Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

U.S. Grant Celebrating Booze-Inspired Felonies of Yesteryear

The US Grant Hotel is a local landmark with history and class to spare. But even this 101-year-old, seemingly demure and upstanding girl has some skeletons in her closet. This weekend, the seedier side of the Grant will be on display when the iconic stayover spot goes DeLorian, transporting attendees to the 1930s via Bringing Back the Bivouac. The event will take place on the evening of Sunday, October 16 and restore an underground portion of the hotel was once used to illegally smuggle booze to the Port of San Diego to its former speakeasy glory. Unlike the days of Prohibition, no secret knock or code word will be required for entry. The themed soiree is open to any member of the public who wants to party like it’s nineteen-thirty-something.

One of the Grant’s current attractions, mixologist Jeff Josenhans (a cocktail crafter who’s competed and won on an international level), has developed a number of themed stations serving special era-specific libations for the affair. One of those is the “Hot and Cold Shines,” a moonshine-inspired table featuring unaged whiskeys and corn liquor-infused libations at different temperatures. Another station will offer fizzes and the Grant’s signature barrel-aged Prohibition-style Manhattan made with 100-day-aged High West whiskey that Josenhans helped distill last year. Also be on the lookout for bottomless Prohibition punch bowls big enough to literally drown one’s sorrows.

Throwback cocktails, speakeasies and the like are very en vogue right now, but few if any spots are as well-suited to house a Prohibition-era party like this. Aesthetic treatments and artificially distressing is nice, but you can’t fake history and the venerable Grant has over a century of it. A special room rate will be available $139 will be available for Sunday evening. Probably a good idea given the bottomless nature of those punch bowls. The US Grant Hotel is located at 326 Broadway downtown.

Before and after - the US Grant's Bivouac in its heyday and as it will appear for the Sunday's Bringing Back the Bivouac event.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Laurence Juber, Train Song Festival, Ancient Echoes: 10,000 Years of Beer

Events November 8-November 9, 2024
Next Article

Two poems by Marvin Bell

“To Dorothy” and “The Self and the Mulberry”

The US Grant Hotel is a local landmark with history and class to spare. But even this 101-year-old, seemingly demure and upstanding girl has some skeletons in her closet. This weekend, the seedier side of the Grant will be on display when the iconic stayover spot goes DeLorian, transporting attendees to the 1930s via Bringing Back the Bivouac. The event will take place on the evening of Sunday, October 16 and restore an underground portion of the hotel was once used to illegally smuggle booze to the Port of San Diego to its former speakeasy glory. Unlike the days of Prohibition, no secret knock or code word will be required for entry. The themed soiree is open to any member of the public who wants to party like it’s nineteen-thirty-something.

One of the Grant’s current attractions, mixologist Jeff Josenhans (a cocktail crafter who’s competed and won on an international level), has developed a number of themed stations serving special era-specific libations for the affair. One of those is the “Hot and Cold Shines,” a moonshine-inspired table featuring unaged whiskeys and corn liquor-infused libations at different temperatures. Another station will offer fizzes and the Grant’s signature barrel-aged Prohibition-style Manhattan made with 100-day-aged High West whiskey that Josenhans helped distill last year. Also be on the lookout for bottomless Prohibition punch bowls big enough to literally drown one’s sorrows.

Throwback cocktails, speakeasies and the like are very en vogue right now, but few if any spots are as well-suited to house a Prohibition-era party like this. Aesthetic treatments and artificially distressing is nice, but you can’t fake history and the venerable Grant has over a century of it. A special room rate will be available $139 will be available for Sunday evening. Probably a good idea given the bottomless nature of those punch bowls. The US Grant Hotel is located at 326 Broadway downtown.

Before and after - the US Grant's Bivouac in its heyday and as it will appear for the Sunday's Bringing Back the Bivouac event.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Downtown's newest cocktail bar

Next Article

Grant Grill Dishing the "Father-lode" for Dad's Day

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader