As we push toward celebrating Long Beach Last Call 2025—a 10-day, multi-event celebration of our city’s rich bar culture and the people who make it happen—we will offer a series of features that highlight everything from our most stellar cocktail programs at restaurants to to the very events occurring (like this feature on Broken Spirits Distillery in DTLB)… All in order to lift a glass to a social and economic driver that rarely receives the love its deserves: our bar industry. For more information on Long Beach Last Call, tap here.
Broken Spirits Distillery, like any new, expansive space, has had its ups and downs in figuring out how to find its footing amid a Downtown that continues with its own battles. Of course, the beauty of the endeavor is how co-owner Isaias Hernandez has fought through these struggles and is focusing deeply on how to better connect the distillery to the community, how to make it more accessible, and how to assure Long Beach that they’re in it for the long run.
That’s why they’ve not only created a special cocktail menu for Long Beach Last Call 2025, but they’ll also be participating in the massive DTLB bar crawl set to take over the Promenade area on Friday, Mar. 7, from 6PM to midnight.
Collaborations. Community. Creativity. Broken Spirits is navigating the best route to show off its best self.
“This is one really is for Long Beach,” Isaias told me all the way back in 2023 of Broken Spirits. “We had looked at so many other properties across the years in Long Beach—years, I am talking—and we are so happy they didn’t work out… We’re here to invest, to bring in something the city can have some pride and ownership in, to bring a new sense of community. And you know what? We’re honored to be able to do that.”
Those words have been followed through on. Broken Spirits has been nothing short of a collaborator since it opened its doors last year after taking over the former Portuguese Bend space. They’ve had themed dinners to bring in a different sense of holiday cheer. They had a $25 four-course dinner in honor of Long Beach Food Scene Week last year. They partnered with myself and Playa Larga to create the Taco Death Match food festival. They have late-night happy hours and buy-one-get-one-free cocktail specials. They’ve had tiki mug releases and giveaways.
There is no question that Broken Spirits is well-intended on following through with what they said from the get-go: It is for and by Long Beach.
The cocktails being featured for Long Beach Last Call 2025 at The Wicked Wolf
Broken Spirits bartender Stephen Ramos has created a four-cocktail menu for Long Beach Last Call 2025. They span the porch pound-y to booze forward to the outright Long Beach-y with a boilermaker—and honestly represent some of the most balanced drinks the space has created in a long while.
Dude Where’s My Carajillo: Liquor 43 | Broken Spirits Barrel-Aged Aquavit | Tequila | Montenegro | Cold Brew Concentrate
Parrots In Paradise: Broken Spirits Rum | Aperol | Lime | Turbinado Sugar
Fool’s Gold: George Dickel Bourbon | Fernet | Lemon | Honey
BSD Boikermaker: 1 oz. Single Barrel Cask Strength | Saca La Bolsita Mexican Lager
You mentioned a Downtown Long Beach bar crawl that Broken Spirits will be a part of…
Yes! There are two things very near and dear to me: DTLB and my food group, the Long Beach Food Scene. And for the second time, I am having a formal meetup of all its members (or at least, however many of the 75,000 show up) as one of the final events of the 10-day celebration of our bar scene that is Long Beach Last Call.
And yes, it is a crawl on Friday, Mar. 7 beginning at 6PM:
- Altar Society (6PM)
- ISM Brewing (7PM)
- The Ordinarie (8PM)
- The Stave (9PM)
- Broken Spirits (10PM)
- Midnight Oil (11PM)
Wait–you mention Long Beach Last Call 2025. What is it?
Long Beach Food Scene: Last Call—or Long Beach Last Call 2025 if you wanna keep it simple—returns March 1 and run through March 10 with a series of events on each day that celebrates the city’s rich bar culture, community, and its workers. From industry-only and unlimited tastings events to cocktail contests and proper Irish coffee lessons, Long Beach Last Call will continue to be the premiere event celebrating Long Beach’s bar and cocktail culture.
After the success of my restaurant in 2023, Long Beach Food Scene Week, bar owners and tenders rightfully asked: “What about a week for us?” So I decided to oblige and present Long Beach Last Call last year, a ten-day long celebration of Long Beach’s amazing bar culture, it’s even more amazing workers, and the industry that often goes without recognition as one of our city’s largest economic and social drivers. And thousands of people proudly showed up. With the alcohol industry going through a roller-coaster of layoffs and rearrangements—from brands leaving distribution companies to brand representation shrinking nationwide—now is the time more than ever to support these incredible people.
Hence, Long Beach Last Call 2025. And Broken Spirits is a part of that—so go order a drink.
Broken Spirits Distillery is located at 300 The Promenade N.
