I found SF’s most, ahem, spirited Halloween pop-up bar

When spooky season aligns with a heat wave, it’s time to drink cocktails with a whole lot of ice — and maybe a skeleton mermaid or an eyeball. Fortunately, drinkers can have their ghoulish choice at the Halloween pop-up Black Lagoon, which has taken over Kona’s Street Market, a cocktail bar on Third Street where South of Market starts to bleed into downtown.

The Siren’s Song combines Lot 40 rye whisky, pineapple liqueur, aged rum, spiced oat orgeat, sherry, Caribbean bitters, and lime juice, all poured over a heap of pebbled ice in a vessel shaped like the Little Mermaid — if she went through a goth phase. (All cocktails are $18.)

There’s a bit of alchemy, too. Bartender Nathan Depante described the acidic creation’s texture as “creamy” (he’s right) and noted that many of Black Lagoon’s drinks are more sophisticated and — pun intended — spirit-forward than those at other Halloween pop-ups. (That’s not to say that the vampire vibes at the Fang Bang bar inside the Old Mint’s theatrical haunted house Terror Vault aren’t well worth your time.)

Apart from the eerie garnishes, mouthfeel is what distinguishes most of the drinks at Black Lagoon. In the case of the Nightmare Fuel (Patrón Blanco tequila, Giffard Mangue liqueur, matcha, lime, and Bitter Queens Thai spice bitters), the matcha and bitters lend a pleasant astringency, making the case that this isn’t some gimmick to be ordered only once as a gag. But in fairness to good gags, it comes in a sea-monster-shaped glass with two plastic skeleton hands buried in ice. 

The Memento Mori — among the more visually tame drinks, despite being garnished with a Ping-Pong ball “eyeball” — may be yet another espresso martini. Still, it’s a supercharged version with mezcal as the base, along with Chinese five-spice bitters, Giffard Banane, and Mr. Black cold-brew liqueur, making for a very bitter drink indeed. 

As it happens, Kona’s is an offshoot of the renowned Pacific Cocktail Haven, Kevin Diedrich’s Union Square temple of mixology, which hosts a holiday pop-up of its own every December, Miracle at PCH. At Kona’s, moody, recessed-neon lighting makes for an ideal spot for an undead glow-up, filled with sinister touches like a Baphomet-and-pentacle banner and a warning that if you lose a game of pool, you may lose a hand, too. 

For a prestigious bar, a seasonal pop-up can be like an alt social media account, allowing it to play with things it wouldn’t want to post on main. But Kona’s clearly has buy-in from Depante and fellow bartender Sam Renteria, who wear Halloween shirts (hers with masked slasher Michael Myers, a meme in his own right) and collaborated on the Bay Area-heavy punk playlist.

There’s even a “Stranger Things” pinball game, though the nod to one of the scariest Netflix shows of all time is a permanent fixture. “It just fits really well now,” Renteria said.