Tommy Cracraft, Bar Manager | Jake Carlson, Bartender | Fern Bar | Sebastopol, CA
Photo Credit: Fern Bar
The Root to Success
A cocktail with two kinds of beets might not sound like an obvious crowd-pleaser, but it helped the Fern Bar team win first prize and the people’s choice award at last year’s Wizards of Elixirs Cocktail Competition. Sponsored by The Perfect Purée and Charbay Distillery, the annual Halloween event has become a favorite Wine Country tradition that brings top bartenders together for friendly competition and a good cause. This year, for the second time, the Oct. 27 event benefits Una Vida and Petaluma Active 20-30, two non-profits providing vital community support for families and underserved children in the Petaluma area.
OJ Beet the Case, created by Fern Bar’s Jake Carlson and Tommy Cracraft, featured golden beet kvass and charred red beets pickled in Blood Orange Concentrate and red wine vinegar. Fern Bar’s garden-to-glass approach to making cocktails means the red and yellow beets were grown in Sonoma County. Jake, who’s always jotting drink ideas in his Notes app, had wanted to make beet kvass in-house for a while and says it worked really well with the other ingredients. Cinnamon-infused Charbay Blood Orange Mandarin Vodka deepened the warm, spicy notes of Peach Ginger blend and complemented its bright peach and citrus profile.
But you don’t have to wait for Wizards to taste what Fern Bar is up to. Their Day Drinking menu also features the Ice Queen, a cocktail with lychee, aloe, lime, Kiwi, coconut and hibiscus water. It’s made with vodka, but you can swap in any spirit you like, or skip the spirit for a refreshing non-alcoholic sip.
Tommy, now Fern Bar’s manager, admits competitions can be time-consuming but says they’re a great way for bartenders to test their skills, build industry connections and gain exposure. In September before last year’s Wizards victory, Fern Bar won the Full Tilt Mixology Contest at the Graton Casino for the third year in a row.
“I try not to make it too complicated and stress myself out about it too much leading up to an event,” Tommy says. He starts working on the entry a few weeks in advance, seeking the right flavor balance and tweaking ingredients. “I try my best to weave it in through my workweek, but I know some other teams in the past have put a ton of time and effort into it on top of what they already do to run their bar programs,” he says.
The payoff for winning entries is $500 to $1000 in prize money. “It’s an opportunity to make a little extra money. And to have some fun and see some familiar faces on a day off is always good,” Tommy says.
Breaking bad behind the bar
Citrus juice is the usual way bartenders bring acidity to cocktails. When Jake and Tommy needed to offset the earthy sweetness of beets, they acid-adjusted Peach Ginger blend instead. “Basically what you’re trying to do is add acidity to the cocktail without adding liquid volume and diluting it, like you would if you added lemon or lime juice,” Tommy explains. Besides maintaining liquid ratio, the practice is becoming more common as bartenders try to avoid wasting citrus.
“It’s as simple as measuring out powdered citric and malic acid and whisking it into the cocktail batch, but it’s one of those things that when you do it for the first time you feel like you’re in a Breaking Bad episode,” Tommy says. “After that it’s pretty straightforward and super effective.”
Tommy applies the same technique to retain the liquid ratio of other drinks, mixing water with citric and malic acid and lemon or lime oil in a clarified cocktail, for example. “It has the flavor profile of a sour and drinks like a sour, but it’s clear. It’s a cool trick to play on people,” he says.
Winning isn’t everything
Before there was Wizards, there was The Perfect Purée at Fern Bar because making purées from scratch is a nightmare, Tommy says. “Getting fresh fruit and having to process it, then cook it down and then purée it by hand and strain it off is so labor intensive it’s not even worth it when you have such a great option like The Perfect Purée,” Tommy says.
High-quality purées complement Fern Bar’s thoughtfully-sourced, technique-driven cocktails, and the flavors are unmatched in the industry. “You don’t see other purée companies doing things like Thai Basil & Black Pepper, Red Jalapeño and Peach Ginger,” Tommy says.
In his new role as bar manager, Tommy is stepping down from Wizards this year to cheer on Jake and new team member Jesse Dalton in their quest to defend the Fern Bar title. There’s no doubt that competitions contributed to his path from bartender to bar manager. “It’s important when you’re first coming up in the bar industry to participate in these types of events because it’s a good learning experience from the creative side and the logistical side about how to make a cocktail happen and how to batch it up on a large scale and serve a lot of people,” Tommy says. “It’s also a great way to meet other people in the industry and support each other.”
Complex and unconventional drinks like OJ Beet the Case are labor-intensive and, like the pandan in some other Fern Bar drinks, spark conversation. But increasingly, Tommy says, people want affordable and approachable options. “I think I’m seeing a shift towards more accessible, easy options,” he says. “There will always be a market for bars like us, but maybe it got a little over-saturated. It’s our job as tenders of bars to facilitate whatever type of experience our guests are looking for, and sometimes that’s something familiar and something easy.”
Outside of competitions, Jake agrees, but says Wizards attendees can expect something on Oct. 27 that’s as equally layered as last year’s drink. Among other ingredients, he and Jesse are experimenting with Charbay Meyer Lemon Vodka and The Perfect Purée’s new Chai Cardamom Syrup. “We think that strategy went well last year; the drink just tasted really good, and at the end of the day that’s going to be the most important thing,” Jake says.