Todd Carnam
Beverage Director
Todd took a more circuitous route than most to bartending, studying philosophy at Williams College before attempting a writing career--including earning an MFA at the University of Michigan in his late-20's--finally ending up in the world of craft cocktails just shy of his 40th birthday. In the end, he found the act of telling stories through cocktails to be too intoxicating, and this more immediate gratification hooked him when he joined the Interval team in 02014. Hired originally as a barback, he quickly made his way to bartender and then assistant manager, in which capacity he's helped to run the Interval over the past three years. Now, as Beverage Director, he looks forward to telling longer stories through entire menus, and menu changes through time.
Modernism
And then World War I happened. For generations, centuries--millennia, even--we’d become, by fits and starts, fairer, kinder, more thoughtful, more invested in the common good. We marched through time--science was showing us the way--but then...then this unholy slaughter. Then this mechanized, perfected butchering of each other, as though none of the previous generations of wisdom had actually been bequeathed to us, as though nothing actually mattered. The othered enemy rose from its trenches and were cut down, we rose from our own trenches and reciprocated. As Eliot asks in ‘Gerontion,’ ‘After such knowledge, what forgiveness?’ And yet. And still the gasping and striving. Still the Modernists teach us that it’s never too late to ask questions, that in fact this is our most primeval duty. How did we get here? How do we move forward? How can we salvage this loss? Can we pull back from the abyss?
Pictured here: Lily Briscoe’s Painting
Years That Ask Questions
(Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston) pear brandy, pecan-infused rum, cola syrup and three bitters; served over slanted ice
These Unconfessable Things
(Six Characters in Search of an Author, Luigi Pirandello) prosecco, four amari and grapefruit bitters; served over ice in a champagne tulip
Hast Thou Found Me?
(Ulysses, James Joyce) black tea-infused Irish whisky, Italian vermouth, honey, lemon and sparkling water; served down
Lily Briscoe’s Painting
(To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf) gin, creme de violette, lemon and egg white; served up with a green chartreuse spritz
Come to Me for Asylum
(In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust) calvados, ginger, honey, Bénédictine and lemon; served hot, with a star anise garnish
At Last There Was Quiet
(‘The Metamorphosis,’ Franz Kafka) brandy, apple juice, Becherovka and Jelinek Fernet; served down
Postmodernism
Postmodernism -- when the wheels came off literature. Or, Postmodernism -- when literature finally ceased being encumbered by fusty wheels and left, at long last, this mortal coil for its proper place in the empyrean stratosphere. Or perhaps somewhere in between. Whichever your point of view -- not that, you know, you need to have merely one -- it’s undeniable that the years after World War II represented a final and irrevocable rupture with How Stories Are Told. If it’s even a story that we’re telling at all. Because it might just be sound and fury, and all that sound and fury signifies. Each cocktail in this section is inspired by a work of postmodern literature -- sometimes just a scene, sometimes the gestalt of an entire collection. Because why just mix a beautiful cocktail when you can also tell a story. Happy drinking; happy reading.
Come Back Anytime, Mademoiselle
(Autoportrait, Édouard Levé) agricole rum, blanc vermouth, gum, peach bitters and absinthe; served up
In the Day We Go on Forever
(The Passion, Jeanette Winterson) sparkling rosé, pommeau, Montenegro, passion fruit, lemon and soda; served over ice in a wine glass
The More You Know, the Less You Sleep
(‘Funes the Memorius,’ Jorge Luis Borges) Amontillado, Falernum, Bénédictine, lemon and soda; served tall
Wolves in the House of Love
(The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter) cachaça, Curaçao, lime, bourbon, cane, Angostura and orange bitters; served tall
A Spell Against Falling Objects
(Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon) coffee, old tom gin, banana liqueur; served hot, with banana whipped cream and a banana chip garnish
The Outcast
(Grendel, John Berger) Aquavit, cassis, lemon and honey; served over ice with a honey mead beer float
Seeds from the Vault
Pre-Prohibition cocktails weren't limited merely to Martinis and Manhattans and Old-fashioneds; to the contrary, the years leading up to 01920 were rich loam for bartenders, bed to a wide and variegated miscellany of seeds. In this section, we offer a rotating repository of rare and/or important old cocktails that often have eluded the attention of the general population. In true Long Now fashion, we feel there's no better way to pay tribute to the recent efflorescence of the cocktail's new flora than to unearth and help preserve its rarer but ever worthy antecedents.
Pictured here: Clover Club
Stinger
(01892) cognac, bourbon, crème de menthe and bitters; served down on large ice
Clover Club
(~01901) old tom gin, lemon, raspberry gum, blanc vermouth and egg white; served up with nutmeg garnish
Old Pal
(01922) bourbon, dry vermouth and bitter apéritif; served up
Brandy Milk Punch
(~Prohibition) brandy, rum, milk, orgeat and cream; served over ice with nutmeg garnish
Sazerac
(dawn of time) rye, cognac, gum syrup and Peychaud’s bitters; served over large ice
The Bartenders
Each of the Interval's talented bartenders has specific cocktail interests. Some tend towards whiskey, others to agave or brandy; some prefer slow sippers, others drinks that are shaken and refreshing; some keep it simple, others gravitate towards the baroque and complex. In this, our most unique and personal section, we offer the creations of our very own bartenders, drinks they've conceived and labored over for weeks or sometimes months until, finally, they've achieved their vision.
Pictured here: I've Grown to Love Life Too Much
Abejita
Reposado tequila, lemon and honey, over ice with a cynar float
All Business
mezcal, amaro and bitters; served over large ice
Ben's Manual
rye, sherry, Drambuie and sweet vermouth; served down
Foregone Conclusion
mezcal, raspberry, lime and amaro; served tall over crushed ice
Lying in the Long Grass, Safe
mezcal, grapefruit, green tea, pomegranate-aged blanco tequila, cinnamon, lime and Falernum; kegged and carbonated, served tall
Riverdale
dry and aged gins, Italian and blanc vermouths, orange, lemon and marmalade; served up
Low ABV & No ABV
Imbibing is often seen as part of the bar landscape, yet there are many times when we may want to go easy on our alcohol consumption or abstain completely without missing out on the social virtues of an evening get-together. Here we provide several options for the lower-octane occasion.
Pictured here: Jamaica Cooler & Bitter Orange Old Fashioned
Low ABV
Port Wine Sangaree
Port wine, lemon and pineapple gum syrup; served over crushed ice with nutmeg garnish
Araya Sunshine
Amaro Braulio, Aperol, lemon and sparkling water; served up
What Charlotte Drinks When She’s Not Drinking
amontillado, Cynar, grapefruit, raspberry, lime and chocolate bitters; served down
Bitter Giuseppe
Cynar, Italian vermouth, lemon and orange bitters; served over large ice
Brazil
blanc vermouth, amontillado and orange bitters; served up
A Hug from Robin
Amaro Averna, iced tea, lemon and sparkling water; served over ice
No ABV
Orgeat Lemonade
lemon, almond syrup and sparkling water; served over ice
Jamaica Cooler
hibiscus tisane, pineapple gum syrup, lemon juice and sparkling water
Bitter Orange Old Fashioned
Chinotto and bitters; served over ice with orange zest
Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Shrub
Seedlip Garden and tonic syrup with our house sparkling water; served over ice
Garden & Tonic
Seedlip Garden and tonic syrup with our house sparkling water; served over ice
Cherry Soda
cherry syrup, sparkling water and Peychaud’s bitters; served tall
Wine and Beer
Wine
Sparkling Wine
Giavi Prosecco Superiore Brut NV
Ultraviolet Sparkling Rosé NV
Liébart-Régnier Les Sols Bruns NV
White
Woodenhead French Colombard 02016
Gañeta Txakolina 02017
Delta Sauvignon Blanc 02018
Rosé
Red Car Rose of Pinot Noir 02017
Red
Pelissero Long Now Nebbiolo / Barbera 02005
Albert Bichot Pinot Noir 02017
Gorghi Tondi Nero d’Avola 02016
Luumi Cabernet Sauvignon 02018
Beer
Draught and Bottled
Dogfish Head Midas Touch
Tecate
Modern Times Coffee Stout
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Bruery Terreux Goses Are Red
Shacksbury Arlo Cider
Dogfish Head Raison D’Extra
Chapman Brown Ale - 14.5oz, 5.3%
Craftsman Brewing 1903 Lager - 14.5oz, 5.6%
Other Brother IPA - 14.5oz, 6.6%
Long Now Spirits Tasting
St. George Spirits in Alameda graciously created three spirits for The Interval; they can be seen hanging in our bottle keep above you. A donation of $1500 to The Long Now Foundation gives you your own liter of gin, bourbon or single-malt whiskey, which we will pour straight or make cocktails with for you and your guests.
Long Now Spirits Tasting
1/2 oz. each: Bristlecone Gin, Single Malt Whiskey, and California Straight Bourbon
Coffee and Tea
Coffee and Tea by Heart Roasters and Song Tea
Coffee
Coffee by Heart Roasters
Single Origin Drip
Espresso
Americano
Cortado
Cappuccino
Latte
Mocha
Tea
Tea by Song Tea
Fragrant Leaf
Nantou Dark
Spicy Ginger and Lemon
Shan Lin Xi Winter Sprout
Marshmallow
Old Tree Yunan
Bites
Spreads by Phoebe Foods
Served with crackers (gluten-free upon request)