Rocktails

Pop & Hiss record store debuts a virtuoso drink menu amid overblown drama

STORY BY MARK C. ANDERSON
PHOTO BY KELLY ROSE EVANS

Like everything at record store-performance venue Pop & Hiss in Pacific Grove, the new cocktail program draws inspiration from music.

Title tracks on landmark albums, no less.

The flavor profiles they inspire happen to be balanced—and even beautiful—as with the “Featured Track” at the top of the menu, “Purple Rain.”

The drink proves earthy, bright and botanical, with a deep indigo hue thanks to the butterfly pea flower blossoms that infuse the Empress 1908 gin it’s built around. That comes complemented by cascading Luxardo cherry liqueur and juiced cilantro worthy of an iconic talent.

“Because it’s Prince,” Pop & Hiss inventor-owner-operator Michaela Kuenster says, “we have to do right by him.”

That meant intentionally avoiding the formula adopted by many predecessors. “There are 9 million versions with blue liqueurs that belong in plastic foot-long glasses for walking around Vegas,” Kuenster adds.

The Pop & Hiss take, like many of its elixirs, is the result of what its co-creator Stephanie Kahn calls “a collaborative process” between Kuenster, fellow bartender Jackson Dowd and herself.

“It’s familiar, but kind of unexpected,” Kahn says. “A lot of recipes fall back on sweet flavors, but I don’t like things to be too cloying.”

From there the hits include the “Court and Spark” named for the Joni Mitchell classic, with Four Roses bourbon (a nod to her album For the Roses), grapefruit, lemon, honey and pepper; the “Rhinestone Cowboy” of Glen Campbell fame, with Pendleton rye whisky, sarsaparilla syrup and candied ginger; and the “Private Dancer” of Tina Turner heritage, with Arette Reposado tequila, Borghetti coffee liqueur, coffee and sea salt.

Those fit into a full-bodied lineup that complements the hyper-curated retail vinyl inventory, two performance stages and regular food trucks. Lead mobile operation of late is La Pizza Piccolo, which pulls up Wednesday-Sunday to roll out classics and monthly specials like the artichoke-lemon and 18-hour smoked brisket pizzas.

There also appear “LoFi” lower ABV options; six mule variations; “Greatest Hits” like lemon drops, paper planes and brown derbies; and “The Wrecking Crew,” a $45 group order of four shots and four beers named for a legendary backing band.

When Edible broke word of Pop & Hiss’ debut as a cocktail lounge with food and music last fall, Kuenster, who also teaches piano, described how deeply ingrained music is for her.

“I still remember my tiny Fisher-Price toy record player, and my dad’s a musician, so I grew up backstage, and collecting records,” Kuenster said. “I love records, I love bars, I love music. Why not put them all together?”

And though Kuenster and company have gone to extreme lengths (and endured extremely long P.G. Planning Commission and City Council meetings) to make sure the shop’s decibel levels and closing time honor conservative restrictions, something telling has happened along the way.

Beyond the popular and far-ranging live music—nights built around everything from soul, funk and hip-hop to Latin vinyl showcases to goth-and-tarot card nights—Pop & Hiss has gathered momentum despite frivolous noise complaints and overactive police badgering. (While earning a largely overjoyed response.)

“It’s not a raucous place,” Kuenster says. “Some are expecting it’s going to be Viper Club with celebrities ODing in the doorway, but it’s bluegrass on Thursdays, all ages, and kids buying their first record while dad has a beer, all over and dark by midnight.”

Dowd, who’s tended bar for decades around the area, provides additional context.

“Every album in that store, and there are tens of thousands, is someone’s dream,” he says. “This is concentrated culture, a museum where you can come in to look for free and listen for free. People deserve to have access to that.”

Somewhere Prince—who once said, “I like to open people’s eyes”—is raising a glass.