It’s inevitable. At some point you’ll look back in your life like some old fogey and complain about prices. “Back in my day…” I remember this revelation quite well. The scene, my hometown bar, The Three Needs, the era, sometime in the late 90s. A pint of beer back then cost $3 and this was no ordinary beer, this was a beer freshly brewed in the basement of the place. Then, one evening, an announcement came down through the grapevine as we drank and played pool. The price of beer would go up $.25. Yes, $3.25. The horror, the horror.

Of course we all quaffed and complained over it, mostly, I think because it created too much extra change jangling around in our pockets. Ah, if only we had a crystal ball. Fast forward to the last time I went into that place, 2015 I think, when the price of a beer climbed to $8. Even then, across the country at the bar/restaurant where I worked, a cocktail was still anywhere from $12 to $14. The good old days. I’m pretty sure a penicillin (made our way with fresh organic ginger juice) was in the low range.

That same beverage today is $16. Our seasonal selection at the moment is an across the board $17 and will now be pushed up to $18. Last week I received an order from a distributor, let’s call them Prolific Ledge, and many of the regular types of bottles I order had prices pumped to the ceiling. Some selections even doubled in price.

At this moment, everything from overseas, the fancy amari, vermouths, and aperitivi we’ve come to know and love, have drastically increased in price. Some more than 50%. Even some of our modest domestic well selections, like Rittenhouse Rye, rose from $15 to $19 a bottle. This doesn’t seem like a lot when you consider the price of a Manhattan (ours is currently at $16) but all the other ingredients–Carpano Antica, fancy ass Luxardo cherries, Angostura bitters–have all gone up as well.

We’ve got a great well selection. No rot gut, some bottles like mezcal and bourbon over $20. I think we’ve held the reins in quite a bit when it comes to our pricing. Compared to many other restaurants in Santa Monica, we’re the lowest by far and I’m always checking out other bar programs where I see cocktails in the $23 range and as high as $30 and more for things like a margarita. Despite this, it still feels weird to charge $18. I mean, minimum wage is almost $16 an hour. So we’re officially outpricing the working types. Yes, eating out is a luxury, and yes, the dive bar up the street charges $9 for a Miller High Life. I suppose I’m just getting old enough to see things change over and over and I’m resistant to it. Complaining, as we all know, may help us expel some angst but it doesn’t prevent the inevitable. All I can do is provide what I think are great cocktails with fresh local seasonal organic ingredients from the farmer’s market and unlike most places, that’s pretty damn good.