The Stache Bar’s dive into holidays continues. And this round, it is into the world of Krampus, Disneyland’s The Haunted Mansion, old-school Americana Christmas, and a totally new attitude when it comes to cocktails.
Even more, despite the seemingly crazy barrage of holiday cocktail menus—from the OG that is The Ordinarie to The Social List to The Bamboo Club to Baby Gee—rest assured, Long Beach. This is a great, grand, good thing. Even better? Each one is distinctly different—including The Stache Bar.
The Stache Bar Christmas season officially kicks off, with Krampus helping to amp up the ambition.
There are plenty of old-school nods—including the paintings that stretch in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride, each given a nice red’n’green makeover for a particularly nice touch—and plenty of Krampus lore about in a tinsel-ed out Stache Bar space as you walk in. Perhaps there is nothing more dominating than the sound-emitting, seven-foot-something Krampus animatronic attempting to take down the otherwise joyful holiday decorations.
But the most admirable part of Stache Bar’s overturn into the aptly named “Naughty Lodge” isn’t the decorations. (Though they are essential in adding to the atmosphere and abundantly appreciated.) The ambition of the cocktail menu for a bar that released its first special cocktail menu in years just back in October is remarkably rousing.
I’ve already noted that flowers are given when flowers are due: Stache introduced Long Beach to good craft spirits and cocktails long ago. After all, many may not remember how The Stache altered Long Beach drinking. Opening over a decade ago, it was and remains a prime example of a Long Beach hidden gem, the kind of classy dive that Silver Lake hipsters wish they had back in the early 2010s. Full shelves of small-batch and rare liquors, giant spherical ice cubes, and skilled bartenders who know how to put it all together.
The uplift in quality—despite what bar—is a testament to the talent of our community.
Bar manager Priscilla In has brought that sense of distinction back with the menu she created and tackled for Halloween. And in what is really nothing short of awesome, it has, in turn, inspired what is truly an ambitious menu for a space that just returned to specialty menus. Her and her elves have decided to create genuinely stellar things, where pistachio orgeats cozy up with strawberry-marzipan syrups.
Most charming and smile-inducing is the team’s desire to succeed. Joshua MacArthur has designed and, with the understandable frustration of an artist wanting to perfect his work, concocted a drink with a house-made melon liqueur that allows one to understand that Midori did, indeed, have a purpose. Beautifully balanced, dangerously down-able, it reeks of actual melon and has the potential to be a classic concoction. This, of course, will still be met with Joshua’s stance that it’s “not quite there.”
Even Ethan Schad-Sviatek—who has somehow crafted a clarified milk punch that acts as an ode to egg nog but is surprisingly bright?—will be found saying, “I will find a way to make it more noggy.”
It is a reflection of those in the industry wanting to do better and hone their skills. Even more, for Stache as a space, it is a delightful continuation of their return to form. And it marks not just Long Beach’s second evolution in cocktails (of which the Stache was an essential cog in Part I, bringing in well-made Old Fashioneds and solid spirits), it also fuels the fact that we’re becoming the holiday bar epicenter of the region.
Long Beach’s love of the holidays should continue to be harnessed by bars and restaurants alike.
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), 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.
Before we get to the drinks, let us not forget the special burger being offered.
Sideburns was initially birthed out of The Stache Bar itself, whose food program was birthed out of its short-lived presence with Chef Melissa Ortiz. And since taking on Ortiz’s very minimal bar menu—a stellar Chicago dog here, some even more stellar cheese curds there, a chili cheese fries option—Sideburns has expanded into an all-out burger joint that has an array of the classic in many forms and, in many ways, taken a step away from Ortiz through the work of Chef Thomas Beyrooty, the burger master you will find masterfully cooking some ten burgers at once.
As a special offering to both bar patrons and Sideburns patrons, he is introducing “The Rudolph” which is (rather hilariously, I might add) made with venison. Lean and beautifully flavored, the burger comes layered with dressed arugula, chèvre, fried onions, and cranberry sauce to cut through the tartness.
And fear not: Chef Thomas will also be offering his rightfully loved Turkey Harvest sandwich. The run-down? Layers of hickory-smoked turkey and Swiss cheese with a nicely tart cranberry-orange sauce, some Guinness mustard, and slightly sweet pickled red onions. Add on the grilled seeded rustic bread and you have yourself a sweet’n’savory bomb of a sandwich.
A look at the drinks of The Stache Bar holiday menu…
Peppermint Butler: Jameson | Peppermint Schnapps | Turbinado sugar | Mint | Candy cane
The Cheermeister: Pueblo Viejo Blanco | Yellow chartreuse | Jägermeister | Simple syrup | Egg white | Nutmeg
Mt. Crumpit: Housemade melon liqueur | Pistachio orgeat | Orange | Pineapple | Cotton candy
Santa’s Comin’… to Town: Altos tequila | Hibiscus | Cranberry | Lime | Triple Sec
The Naughty Lodge Boilermaker: Enegren Christmas Ale | Choice of: Gingerbread whiskey -or- Peppermint white chocolate rum
Krampus Cocoa (available non-alcoholic): Housemade hot chocolate | Choice of liquor | Marshmallow
Deck the Halls: Westward Bourbon | Strawberry-marzipan syrup | Angostura bitters | Orange peel | Cranberry
Santa’s Figgy Sin: Brandy | Fig syrup | Licor 43 | Lemon | Hot water | Cinnamon | Fig
Don’t Nog It Till You Try It: Clarified Eggnog | Brown sugar bourbon | Rye | Vanilla liqueur | Pineapple | Lemon | Holiday bitters | Brown sugar
Naughty by Nature: Wheatley vodka | Madagascar vanilla | Caramel | Lemon | Egg White
Throat Coat (non-alcoholic): Throat Coat tea | Maple syrup | Aquafaba | Dehydrated lemon | Star anise
The Stache Bar is located 941 E. 4th St.
