Picture of Todd Carnam, Beverage Director

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)

Artichoke
Moroccan Carrot Hummus
Pimiento Pub Cheese
Smoked Trout

Assorted Olives

Spiced Pecans

Shortbreads by Batter Bakery

Beef Jerky

Original
Peppered

Hickory Smoked Meat Sticks

Original
Jalapeño

Tins

Sardines in Olive Oil
Cod in Biscayne Sauce