Beachwood Distilling’s new cocktail menu—headed by Long Beach bartending veteran and simply-great-human-being Sarah Foss—beautifully amalgamates the space’s desired evolution and its customer base. Focusing entirely on in-house ingredients but also playing to the taste of its growing patronage, it is one of the most distinctly unique drinking spaces not just in Long Beach, but the region.
After all, this is Long Beach’s first attempt at creating a grain-to-glass model that makes every aspect of your drink in-house. Though the craft is solely contained in the space in Bixby Knolls, its ambition and scope are much larger than the confines of its tangible home.
Beachwood Distilling’s new cocktail program is thanks to a Long Beach bar vet.
Fern’s (before it became The Hideout). Clancy’s. Crow’s (before it was returned to its carpeted glory). Federal Bar (when Ordinarie manager Clare Le Bras headed the space) as the onsite cicerone, for which Sarah is now working on her Level Two certification. The 908 on the Eastside. Starting the industry night art Exhibition Room at Roxanne’s. James Beard-recognized and Spirited Award winner Strong Water in Anaheim.
These are just a few of the spaces that Sarah has worked in while building up her cocktail career in Long Beach and beyond. As with all creatives, there was an itch that pushed her to look beyond the confines of dives or the boundaries of devolved managers.
“I would come into some of those bars with my clams of blackberries and bundle of mint,” Sarah said, laughing. “This was all behind the owner’s back because… Well, few understood. And when I saw this job, I cold-emailed them.”
Sarah saw precisely what Beachwood was doing with their distillery. And it was unlike, well, pretty much anywhere else. Beachwood Distilling quietly took over the old Liberation Brewing space in Bixby Knolls back in 2022—and while their initial presence as a taproom added even more beer muscle to a neighborhood already spoiled with spots like Ambitious Ales, what we were waiting for was this: the distillery finally stepping into the spotlight.
How Sarah Foss has taken the Beachwood Distilling program into richer and even more contextual depths.
Gin (which has now expanded into multiple varieties). Vodka. Rum (a few of those too). Liqueurs. Bitters. Syrups. All in-house. This is how Beachwood Distilling started.
“I’m not trying to be the next Tito’s,” said co-owner Gabe Gordon when first opening the bar program, with zero hesitation and even less interest in mass production. “I want to control everything that goes into your glass.” And he means everything. From the Beachwood gin to the Beachwood rendition of Campari, that Negroni you’re sipping isn’t branded—it’s built.
And Sarah? She “got goosebumps thinking about the first time I walked through the distillery. ‘These are our rums. These are our bitters. We’re making green chartreuse. Yellow chartreuse.’ They were making every single little thing a bartender’s dream could imagine. It was an opportunity I am immensely blessed to be a part of.”
Like any cocktail lover, Sarah wanted to push them further: Sakura liqueur, honoring the cherry blossom season of Japan. An in-house Cynar that is eerily like the famed Italian bitter apéritif. A play on Rabarbaro—specifically Sfumato, the wonderfully bitter-forward amaro of rhubarb—that is definitively more approachable.
“That was the first thing I did,” Sarah said, laughing. “I. Want. These. Things.”
A look into the new cocktails featured at Beachwood in Bixby Knolls.
This is just a small sliver of Sarah’s expansive menu. Hints of honoring Beachwood’s tiki-leaning opening last year. Plenty of booze-forward concoctions. Balanced and approachable, with the lovers of the more sweet getting their extra attention.
Negroni in Bloom: Beachwood Spring Gin | Beachwood Spring Amaro | Sweet vermouth
Petal Pusher: Beachwood Citrus Gin | Beachwood Sakura Liqueur | Beachwood Absinthe | Beachwood Rose Syrup | Lillet Blanc | Pineapple | Lemon
Pickle Tini: Choice of Beachwood Vodka or Gin | Beachwood Pink Peppercorn Tincture | Beachwood House Pickle Brine | Dry Vermouth
Queen Mary Swizzle: Beachwood Amburana Rum | Beachwood Demerara | Beachwood Aromatic Bitters | Beachwood Orleans Bitters | Lemon Hart 151 | Lime | Mint
Couped Up: Hamilton Gold | Kiwi | Pineapple | Honey | Lemon
White Lotus: Beachwood Spiced Rum | Beachwood Amburana Rum | Beachwood Thai Tea Syrup | Heavy Cream | Nutmeg
Beachwood Distilling is located at 3630 Atlantic Ave.
