miss Pearl’s Restaurant &
Lounge, you plied your trade behind
the stick in Las Vegas. That must
have been a completely different
experience. What did you learn there?
KA:
Vegas is the complete opposite
side of the coin. I worked at Agave,
off the Strip, and that really piqued
my interest in tequila. But I learned
it’s really about what the guest wants.
As much as I want everyone to drink
small-batch, storied spirits, if that’s
not what the guest wants, we don’t
have to push them. You go to some
cocktail bars and bartenders are
just not nice. That’s not hospitality.
Guests want a good time and I’m
here to facilitate it.
TBN:
Beyond the Chartreuse, you
recently revamped the cocktail
menu at Grand Café, and I know
you’re making rhubarb-infused
cachaça. What else can guests
look forward to?
KA:
Really, all the drinks go back to
classic cocktails, but with a fresh Cali-
fornia twist. In Northern California we
have such amazing fresh ingredients
for cocktails.
TBN:
How important do you think
seasonality has become?
KA:
The question is what will you
want to drink? You can’t do rich, fall
cocktails here in October like you can
in other cities. I don’t want a Whiskey
Flip in 85 degrees. When I was work-
ing in Vegas there was lots of red san-
gria but it’s not refreshing. Walking
into 110-degree heat after drinking it
is an instant hangover.
TBN:
What are you working on for
autumn that you’re excited about?
KA:
Really delicious, light, cold-pressed
apple cider. I’m looking forward to using
it with gin and then, as it gets progres-
sively cooler, whiskey.
TBN:
Drinking at brunch used to
mean a mimosa or a bloody mary
with your omelet. But that’s chang-
ing. What will your guests be sip-
ping in the morning?
KA:
Traditional daytime cocktails work
well, so we have a Ramos gin fizz with
fresh strawberries and absinthe. We also
have grapefruit juice and cardamom with
sparkling wine, nice and light with depth.
You want drinks that aren’t too boozy, es-
pecially when you’re not feeling so great
from the night before.
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Photograph by Michael Harlan Turkell
