Photo Credit: Trick Dog
Boy those Bon Vivants are clever. The mixology team behind Trick Dog, the popular Mission bar that has been nominated for James Beard Awards, changes the entire cocktail menu every six months. Not only does this keep spirits aficionados coming back to try their new drinks, but it keeps the bartenders on their toes because they are constantly coming up with new recipes.
Photo Credit: Trick Dog
In an Instagram post, co-owner Josh Harris, explains Trick Dog’s philosophy saying, “At @trickdogbar, we change our cocktail menu every six months. We like our menus to look like anything other than a cocktail menu. They have looked like paint swatch books; they have looked like dog calendars; they have looked like Chinese restaurant menus; we’ve made a couple of art books and a cookbook.”
Photo Credit: Trick Dog
For the 13th menu, Trick Dog partnered with Idle Hand Tattoo, a tattoo shop in the Lower Haight, to create 13 unique cocktails. The menu resembles the way Idle Hand displays their tattoos and features drinks like Pantera (mezcal, Bacanora, Averna, and cold brew liqueur) and Lone Wolf (a mixture of single malt scotch with Muscat, pumpkin seed, maple, and lemon).
Photo Credit: Trick DogHarris says that Idle Hand “designed and named 13 original pieces of traditional tattoo art from which we created 13 cocktails, all to be presented together as a traditional sheet of tattoo flash you’d see at the studio.” The bar is selling copies of the menu, and a number of them are signed by famed rock poster artist Lil Tuffy who created the screen print.
All proceeds from the sale of the drinks and prints will benefit Rock Project SF, a local charity dedicated to teaching music to San Francisco’s youth. Since opening, Trick Dog has raised over $85,000 from the sales of its cocktail menus to support local non-profits. Harris and Co. are giving a whole new meaning to drinking for a cause. Cheers!
