Holy Spirits owner Michael Hargis is on the third reincarnation of the bar/restaurant space at 1050 20th Street in midtown Sacramento.
This time around high-end spirits are offered — a shot could cost $20 — or the whole bottle of liquor is for sale for as much as $2,500.
Hargis said the wide variety of branded bottles are key to the concept: gin, vodka, whiskey, bourbon and tequila, are some of the standards.
House-cured charcuterie and artisanal cheeses are also available and next door is LowBrau, the German beer house and sausage restaurant also owned by Hargis.
The concept for Holy Spirits, which opened earlier this month, is not that dissimilar to Block Butcher. It opened in early 2014 in the same spot as Holy Spirits.
A crucial difference, however, is that Block Butcher focused on dozens of selections of whiskey while Holy Spirits offers a variety of libations.
The COVID-19 pandemic spelled the end of Butcher Block. Hargis closed the establishment, looking for a concept with a broader appeal.
“The pandemic gave us time to experiment with what we wanted to do,” he said.
By the fall of 2020, Hargis decided he wanted to reinvent the small 1,100 square feet space that is connected to LowBrau. Love Child, which featured plant-based cuisine, opened as a pop-up restaurant.
The rise and fall of Love Child
Hargis thought the concept would be a sure winner in a community such as Sacramento where eating plant-based food is a given for many.
A vegan version of In-N-Out’s double-double burger, a grain-based elote bowl and what was billed as a vegan chicken-fried mushroom sandwich were key staples on Love Child’s menu.
Holy Spirits cocktail bar specializes in rare and allocated spirits along with charcuterie plates. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Love Child was open just six hours a week, for lunch on Wednesday and Thursday, while Hargis planned for longer hours, including nightly dinners
Then reality set in. There was no space in Love Child for a kitchen. Hargis said with only one kitchen hood in LowBrau, it was unrealistic to churn out food for both spots.
It certainly did not help that competition was also close by. Nexter Juice Bar, with its own health bowls, was next door to Love Child.
By the end of 2021, Love Child had closed down.
Holy Spirits is born
Holy Spirits solves that problem about kitchen space. The spirits are the stars and the charcuterie and artisanal cheeses are available again and don’t need an oven for preparation.
“I really want this to be unique to Sacramento,” said Hargis of Holy Spirits, “but not a menu that is overly complicated.”
Hargis said COVID-19 had a big impact on restaurants, forcing him and other owners to rethink their concepts.
“Now several of us are starting over with clean slates.” he said, “and we’re rethinking what we want our spaces to look like, how we want them to feel and moreover, what we offer.”
Michael Hargis, owner of Holy Spirits, relaxes in the cocktail bar of his newest venture in midtown Sacramento on Aug. 16. At the entrance is a boutique bottle shop where rare and allocated spirits can be purchased to go. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Hargis said the redesigned interior of Holy Spirits is a combination of Japanese and Dutch minimalism. One thing that does stand out is the vertical rows of high-end liquor bottles.
The bottles are the artwork and portray an upscale exclusivity that may play well in increasingly trendy midtown Sacramento.
Holy Spirits Regional Director Matteo Sargentini said many of the spirits available at the new concept are hard to find in Sacramento.
Special spirits featured
He cited as examples: Yamazaki, a 12-year-old Japanese whiskey, and Weller Antique, a wheated bourbon with a full-bodied flavor and a balanced palette that is bottled at 107 proof.
Sargentini said he expects 80% of Holy Spirits business will be shots by the glass or cocktails but says customers buying bottles will find very competitive pricing.
He said a bottle of Jack Daniels Single Barrel Coy Hill bourbon that can be purchased at Holy Spirits for $450 often retails for several hundred more. Then there is the Colonel E.H. Taylor Warehouse C Tornado Surviving Bourbon, which will run you $2,500 for a bottle. But this rare spirit isn’t offered by the shot.
Michael Hargis, owner of Holy Spirits, said you can purchase bottles of rare and allocated spirits to go for a good price in his new boutique bottle shop and cocktail bar in midtown. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Hargis said Holy Spirits is aiming for a 20% markup on the bottles, enough to make a good profit, but not the more than 100% markup that can be charged by other establishments. (An online search of the Colonel E.H. Taylor Warehouse C Tornado Surviving Bourbon shows it going for thousands more).
Similar to many midtown restaurants and bars, Holy Spirits will have its own cocktail program. Drinks developed by bartender Buddy Newby include a rum old fashioned with spices and banana featuring Demerara rum and Jamaican rum and a vodka based Appletini with apple liqueur, apple brandy and lemon, with a egg white to give it viscosity.
In addition to Holy Spirits and LowBrau, Hargis also owns the Beast & Bounty restaurant on R Street in midtown and Milk Money, a doughnut and ice-cream shop that is adjacent.
This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
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