Spirits & Cocktails
Immerse yourself in the vibrant and diverse world of libations as Santa Rosa invites you to experience a unique blend of craft spirits, local wines, and signature cocktails.
From Grain To Glass
Spirits
To make the best cocktails you need to start with the best ingredients. Fortunately, Sonoma County distilleries have been on the leading edge of the spirits revolution from the very beginning. When you think of distilling you may think of mashing, fermenting, and distilling, but Sonoma County distillers focus on small, handcrafted batches. They also lovingly mill the grain, barrel, and even label and bottle their own creations. They are truly grain to glass.
The spirts produced in Sonoma County include: whiskey, rye whiskey, wheat whiskey, single malt whiskey, flavored whiskey, gin, London dry gin, sloe gin, flavored gin, barrel-aged gin, peach liquor, brandies, aged brandies, flavored brandies, vodka, flavored vodkas, absinthe, bourbon, ryed bourbon, wheat bourbon, grappa, coffee liquor, beer schnapps, limoncello, orangecello, figcello, light rum, amber rum, dark rum, moonshine, and black walnut liquor.
Join a guided distillery tour to get a behind-the-scenes look at how spirits are made or join one of the many spirts clubs that are offered by the distilleries.
Bitters, Shrubs, and Syrups
Sonoma County’s culture is farm to table and the same can be said about our cocktail culture. Not only do we have an array of award-winning spirits distilled in Sonoma County, but we also have the building blocks to great cocktails being created here. We create the bitters from botanicals, like aromatic herbs, bark, roots, and fruit. Local producers include Bitter Girls and Monarch Bitters. Sonoma County also specializes in drinking vinegars know as shrubs and these shrubs are swiftly gaining in popularity in high-end bars as a base for fancy drinks. Many mixologist make their own or you can find them made locally like those from Little Apple Treats. Our syrups are also world-class and used for everything from food to cocktails and you can find many different flavors and versions including those from Sonoma Syrup.
Craft Cocktails
James Bond may have preferred a simple martini shaken, not stirred, but in Santa Rosa, cocktails have become an art form. Drinking them is only half the fun; the other half is watching the mixologists craft, shake, stir, and pour artful drinks using local spirits and seasonal ingredients from Sonoma County farms.
Mitote Food Park's cocktail bar serves up mezcals and more, which you can pair with tasting boards adorned with Mexican delights like regional cheeses and chapulines (grasshoppers!). At The Front Room, creative cocktails begin with fresh seasonal ingredients grown in their garden. The beauty of the curved fir bar, accented with iridescent cobalt blue mosaic tiles, adds to the experience. In Downtown Santa Rosa, Perch + Plow offers a cocktail flight, a seasonal mule, or one of their tap handle cocktails.
