Bars We Love: Pacific Cocktail Haven

Pacific Cocktail Haven

550 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA

Pacific Cocktail Haven, also known as P.C.H., was destroyed due to a building fire in 2021 but reopened a year later just three doors down. The new location looks a bit different from the original: it is grander and roomier and now features a small outdoor patio, but bartender-owner Kevin Diedrich didn’t make a clean start with a new concept, drink menu, or name. After all, P.C.H. is more of a vibe than a venue.

Kevin Diedrich of PCH — Kevin Diedrich courtesy of PCH

Creative Leadership

That vibe emanates directly from Diedrich, a gregarious, ambitious bartender well known around the country and who has spent time behind the stick at PDT and Clover Club in New York City, and previously worked with the MINA Group and Chef Michael Mina in Washington, D.C. In San Francisco he ran the bar programs at Burritt Room, Jasper’s Corner Tap & Kitchen, and other venues before opening P.C.H. in 2016.

In 2020, work on his own projects was recognized and Pacific Cocktail Haven was named Best American Cocktail Bar in the 2020 Spirited Awards, and Diedrich American Bartender of the Year at the same awards. Then he lost it: the 2021 fire destroyed all the bar’s equipment and their supply of specialty and vintage liquor built up over years, and it caused structural damage to the building so that it could not reopen in the same space. Insurance covered only some of the lost, but a GoFundMe quickly raised over $50,000 from the community to support the staff’s salaries and to help the business recover. Pacific Cocktail Haven pop-ups held around the country helped to raise funds for the new space as well.

Those pop-ups were not solo guest bartending shifts by Diedrich: they featured several members of the P.C.H. team. (If you saw them at the 2022 Tales of the Cocktail, they travelled as a pack there too.) One thing that gives P.C.H. its unique vibe that extends beyond the boundaries of the bar is this consistent, constant crew.

Diedrich says, “I try as much as possible to include the team on pop-ups, seminars, travel, and education. I've been very fortunate and lucky in my career to have all of those, and I want to make sure they all get the same experience as I have and take advantage of the industry as much as possible. If it opens doors for them or helps them find out what they want to do, then I've done my job. I never want the team thinking that it's my show. I'm in service with the team every night [and his wife works there on weekends as well], going through all the same motions, so I imagine that builds some bonds with the team.”

P.C.H Redux

A year later, the new, brighter, bigger venue with double the previous bar’s capacity features a long bar facing an undulating series of benched seating areas with nooks great for facilitating group interaction. They make the rectangular space feel intimate yet also energetic, as most seats still face the bar. The outside patio also includes about 30 seats for those still hesitant to drink indoors. Diedrich says, “The old space was narrow, moody, and dark with not a ton of lounge seating and lots of bottlenecks. We went with brighter colors and hints of plants to warm the space up. Since we got to build from scratch, rather than try and change an existing bar/space, we embraced the Asian Pacific inspiration with subtle tropical vibes and lots of wood/texture.”

The bar reopened about one year after the fire, and seemingly every top bartender in town was there to help celebrate the return. Also returning were the greatest hits of Diedrich’s previous menus; cocktails that often have classic forms with tropical flavors and culinary touches including a coconut Negroni and a Gin and Tonic with snap peas.

Popular Cocktails

OH Snap!

This is a savory Gin and Tonic variation with added sugar snap peas, manzanilla sherry, and absinthe in the mix. Diedrich says the drink “rides this fun line between savory and refreshing. Snap peas give off a nice sweet vegetal note and the sherry gives a touch of salty, savory to pair with it.”

Leeward Negroni

Here the classic cocktail is tropicalized with coconut washed Campari, pandan cordial, and bitters. Diedrich created the drink for Negroni Week in 2016 and it has been a best-seller ever since. He says, “I essentially wanted to make a tropical Negroni, but with no citrus/juice, keeping it raw in its natural spirit-forward form. The coconut oil washed Campari gives a luscious velvety texture and softens the bitterness of Campari. Pandan and coconut are a natural pairing, so I made a cordial out of it to amp it up to pair with the intense coconut flavor, so it balances nicely. The high proof gin helps with the sweetness of both the Campari and pandan.”

Thrilla in Manila

This drink is made with bourbon, shiso, calamansi lime, coconut, absinthe, and li-hing mui. Diedrich describes it, “This is a bridge between the Painkiller and Piña Colada. Calamansi is a Filipino lime hybrid between orange and lime. It is super chalky and acidic and needs fat to really balance it. Enter the coconut cream, to balance the calamansi perfectly. Pineapple and coconut pairs perfectly together to bridge over to absinthe-shiso combo, which I love. But what really makes this drink is the li-hing mui on top. The salty sour plum balances the whole drink, from sweet coconut to bright savory shiso.”

Bars, ProfilesCamper EnglishNovember 15, 2022Comment