The Attic happily skips the warm in favor of the bright for holiday cocktail menu

The Attic on Broadway has unveiled its holiday cocktail menu, joining the wonderful plethora of spaces that are partaking in creating holiday menus.

And with it, eschews the excessive warmth that comes such cocktail menus—there is not a hot drink in sight to be found and while, sure, cinnamon is used, no drink drowns in the spice rack of nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin spice, or aromatics. Instead, you have a menu that is filled with acids, brightness, hints of nuts, apples, cherries, and more.

the attic long beach last call — Mixologist Nathaniel Ochoa has taken The Attic’s bar program to new heights. Photo by Brian Addison.

The Attic’s new cocktail menu is not just a team effort but a look at what re-examining holiday cocktails could mean.

“I know people say this often, but this really was a team effort,” said Attic General Manager Iano Dovi when speaking on The Attic’s holiday menu. “Nathaniel [Ochoa] led it, but there are creations here that really lie on others—like Rumple Appleskin. That’s entirely Mikey Lara.”

That last drink? Sweet’n’tart thanks to white rum and apple cider. Tangy with slight bitterness thanks to Amaro Montenegro. A dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It’s definitively holiday by description but surprisingly refreshing—and “refreshing” can be a way to describe the menu as a whole.

The “Holiday Spirits” [left] and the “Oh Snap!” cocktails from The Attic’s newly minted holiday menu. Photos by Brian Addison.

The “Oh Snap!” looks like a heavy anthem toward the mighty ginger cookie but it feels ultimately light on the tongue, where—yet again—an amaro is used to balance out bourbon, ginger, and lemon.

If anything, the menu feels like a very SoCal interpretation of holiday drinks, where even the creamiest of drinks—the bourbon-caramel-apple concoction that is the “AC/DC”—somehow feels incredibly light on the tongue and dangerously downable.

the attic long beach — The Attic on Broadway in Long Beach. Photo by Sterling Reed.

Long Beach’s growing role in creating holiday bar experiences.

Heeding on The Ordinarie’s OG contribution to the Christmas spirit of Long Beach bars (as do many bars across the city, from Baby Gee to Broken Spirits to The Social List to The Stache), what is now gracefully permitted is an over-the-top Christmas party in all parts of the city. And that is something Long Beach should be aiming for when it comes to every holiday—but especially the holidays that surround this time of year.

Take a glance at this year’s onslaught of Halloween-themed cocktail menus alone. The Bamboo Club becomes the Treble Club for Halloween and then converts to the Tinsel Club for Christmas. Port City went naughtical horror. The Social List honored some of Hollywood’s definitive monsters. The Stache bar stepped into the spooky season for the first time with its “Nightmare on 4th Street” menu.

Rather than being deterred by some false sense of oversaturation, businesses are owning Long Beach’s love of the holidays.

A look at some of the drinks featured on The Attic’s 2024 holiday menu.

Eschewing the warm in favor of the bright, each drink—even one you think will be like a ginger snap—is wonderfully tinged with tart, citrus, and other arrays of acidity that make this menu the brightest of all the holiday cheer offerings.