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Three Worthy Booze Updates (Okay, One is Technically Booze-Free)

San Francisco bartender Brooke Arthur visits Bastille, Moe Bar streams Coachella, and Rachel’s Ginger Beer goes growlette.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Apr 20, 2012 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

Rachel’s Ginger Beer is now available in these ridiculously appealing 32-ounce growlettes. Whether you use it to make cocktails or drink it straight is up to you. Photo courtesy of Rachel Marshall.

Bastille
On Tuesday May 1, San Francisco drink-slinger Brooke Arthur will be stepping behind the bar with resident barman Erik Carlson. Arthur currently manages the bar at Wing Ho General Store, a newer spot from Asian food and cocktail master Charles Phan (also the owner of the Slanted Door). The duo will be mixing it up from 7 until midnight, and Arthur will create a special cocktail menu to serve up alongside Carlson’s impressive concoctions.

Moe Bar
The Capitol Hill venue (which is opening a brand-new space, by the way) is screening Coachella today through Sunday. While set times vary, the streams will generally start at 3pm. Concidentally (or not), so does happy hour, which runs till 7. Well drinks and microbrews are $3, domestic beer is $2, and the cover charge is $0.

Rachel’s Ginger Beer
Is it possible for a growler to be adorable? Apparently, hell yes. Local ginger beer doyenne Rachel Marshall (also co-owner of Montana bar) now offers her bracing drink in a 32-ounce “growlette” size, a quantity well-suited to two-person households. Find the growlettes at Montana, the soon-to-open ginger beer dispensary next door, and area farmers markets, where these vessels will replace the 12-ounce glass bottles. Marshall says these reusable containers are also more environmentally friendly. She will be on of many welcome attractions when the Broadway Farmers Market returns on Sunday.

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Tags: Bastille, Moe Bar, Rachel Marshall, Rachel's Ginger Beer

Rachel Marshall and Kate Opatz’s Montana Opens December 11

A come-as-you-are bar from two industry vets offers carbonated cocktails on draft.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Dec 05, 2011 at 11:15AM 8 Comments

This sign may grace the interior of Montana, but rest assured the beer list will actually be quite good. Photo via Rachel Marshall.

Capitol Hill has no shortage of good bars, but I’m still quite excited for the opening of Montana in the Olive Way address that once housed The Buck. Owners Rachel Marshall and Kate Opatz say their unfussy Big Sky–themed hoodie will open December 11.

You might know Marshall from her eponymous Rachel’s Ginger Beer, a bracing gingery blast that graces some excellent cocktails in establishments throughout the city. And you might know Opatz from any number of places she has worked in Seattle, including Lark, La Bête and Matt’s in the Market. She’s also a Montana native.

The duo says their bar is a low key destination for beer and booze. “I will tolerate absolutely no snobbiness in here,” says Marshall. Don’t expect anything too fancy. Except…some force-carbonated cocktails. Marshall and Opatz have been experimenting with kegging and carbonating drinks like gimlets, producing fizzy cocktails available on draft.

This capability, along with the powerhouse juicer used for Rachel’s Ginger Beer, makes for some intriguing possibilities indeed. Recently the ladies juiced three cases of limes to make five gallons of carbonated gin gimlets. Marshall says she wants to use the fizz to redeem fruit-based drinks like lemon drops, greyhounds, and cosmos, “that have got a bad reputation because they’re done poorly.”

Montana will always have at least one carbonated cocktail on tap, alongside 10 beer taps, a rotating cider tap, one for ginger beer, and—hold the phone—Fernet on draft. Also: lots of tequila. Food offerings will consist of a rotating list of salty chips and schmancy versions of decidedly ungourmet dips like ranch, French onion, and queso.

The empty storefront next door is also becoming the headquarters for Rachel’s Ginger Beer, as well as a small retail space that will do growler fills. Marshall says the space will have an early 20th century laboratory feel, inspired by an old photo of Thomas Edison’s lab. It’s quite a different vibe from Montana’s dark walls and candlelight. Come witness all of this for yourself at Montana’s opening party, which starts up at 6pm on Sunday.

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Tags: Bar Openings, Montana, Rachel Marshall, Kate Opatz