A mix of artisan ingredients and classic recipes is shaking up cocktails in Oakland.
Don’t look now, but the local foods movement has elbowed its way through the crowd and sidled up next to your seat at the bar. It aims to seduce by slipping organic citrus zests and small-batch brandy from Soquel into your grizzled workhorse well drink. Although the Bay Area’s cup runneth over with educated eaters who demand seasonal, organic, and artisan foods, the Alice Waters revolution has been surprisingly slow to transform the stuff that sloshes in our cocktail glasses. We decry trans fats and corn syrup, and spend Saturday mornings cross-examining farmers, but throw a couple of Bacardi and Cokes our way, and all of a sudden we become pretty cheap dates. United by an affection for antique recipes and methods, a new breed of bar geeks is making it easier to drink mindfully — no, that’s not an oxymoron — by conjuring up cocktails that showcase craft spirits, local produce, and handmade ingredients at a handful of Oakland restaurants.
