People of Long Now

An award-winning bartender and sought after authority on classic cocktails and contemporary mixology, Jennifer has been a bartender and bar consultant for nearly two decades in the San Francisco and LA areas. She founded Small Hand Foods to revive century-old cocktail ingredients, and now makes a line of hand-crafted bar syrups that are used by bartenders in the Bay Area and around the country. Also a trained furniture maker with a degree from California College of the Arts, Jennifer's unique background, pride in her work, attention to detail, and phenomenal palate make her the perfect person to lead the launch of the The Interval which opened to the public in early 02014.

Since the early 02000's Jen has been an active participant in the Bay Area's vibrant bar scene. She spent 8 years tending bar at San Francisco’s celebrated Slanted Door restaurant. Her fellow bartenders there and at establishments like Bourbon & Branch, Beretta, Bar Argicole and the Slanted Door-related Heaven's Dog and Hard Water, amongst many others, form a community of cocktail-makers who value both cocktail history and creative experimentation with ingredients and techniques. She has been interviewed in or written about cocktails and bartending for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Wired, 7x7, Imbibe Magazine and many more.

An Oakland native, Jennifer’s bartending career actually began in Los Angeles where she learned fundamental skills, acquired an extensive education on tequila, and served drinks to celebrities including Leonard Cohen and Madonna. She has had a lifelong experimental curiosity and geeky attention to detail--at the age of 9 she made every recipe in the “Candies and Confections” section of The Joy of Cooking, including tracking down numerous obscure ingredients without the benefit of a search engine.

Jennifer launched Small Hand Foods in 02008 as word got around about the orgeat syrup she made in small batches to make authentic Mai Tais and Japanese Cocktails. The orgeat alternatives available were mass produced with almond flavorings rather than from actual nuts, and so interest from local bars and restaurants increased rapidly. While still bartending full time, she upped production and did everything necessary to make a commercial bottled product that met her high standard of quality. Today Small Hand Foods has a line of several pre-Prohibition era ingredients, like grenadine and gum syrup, and is distributed to stores and bars in 5 states. Her products are used literally in the A to Z of San Francisco bars & restaurants: from Absinthe to Zare at Flytrap.

While taking on her role with Long Now, Jennifer's commitment to Small Hand Foods continues, and the The Interval is now one of her regular customers.