I've eaten at Hook & Ladder numerous times - including one time at the bar. But there's one detail I didn't notice, their cocktails on tap. Sactown Mag's Kate Washington explains:

That creativity and commitment to detail extends to the bar and food program, of course. Sacramento’s cocktail scene has been getting national buzz lately (as when the city was named a top destination in Imbibe magazine’s January/February issue), and Hook & Ladder’s innovations take it to even greater heights. That logo stamped into the bar, for instance, also appears in your actual drink, courtesy of a sizzling branding iron used on citrus peel garnishes. And the restaurant not only has a great selection of local and regional beers and wines on tap, it also has dedicated cocktail taps. That’s right, mixology mavens: the restaurant can literally dispense an endless stream of icy, flawless Manhattans, Negronis, and two other cocktails: the Jameson Stinger, a mint-whiskey concoction, and an original drink, the Norse by Northwest, which features crème de cacao, aquavit and a spicy West Indies spirit called St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram. Even Don Draper, who trained his child to mix the perfect cocktail, never thought of that.

Manhattans on tap may sound like a gimmick, but they’re actually the practical solution to a problem, that of turning out high-quality drinks in large quantities—fast enough so you don’t have to wait for your drink. “There are two main knocks on craft cocktails,” says Tucker. The first, he says, is that bartenders serving them can be snooty; “the other is that they take too long. We work hard to be warm and friendly, and also to expedite the drinks.” That means the bartenders will mix up anything you want—without judgment.

The longish magazine piece also discusses the design sensibility of the restaurant, the reasons the owner decided to expand beyond The Golden Bear and the thought behind the food at the restaurant.

Read the entire story in Sactown Mag.

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