Beachwood Distilling’s head beverage maestro, Sarah Foss, has unveiled her holiday cocktail menu, joining the long list of Long Beach spaces hosting holiday takeovers. Dubbed “Sleigh Bar,” the array of concoctions threads tiki veins with house-made flexes—house-made liqueurs, spirits, bitters, amaros…
And while it surely marks her as not just one of the finest evolutionaries when it comes to tiki drink making, it shows off her ability to take advantage of what she has at her hands. And that is one of the most unique, incomparable cocktail concepts—possibly in the States, definitely in the region.
What makes Beachwood Distilling a cocktail experience unlike any in the region…
Beachwood Distilling’s main goal is not distribution. Smartly, it knows it can’t compete with Tito’s and, even more, it doesn’t want to. What owner Gabe Gordon— who shares the space with his wife Lena, his longtime business partner—does care about is what goes into every cocktail at Beachwood Distilling.
“I am not here to be [the next major spirit brand],” Gabe told me when the space first opened in the summer of 2024. “But what I can do is control everything that goes into [our cocktails]. I want to eventually get to the point where every single aspect of your drink—the vermouth, the amaro, the cordial—are made by us and for you.”
It’s an ambitious undertaking that doesn’t just include the alcoholic parts. They also make their own tonics. Sodas. Syrups. Cold-pressed juices. Over the past year, they’ve amped up their creation efforts in a way no space, especially a distillery, has. And that is largely thanks to the woman who uses the products most: Sarah Foss.
How beverage director Sarah Foss is taking full advantage of Beachwood’s incredible booze-centric resources…
Of course, all this would be rendered useless if there wasn’t someone to direct what they’re doing. Enter Sarah. Across her short tenure—she unveiled her first menu earlier this year—she has been directing the space on what to create, from chartreuse to Sfumato-like amaros. And that has never been better reflected than through her witty, outright fun holiday menu.
There’s a concoction with “Beachburg,” a house-made play on the German, it’s-on-the-level-of-Fernet-with-bartenders herbal digestif that is Underberg. And it’s in a gingerbread drink that has dry ice floating around a gingerbread man cookie as if pulled right out of the oven.
And in one of cinema’s most absurd descriptions of food and part of a holiday movie with its own mythology—Will Ferrell’s “Elf”—Sarah has decided to tackle Elf’s breakfast pasta. Atop a massive elf boot cocktail mug sits candied spaghetti, marshmallows, chocolate drizzle… And before you feel diabetes in your future, just reading it all, the toppings are pure playfulness. The concoction itself—a melding of house rum with house marshmallow and chocolate liqueurs, balanced out with bright lime and orange—is quite delicious.
And who would’ve thought to request a roasted marshmallow liqueur outside of Sarah herself?
Some holiday cocktail highlights from Beachwood Distlling’s ‘Sleigh Bar’ menu…
Tiki-centric. Wonderfully kitschy. Undoubtedly filled with holiday cheers.
Cotton-Headed Ninny-Muggins: Beachwood white rum | Beachwood marshmallow liqueur | Beachwood chocolate liqueur | maple | lime | orange
Run, Run, Rum As Fast As You Can: Amburana gingerbread liqueur | “Beachburg” | Beachwood chicory bitters | Beachwood ginger syrup | agave | lime | dry ice | gingerbread cookie garnish
Sparkly Night: Beachwood plum liqueur | Beachwood Valencia gin | Beachwood lavender bitters | glitter | St. Germain | lemon | rich cane
SHOTS:
- Peppermint Paradise – 2 oz: crème de menthe | chocolate liqueur
- You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out – 4 oz: spiced rum | coconut liqueur | coconut cream | pineapple
Beachwood Distilling is located at 3630 Atlantic Ave.
