Rickhouse246 Kearny at Sutter
Financial District
San Francisco
Summer is, above all else, swimming season.
And while some dive into glistening infinity pools and others choose the salty waves of the Pacific, you prefer immersing yourself in something a bit…boozier.
Welcome Rickhouse, a new bar literally made of bourbon, brought to you by the guys behind Bourbon & Branch and Cask, pouring some of the world's rarest whiskeys starting Wednesday.
Perhaps the best thing about Rickhouse, named for the place where bourbon is stored for aging, is that even before you step through the threshold, you'll smell the hooch. Two steps in and you've got whiskey in your pores, as literally every surface—from the ceiling (made of staves from 300 barrels imported from Kentucky) to the walls of the back bar (shipped from a Prohibition-era nunnery in the Ozarks that was distilling for "medicinal purposes")—oozes bourbon.
Walk through the crowds at the front bar, past the fireplace and copper doors to the smaller bar in the back, and order a drink—anything from a shot of the Russell's Reserve you were eyeing at Cask to a bottle of wine (they'll sell it to you at the price you'd find at a store and waive corkage) to a pint of Napa Smith beer.
But ultimately you'll want to get the Pisco Punch, served in a punch bowl meant to serve four.
No diving…
